MONTERREY, Nuevo Leon – Mexican authorities arrested a top assassin for the fugitive drug lord known as “El Gato,” the same man wanted by the FBI over a Dallas area murder. Authorities link the hitman with the execution of a rival cartel operator in this city and his wife, who died weeks later.
In recent days, detectives with Nuevo Leon’s State Investigations Agency (AEI) arrested 36-year-old Alfonso Herrera Rodriguez on the charges of murder and assault in connection with the death of 54-year-old Cesar Sampayo Ramirez and wife Rosa Isela Perez Lopez. After his arrest based on warrant 2710/20192, Herrera was sent to the Topo Chico State Prison to await further court hearings.
On January 10, Herrera and a team of gunmen ambushed Sampayo and his wife outside a Costco store, according to authorities. The gunmen shot them multiple times, killing Sampayo and seriously injuring Perez Lopez. The woman died weeks later. While Herrera’s arrest received some local coverage, news outlets in Nuevo Leon did not mention that Herrera was an assassin for Jose Rodolfo “El Gato” Villarreal, or that Sampayo was an associate of a rival organization.
Law enforcement sourced revealed to Breitbart News that prior to his murder, Sampayo worked for Mexico’s telephone company (Telmex) and was nearing retirement. However, AEI detectives were able to confirm that Sampayo was leaking phone data and other information to a faction of the Beltran Leyva Cartel led by Hector “La Burra” Huerta Rios that operates in the ritzy suburb of San Pedro.
As Breitbart News reported exclusively, in 2018, Huerta Rios was released from federal prison and moved back to Nuevo Leon, but his return was met with a frontal attack by El Gato, his former associate. As part of his strategy to keep control of San Pedro, El Gato began killing many of La Burra’s allies and friends. Working for La Burra appears to be the primary motive for Sampayo’s murder, law enforcement sources revealed.
The man known as El Gato is also wanted by U.S. authorities for the murder of Gulf Cartel attorney-turned-government informant Jesus Guerrero Chapa. Guerrero Chapa was living in Southlake, Texas, when gunmen killed him after a long-term surveillance operation. Villarreal had a personal vendetta against Guerrero Chapa, who he blamed for the murder of his father.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart News traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by Tony Aranda from Nuevo Leon.
Editor’s note: the original headline was updated to reflect the fugitive status of “El Gato.”
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