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Showing posts with the label #Mexico

He Was One of Mexico’s Deadliest Assassins. Then He Turned on His Cartel.

The former assassin in a jail that serves as part of a makeshift witness protection program. #Mexico  #Assassin JOJUTLA, Mexico — The recruits filed into a clearing, where a group of trainers with the stern bearing of drill sergeants stood in a tight row, hiding something. “How many of you have killed someone before?” one of the instructors asked. A few hands shot up. The trainers separated, revealing a naked corpse face up in the grass. One thrust a machete into the nearest man’s hand. “Dismember that body,” he ordered. The recruit froze. The instructor waited, then walked up behind the terrified recruit and fired a bullet into his head, killing him. Next, he passed the blade to a lanky teenager while the others watched, dumbfounded. The teenager didn’t hesitate. Offered the chance to prove that he could be an assassin — a sicario — he seized it, he said. A chance at money, power and what he craved most, respect. To be feared in a place where fear was currency.