South Texan may be the next drug king

By Jason Buch - Express-News

Web Posted: 01/24/2010 12:00 CST

The house in Laredo that Edgar Valdez Villarreal lived in while he attended high school. ULYSSES S. ROMERO/LAREDO MORNING TIMES

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Barbie and the Beltran Leyva Cartel

DEA PHOTO

Edgar Valdez Villarreal: Went to Laredo United.

LAREDO — In Mexico, they call him “El Tigrillo,” a kind of wildcat, and sing his praises, ranking him among those of the country's top drug lords.

In Texas, he played high school football, and a coach nicknamed him “Barbie” because of his light hair and eyes.

Over the past 20 years, Edgar Valdez Villarreal, a 36-year-old U.S. citizen born in South Texas, has gone from high school jock to potential Mexican drug cartel boss — perhaps the only U.S. citizen to do so.

Valdez Villarreal was a “Siamese twin” of cartel boss Arturo Beltrán Leyva, who was killed in December, said Wendell Campbell, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Houston.

Beltrán Leyva ran his own cartel with his brother as second in command, but Valdez Villarreal was his right-hand man, a chief enforcer who traveled everywhere with the cartel boss.

Beltrán Leyva “trusted him like a brother,” Campbell said.

If Valdez Villarreal takes the reins left dangling after Beltrán Leyva's death, it's likely he will renew his feud with Gulf Cartel bosses on the Texas-Mexico border, Campbell said.

Such a feud would escalate the border violence that left at least 400 dead in Nuevo Laredo alone and decimated that city's tourism industry as people stopped visiting for fear of their lives.

The last round of violence was sparked partly by Valdez Villarreal, according to the DEA, as he helped wage a war against the Gulf Cartel from 2004 to 2006 in the northern Mexican states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo León, both of which share a border with Texas.

“I would think he would challenge (the Gulf Cartel),” Campbell said. “That would be his home turf.”

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41 comment(s) on "South Texan may be the next drug king"

laredo born2:12 PM

you all should keep you all mouth shut but i know you all are exercising the freedom of speech. all in all, this is reality, there's all ways going to be the next something, the next drug lord, the next osama bin ladin, etc., there are two worlds, the real world and the under world, people think that he is not a celebrity, maybe he is not a celebrity in your eyes but maybe he steals from the rich and gives it to the poor people of mexico, so, for certain people he is a celebrity because he gives back to the people instead of the mexican goverment, whom should take control of that obstacle. fear, i don't think they fear him, the only people that fear him are the people that don't know him.

South Texas Brush Country Boy4:17 PM

The only downfall to the curbing or elimination (...or if there ever was such an occurence here in the United States?) of illicit drugs or its contraband coming from Mexico is...the Drug Cartel would more than likely beef up on their other rackteering ventures: Kidnapping for one. It is sad sometimes coming from this Laredoan and Webb County Resident that this is what seems to make news in the San Antonio Express. Yet, these are the facts of life here and for those in Laredo who choose to make a living in the drug traffic world. It probably is a matter of time before they are either caught, injured, killed or are on the run from rival gand and/or law enforcement. It doesn't see like a way of life for anyone, if you ask me. Yet, I am glad to see that at least the photo of Edgar Valdez Villarreal, a 36-year-old U.S. citizen was published. Perhaps, if he was seen by anyone this person(s) would notify law enforcement. I agree with this article where it states..." many in Laredo now are afraid to cross the Rio Grande to eat, drink and shop despite three years of relative quiet." This is true. I simply miss the bargins I found at a leather shop in Nuevo Laredo, MX, where I would get repairs or purchases of my saddlery and tack for my working horses. Not to mention the purchase of a meal now and then. Oh well such is life. I surely wouldn't want to put my or my family life in danger (should I have crossed the border to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico) if there was a drug turf battle or other senseless crime happening while I/We were there minding our own business. Lastly, I also agree with this article is where it reads "...What happens next is up in the air..."

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