By “El Huaso” for Borderland Beat
Two Houston men were convicted of kidnapping, beating, and threatening a man on orders from the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), according to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.
The kidnapping occurred on May 3, 2019, when Noe Hernandez and Homero Gallegos kidnapped and tortured an unnamed victim with a taser, holding them captive for 24 hours. The victim’s family received a phone call demanding $400,000 USD in exchange for his release.
US law enforcement were waiting at the negotiated spot in Houston and rescued the victim.
According to the DEA, the men carried out the kidnapping on order from “high-level drug traffickers” in Mexico linked to the CJNG.
They will remain in custody until their sentencing in March 2024. According to the DEA press release, they face up to life in prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine.
This is far from the first event where a Mexican criminal group operated in the United States from orders in Mexico. This April, Erik Tadeo Ramirez disappeared from Laredo, Texas hours after bragging that he stole $50,000 USD from the Cartel del Noroeste. According to witnesses, Ramirez said he did not fear retribution because he believed the CDN could not strike at him in the United States.
Video of that event shows Ramirez, beaten and bloodied, trying to escape from a moving vehicle traveling southward out of Laredo into Mexico. Ramirez has not been seen since. For Borderland Beat’s coverage of that event, read here.