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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Texans Threatened With Families' Kidnap And Murder By Mexican Extortion Gangs |
| 2007-01-14 |
| The voice on the phone demanded that a large sum of money be wired to a Mexican bank account number. There was no name attached to the voice, but its owner had clearly done his research. “Basically, he said he was a professional hitman and he knew who our family was and where we lived,” said a relative of the prominent McAllen businessman who had picked up the phone. The family has asked to remain anonymous out of concern for their safety. “Unless he was paid within three hours, one of the family members would be ‘picked up,’ was the term he used.” The family refused to pay and contacted the FBI, who told them they were probably the latest victims of what is believed to be a professional extortion scam operating out of Mexico. Over the last 12 months the FBI has heard repeated reports of prominent individuals in the Upper Rio Grande Valley, including doctors, lawyers and businessmen, receiving phone calls demanding between $20,000 and $70,000 in exchange for their families’ safety, said John Johnson, assistant special agent in charge in the FBI’s McAllen office. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #2 Trace the call then bomb the house. Simple and effective. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-01-14 12:53 |
| #1 Odds are that the people being threatened have family on both sides of the border. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2007-01-14 11:13 |