Grupero Murders: Gang Execution or Part of a Border War?

Murdered singer shot, execution-style
Another grupero singer has been murdered in Mexico. Twenty eight-year-old Zayda Pena was shot dead in the back, gangland style in the emergency room of a Matamoros, Mexico, hospital. This after she had been treated for a gunshot wound to the back from an altercation the day before.

Pena was one of several grupero singers and band members who have been recently gunned down in gangland slayings in Mexico.

Peña — the front woman in a band named Zayda y los Culpables, or "Zayda and the Guilty Ones" — enjoyed a following on both sides of the border playing music known as grupero, which features basses, electric guitar, drums, accordions and synthesizers.

Grupero lyrics focus on love, unrequited or not, and on the exploits of narcotics gangsters and other borderlands themes. The genre's bands are popular draws in dance halls across provincial Mexico. Gangsters are said to be among the bands' many fans. [1]

A year earlier another singer, Valentin Elizaide, was shot after performing a concert in the border town of Reynosa, 60 miles north of Matamoras, the site of Pena's death.

In February, four members of another grupero band were shot to death after playing a hall in central Michoacan state, where much of this year's gangland violence has occurred.

Another popular grupero singer was gunned down in a Michoacan park last December.

Mexican newspapers last weekend reported that the lead singer of yet another band went missing Saturday, along with two businessmen, following a performance in Morelia, the Michoacan state capital. [1]

The rampant violence along the Texas-Mexico border is due to the presence of a drug cartel known as the Gulf Cartel. President Calderon ordered hundreds of troops over the weekend to Reynosa.

Pena was another of the nearly 2500 victims who have murdered in gangland violence this year.

by LBG
[image:islamusicals]
Source - Houston Chronicle - Singer Shot To Death after surgery in Matamoros




Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Motorcyclists Terrify Motorists: Like a Bad Movie

A couple St. Louis-area motorists were the victims of a bizarre group of bikers who can only be said were auditioning for a part in the next big B-movie.

A throng of motorcyclists terrified two motorists in separate incidents over the weekend and has local police officers at a loss as to what to do about it.

The two episodes involved motorcyclists who were doing stunts as they surrounded vehicles in St. Louis and St. Louis County. Both motorists said that they were almost forced to stop on the roadway because the riders on Japanese-model motorcycles started throwing things at or kicking their vehicles.

The first incident happened about 2:45 p.m. Sunday, when a man was driving his Chrysler LHS on northbound Interstate 270 as it approached Interstate 70 in Maryland Heights.

According to a 911 tape released by police, the motorist pleaded for police to help him: "There's 50 of them (motorcyclists) and they're trying to take over the highway. … This guy just threw something at my car. You gotta get some cops out here. The whole highway is jammed." The sound of motorcycle engines whined in the background


As the man was talking, a 911 call came in from a motorist driving south on Interstate 270: "Is somebody coming? They're kicking this guy's car."

The woman caller gave the same location: Interstate 270 north at Interstate 70.

About five minutes after the first call, the dispatcher sent police.

By the time police arrived, the group of cyclists were gone from Maryland Heights' jurisdiction and were driving east on Interstate 70, toward the city.

The dispatcher called the man back: "I don't know if anyone can pull over 50 bikes. That's the issue!"

Maryland Heights Police Capt. Bill Carson said the motorist did not file a complaint or stop and talk with an officer. The lack of a report left police with few follow-up options, he said.

Motorists can take heart in the police dispatcher's lament: you can't pull over 50 bikes. Next time you're thinking of getting somewhere in a hurry and speeding:

Get 49 of your closest friends and go for it.

--From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Notes by Little Baby Ginn & Mondoreb



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