A man described as a leading enforcer for the Gulf Cartel is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison after receiving a combined sentence of 465 years.
On Sunday, a federal judge in Tamaulipas sentenced Jose Maria “El Gordo” Rios Ortiz to 465 years in prison with a cash fine for his involvement in 31 kidnappings in 2009 in the border city of Reynosa.
According to Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR), at the time of this arrest, Rios Ortiz had 31 kidnapping victims including several migrants at a stash house. When authorities arrived, the victims inside had been calling out for help.
Inside the house, authorities found victims from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Ghana.
The man known as El Gordo or “Pecho Peludo” began kidnapping migrants in addition to his regular duties to increase revenue for the Gulf Cartel.
Both factions of the Gulf Cartel have a long history of kidnapping migrants to extort loved ones. The criminal organization controls all elements of illicit trafficking across its section of the Texas border. Migrants trying to reach the Texas border to claim asylum have to pay between $300 to $800 each just to reach the Mexican bank of the Rio Grande.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the 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 their original Spanish. This article was written by “C.P. Mireles” from Tamaulipas.
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