Interesting read, and very relevant to the content of this thread -
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-ti...376,full.story
to follow up from my earlier post
from the article:
"Criminals earn respect and credibility with creative killing methods," said the official, who requested anonymity for reasons of security. "Your status is based on your capacity to commit the most sadistic acts. Burning corpses, using acid, beheading victims. . . . This generation is setting a new standard for savagery."
"The government, meanwhile, seems helpless to stop the killings. Police officers who have not been lured away to work for Garcia as drivers, lookouts and hit men are paralyzed with fear. Garcia is said to possess a list with every cop's address and phone number. More than one police officer has answered his phone to threats from a man identifying himself as Garcia.
Other times, there is no warning -- as in January, when gunmen surrounded the home of Deputy Police Chief Margarito Saldaņa Rivera and opened fire, killing him, his wife and two daughters. Authorities blame Garcia for the slaying."
"In October, after a Mexican soldier was killed in a clash in which four gunmen also died, Tijuana's top military commander, Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mugica, mentioned Garcia's name at a news conference, signaling that the alleged crime boss was in his cross hairs.
About three weeks later, hundreds of soldiers and federal agents fanned out across neighborhoods believed to be Garcia's stronghold. For 24 hours, the killings stopped. Then, more than 40 people were slain over three days.
Three were police officers. They had been decapitated along with six other people, whose corpses left no doubt who was responsible: Their bodies, placed head to toe, had been arranged to spell out '3 L.' Tres Letras."