| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Mexican police: Drug gang leader says he ordered 1,500 killings |
| 2011-07-31 |
| A suspected leader of the Juarez drug cartel told authorities he had ordered the deaths of about 1,500 people, a Mexican federal police official said Sunday. Federal police detailed accusations against Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez, known as "El Diego," a day after authorities announced his capture. He was one of the country's most wanted criminals, with officials offering a reward of 15 million pesos ($1.3 million) for his arrest. Collaboration with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration led to Acosta's detention, said Eduardo Pequeno, head of the Mexican federal police anti-drug unit. Acosta is accused of being a leader of the drug gang known as La Linea, the enforcement arm of the Juarez cartel, Mexican authorities have said. Pequeno told reporters that Acosta "said he ordered the killings of about 1,500 people, mostly in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua's capital." An investigation points to Acosta as the mastermind behind the March 2010 killing of three people connected with the U.S. Consulate in Juarez, Pequeno said. More recently, Acosta ordered operatives to hang banners with threatening messages directed at the DEA and other U.S. authorities, Pequeno said. Juarez, Mexico's most violent city, shares a border with El Paso, Texas. |
| Posted by:Sherry |