Skip to Content

Over a year long period beginning in June 2005, there were seven murders committed in Laredo, Texas that had investigators suspecting a death squad was at work. They caught a break when Noe Flores was gunned down. The shooter left a fingerprint on a discarded cigarette box and that clue led police to Gabriel Cardona and Rosalio Reta.

According to Detective Garcia, children as young as 13 are being recruited in the U.S. by the Mexican drug cartels to form murderous sleeper cells. The teenagers receive six-month military-style training on a Mexican ranch and are groomed to become homegrown assassins.

Both were paid $500 a week to be available for killing jobs. When they carried out a hit they were paid $50,000 and received 2 kilos of cocaine. The cartels put the teens up in safe houses around Laredo and they drove around town in a Mercedes-Benz.

Cardona and Reta are serving prison sentences for murder and have provided authorities with the specifics of their recruitment and training.

There are rumored cells in Dallas and Houston. The cartel has chosen to recruit young teens because they are able to move freely between the U.S. and Mexican border.

Rosario Reta mugshot below.