Patterico's Pontifications

8/11/2009

El Paso Soldier Arrested for Drug Cartel Hit

Filed under: Crime,International — DRJ @ 7:19 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

An 18-year-old U.S. soldier stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, has been arrested in connection with a hit on a Mexican cartel member whose cooperation with law enforcement led to the arrest of a high-level (and possibly a rival) cartel member.

The soldier allegedly shot the victim eight times.

— DRJ

38 Responses to “El Paso Soldier Arrested for Drug Cartel Hit”

  1. Well, when you want a job done properly, you call in the pros.

    Gazzer (409de8)

  2. Gaazer – I do not follow.

    JD (6dacf4)

  3. Comment by JD — 8/11/2009 @ 7:41 pm

    heh. He shot the guy 8 times. That suggests he wanted to make sure the job was done properly.

    That’s the sign of a professional. 🙂

    I had the same thought, but my sense of humor is just a tad bit dark.

    Scott Jacobs (d027b8)

  4. Maybe Bill Maher was not all that wrong with his “low-hanging fruit” remark after all.

    nk (bfc26a)

  5. I am going to continue my efforts to be a kinder gentler JD and wait for Gazzer to explain what was meant in that first comment.

    JD (d9176e)

  6. The soldier who allegedly was the shooter is from El Paso. If these allegations are true, this soldier might well have already been a drug cartel member or worked for the cartel before he enlisted.

    Remember how the prosecutor in the Ramos/Compean case said “There is a substantial likelihood that somebody in your neighborhood is a dope dealer” (Vol. XV, p. 102)? I guess she knew what she was talking about.

    DRJ (8d138b)

  7. That’s the sign of a professional.

    Comment by Scott Jacobs — 8/11/2009 @ 7:53 pm

    Nope. It’s amateurism from beginning (the confrontation) to end (the eight shots). Up in Lincolnwood, he would be walking out of a restaurant after a nice dinner and only St. Peter would tell him that he got a single shot from a silenced .22 in the base of the skull.

    nk (bfc26a)

  8. People are surprising how they kill drug cartel stoolies and such… here’s a song what would sound very good if you played it real loud in your getaway car. People forget to cue up a cool getaway song but I like to have one ready all the time.

    happyfeet (42470c)

  9. I agree with nk…sounds like our soldier-shooter used his trusty M-9 (or civilian equivelent) to put this guy down, and rarely does a 9mm (especially if he used mil-spec “hardball” ammo) do the job with a single shot (see old Jeff Cooper columns in Guns&Ammo).
    .22’s are good for they have just enough power to go in, but then only have enough left over to rattle around destroying all the soft matter.

    AD - RtR/OS! (44112e)

  10. Jd, I was just being flippant, but Scott at #3 echoes my sentiments exactly.

    Gazzer (409de8)

  11. 9mm is not a bad cartridge, but FMJ? That’s for paper targets.

    Still, one round from a Beretta should be enough to conduct an execution of an unarmed drug informant. Nothing professional about using 8, unless he was ‘sending a message’. Hard to understand the mentality here.

    I guess snitches will remember this.

    Our military should move to .45, for many good reasons. It’s better against an armored opponent (at least knocks him down), and it doesn’t go through walls well at all, which makes the .45 a great round for use in urban environments.

    Juan (bd4b30)

  12. If he’s from El Paso, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was involved in the cartel in some way. Obviously, the vast majority of the armed forces aren’t like this guy, but there has been a problem for years with gang members joining the military for the combat tactics training.

    .22’s are good for they have just enough power to go in, but then only have enough left over to rattle around destroying all the soft matter.

    Mafia assassins typically used .22s for their work more than anything else–low recoil, no bang at all if a silencer is attached, and it gets the job done. If a deer can be killed with a .22, so can a human being.

    Another Chris (a3bb8f)

  13. happyfeet has good taste in getaway music.

    I have to say, it’s unlikely the soldier used an M9, and downright extremely unlikely he used a military property weapon. You can’t just draw a pistol out from an armorer and run home for a few hours. What MOSs are permanently assigned to Ft Bliss, anyway? Most of them probably are assigned M-4s or 249s.

    I think the M-9 is a fantastic pistol! It fit my hand really well and it was very accurate. I prefer .40 or .45, but it’s a great 9mm. Is the Army considering moving to a newer pistol?

    Juan (bd4b30)

  14. Happy, I prefer something with a faster beat for my getaways…

    Scott Jacobs (d027b8)

  15. Nothing professional about using 8, unless he was ’sending a message’. Hard to understand the mentality here.

    What, you never heard about giving 110% for your employer?

    🙂

    Scott Jacobs (d027b8)

  16. Juan, the funny thing about Manilow is that one of his biggest hits was “I write the songs…” but sadly he did not write that particular one. I believe it was written by one of the Beach Boys.

    Gazzer (409de8)

  17. The Army/Marines (or at least elements within each) want to move back to a .45acp pistol (there was a new pistol shoot-off scheduled a few years back, but in got constantly pushed back, and has now been cancelled), but the Brass doesn’t want to scrap all of the supplies on hand; and, have just let a new contract with Beretta for a large batch of M-9 pistols and magazines.
    You might not like FMJ (hardball), but that is what the military has to use under the rules of war, which is another reason for going back to .45acp.
    The move to the “Wonder Nines” was back when there were no Hi-Cap .45’s, and allowed the soldier who needed a pistol to have one with 14-15 rounds capacity v. the 7-8 rounds of the 1911. If they would have waited a few more years, they could have modified all of those 1911’s with new Para-Ordinance frames and had 14+1 capacity pistols that would have solved all of the problems, with no new training regimes.

    AD - RtR/OS! (44112e)

  18. “I Write the Songs” is a Grammy Award winning popular song written by Bruce Johnston in 1975.
    …Wiki

    AD - RtR/OS! (44112e)

  19. The Army might want to take a pass on the enlistees with neck tattoos in the future.

    j curtis (baef6f)

  20. Eight shots is probably a few too many to use a misfire defense I’m thinking, but I’m not a lawyer.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  21. DoD could probably make a ton of cash by simply selling the 9mm ammo if they really wanted to.

    I prefer Federal Ammo, though I hardly ever buy or shoot, since I’m practically blind.

    I don’t understand why the rules of war forbid hollow points. I think the idea they are somehow more cruel than FMJ is nuts. Hollowpoint bullets get stuck in whatever they hit… they do not pass through into innocent civilians behind walls.

    Juan (bd4b30)

  22. Or accidental discharge, over and over.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  23. Supercache seems to lead me to refresh the page more often than normal page loading. I wonder who designed that feature and what their rationale is.

    Juan (bd4b30)

  24. I don’t know how effective a hollow-point .223 round would be, frankly. I also think it would be far less accurate.

    Scott Jacobs (d027b8)

  25. It could be more accurate (our snipers use bullets that were temporarily taken away from them by JAG because they were ‘hollow point’), but I’m not talking about the 556ers. Tumbling rounds are better for that application, particularly when you’re talking about penetrating hardened positions and vehicles.

    In close quarters, a sidearm can make more sense, and in close quarters, accidentally hitting a team member or someone else behind a wall or something is more of a problem.

    It’s not even just that… I think we simply need the additional capability if we’re in urban combat, to switch to a weapon that is less likely to go through walls. It makes sense for the pistol to have the hollow points and the crew served and rifles be FMJ, if we were to do that.

    Not that it matters, given antiquated laws.

    Juan (bd4b30)

  26. I should switch my nick to Gecko45 now, since I’m pretending I know much about this topic. It’s been a hell of a long time since I served, and I sure as hell wasn’t infantry.

    Juan (bd4b30)

  27. Spiderbait. bookmarked.

    happyfeet (42470c)

  28. You can buy that one on iTunes, happyfeat. Not too much a fan of anything else they did, but I do love their cover of Black Betty.

    For other fun, check Tom Jones rockin’ out the Betty.

    Scott Jacobs (d027b8)

  29. The rules on full-metal-jacket go back to the 19th-Century, starting with the Dum-Dum bullet from India, which was a cast-lead bullet where the individual soldier cut it with a knife or bayonette so that it would shatter upon impact, causing horendous wounds. We were always instructed that if captured in battle with altered ammo (dum-dums), we would be subject to summary execution, as would any prisoner we captured with prohibited ammo.
    FMJ rounds are designed to go “through-and-through” since a wounded soldier ties up more men and material than a dead one.
    Our snipers do use a hollow-point round (generally the Sierra 168gr HPBT). It is designed with a cavity that aids accuracy, and is not designed for expansion like a hunting/personal defense hollow-point.
    It’s a fine point, but it is in the Rules of War.

    AD - RtR/OS! (8e13bc)

  30. Personally, I prefer the Ruger Mark 2. Yeah, .22, but mine is a tack driver even with the 4″ barrel. I haven’t tried it with the 12 round mag. I’ve been sticking to the Ruger manufactured 10 rounders. The only thing slowing me down is changing magazines, otherwise I’m more accurate than most of the 9s, .40s, .380s, and .45s I shoot against in Pistol League.

    Military procurement is too political. RE: F-22 debate and funding.

    PCD (02f8c1)

  31. Ruger supplied Mark-1’s to the Govt with suppressed barrels for “wet work” back in the 50’s.

    AD - RtR/OS! (6269f6)

  32. Hmm, I should see if one of those barrels would fit my Mk2, but then they’d disqualify me at Pistol League.

    PCD (02f8c1)

  33. The Ruger Mark pistols have the barrel integral with the receiver – it’s all one piece, which is one reason that they are so accurate (among others).
    There is a firm in Idaho that makes replacement barrelled receivers for the guns with all sort of fancy options, but you can only buy them through an FFL since they are serialized and considered a firearm by the ATF (not avail in CA, or any state with restrictions on “un-safe” guns, including the District of Columbia).

    AD - RtR/OS! (6269f6)

  34. I’m in Iowa. The anti-gun Nazis haven’t taken over here yet.

    PCD (02f8c1)

  35. PCD…If you’re anywhere near Montezuma, stop by Brownell’s and see what neat things they can offer for your Mk-2.

    AD - RtR/OS! (6269f6)

  36. What are the soldier’s chances of playing Don’t Drop the Soap in Leavenworth?

    Michael Ejercito (833607)


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