Gulf Cartel Attorney Gunned Down in Southlake, Texas

Updated

Thursday afternoon Texas officials with the Southlake Police Department confirmed the victim of Wednesday's daylight shooting murder was Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa.

The 43-year-old Mexican citizen is believed to have been a lawyer for the notoriously violent Gulf Cartel . He had represented members of a powerful drug cartel whose leaders were recently sentenced to U.S. federal prison, according to media reports on both sides of the border.

It was not immediately clear whether attorney Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa was involved in the two cases.

Gulf Cartel leader Juan Roberto Rincon-Rincon was sentenced to life in prison May 15 in a federal court in Brownsville for his role in a drug-trafficking conspiracy that involved more than 10 million kilograms of marijuana.

The sentence was enhanced because he used “grenades, rocket launchers, homemade cannons and automatic weapons” during the operation, according to a news release.

In the District of Columbia on May 13, Aurelio Cano Flores — also a leader in the Gulf Cartel, which operates on the South Texas-Mexico border — was sentenced to 35 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $15 billion in drug proceeds for conspiring to import cocaine and marijuana into the U.S., according to a news release.

Four separate law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation identified the victim as Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa, 43, of Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

Photo:Hell on earth-

"The photo above is a mugshot of the victim from an arrest in Miami, Florida" -K. Mennem

The Mexico City-based newsmagazine Proceso, which reported Thursday that Guerrero was “executed,” described him as an alleged narcoabogado (a lawyer for drug dealers) who is believed to have participated in the “legal defense of members of the Gulf Cartel.”

The Dallas Morning News reported that Guerrero was the personal attorney to Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cardenas Guillen, citing a U.S. investigator who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Cardenas is serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. on drug-trafficking and other charges.

According to Proceso, Guerrero was arrested on drug charges by the Mexican military on Feb. 26, 2002, and taken to the maximum-security prison known as La Palma.

At the time of his arrest in 2002, Guerrero was representing the second-highest ranking leader of the Gulf Cartel, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén.  The attorney was soon freed because of an apparent lack of evidence, Proceso reported.

Chapa lived in legally in a highly-secure, gated community in Southlake with his family. A guard at the front gate prevents uninvited guests from entering.

Wednesday afternoon the city of Southlake had its’ first murder in more than a decade. The murder happened when a gunman walked up to a married couple, sitting in their Range Rover in the parking lot of the city’s popular Southlake Town Square and fired several shots.

"I don’t want to speculate on the motivation of the suspects but everything we’re receiving is this is not a random shooting," Mylett told NBC 5 on Wednesday. "This was a targeted incident."

Police say the 43-year-old man had been sitting in the passenger seat of a Range Rover with his wife parked in the parking lot of the city's popular Southlake Town Square, near Banana Republic, when a white SUV pulled up next to them.

Witnesses say a masked shooter got out and fired at least five rounds with a gun that possibly had a silencer on it. The male victim was hit multiple times by the gunfire and later died at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine.

The shooter escaped with a getaway driver and was last seen driving West on Southlake Boulevard, police said. Investigators only have a general description of the suspects.

Chapa, who was sitting in the passenger’s seat, and was shot at least five times. Police say most of the bullets hit him in the upper torso. They recovered 9 casings from the scene.

His wife was in the driver’s seat and wasn’t injured. She and the couple’s three teenage children are currently under police protection.

The suspect, who was the passenger in a white SUV with Texas license plates,emerged with his face covered, fired shots and returned to the vehicle and fled. He’s described at a Hispanic male, 5’7-5’10.
18 tips called in

Authorities have received 18 tips on the shooting since a news conference Thursday, Mylett said.

“As with any investigation of this nature, we have the very slow and arduous task of thoroughly examining evidence, interviewing witnesses and following up on leads,” Mylett said. “We are not going to sacrifice quality for speed.

“This is an ongoing investigation and, ultimately, our goal is to track down and arrest the person who pulled the trigger, along with any other individuals involved in this homicide.”

The investigation team includes representatives from the FBI, the DEA, the Homeland Security Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Rangers, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Mylett has said Guerrero’s killing — the first in Southlake since 1999 — was carried out by “an organization trained to do this activity.”

The gunman fired at least nine shots at Guerrero as his wife placed shopping bags in the couple’s Range Rover.

Counselors at Carroll schools

The Guerreros, who have lived in Southlake for about two years, have three children. Mylett said a police officer “will be stationed with his wife until this threat passes.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Friday that Guerrero was a Mexican citizen living legally in the United States.

A spokeswoman for the Southlake-based Carroll school district declined to say whether the children are enrolled.

“Police have chosen not to release any information about the family,” said Julie Thannum, assistant superintendent for board and community relations.

The school district has not taken additional security measures, Thannum said. “We have not put anything special in place that night or since. But, obviously, just like everybody in the Metroplex, we are watching it very closely,” she said. “It’s a little bit of a shocker.”

Counselors were on standby to work with students who might want to discuss the fatal shooting.

‘Deal with the consequences’

Rincon-Rincon was a leader of the cartel — known as a lieutenant or plaza boss — who used violence and bribed law officers and news media as part of the operation, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office in Houston.

The 42-year-old from Matamoros, Mexico, was convicted of conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute and import more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 kilograms of marijuana from January 2002 until his arrest in October 2011.

During sentencing, U.S. District Judge Hilda G. Tagle told Rincon-Rincon that “you enjoyed the fruits of that lifestyle. Now, it is time for you to deal with the consequences,” the news release states.

As plaza boss, Rincon-Rincon was accused of “maintaining control of the region to ensure safe passage of the Gulf Cartel’s narcotics and ensuring no narcotics passed through his area … without his approval or knowledge,” according to the release.

Cano, 40, who worked as a police officer in Mexico, was convicted in February of one count of conspiracy to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana, “knowing and intending the substances would be unlawfully imported into the United States,” according to a news release from the Justice Department.

“As a leader of the Gulf Cartel, one of the most notorious criminal enterprises in Mexico or the United States, he endangered the lives of innocent people on both sides of the border,” acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman said.

Presumably the same person but I might not bet the farm on it. 

A wordpress blog identifies Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa as a cattle rancher in Guanajuato and raises a “wide range of livestock and farm animals.” 

Another page also identified him as the owner of Elite Charolaise Mexico and gives his hometown as McAllen.

“Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa enjoys the regional flavors of the restaurants in his hometown, and he often donates cows and calves to be prepared by Mexican chefs,” the profile said

Proceso adds to his previous life:

In his book Los Narcoabogados, reporter Ricardo Ravelo described Guerrero Chapa,

"Lawyers Juan Jesus Guerrero, Agustin Rojas and Francisco Flores admitted to La Palma (the February 26, 2002). They spoke with Gilberto Garcia Mena (El June), the second most important man of the Gulf cartel to refine the legal strategy, and began efforts to defend the 17 detained, all linked to the Gulf Cartel. However, maneuvering the PGR would end in tragedy. In their investigation, prosecutors found that the Gulf cartel structure was varied and complex: operating not only with an armed group, Los Zetas, but they also had a well-organized network of lawyers, whose task is not only limited to legal work, but who also performed other operating activities. It was, according to the PGR, of lawyers in their professional exceeded the post by doing expected work , but also paid the payroll of the members of the organization and at the same time, relayed instructions to keep the criminal enterprise briskly functioning. All this was done under their profession, whose title and professional license allowed them to enter the prisons, dialogue with customers and define strategies, spending time more or less unnoticed. So they moved the threads in the murky world of criminal law

"Based on these and other documents, the PGR focused their research towards the legal team of Osiel Cardenas, who at that time still enjoyed  freedom and leadership.The main suspect for preforming these tasks was Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa, legal adviser called Mata Amigos. For PGR this character was, in reality, a narco-lawyer. In and out of the Palma many times wanted or was ordered. He was seen as a litigator carrying out his job, but the veil of suspicion darkened it.

"On leaving the jail the criminal lawyers were persecuted and harassed by plainclothes military, to cause a crash of  their vehicle and capture them. The soldiers walked with their arms to the crashed car and arrested Rojas  Vazquez and Guerrero Chapa, who was blindfolded hit and pushed  into vans. The soldiers realized that Iruegas Flores had several shots to his body but still had signs of life, but left him to his fate. Juan Guerrero Chapa was consigned by the PGR and, later, he was released for lack of evidence "

Lately, Guerrero Chapa and his family enjoyed every luxury, residing in private, exclusively in Southlake; after the execution of the alleged 'narco-lawyer', his wife and children are hiding under police guard.

Sources: videos: http://nbcdfw.com.Universal, informador, dfwlocal,nbcdfwlocal, telemundo, Lajornada,CNDH, CNDH,epochtimes, proceso, star-telegram, Hellonearthblog