A Los Zetas Cartel assassin was sentenced to seven life prison terms in Texas for committing numerous murders and for drug and weapons trafficking.
Marciano Millan Vasquez, 34, was sentenced by a U.S. District judge in the Western District of Texas, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency Thursday.
“Without mercy or compunction he brutally murdered anyone and everyone as it suited him and his cartel, at times inflicting the cruelest of pain, forcing relatives to watch their loved ones murdered before he turned his blades on them,” said U.S. Attorney Richard L. Durbin Jr. in a prepared statement.
“Today’s sentence marks an end to his reign of terror over the drug plaza in Piedras Negras,” Durbin said.
Vasquez was a member of Los Zetas and served as an assassin, drug trafficker and weapons distributor, court documents showed.
In 2013, he took over control of the Piedras Negras “Plaza”, a drug trafficking corridor, and oversaw the import and distribution of more than 220,000 pounds of marijuana and tens of thousands of kilograms of cocaine into the United States. He also distributed methamphetamine in the country and distributed firearms among cartel members.
One of the many murders Vasquez committed was particularly gruesome, testimony at his trial revealed.
In 2013, he murdered a young girl by dismembering her with an axe and then burning her body in front of her parents. He laughed and told her parents, “You’ll remember me.”
Vasquez then ordered that the mother be killed the same way as her daughter and forced the father to watch. He then ordered the father killed. Testimony revealed that Vasquez committed this brutality because he and other Los Zetas members wanted the father to suffer.
Testimony also revealed that Vasquez was responsible for the murders of at least 29 individuals in Northern Mexico between January 2009 and July 2015.
“The life sentence imposed on Vasquez should be a reminder to all criminals that violence and victimization of the public will not be tolerated and will be met with the full weight of the law,” said Special Agent in Charge Shane Folden, HSI San Antonio, in prepared remarks. “HSI and its law enforcement partners are committed to ensuring the safety and security of our communities in South Texas.”
“Marciano Millan Vasquez’s sentence to life in federal prison sends a message of our unending resolve to pursue drug traffickers who wreak havoc in our communities. It is another example of our success in the fight against major Mexican drug cartels operating in the United States,” stated Joseph M. Arabit, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Houston Field Division.