Mexico extradited 29 bosses from cartels designated by the Trump administration as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) on Thursday. Included in the list is the accused assassin of a cartel attorney in Dallas who U.S. authorities have wanted for 13 years. The first known image of Jose Rodolfo Villarreal-Hernandez — “El Gato” — was first revealed by Breitbart Texas.
Jose Rodolfo Villarreal-Hernandez — “El Gato” — was wanted by the FBI for the alleged May 2023 assassination of Gulf Cartel attorney-turned-government-informant Jesus Guerrero Chapa. Federal authorities initially arrested Jesus Gerardo “El Chuy” Ledezma Cepeda, his son Jesus Gerardo Ledezma Campano, and Jose Luis Cepeda Cortez in September 2014 and charged them with the murders, Breitbart Texas reported.
Breitbart later reported that, according to the FBI, the men had been acting under orders of Rodolfo “El Gato” Villarreal Hernandez, a leader with the Beltran Leyva Cartel who had a personal vendetta against Guerrero Chapa. The execution was due to Villarreal blaming Guerrero for his father’s murder. For the murder, Villarreal sent out two of his assassins from Mexico, who traveled to Southlake to execute Guerrero Chapa.
In November 2018, Breitbart Texas published the first known image of “El Gato.”
Law enforcement sources revealed exclusively to Breitbart News that then-40-year-old Villarreal is the mastermind behind the widespread extortion of wealthy businesses, a recent spike in executions, and the use of real estate companies to launder millions in illicit funds. The organization, led by a man known as “El Gato,” is linked to 15 recent high-profile murders in San Pedro. Law enforcement sources revealed that Villarreal managed to earn the loyalty of multiple state, federal, and municipal authorities working in San Pedro.
Villarreal climbed the ranks of the Beltran Leyva Cartel until he became a regional boss for the Monterrey area. He later engaged in a fierce territorial battle with his former boss, Hector “La Burra or HH” Huerta Rios. The fight between Villarreal and Huerta Rios began after the latter was released from prison. Villarreal is believed to be targeting all known associates of his former boss. However, according to official sources, Mexican authorities were hesitant to intervene.
In October 2020, Breitbart reported that the FBI added “El Gato” to their Most-Wanted fugitives list. Authorities also linked El Gato’s organization to the 2018 murder of attorney Alberto Peña Velez. The attorney was part of a large money laundering group that worked for politicians and cartels. Former San Pedro police officer César Augusto Espinoza Lira carried out that murder. The former Mexican cop confessed to the hit and told authorities the victim laundered money through the use of shell companies and false invoices but had refused to pay the fees or royalties demanded by El Gato, the law enforcement source revealed.
It was not until January 2023 that Mexican authorities arrested “El Gato” in Mexico City. Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office (FGR) revealed that their agents, Mexican Marines, and detectives with the Nuevo Leon State Investigations Agency (AEI), a state entity whose intelligence work and years of investigation into El Gato led to his capture, carried out the operation.
The U.S. Department of Justice immediately began the process of getting Mexico to extradite the fugitive cartel boss.
“El Gato” was a former Mexican federal cop turned regional boss with the Beltran Leyva Cartel. He later broke away and established his criminal empire in San Pedro, a wealthy suburb of the Monterrey metropolitan area in the border state of Nuevo Leon. El Gato’s organization quietly established a large-scale extortion operation known as “La Oficina,” or the office, focusing on targeting construction builders, Breitbart Texas reported exclusively. La Oficina also reportedly managed a large-scale money laundering operation in San Pedro, one of the wealthiest cities in Mexico. In Nuevo Leon, El Gato and his men are allegedly linked to numerous kidnappings, extortion, and murders.
Mexico delayed the extradition until finally, following President Trump and the U.S. State Department’s designation of certain Mexican cartels as FTOs, they turned over the fugitive to U.S. authorities on February 27. The extradition of the 29 cartel bosses, reported by Breitbart Texas, appeared to be an attempt to appease U.S. officials pushing for tariffs and punitive measures.
“El Gato” is set for arraignment in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
“As President Trump has made clear, cartels are terrorist groups, and this Department of Justice is devoted to destroying cartels and transnational gangs,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a written statement. “We will prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law in honor of the brave law enforcement agents who have dedicated their careers — and in some cases, given their lives — to protect innocent people from the scourge of violent cartels. We will not rest until we secure justice for the American people.”
“The FBI and our partners will scour the ends of the earth to bring terrorists and cartel members to justice,” FBI Director Kash Patel added. “The era of harming Americans and walking free is over.”
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with the Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products.
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