Drug Cartel Leader Caught with Fast and Furious Weapons

Mexican law enforcement found weapons from Operation Fast and Furious in the hideout of José Antonio Acosta Hernandez, the cartel gangster behind the Villas de Salvarcar Birthday Party Massacre, when he was captured in July 2011. 

Three weapons used in the massacre were linked to the United States ATF’s gunwalking operation. Acosta Hernandez, alias “El Diego,” was a drug baron of the Juarez Cartel’s enforcer unit La Línea.

Luz Davila described the incident to Univision. Her two sons, José Luis, 18, and Marcos, 20, attended the party.  Unfortunately, some attendees were members of the Sinaloa Cartel, enemies of the Juarez Cartel. Despite the fact that only a handful of attendees were members of a rival gang, the assassins murdered everyone present.

Seven vans blocked the streets so the twenty hitmen wouldn’t be interrupted as they poured over 80 bullets into the party. Mrs. Davila and her husband hurried to the house after the shooting and found their older son, face down, dead. The youngest was clinging to life but died 14 hours later in the hospital.

In 2009, Acosta Hernandez led La Línea to stop an offensive from the Sinaloa Cartel, commanded by José Antonio Torres Marrufo. Mr. Marrufo was captured last February and the police found weapons from Fast and Furious behind the mirrors of his apartment’s gym.