Jose Rodolfo Villarreal-Hernandez, wanted for allegedly directing his associates to track and murder a man in Southlake, Texas, has been added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. The Department of State’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program is offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading directly to his arrest.
Villarreal-Hernandez, also known as “El Gato,” is believed to hold an active leadership position in the Beltran Leyva Drug Trafficking Organization within the region of San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. He is also believed to be responsible for numerous murders in Mexico.
The victim of the Texas murder, 43, was shot while sitting in the passenger seat of his vehicle outside an upscale shopping center in a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb on May 22, 2013. His wife was standing near the driver’s side door when her husband was killed. And the brazen ambush occurred in the early evening hours, while the center was full of shoppers.
According to evidence and testimony gathered in the trials of those accused of tracking and killing the man, Villarreal-Hernandez ordered and financed a multi-year effort to find and watch the victim and then kill him. Investigators believe Villarreal-Hernandez had a long-standing personal grudge against the victim.
