Confiscated weapons are displayed during a presentation of members of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel to the media at the federal police headquarters in Mexico City Feb. 12, 2009. (Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)

Interview with a hitman

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Todd Bensman interviews a former Mexican soldier who changed sides, joining a drug cartel.

By Todd Bensman — GlobalPost

Published: May 8, 2009 06:39 ET
Updated: May 9, 2009 08:20 ET

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Through Department of Homeland Security contacts, Texas journalist Todd Bensman arranged in November 2008 to interview a former Mexican special forces soldier who went AWOL and joined the Gulf Cartel's notoriously brutal The Zetas enforcement gang. The Zetas are responsible for thousands of murders and for operating houses of torture all along the Mexican side of the Texas border.

The cartel foot soldier had left the organization several years prior to the interview, and had become a cooperating witness for the U.S. government in the upcoming trial of extradited Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cardenas Guillen in Houston.

The former gunman was produced for Bensman to interview on strict condition that his name and other revealing details not be publicly disclosed, for his protection. Bensman questioned the Zeta about how his gang procured American weapons.

How long were you in the military?

Seven years.

Then in the cartel, what was your job? What did you do?

Basically, I was a hitman.

Your job was to do what?

Bodyguard and things like that. Kill people, kidnap, all kind of stuff like that.

That's an interesting change from the military.

Yeah. It's almost the same, but without permission.

What does it pay? How much did you make?

About $500 per week.

You would be an expert from your military training. Were you ever involved in the procurement of weapons?

Not directly, but I saw little things of how they introduced the weapons in the country, into Mexico.

How did it work?

The same person that works for the organization here in the United States, they get the weapons and they carry them to Mexico ... They never had any problems to cross them into Mexico at the border. Sometimes they use secret compartments to hide the weapons, but not all the time. The principal way was crossing the river or by the international bridges.

Who would buy the weapons?

I'm not sure about that because I never was there. But the same people that work for the organization here in the U.S., I don't know how to explain in English, they have to be U.S. citizens to buy the weapons. They get some people to buy the weapons, every kind of them, and then pay them for it ... . The people who was working here in U.S. selling the drugs, they were the same that get the weapons. It was people who was working directly for my boss, so he said "don't bring me money, bring me weapons."

What kinds of weapons did you have, did you carry?

When I was in the organization, we asked for them to bring weapons like Heckler and Koch, MP5, and M-16 or something like that, AR-15, but the most we wanted Heckler and Koch and Colt AR-15 'cuz they were the better weapons. We knew about weapons, so we ask them for the best weapons we could use for that work.

Comments:

7 Comments.

Posted by kentvander on May 8, 2009 11:14 ET

Todd, if I ever saw an article that was B.S. this looks to be it. Either you made it up completely or the idiot you were interviewing was primed to give you these answers.

The description of converting the weapons to full auto is BS and they don't get them from US stores or gunshows. The weaposn in the pictures are not even the AK clones that are available here. Most of that stuff is easier bought all over the world than in the US. The US made automatic weapons are coming from Mexico's own military as is the ammunitions. Of course the US loses control of it once it's in the hands of the Mexican army.

Just like you can't buy gernades in gunstores or shows you can't buy rifles that will convert to full auto without major machine work. Even ammo is in short supply and expensive in the US but anyone with any connections can get it cheap from Europe, SE Asia or even the Mid East.

This just sounds like liberal drivel used to justify new gun laws here. Buy a nice rifle or pistol and go to a range, meet nice people and find out what firearms ownership is really about.

Posted by diogenesthedog on May 8, 2009 12:51 ET

I work on the border and actually, this account fits pretty well with conversations I've had with people involved with the Narcos. Also, if you look at the patterns of weapon confiscations, they correspond to the interviewee's descriptions of weapons caches. Serial numbers of confiscated weapons almost always lead back to a US point of sale. As a gun owner in the US this is a sad reality. I agree with Kentvander that there are good people in shooting clubs and at ranges in the US, but there are also a lot of baddies taking advantage of our Constitutional Right to bear arms. A real shame.

Posted by spooky926 on May 11, 2009 13:08 ET

I don't think the conversion from semi-auto to full auto is that difficult. According to this: http://www.scribd.com/doc/6996244/Firearms-FullAuto-Conversion-Colt-Ar15..., it only takes an hour and minimal materials and tools to make something called a Lightning Link, and only a few seconds to install it to make the conversion for an AR-15. My ATF colleagues also assure me this conversion is not difficult at all.

Posted by Lex desde Texas on May 8, 2009 12:34 ET

I know little about weaponry...but I do follow news in English about Mexico...and this is the first interview I've
read...with revelations from a former Mexican special forces/Zeta foot soldier.

Congratulations...for revealing new information about a pivotal aspect of Mexico's tragic and dangerous drug wars.

Lex Wadelski

Posted by RRmike on May 9, 2009 07:16 ET

What a load, no one walks into a gun store and walks out with a M-16, even in Texas. The Mexican Army would be my first choice as to a source of weapons and shooters for these cartels.

Posted by b79holmes on May 12, 2009 20:38 ET

To me this interview seems very self serving to an anti-gun American press. A reporter in the (in general) anti-gun American press has the chance to interview a Mexican drug cartel insider and all he can ask about is the 'American' source of firearms?

What do these cartels make, like a million dollars a second? And implied in this article is that the success of these organized gangs is American firearms?

I do not own an EBR (Evil Black Rile) myself but I do notice the hit man most always differentiates between an AR15 (civilian semi-auto) and M16 (military full auto). If the guy is ex-Mexican military he should certainly know the difference.

These cartels have totally corrupted the local Mexican Police, have the civilian courts on the run and the Mexican military has to be brought in to continue the fight. How can anyone believe that these guys can't get any weapon they want from anywhere. I won't even bring up grenades!!! I must keep missing those at my local Walmart/sporting goods store/gun shop.

Posted by center46 on May 13, 2009 18:43 ET

Sorry, but this story is just not believable. Hand grenades bought on the internet and shipped to Mexico City? Full auto weapons being bought in bulk in the US and smuggled across the border? This is the stuff of movies and television melodramas, not reality.

Ask Mr. Bensman to try purchasing several items like these in Texas or anywhere else in the US. I'll wait patiently for his "story."

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