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Thursday, April 18, 2024 | Back issues
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Grisly Testimony|in Cartel Killing Trial

FORT WORTH (CN) - The sister of a Gulf Cartel lawyer who was brazenly murdered in a Dallas-area shopping center retaliated against a rival cartel boss by sending him a video of a beheaded relative, a witness testified Friday.

Jesus Gerardo Ledezma Campano, 32, testified for a second day in the trial of his father - private investigator Jesus Gerardo Ledezma Cepeda, 59 - and Jose Luis Cepeda Cortes, 59. Neither man is accused of being the gunman, but of traveling from Mexico to Southlake "with the intent to kill" Gulf Cartel lawyer and U.S. informant Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa.

The younger Ledezma has testified that Beltran Leyva Cartel boss Rodolfo Villarreal Hernandez, known as El Gato, ordered the May 2013 hit on Guerrero Chapa, whom El Gato

believed was responsible for the death of his father.

Guerrero is believed to have represented former Gulf Cartel boss Osiel Cardenas Guillen.

El Gato spent $1 million to track Guerrero through public records and GPS devices, Ledezma testified on Thursday.

Guerrero was shot dead in broad daylight as he sat in his car at Southlake Town Center in the affluent suburb of Southlake. The shooter and getaway driver remain at large.

Ledezma told jurors that after Guerrero's death, his sister sent El Gato a video of a beheaded relative. Prosecutors did not identify the relative.

Ledezma said the video made El Gato very angry and he tried to find more of Guerrero's relatives in the United States.

Ledezma pleaded guilty to helping the defendants track Guerrero, in exchange for protection for his family.

The trial continues this week in Federal Court.

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