Suspect in Mexico massacre no longer a suspect

SONORA, MEXICO – A major setback in the search for the men who opened fire on a family in northern Mexico, killing nine people and injuring five others.  Investigators say the man who had been arrested in connection with the attack turned out to be not involved.

Reports from ABC News show the man was guilty of something, but officials are not saying what.  That man reportedly had hostages in his home and had been stockpiling weapons.  However, they say he wasn’t connected to this particular shooting.

This news comes as no surprise to DEA agents in Utah.  Brian Besser with the DEA says the idea that any cartel would inform police about one of their members is extremely unlikely.  He compares them to the mob that operates within the U.S.

“They tend to police themselves,” Besser says.  “If there is an individual who is generating too much heat or problems, they would make sure the person doesn’t talk, and they’d kill them.”

He says, sadly, there is so much corruption within so many levels of government in Mexico, we might never know exactly who was behind the shooting and why.

“We’re not necessarily going to get a straight answer,” he says.

The roads where this attack happened are prime real estate for drug traffickers, according to Besser.  He says the attack happened less than 100 miles from the U.S. border, and those routes are potentially worth millions for the cartels.  Officials in Mexico say the main turf war is between a group called Los Salazar, which Besser says is connected with the Sinaloa Cartel, and a group called La Linea, which is a remnant of the old Juarez Cartel.

“The DEA and a lot of our counterparts have taken off the major business components of the Juarez Cartel.  We’ve taken out their command and control structure at the top.  A lot of their financnes have been crippled,” he says, adding, “[La Linea is] like the ‘newer and improved’ version.  They’re very violent and they hate the Sinaloa Cartel.”

Besser says when these two groups aren’t fighting with each other, they’ll sometimes get bored and start raiding villages for supplies.