As a 13-year-old, Reta was at school. Reta, 24, and Cardona, 26, still bear signs of their years as feared assassins. This Houston rodeo food vendor wants you to eat his rattlesnake. One of the most feared and powerful drug kingpins in the world, Trevino took drug cartel brutality to never-before-seen levels. Considered one of the bloodiest hitmen in the state of Chihuahua, the Mexican army called Escajeda "a lieutenant and one of the main operators" of the Juarez cartel. 4:56 PM EDT, Tue August 6, 2013, a Mexican government security spokesman told reporters in July. Since age 14 I was in court. Two men reveal details about their lives as teen drug cartel assassins, Now in prison, Rosalio Reta and Gabriel Cardona were hit men for drug lord "Z-40", For each killing, they say, they each were paid about $10,000, Their stories offer a glimpse into a dark world that threatens countless Mexicans and Americans. But then there are those eyes tattooed on his eyelids. The detective sitting across the table from Reta and Cardona in those sessions is Robert Garcia. Thats a day that Im never going to be able to forget. The men say cartel leaders provided them with a house and extravagant cars. They were paid up to $50,000 and 2 kilos of cocaine for carrying out a hit. And these kids all have that romantic notion they are going to live forever. He was a good student, but he was more interested in what was happening across the river from his town, in the cantinas and barrios of Nuevo Laredo. To make a point, sometimes Trevino sent messages along with decapitated corpses of rival cartel members, said Reta. Reta grew up in Laredo, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border, and joined the Zetas at just 13 years old, after meeting its second-in-command, Miguel Trevio. The man, Jos Enrique Jimnez Zavala, otherwise known as El Wicked, died on Dec. 31 when he was strangled by Jaime Noel Cuevas Baeza, known by El Jimy, who was also convicted for homicide. Once he bragged to police, 'If I cannot hit you in the forehead from a distance, I will kneel down in front of you and put my forehead against the muzzle of your gun. For each ordered hit, they said, they were paid an extra fee about $10,000, and sometimes even more depending on the importance of the targeted victim. Many Zeta leaders often use numbers as their cartel nicknames. CNN has also obtained detailed court records as well as several hours of police interrogation videos. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. At first glance, the violence looked like isolated, gangland-style killings. Refine any search. He allegedly deserted the army in 1999 and was a top lieutenant to current Zeta leader Heriberto Lazcano. Its a violent world.. "We have to remember that the United States is the market they are trying to get to. 'I'm really a good person," he told CNN recently. Sergio Rodrigues Rosalio Reta is a former Zeta Cartel hitman whom Hari visits at the Texas prison where he is currently serving a 70-year sentence for several murders. Rosalio Reta and his friend, Gabriel Cardona, were members of a three-person cell of American teenagers working as cartel hit men in the United States, according to prosecutors. He doesnt spend a lot of time thinking about the violence he wielded, he said. They either end up in prison, or its likely their tortured corpse will be left along a blood-soaked path to nowhere in the Mexican countryside. Thats why a lot of people follow him.. Jun. OG Shadow's channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlNhxVZxIJ_7KhgdmaO2QQInterview with OG Shadow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kDPbfrmEncPrison Ques. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. When orders from cartel leaders came, the men would begin hunting their prey. What's on TV & Streaming Top 250 TV Shows Most Popular TV Shows Browse TV Shows by Genre TV News India TV Spotlight. He is also accused of being involved in the murder of US Consulate staffers killed in Ciudad Juarez in 2010. In this conversation. It looks like we don't have any Biography for Rosalio Reta yet. TRAGEDY: Mexico's drug war claims thousands of lives every single year (Image: GETTY) Complete your free account to request a guide. Eventually Laredo police detectives zeroed in on the teen assassins. Gonzalez Duran is allegedly one of the founding members of the Zetas, a group of army deserters who went to work as hitmen for the Gulf drug cartel. In 2003, he brought his friend Rosalio Reta to Nuevo Laredo for adventure, eating at a restaurant before his brother summoned him to meet with Los Zetas chief Miguel Trevino Morales. Prosecutor and investigators say Reta and Cardona were recruited into a group called "Los Zetas," a group made up of former members of the Mexican special military forces. The following record for Rosalio Reta was recently collected from the state department of corrections website of Texas, of those serving a term of correctional supervision. US-born Jimenez Lugo was convicted at age 14 for working as a hitman for a Mexican drug gang, the South Pacific drug cartel. Trevino had built control and protection systems to insulate his organization at every level from law enforcement agencies and politicians. LAREDO, Texas On a dusty, remote ranch across the Rio Grande from this Texas border town, an intimidating drug lord stood over 13-year-old Rosalio Reta and handed him a gun. Born to a hairstylist mother and father who worked construction, Reta told Fox News he had a good childhood and grew up playing soccer and baseball, and loved skateboarding earning him the nickname 'Bart', as in Simpson. Rosalio Reta, convicted drug cartel assassin Over the years the ramshackle neighborhood has developed into a discarded border region where homes sit on dilapidated foundations and families live. It just happened., I always had thought that if I die, its going to be by a bullet in the head, he said. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. Im really a good person, he said. Alleged member of the gang Los Aztecas, Chavez Castillo has admitted to over 800 murders, sometimes beheading and dismembering them. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. He graduated to smuggling drugs and weapons across the Rio Grande. He had followed two friends to the ranch across the border where he was ordered to kill for the first time. H/T Gawker | Photo via The I Files/YouTube, Miles Klee is a novelist and web culture reporter. In Chasing the Scream, journalist Johann Hari spends three years trying to understand the war on drugs by interviewing hundreds of people who have fought on its front lines. I loved doing it, killing that first person," Reta says on the videotape obtained by CNN. 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CNN was first to broadcast the police interrogation videos from which the world first learned about Reta and Cardona, sparking worldwide fascination with both men and making them infamous legends of a narco world. Instead, Hari visits a rural Texas prison to interview a young man named. Couple find note in chimney that reveals their 290,000 house was 100 times cheaper 50 years ago. 'It gets to a point where I can't even stand myself. Investigators found a fingerprint on a cigarette box inside the suspected shooter's get-away car. But the kind of mischief Reta would get up to in his young life couldn't be more different from the cartoon kid's boyish pranks. Then they were paid up to $50,000 and 2 kilos of cocaine for carrying out a hit. They wave that power, that cash, the cars, the easy money. They were torturing people and getting information from them, said Reta. Get Driving Directions to Temp Release Prison, Texas. Prosecutors say the shooting victim, Noe Flores, was the half brother of the intended target. Reta said he began to fear that rival cartel members were getting close to killing him as retribution, so while working on an assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, he called a contact at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and surrendered. Cardona is asked, "Where else are the Zetas?" The mysterious drug lord who ordered Reta to shoot the stranger at the ranch that day, Reta says, was Miguel Angel Trevino. In January 2009, Lopez confessed to disposing more than 300 corpses. DeSantis looms large over Abbott in Texas, SAPD: Westside double shooting leaves 2 in critical condition. -Graham S. The timeline below shows where the character Rosalio Reta appears in, Chapter 9: Bart Simpson and the Angel of Jurez, drug war. I couldnt believe what I was seeing. All too quickly, he found himself, a young teenager, witnessing Trevios frequent executions at a small ranch house in Nuevo Laredo. Rosalio Reta was just 13 when he committed his first murder for the Zetas drug cartel; . 4, 2008) From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research RETA v. STATE Court of Appeals of Texas, Fourth District, San Antonio As the teens became more immersed in the cartel lifestyle, their appearance changed. They brought him to a ranch where, according to Reta, 'They were torturing people and getting information from them. Young Guns Photos. Assistant District Attorney Jesse Guillen said the trial in the second case against Reta would likely start soon and would give authorities another chance to add time to the teen's prison sentence. Emanuel Arriaga, a spokesman for the Nuevo Leon state Attorney General's office, said Wednesday that prosecutors in Monterrey couldn't link Reta to any killings. Report: Houston is the No. His feelings about his bloody work have changed over the years, from chilling braggadocio as a 19-year-old in police interviews, to softly spoken, wet-eyed pleas for understanding in his latest interviews. Hes not going to ask people to do something that hes not willing to do himself. I left school. Authorities said he requested extradition after being arrested in connection with an explosion that killed four people in a crowded bar in Monterrey, Mexico. And Cardona responds, "I've heard in Dallas and Houston.". Reta was trained in a secret camp where he learned how to be a sicario, a hitman. Reta dropped out sixth grade; Cardona left school in ninth grade. Historica Wiki is a FANDOM Games Community. Reta was a young boy headed down the wrong path. If eyes are a window into the soul then unraveling the myth of Gabriel Cardona gets complicated. LitCharts Teacher Editions. He took his head off just by shooting it.. But former member Rosalio Reta told Reveal that Morales' propensity for psychological torture made him an equally terrifying killer. Phone records linked the hit men, the ring leader and suppliers of the guns and car used in the shooting, Detective Robert Garcia testified. Case Details Full title:Rosalio RETA, Appellant v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee Court:Court of Appeals of Texas, Fourth District, San Antonio Date published: Jun 4, 2008 CitationsCopy Citation No. Remorseless: Cardona appears unrepentant for his nightmarish crimes. He was only 16. Detective Roberto Garcia of the Laredo Police Department told the New York Times, 'The cartels - they just seduce you. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. 1 of 3 Authorities say Rosalio Reta Jr., 17, is a member of the ``Zetillas,'' young enforcers for the Gulf Cartel. Investigators say Reta and another American recruit were paid $500 a week on retainer to sit and wait for a call to kill. On the surface, Gabriel Cardonas eyes belong to a baby face. Reta and Cardona agreed to give CNN rare interviews from the Texas prisons where both men are serving life sentences for murder. Cardona says it wasnt long before he also became a drug cartel assassin. Struggling with distance learning? Last month, Zetas leader Miguel ngel Trevio, widely believed to be responsible for escalating the depraved and sadistic wave of narco-terror occurring along the borderlands, was arrested. A teenage hit man who killed at the behest of leaders of the Gulf Cartel pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a December 2005 murder and was sentenced to 30 years in state prison. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. Teachers and parents! He and Reta became Zetas hitmen, training in various types of weapons before being unleashed on the streets of Laredo. Retas boyhood friend Gabriel Cardona says he started his life as a criminal by stealing cars and selling them across the border in Mexico. 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