Mexican Cartel Corrupts American Boy

(Laredo, Texas)

When most teens are entering high school, Rosalio (Bart) Reta was killing.

At age 13, the Laredo, Texas, native was brought into the notorious Zetas drug cartel across the border in Mexico, where he committed his first murder, he says.

Groomed to be an assassin, Reta worked as a sicario for the crime syndicate, carrying out hits and kidnappings as part of a three-man cell based in Laredo. The pay was good — between $10,000 and $50,000 per hit, plus a weekly retainer and occasional gifts of posh cars.[…]

And over the next four years, he says, he killed more than 30 people, mostly in Mexico but also in the United States.

He's now serving a 70-year sentence in a Texas penitentiary.

An American boy corrupted by a drug cartel. Sad.

Ultimately, Reta was targeted for death by the cartel because he botched an assignment. As a result, he surrendered to American authorities and confessed to 30 murders.