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on the border line between the US and Mexico
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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Mexico Casino Massacre Suspects: We Only Wanted to Scare the Owners

The suspects told investigators they were “scolded” by their bosses for killing so many people at the casino, which was the target of an extortion racket common in several parts of Mexico

The five suspects arrested in connection with the attack last week on a casino in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey that left 52 people dead told investigators they did not plan to kill anyone and only wanted to scare the establishment’s owners, officials said Tuesday.

The suspects, who have confessed to the attack and are being held under a preventive arrest order while prosecutors build the case against them, were paraded before the press Tuesday at the Nuevo Leon state Attorney General’s Office.

The five men were photographed in front of the vehicles they used to carry out the attack last Thursday on the Casino Royale in Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo Leon.

Los Zetas, Mexico’s most violent drug cartel, is suspected of ordering the attack on the casino, Nuevo Leon Gov. Rodrigo Medina said Monday, citing information obtained following the suspects’ arrests.

Los Zetas started out as the armed wing of the Gulf cartel but broke with that criminal organization in March 2010, unleashing a wave of violence across Mexico in an effort to grab new territory.

The suspects told investigators they were “scolded” by their bosses for killing so many people at the casino, which was the target of an extortion racket common in several parts of Mexico, officials said.

Investigators have obtained videos showing the suspects filling containers at a service station with the gasoline they later used to torch the casino, as well as other images from security cameras that show the suspects’ vehicles arriving at Casino Royale, Nuevo Leon Attorney General Adrian Emilio de la Garza said Tuesday.

The suspects have confessed to the casino attack and other crimes, including kidnappings and murders, De la Garza said, adding that physical evidence, such as fingerprints, linked the men to the vehicles used in the attack.

At least 12 people took part in the attack and videos from security cameras show “other accomplices” who had not been spotted by investigators during the initial review of the footage, De la Garza said.

One vehicle stops in the middle of the street to “see whether the attack that was ordered is being staged,” the Nuevo Leon AG said.

“Based on the statements and evidence we have, we can determine that the people were not the target,” De la Garza said, adding that some of those involved in the attack “are burned.”

“It was a situation that became chaotic and got out of control,” the Nuevo Leon AG said.

The criminals ordered the security guards and other people inside the casino to get out, preventing more people from dying, De la Garza said.

Authorities have asked Interpol for assistance in locating Casino Royale owner Raul Rocha Cantu, federal Attorney General’s Office regional chief Jose Cuitlahuac Salinas said.

Investigators have obtained a statement from a pilot who they are certain flew Rocha Cantu out of the country, the federal prosecutor said.

Federal authorities are looking for the Casino Royale owner so they can get a statement from him.

The casino torched last week is owned by Grupo Royale, which has gambling establishments in the cities of Monterrey, Mazatlan, Los Cabos and Escobedo.

“It is very important to use this tragic event as an opportunity to once and for all” impose order on the casino industry, Gov. Medina said.

Some casinos operate under court orders and the licenses of others are passed from person to person without any oversight, the governor said.

The federal government completed the deployment on Monday of 1,500 army troops in Monterrey to bolster security in the wake of the attack on the casino.

A total of 1,500 Federal Police officers arrived Sunday in Monterrey as part of the federal government’s efforts to restore order to the industrial city.

Monterrey and its suburbs have been battered by a wave of drug-related violence since March 2010, when three rival cartels reportedly went to war with Los Zetas.

Los Zetas has been battling an alliance of the Gulf, Sinaloa and La Familia drug cartels, known as the Nueva Federacion, for control of the Monterrey metropolitan area and smuggling routes into the United States.

A total of 267 murders were registered in Monterrey in 2009, with the figure rising to 828 in 2010 and more than 1,100 so far this year, according to official figures.

EFE

43 comments:

  1. Death penalty for Mexico.

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  2. Scolded by the bosses? ordering people out? So the
    sicaros safe some people, jajaja! What is the AG & Governor doing? Trying to minimize what this gangster did? Kill em All!!!!

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  3. citizens were not the targets? politician trying to diffuse the situation for some reason. the thugs had no regard to who was in the building, they did not go in there and get everybody out, no sir, they just torched the place with no regard for human life, like they give a shit. let's see what kind of justice mexican govt can deliver to their people. Mexico needs to severly punish these swines, like medieval torture would send a message. find a mesquite tree and hang them before they escape from prison and do more damage. their chicken shit governor should step down and Gen Pancho Villa should be put in his place. Pancho would already have their hides tanned and ready for some lamps.

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  4. Hahaha did you guys here about that one guy that told calderon to watch what he says "that this wasnt a terrorist act,that it was deep deep criminal act,but not a terrorist act" hahaha

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  5. @10:46 pm.....yes, they were trying to claim it's no longer a terrorist act, because.....these guys didn't really mean to kill so many....WTF??!!

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  6. If pancho villa was alive during these horific times I promise u he would of never let this shit go on I am born mexican but gotten my us citezenship what mexico needs is another mexican revolution to be set free from these low life pieces of shit. I know that when judgement day comes those who have been doing these unhuman acts will get the worst that is coming to them eternety in hell

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  7. Wait so this wasnt a terrorist act,it was more like an extortion gone bad??????haha.What about those 52lives lost? .....when ever you fight against vicious out of their mind criminals you have to use the same strategy or an even deadlier one,my guess is this guys, the mexican goverment,the ppl in charge of dealing with these criminals have got so used to seeing decapited ppl,insane acts that their already used to it and probably in their minds dont believe this was a terrorist act.

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  8. It seems a little weird to minimize everything now. So if only ten people were killed, would anyone have been arrested?

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  9. I don't think you guys get the picture. Cartels don't like this kind of negative publicity. Some like the Zetas and Gulf are in a battle to the death but at the same time trying to win over the minds and hearts of the people. Obviously they studied the tactics of war. I still considered it a terrorist attack but at the same time it was known from day one, that civilians were not the target because from witness claimed that they heard them yelling to get out. Second the Casino owner should be held responsible as well because he locked all the emergency exits, which led to killing dozens because of this act.

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  10. Seems unlikely the boss they did it for would just "scold" them for screwing up. We all know if you screw up in a drugs cartel the boss will just kill you so to tie up the loose ends which could possibly lead back to them.

    I think they did exactly what whoever ordered them to do this wanted. That's why they are still alive.

    Hope these pieces of shit can give valuable info onto where the scum who ordered this is.

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  11. There's a hint of a whitewash going on.

    I don't care what their intentions were.. Their dangerous actions have had a catastrophic outcome and they need severe punishment. If they lament the loss of life they should have let everyone out before they set fire to the only exit.

    The thought process of these drug-addled gangsters is astounding.

    I'm also disturbed that they still haven't talked to the owner of the casino. If you own a casino you should have to be visible and accessible to government agencies.

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  12. awww..pobrecitos...scolded ..and arrested ..they have suffered enough..they said they are sorry ...gee whiz people givem a break... buy them all a new scooter and cel phone and release them..

    but first ..just who are these "bosses"

    WAIT BEFORE YOU POUNCE NINNYMOUSE..I AM JUST KIDDING ...ALL EXCEPT THE PART ABOUT THE BOSSES

    drag these assholes to death behind a car...slowly.. up and down the streets of Monterrey

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  13. If they didn't wanted to kill civilians, just to "scare the owner", why they didn't burned the casino when it was closed??? It seems like they are believing what these animals are saying!! What are they supposed to say??? Yes we wanted to kill everybody??? It's obvious that they are trying to minimize their actions, but we all know (except the General attorneys Office) that these cowards don't give a damn about innocent lives!!

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  14. does anyone know why all the emergency exits in the Casino were locked yet? You'd think someone would want to know how that happened.

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  15. “It is very important to use this tragic event as an opportunity to once and for all” impose order on the casino industry, Gov. Medina said

    hmm ....allow me to translate this pithy statement

    “It is very important to use this tragic event as an opportunity to once and for all” impose greater mordidas on the casino industry,and further enrich ourselves ,

    (we can continue to ignore the real problem ,which is that we (the wealthy, ruling class , exemplified by myself) have from generation to generation ruled Mexico as a feudal kingdom ..interested only in preserving our own wealth and security while ignoring the plight of the common people and leaving them to their own devices , resulting in the grass roots empowerment of the drug cartels, which in turn extract wealth from the USA and the lower classes of Mexico and further enrich us as well)

    this is also an opportunity for us to use public opinion to pressure the various heads of the DTO's to increase the amount of mordida paid to us

    played properly gentleman , this can be an enormous boon to us all

    scene fades as the grandees smile, nod and rub their hands together in a greedy fashion

    i think that's what he was really saying ...but that is just my opinion

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  16. Who knows, the mayor could have ordered this to happen. He is on the take. His broter got caught on video in a casino accepted a box full of peso notes.

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  17. Always enjoy reading your comments Lito.

    The second paragraph says it all my friend.

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  18. I think people are erroneously too fast to call this a terrorist act. The way the Zetas act and operate is incongruent with a terrorist organization. Yes, they are vicious, sanguinary, cruel and should be exterminated, but terrorist group they are not.

    If people are going to start calling and major massacre a terrorist act, then Mexico has been plagued by terrorism since its inception. I don't think that falls solely under a definition of terrorism. The State Government of the U.S. has tried to give a loose definition to terrorism, but it also recognizes that such a term can be defined in various ways, let's look at one of their definitions:

    "The term "terrorism" means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant/*/ targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience."

    I don't think the attack on the casino had any sort of political connotations, the possibility that it might have been a terrorist attack should not be completely discarded, but so far, I don't think there's enough information to catalog the attack as "terrorism". Who knows, I wouldn't be surprised if the material perpetrators lost control of the situation and did not mean for all those persons to die.

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  19. They could'nt kill the owner of the casino because he disappeared. instead they took it out on the innocent customers.

    Once again, it's the innocents who get abused and murdered.

    That's the narco mentality: pay us or we will kill you and if we can't find you, we will kill anyone we want just because we can.

    The cartels are like lil' children when they don't get their ways.

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  20. Bravo..you managed to catch the small fish in the pond. Now how about the big fish? Z3 or Z40..these five idiots could dick up a two part assembly with instructions containing pictures and words! They are not even remotely worried about their crime..I saw a picture on another blog site, where the chump in the blue shirt is actually smirking or blowing a kiss at the camera, as he was passing by the media being escorted by the authorities (what a fucking retard!).

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  21. @ ajulio

    thanks man..i get a good one off every now and then..that is when they let me out for a few days

    @ hasta

    it is a good question as to what defines "terrorism" the US state department?...

    Wikipdia? from wikipedia:

    "There is no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition of terrorism.[1][2] Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for a religious, political or ideological goal, and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians)"

    even though this definition dosen't include financial reasons ...to me... whatever scares, is terrifying

    the pendejos who did this obviously botched the job...and look how senor Medina is kicking ass on the casinos...no big round up of narcos ..and narco supporters ..not yet anyway...

    sort of off the subject,,,but i talked to a friend in Monterrey last night ..they told me that there were lots more soldiers ..instead of convoys of five or six..now it is eight and ten..i asked if they were out patrolling the streets on foot , checking id's and so forth... no..just driving around..i asked ..are the little guys still in the park dealing ..si ..and are the guys still sitting on their scooters with their cellphones...si as always ..
    now the question is ..are the Mexican "authorities" really that incompetent..i mean really..they are pretty damned competent when shaking people down..the times the "policia" robbed me ..they were really quick and efficient at sticking their hands in my pockets and stealing my pesos

    or is this a big show of force...circus for the public...probably followed by equally lackluster results...next time the mayors brother collects the mordida ..he will want a bigger box

    my opinion anyway

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  22. Texcoco Mex said.

    A pinche "L"B estas cabron but I like what you said.

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  23. Nothing suprising here, they are using the very same excuse we do when we kill dozens of afghan civilians in air strikes. Just like them we go

    "Well we didnt really mean to kill them but shit happens! Sorry!"

    And absolutely nothing happends to the people ordering and performing ordering those strikes, why should it be any different with these dudes. I say let them apologise and then let them go.

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  24. @
    Texcoco Mex..

    jaja whats up tex?..i have been reading some good posts you put up lately ..this is some shit huh?..

    where are the "bosses"...the guys who paid these punks to do this shit..still waiting...hundreds more policia y militares but no captures..maybe it was the mayors brother?

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  25. The attack on the WTC on September 11th was in no way a terrorist act. Those buildings were designed to take the impact of a plane. How could anyone have predicted the buildings would come down?

    Really, some people's logic here is just too out of line. It is terrorism, now get over it, and deal with it. Hasta la Madre - no wonder you guys can't deal with this. You haven't got a clue.

    The drug war is very much a political conflict. This is because the politicians are part of the problem.

    The governor is nothing more than an apologist for these scum, as he is on the pay role.

    Finally, so what if they didn't mean for those people to die? So what? It's too late. If they didn't want them to die, they shouldn't have gone in there and set fire to the place.

    The IRA, a terrorist organization, used to phone through first and tell the authorities where the bombs were planted. I know, as I lived through that. Now you could easily say that they didn't want people to die either, as they gave prior warning. But so what? Who cares? Planting bombs and setting fire to buildings to get your own way is terrorism. The UK saw it for what it was. Why can't you?

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  26. August 31, 2011 8:25 AM!

    Of course this was an act of terrorism.It was the "systematic use of violence and intimidation to achieve some goal."( dictionary.com) All criminal groups which use violence directed toward the population, citizenry, or the institutions of the government are terrorists. They only understand power and must be dealt with accordingly.Direct all resources of power, all focus, toward the elimination of the threat. Terrorize back and restore order.

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  27. What happens next will define the spirit of the Mexican people, and how this war evolves from here on out. This is a war between the 95% of the population that are good, honest folks, and the 5% which are corrupt politicians and cops, and bottom-feeder thugs like these. Are the 95% going to take some responsibility for doing what needs to be done, OR they can continue to sit back with a 'theres nothing we can do' expression and let guys like these chubby idiot losers define Mexico and life of it's citizens. These guys are the fat, lazy and stupid of society, and in the minority - yet they are calling the shots over everyone else ??!!

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  28. The immigrants massacre. The killing at Falcon lake. The murdered ICE agent. The chopped up sisters. The Monterrey casino massacre.

    The Zetas are getting away with way too much bloodshed. Something needs to be done immediately. It's one deadly incident after another. It will never end with these dirty indios. Find El Lazca and destroy this dirty cockroach.

    Send them all to Guatemala where they belong. The Zetas bring in busloads of Guatemaltecans into Mexico just to work for the Zetas. They are used as pawns to do the dirty work and in the end, they are not even paid for their work.

    CDG should really try hard to avoid hurting innocents. Los Zetas are really digging a ditch for themselves. Pendejo Calderon needs to use U.S. intelligence to find Z3, Z40, get all those Z rat bastards.

    MATAN ZETAS!!!

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  29. 11:54am why is it out of line? Very few things are as black and white as you make them out to be. According to one of the definitions on the US State Government website and based on the divulged knowledge so far, it isn't clear if the attack on the casino was a terrorist act or not. As horrible and upsetting the events of last Thursday were, there's a criteria to be met to be able to call an event a "terrorist act".

    LB: I didn't want to use the wiki definition because it didn't seem to have as much weight as a definition backed by the U.S. government. Also, terrifying and terrorism are not the same thing. If terrifying equaled terrorism, then something like Columbine could easily be qualified as such.

    Here's a link to the aforementioned definition:
    http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2000/2419.htm

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  30. Somehow the authorities quickly find the bottom feeding dirt bags who pulled off the casino attack. These low life scum freely admit communication with their bosses both before and after the event. So why is it so difficult to find the ones who gave the orders/planned the thing. Very disconcerting - the slime starts whining they they didn't mean to kill anyone, just a good scare, but things got out of hand. The troubling aspect is that some of the authorities in Monterrey are buying into this, possibly in the weak attempt to minimize political damage. Yahoo ran a story yesterday where one of the survivors states that the sicarios that entered the casino were shouting they were going to kill everyone. Things don't add up.

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  31. Here is a link to a good video:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNF_MuXBt68

    When will this ever end.

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  32. Terrorism means any act of terror. I don't care what the state department says. If a cartel brings down a sky scraper, do we not call that terrorism because its not politically motivated? The facts remain the same

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  33. the reason for the downplay of the incident by the authorities as being an accident is because the polititions are on their side. The fast capture of the suspects and now the "story" of not targeting the people was plotted by the Zetas with help of the authorities. Of course citizens were the target, maybe not 52, but they were the target. These 5 suspects were turned over to the authorities along with this bullshit story to make it sound like the Zetas aren't that bad. They are!!!!! Everyone in Mexico knows that if you got rid of the Zetas there wouldn't be violence on the level it is right now. But unfortunatley you have too many police, polititions, military who don't care aobut this country and are only looking to pad their pockets. If they aren't careful, they are going to ruin all the progress Mexico has made the past 12 years in becoming a developing country. Correction, they already are ruining it but its not too late to stop it.

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  34. Texcoco Mex said.

    As much as I hate to admit, Mexican corruption has played a big role on this atrocities. According to MundoNarco the brother of the Mayor of Monterrey was the one who collected the quotas from the casinos.

    MundoNarco publish security pictures were you can see the brother of the Mayor collecting money here I give you the link.

    http://www.blogdelnarco.com/2011/08/escandalo-en-monterrey-hermano-del.html

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  35. Texcoco Mex said.

    Manuel Jonás Larrazabal is the name of the Mayors brother,
    he was the one collecting the quotas.

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  36. yeap..it is really starting to smell...the big wreath and memorial..the days of official mourning.. the partial shifting of blame to the USA..(the standard whipping boy for the failures of the elites of Mexico)..the speedy capture...the pooh poohing of the crime and the apology of the criminals who committed it.. the pogrom against the casinos..the big increase in policia y militares..(the big show of force)...and last but certainly not least ...the apparent total loss of focus on the "bosses" who ordered the deed...it is developing into a classic coverup...

    sometime you can learn more from what is not done or said ..than you can from what is done and said

    and it seems like what is not being done ...is an all out effort to locate the planners of this crime

    WHERE ARE THE "BOSSES" WHO ORDERED THIS ATROCITY????

    by this time there should be whole yard full of beat up zetas ..both great and small

    i was leaning towards blaming the US for funding los zetas..but now i am re-thinking it...maybe the backers are closer to home..a lot closer

    somewhere tonight there are guys deciding who to throw under the bus for this, to chill the trail and complete the coverup

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  37. To all the people involved in the investigation to catch these punks, OUTSTANDING JOB!!!!! Slowly but surely Mexico is doing what it's suppost to do. The Good has to defeat the Evil in this world, especially in Mexico. Hay la llevan MI MEXICO, despacito pero seguro.

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  38. Texcoco Mex said.

    Here is a little more about the Mayors brother.

    Nuevo Leon Gov. Rodrigo Medina announced initiatives to ban new betting operations and to better regulate existing ones, as well as a corruption probe into Jonas Larrazabal, brother of Monterrey Mayor Fernando Larrazabal who was caught on videotape visiting several unidentified casinos and being handed large amounts of money.

    The newspaper Reforma, which published the images Wednesday, estimated that one wad of cash passed in a cell phone box was 400,000 pesos ($32,000). Mayor Fernando Larrazabal said that he supports the probe.

    "First of all, the people voted for Fernando Larrazabal, and I'm not responsible for my brother's actions," he said. "I will ask the prosecutor to investigate and bring whoever is responsible to justice."

    I don't know if this is truth but is coming up on the news.

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  39. Texcoco Mex said.

    Here I will give you another video, in this video you can see a bunch of men with guns damaging video machines on a casino in Monterrey on 25 of May 2011, five days later on May 30 Jonás Larrazabal was capture by security cameras collecting money from the casinos.

    This is the link for the video.

    http://guerracontraelnarco.blogspot.com/2011/09/pagan-larrazabal-tras-susto-casinos.html

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  40. To me, the suspects' stories of the incident suggest at leas two important things:
    1. There appears to have been am act done before because the crew it showed familiarity with arson.

    2. The "brazen"arsonists worked under the umbrella of "impunity" from the law.

    About "impunity", Mexicans live in paralyzing fear so that they do nothing concerning crime of real consequence.
    Add to this the deep and pervasive "official" corruption at all levels.

    And, lastly, everyone knows that for generations that Mexico is an oligarchy ... a "show" democracy and that the judicial, law enforcement, and Army corrupt.

    In my opinion, Mexico is a "failed" State.

    Mexico Watcher

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  41. F**k them and burn them!

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  42. El compa chuy le iso un corrido a el cash de los zetas. Se llama el corrido del cash esta chingon

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  43. @September 1, 2011 8:12 PM

    Ain't f*cking an animal against a law in Mexico?

    ReplyDelete

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