Cartel boss "El Gato" extradited to U.S. from Mexico for 2013 North Texas murder-for-hire
A cartel boss known as "El Gato," linked to a 2013 Southlake murder-for-hire, has been extradited from Mexico to the United States, according to acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad Meacham.
José Rodolfo Villarreal-Hernandez, a high-ranking member of the Beltran-Leyva Organization (BLO) drug cartel, was charged in June 2018 with interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit the broad daylight killing of lawyer Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa in Southlake Town Square.
The 43-year-old Chapa was gunned down with his wife sitting by his side in their Range Rover on May 22, 2013. Chapa was allegedly a lawyer for the notoriously violent Gulf Cartel drug trafficking organization and an informant for the U.S. government. Chapa, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was shot at least five times. Police said most of the bullets hit him in the upper torso. His slaying was the first killing in Southlake in more than a decade.
Villarreal-Hernandez, who allegedly oversaw cocaine importation and committed violent acts to maintain cartel power, was one of 29 cartel bosses extradited on Thursday from Mexico to the U.S., Meacham said in a news release.
According to Meacham, Villarreal-Hernandez is scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court next week.
"After more than a decade, Mr. Villarreal-Hernandez will have to answer for his alleged crimes in an American courtroom," Meacham said.
"Violence and drug trafficking are evil bedfellows, but together we will ensure communities remain safe and criminals face justice," said Eduardo A. Chávez, DEA Dallas special agent in charge.
Three other men, Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Campano, Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Cepeda, and Jose Luis Cepeda-Cortes, were previously indicted on interstate stalking and conspiracy to murder-for-hire charges.
In 2016, Ledezma-Campano testified that Villarreal-Hernandez had hired his father to track down Chapa. Earlier witnesses had stated that Villarreal-Hernandez wanted Chapa dead because he believed Chapa was responsible for his father's death. Ledezma-Campano also revealed that Villarreal-Hernandez spent $1 million on the operation and rewarded Ledezma-Cepeda with a BMW and a hunting trip. Additionally, he mentioned that the killing was celebrated with a big party.
Ledezma-Campano and Cepeda-Cortes were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
In 2018, a federal arrest warrant was issued in the United States District Court, Northern District of Texas, for Villarreal-Hernandez.
Villarreal-Hernandez was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in 2020. At that time, the U.S. Department of State's Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading directly to his arrest.
He was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List in October 2020 and was arrested in January 2023 in Mexico.
Authorities have said Villarreal-Hernandez, when he returned, would face the death penalty.