Texas Cops Bust Gulf Cartel Crew Raiding Local Homes

SAN JUAN, Texas — Authorities in this border city dismantled a Gulf Cartel crew that terrorized homes by carrying out brazen raids where teams of hooded gunmen would storm homes looking for cash, jewelry, and drugs.

After the crew was caught by Mexico’s Gulf Cartel stealing from them as well, they fell out of favor and became targets. One of the cartel members identified as Jorge Alberto Morales was hiding out in the Mexican border city of Reynosa when Gulf members raided his home. 

Morales contacted investigators with the San Juan Police Department who were looking for him and asked to turn himself in. Law enforcement documents obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed that Morales turned himself in to authorities at the Hidalgo International Bridge and was charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and burglary of a habitation. 

The months-long investigation against the Gulf Cartel crew operating in Texas began in April when San Juan Police officers responded to a home after an armed invasion, police reports revealed. According to the victims, several men dressed in black, wearing hoods, masks, and carrying handguns entered and stole various valuables at gunpoint. The victims were only identified as being 21 and seven-years-old. Police confirmed that the gunmen escaped with approximately $20,000 in cash, jewelry, and an undisclosed amount of narcotics. 

Authorities were able to track the stolen jewelry to two pawnshops, one in San Juan and another in McAllen. Authorities identified and targeted the group’s leader, Macrin Marin Rios Cerda, as well as his henchmen Carlos Aquino Pacheco, Jose Miguel Montemayor, Jose Sanchez Reyes, and Jorge Antonio Calvo Ayala. All of the men are charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and burglary of a habitation. Authorities continue working to link the cartel crew to multiple robberies in the area. 

The arrest of the Gulf Cartel crew operating in South Texas comes at a time when the criminal organization is undergoing a series of fierce gun battles south of the border. As Breitbart Texas reported, since May, two rival factions of the Gulf Cartel are fighting for control. The struggle has led to multiple large-scale gun battles and executions that killed close to 300 victims. The war yielded dozens of kidnappings and the discovery of several clandestine gravesites and cartel crematoriums.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon.  You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.

Brandon Darby is managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.