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Story Publication logo July 9, 2010

Mexico: Civilian Casualties of the War on Drugs

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A hardened criminal from the streets of Memphis. One of the biggest drug cartels in Mexico. The...

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Note: I wrote these entries in December, as I traveled to Mexico to report on the Craig Petties story. Now that we are ready to publish our articles on the case, we are posting the entries.

Wednesday, Dec. 23 - This morning I opened up a copy of The Commercial Appeal and read the story of how gunmen had slaughtered the entire family of Melquisedet Angulo.

He's the Mexican marine who died in the firefight last week that led to the death of drug kingpin Arturo Beltran Leyva. The AP reports that hours after the Marine's funeral, gunmen broke down the door of the grieving family's home and killed Angulo's mother, his aunt, his sister and his brother. Another sister was in the hospital. This hits close to home. We just left Mexico a few days ago. And Craig Petties, the person whose life I've been researching for months, is alleged to have worked closely with the Beltran Leyva organization.

I went through a roil of emotions upon reading this. What I'm left with is absolute horror and disgust over what people will do to hold onto money and power. The brutality is nearly beyond imagination.

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