Job prospects turn deadly

By G. Romero Wendorf

With four people – two men and two women – found dead in the span of one short week, all allegedly tied to the drug trade, the obvious conclusion may be reached: these are indeed tough times for drug dealers.

Some people still try and downplay the violence with sayings such as this: “The drug business in south Texas has been going on for years.” Indeed it has. But murders related to it were few and far between. Now, things are much different, thanks in large part to the cartel-related spillover from Mexico.

In the early Sunday morning hours of Dec. 20th, shortly after midnight, police discovered two women murdered in Palmview near the intersection of East Goodwin Road and Mile 2. Both had suffered gunshot wounds to the head. Both women – Yvette Garza, who lived in the local area, and Natalie Hernandez, who lived in Edinburg, were only 20 years of age. 

According to police, one of the victims had packages of cocaine strapped to her body, and it appears that both victims were shot soon after climbing from the vehicle in which they were riding. A drug deal gone bad? Police are now looking for a person of interest, AKA, suspect: 21-year-old Guadalupe Vela. A warrant has been issued for his arrest after cops found the victims’ red sports vehicle at his home. Police describe him as armed and dangerous. They're not sure why the drugs were left behind.

Palmview police say one of the victims had a prior arrest, charged with human smuggling. The suspect, too, has a prior criminal history.

Six days later: two more bodies were discovered. This time, however, both victims were male, found inside a residence located in the 6100 block of Dario Street outside of Mission. The Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department has identifed one of the victims, home resident Rodrigo Villanueva Alvarez, 24. The ID of the second victim hasn’t been released, pending family notifcation.

So far, deputies theorize that the unidentifed victim, in the company of several other suspects, arrived at Villanuea’s residence looking to steal drugs. A shootout occurred, leading to the two deaths. One man at the residence left standing, 19-year-old Jose Ricardo Chavez, was taken into custody, after deputies discovered weapons inside the home, along with approximately 190 kilos of pot, and approximately $50k in cash.

For the Palmview case, police are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 956-584-8477. A successful conviction can lead to a cash reward. The tipster’s name will remain confidential.

Same thing applies for the rural Mission double homicide. Anyone with information about the killings is asked to call Hidalgo County (Sheriffs) Crime Stoppers: 956-383-8114. A successful conviction can lead to a cash reward. The tipster’s name will remain confidential.

Granted, the fact that the former head of the sheriff’s Crime Stoppers program, J.P. Flores, was convicted and sentenced last year for drug traffcking may make one think twice about whether or not their name will indeed be kept confidential if they phone in with a tip, their name hidden from drug traffckers, but since the arrival of new Sheriff “Eddie” Guerra, the Crime Stoppers program is under new leadership.

If you have a tip, you can also text the DEA’s local tipster line: TIP 411. Just grab your cell, type TIP 411, go to the message box and type RGV with a description of the crime. Photos are also welcome.

Cartel violence

Cops are generally close mouthed about the drug business, especially those few who are involved in it, but the ones I’ve spoken to off the record are convinced that these recent murders, along with all the others that have occurred this year, are tied to the Gulf Cartel. How much Los Zetas has to do with it isn’t as clear.

The shootout on the expressway in San Juan that took place Oct. 9 involved two factions of the Gulf Cartel, according to San Juan Police Chief Juan Gonzalez. Which is consistent with what’s happening in Mexico. Every time the federal or state authorities arrest some high-ranking capo in one of the major cartels, it creates a vacuum, and soon more bullets are fying, as opposing sides of the same cartel make a power grab for the top position.

In the RGV, where honest citizens still live in relative safety (McAllen ranked 7th safest city in U.S.; SmartAsset; Nov. 2015), the same can’t be said for those now involved in the drug trade, because it’s pretty clear that the Mexican cartels are now on a mission to control the drug trade on this side of the border. Meaning, if you’re a mid-level drug dealer, a U.S. citizen not connected to the cartels, it might be a good time to look for another line of work. But if you’re smoking some of the weed you’re dealing, or snorting some of the coke you’re selling, you’re going to have to go cold turkey, because most legit jobs these days require a drug test.

Nationwide problem

Ironically, the RGV gets some bad press nationwide with regard to drug-related violence, but a DEA report released this past July showed that the Mexican drug cartels’ infuence has become a nationwide epidemic (GOOGLE: United States: Areas of Infuence of Major Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations). The map attached to the report is pretty startling: with the possible exception of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, the Mexican drug cartels are now operating in every state in the U.S., in cities both big and small.

According to the DEA report, the Mexican cartels currently operating in the U.S. include the Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas, the Beltran Leyva Cartel, Chapo’s Sinaloa Cartel, the Juarez Cartel, the Knights Templar, and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The DEA report says Hidalgo County is dominated by the Gulf Cartel, but Los Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel are also active in this area.

San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Ft. Worth Houston, Laredo, they all share competing cartels. It’s just that that doesn’t get reported as much as the cartels’ presence in the RGV.

The problem locally, is that the Mexican cartels are using Hidalgo County, especially the western part, or so it would seem, as a major gateway through which they may gain access to the rest of the country, where illegal drugs may be sold for billions in profits.

Starr and Cameron Counties are no different. I spoke to a law enforcement officer last week, off the record, who said his department had “intel” that a Mexican hit man is now in Starr County looking for some people, and he’s bearing deadly gifts.

All of which leads back to some sound advice for those currently in the drug business: find another line of work. Even being out of work, homeless, beats a bed in the county morgue.

Drug murders aren’t new

Last but not least, there is obvious truth that the drug trade has always been a fabric of South Texas living. And, indeed, most of it hasn’t carried with it any real degree of lethal danger. “Mota” has been smoked in the RGV since at least the start of the 20th century, which is why Visine sold here has always been a hot item.

South of the border, there were basically just a few major drug cartels at work, while the only political party in power at the time, PRI, which lasted nearly 90 years, basically went along with the standard line: you can do your business, just keep it relatively quiet. But then former Mexican President Felipe Calderon began his “War on Drugs” in December 2006, and since then, all hell has broken loose. Sadly, Mexico has basically become a lawless state.

One thing sticks with me though, and it dates back to my arrival in the Valley in May of 1979 when I went to work as a pilot fying out of Brownsville. The manager of the San Benito airport used to stop by and visit with my boss. Can’t remember the manager’s name. Bald-headed guy, mid-40s. But one day he simply disappeared. He was standing in his front yard in San Benito when a car pulled up, and he was forced to get in, and he was never seen again. Word was, he had messed with the wrong people tied to the drug business. The airport had something to do with it, but no one ever found out the real scoop.

So even though drug dealing has always been around the RGV, and it’s true that few people died as a result of it, compared to today, there was always the chance that you could run into some deadly serious people when you tied yourself to the drug trade.