Cartel leader wanted in connection to Southlake murder extradited to U.S.

A Mexican cartel boss could appear in a federal court in Texas as soon as Friday.

José Rodolfo Villarreal-Hernández, known as "El Gato," is one of 29 prisoners handed over by Mexico on Thursday to face justice.

It is a stunning turn of events.

Villarreal-Hernández’s extradition marks a pivotal moment in a case that shocked North Texas.

The brazen ambush happened in broad daylight in May 2013 at Southlake Town Square, a shopping center full of people, including Juan Jesús Guerrero-Chapa, a husband and father of three living in Southlake.

Guerrero-Chapa and his wife had just returned to their Range Rover after shopping when assassins drove up and shot him multiple times in the passenger seat.

“They had ski masks on, nobody saw them, so it was kind of pre-planned,” one shopper said at the time.

It was later revealed that Guerrero-Chapa was a U.S. government informant who had been the personal lawyer for the former head of the notorious Gulf Cartel.

The FBI said he had been stalked for more than a year before the murder by the same group who shot him execution-style in Southlake.

The alleged ringleader: Villarreal-Hernández, leader of the Beltrán Leyva Drug Trafficking Organization, who investigators believe had a personal grudge against the victim.

Villarreal-Hernández became an FBI Most Wanted fugitive, with investigators saying he orchestrated the murder-for-hire.

He was arrested in 2023 by authorities in Mexico, where he remained until Tuesday’s extradition.

According to a press release from U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi, Villarreal-Hernández is one of 29 wanted defendants from Mexico taken into U.S. custody.

Villarreal-Hernández is also believed to be responsible for numerous murders in Mexico.