12 Headless Crimefighters Found Near Acapulco

Youngest victim just 2 as crisis that's claimed 35K continues

(NEWSER) - The body of 4-year-old girl who had been shot in the chest was discovered yesterday, the fifth child killed in less than a week as drug violence rages on in Acapulco. The girl was found in a car next to a woman who’d been shot several times; police didn’t offer a motive, notes the AP . The killing follows the deaths of boys ages 2 and 6, who were killed at their home along with an elderly woman who tried to shield them after gunmen opened fire. More»

Intra-cartel murder shocks El Paso; feds gave trafficker visa

(NEWSER) - The Obama administration and state governments are spending billions to keep Mexico's escalating drug war from spilling over the border. But the feds fighting trafficking have also relied on Mexican cartel members for intelligence—and that, says the Washington Post, has unleashed gangland-style violence in American cities. Drug kingpins living in the US, often with connections to American law enforcement, are both victims of violence and killers themselves. More»

Agents tortured, killed in revenge for drug trafficker's arrest

(NEWSER) - Twelve people tortured, murdered, and dumped along a highway in the Mexican state of Michoacan Monday were Mexican federal agents, the AP reports. The off-duty agents—11 men and one woman—were caught in an ambush by members of a drug cartel, officials said. The murders are believed to be revenge for the recent capture of a La Familia kingpin in MIchoacan, the home state of Mexican President Felipe Calderon and a center of his crackdown on drug traffickers. More»

(NEWSER) - The bodies of 11 men and a woman were found by the side of a remote highway in Mexico's Michoacan state yesterday, Reuters reports. The victims had been tortured before being executed, police said. Officials believe the killings are linked to an ongoing feud for control of the state between the Gulf drug cartel and a group of smugglers known as "the Family." Four bodies were found in the same place last week. More»

Boys as young as 13 become smugglers, assassins

(NEWSER) - The powerful cartels that control the drug trade in Mexico increasingly have help north of the border—in the form of American teenagers, some as young as 13, who work as smugglers and assassins. The New York Times profiles one boy, who was recruited by the Gulf Cartel to kill on command along the interstate that connects Laredo to Dallas. "It was like a James Bond game," says Rosalio Reta, 19, who is now serving a 70-year jail sentence. More»