A federal judge in Laredo sentenced a hitman for the feared criminal organization the “Zetas” to life in prison for the kidnapping and execution of two Texas teens.
Gabriel “Pelon” Cardona-Ramirez appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Micaela Alvarez at 9 a.m. Thursday.
Federal prosecutors said the 22-year-old American citizen from Laredo was a hired assassin or “sicario” for the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel.
A 42-count federal indictment in his case alleged that several hit squads or “sicario” cells operated on both sides of the U.S/Mexico border.
Prosecutors said Cardona-Ramirez and others killed members of the rival Sinaloa Cartel in an attempt to forcibly gain control of the lucrative Nuevo Laredo-Laredo and IH-35 corridor.
Cardona-Ramirez was charged with 22 crimes:
- One count of drug conspiracy
- One count of money laundering conspiracy
- One count of conspiracy to kidnap
- One count of conspiracy to use a firearm in a violent crime
- Five counts of using a firearm in a violent crime
- Eight counts of interstate travel In aid of racketeering
- Four counts of using a juvenile to commit a violent crime
- One count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine
Cardona-Ramirez has been in custody since April appeared in court in December where he admitted to the kidnapping and murder of two Laredo teens: 19-year-old Jorge Alfonso Aviles and 14-year-old Inez Villarreal. The two were abducted from a Nuevo Laredo nightclub on March 30, 2006.
Federal authorities said Cardona-Ramirez climbed through the ranks of the Zetas and eventually became the leader of one of the “sicario” cells.
He was personally charged for his involvement in five murders and four attempted murders committed on the American side of the border as well as the murders of Aviles and Villarreal in Nuevo Laredo.
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