Photo Courtesy of AP

SOUTHLAKE, Texas — Mexico has extradited 29 cartel figures to the United States on various criminal charges, including one suspect accused of orchestrating the 2013 murder of a man in Southlake, officials report.

Jose Rodolfo Villarreal-Hernandez, also known as “El Gato,” was apprehended in Mexico in 2023, a decade after the shooting death of Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa. According to the FBI, Villarreal-Hernandez had Guerrero stalked in the months leading up to his death. On May 22, 2013, as Guerrero and his wife were leaving the Southlake Town Center, a car pulled alongside theirs, and its occupants opened fire, killing Guerrero.

Villarreal-Hernandez faces charges of interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. The FBI alleges that he holds a leadership role within the Beltran Leyva drug cartel.

The Department of Justice states that Villarreal-Hernandez is scheduled for arraignment in the Northern District of Texas. If convicted, he could face life in prison or the death penalty.

Attorney General Pamela Bondi commented on the extraditions, saying, “As President Trump has made clear, cartels are terrorist groups, and this Department of Justice is committed to dismantling cartels and transnational gangs. We will prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law in honor of the brave law enforcement officers who have dedicated their careers—and in some cases, their lives—to protecting innocent people from violent cartels. We will not rest until justice is served for the American people.”

Officials state that Villarreal-Hernandez harbored a personal grudge against Guerrero and directed a group to track him as early as March 2011. The same group allegedly carried out the murder-for-hire in 2013 on Villarreal-Hernandez’s orders.

Guerrero was reportedly the “de facto head” of a Mexican drug cartel, overseeing a major criminal enterprise, according to attorneys for one of the men charged in Guerrero’s death.

Court documents reveal that Guerrero had been fearful for his life, knowing that individuals were actively seeking to kill him. Prosecutors also claim the conspirators initially attempted to have Guerrero deported by the U.S. government.

In 2021, Selena Gomez collaborated with Univision to produce a true crime documentary about Guerrero’s murder. The Spanish-language series, Mi Vecino, El Cartel (The Cartel Among Us), premiered in 2022.