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Multiple Ranches in Laredo, TX Taken Over by Los Zetas

July 24th, 2010 . by TexasFred

Multiple Ranches in Laredo, TX Taken Over by Los Zetas

Invasion or Hoax? Did The Cypress Times get *had*?

Publisher’s Note: We are now receiving numerous conflicting reports regarding the veracity of this article. Numerous sources on the web (found via Google search) are picking up on this report, just as we did at The Cypress Times. The original writer for this article stands by his sources. If you wish to inquire about the sources, please visit the original story source URL listed in the article body below. I can tell you that as of now The Cypress Times has been unable to confirm the story. - John G. Winder, Publisher - The Cypress Times.

by Digger - republished with permission from DiggersRealm

UPDATE: Story is now 100% confirmed by second source within the Laredo Police Department

The bloodbath continues along our southern border and now word is coming in that Los Zetas, the highly trained killers formerly with the Gulf Cartel, have crossed into the United States and taken over at least two ranches in the Laredo, Texas area. I am receiving word that the owners of the ranches have evacuated without being harmed.

Founder of the San Diego Minutemen Jeff Schwilk tipped me off to this story and passes along the following information on the location. The ranches are said to be “near Mines Rd. and Minerales Annex Rd about 10 miles NW of I-35″.

Update - Statement from Mr. Schwilk)

I can personally vouch that this info came in late last night from a reliable police source inside the Laredo PD. There is currently a standoff between the unknown size Zeta forces and U.S. Border Patrol and local law enforcement on two ranches on our side of the Rio Grande. The source tells us he considers this an “act of war” and that the military is needed on the border now!

Whether it is lone members or squads is not certain.

Full Story Here:
BREAKING: Multiple Ranches in Laredo, TX Taken Over by Los Zetas - TheCypressTimes

The 1st RULE of good journalism is VERIFY! There is NO OTHER news source on the ‘net that is posting this story.

Many blogs and forums have posted this piece, it went viral in a very short time. I have also seen quite a few sites that are taking this piece down, removing it from their sites because there are some serious doubts in the minds of responsible bloggers.

Local law enforcement was bombarded with calls from across the country Saturday asking about a report that the Zetas had taken over two ranches off Mines Road.

But officials with the Laredo Police Department, Webb County Sheriff’s Department and Border Patrol said they knew nothing about such an incident, while Erik Vasys, an FBI spokesman in San Antonio, said the agency does not comment on rumors.

The report, which spread like wildfire among blogs Saturday afternoon, appears to have initially been posted on a blog called Diggers Realm.

Full Story Here:
Officials know nothing of rumored Zeta standoff on Mines Road

I have been cautioning a lot of folks, be VERY careful in re-posting this story, NONE of the BIG news services have it, no other source in Texas has it other than The Cypress News.

I called the Laredo, TX Police Dept. and they said they have NO information and referred me to the Webb County Sheriffs Office. I called the Webb County S.O. and got NO answer.

I can’t, and won’t post this as an irrefutable fact on MY blog, simply because one paper, The Cypress Journal, doesn’t give enough citation of source. Especially when the paper says the Laredo PD is their source and the Laredo PD denies it.

Some have said that a TOTAL NEWS BLACKOUT has been imposed on the MSM. I find that VERY hard to believe. Even a total blackout would still render at least some information.

The MSM is a devious bunch, they’d have a guy up in an Ultra-Lite plane with a cell phone camera if that’s what it took.

This is either a huge hoax or a huge cover-up. I’m thinking HOAX!

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33 Responses to “Multiple Ranches in Laredo, TX Taken Over by Los Zetas”

  1. comment number 1 by: Bloviating Zeppelin

    As I wrote to you, YOU’VE done more work on just this story than the bulk of American “journalists.” I can understand the MSM wanting to quash this story as it potentially places our darker, more violent brethren to the south in a poor light and would lend credence to border states wishing to place a more controlled grip on illegal invasion.

    Think about it: if it IS true and the story gets out, this will be the possible match that lights a firestorm. An actual invasion of this country.

    But be careful; be very careful. Verify. Always verify.

    BZ

  2. comment number 2 by: mrchuck

    Great scoop Texas Fred!
    If no Texas ranchers have been killed, then it is time for our forces, Sheriff and help, or Texas Rangers, to go in there and re-claim Texas land for the Texas Landowner.
    If it becomes true fact, the the Governor can mobilize the Texas Natl Guard to respond in force immediately.
    Congrats for getting this out to your blog readers.

  3. comment number 3 by: HoosierArmyMom

    Since this is exactly the sort of thing that gives credence to Arizona’s case and make MaObama’s minions, especially that communist troll Eric Holder, look like utter idiots, the liberal media can be counted on to keep this quiet, but you are right to tread lightly. It is good that we can count on you Fred, to do the leg work, research and get to the truth.

    I await further details. I’m proud to be a reader of your blog and your friend. God Bless Texas and the USA!

  4. comment number 4 by: TexasFred

    I don’t think the *liberal* media is keeping ANYTHING quiet… I am pretty sure that it’s a hoax…

    I don’t give a damn WHO the POTUS or AG is, this is HUGE, if it’s real, there’s no way in hell even Olberdouche and Tingles wouldn’t be all over it…

    If it is real, and if there has been a *forced* media blackout, the Constitution just became a trash basket liner…

  5. comment number 5 by: James Shott

    The NYT seem unaffected by sensitivity of subjects. Perhaps it will publish the story.

  6. comment number 6 by: extex_cop

    I checked with FOX News and sent them the link to The Cypress Times story. I figure if any MSM was going to report on it…that FOX would be the one.
    I’ve heard nothing back and have seen nothing about it on the FOX News. You would think they would make a report saying that a Texas News outlet has been had and report the story as a big hoax….or do some kind of report to verify it.
    At least FOX is not one of those broadcasters that is controlled by Obama and his Liberal crew.
    If it is true…Obama or our Gov. Goodhair better do something or I see thousands of armed civilians ( Texans and others ) headed south to kill off some Mexican Invaders.

  7. comment number 7 by: Robert

    I’m thinking hoax as well. I posted as much on my blog. My only question now is WHY? Who benefits? Only one answer.

    Liberal so-called journalists would benefit from massive hysteria and mexico bashing that would be happening if this were true. The MSM would then be pointing to this instant as a reason to “Regulate” the blogsphere. As of right now if this incident truly is a HOAX then it’s a huge fail for the MSM and their liberpuke journalists.

    I suggest we do not let this story die, I want to know who was behind it if it is proven fake. The good folks in Laredo PD deserve to know who is responsible for the extra work they have had to do. How many LEGITIMATE calls didn’t get through because of this? How many folks didn’t get help as soon as they should have because of this? WE SHOULD DEMAND ANSWERS.

  8. comment number 8 by: Always On Watch

    I believe that the mainstream media is desperate enough to bait us so as to discredit us later.

    The “professional journalists” love to make fun of us bloggers. Of course, it is we bloggers who are publishing THE FACTS about Obama and others who are undermining our nation. If the mainstream media can discredit us in any way, they will.

    Good post, Fred!

    PS: Sorry that I haven’t been visiting lately. Mr. AOW is indeed getting better, but that improvement requires my participation in helping him with exercises. And, hey, we’re almost to the point that I can “walk” him. Please pray that Mr. AOW continues to improve.

    PPS: Keep sending jokes. Mr. AOW reads them all.

  9. comment number 9 by: TexasFred

    The 1st RULE of good journalism is VERIFY… A bunch of bloggers, and apparently, The Cypress Times, failed to do so…

    This is DiggersRealm idea of citation I am thinking, it’s what he has on the post: “The story is still developing and I’ll report more as I find out.”

    This is MY response TO Digger:

    LMAO… Seriously…

    Either your source is a LIAR, or you AND your source have conspired to write a *LOOK AT ME* post… Well, we have ALL looked, and dude, you screwed the pooch… Your post, and the eagerness, and gullibility of some bloggers that haven’t got the good sense to VERIFY, have made a good portion of the blogosphere look like IDIOTS…

    Journalistic Integrity… Look into it…

    A blogger may write the most wonderful blog for years, one post like this destroys their credibility…

    Kinda like that *1 ‘aw shit’ wipes out 3 ‘atta boys’* thing….

  10. comment number 10 by: Bull

    Pray it is not true.
    (…but I’ll keep an eye on the various outlets, just in case)

    With 100 days until the Dems face the fight of their political lives? Yeah, most likely a State-run media set up to discredit bloggers as news sources before the worst of the election firestorm.

  11. comment number 11 by: TexasFred

    Could this be the *source* of the, what so far appears to be, BOGUS information about an invasion by Mexico? It’s well over a year old, but someone looking to *sensationalize* a FAUX piece may think it’s been buried…

    FBI: Texas drug cell trains on own ranch
    By DANE SCHILLER Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
    May 19, 2009, 7:53PM

    The FBI is advising law enforcement officers across the country that a Texas cell of Los Zetas — an increasingly powerful arm of the Mexican Gulf Cartel drug trafficking syndicate — has acquired a secluded ranch where it trains its members to “neutralize” competitors in the United States.

    In order to ensure its share of the lucrative illegal drug trade, the cartel’s members reportedly are operating north of the border to collect debts and spy on competitors. They have also protected cocaine and heroin shipments that were bound for Houston, where they were repackaged and shipped on to Alabama, Delaware, Georgia and Michigan, according to the FBI.

    The information, which was disseminated Monday to state, local and federal agencies, does not provide specifics, such as the location of the ranch, but includes a notation that the information came from reliable FBI contacts.

    Trainees are reportedly taught about home invasions, firearms and ways to run vehicles off the road in order to kidnap occupants who owe drug debts.

    The Zetas have achieved almost mythical status in Mexico, as the small band of military deserters has become a managing partner for the Gulf Cartel, terrorizing rivals with beheadings, torture and mass killings.

    They are said to have a presence in large swaths of Mexico and are often described as being the most ruthless gangsters in Mexico’s underworld.

    Full Story Here:
    FBI: Texas cell of Mexican drug cartel trains on own ranch

    And a special Texas Hat Tip to Curt at Flopping Aces for digging up this older post and reference..

  12. comment number 12 by: BobF

    At one time in the US, news media would squash a story like this if the government told them National Security was at stake but not any more. When the first atomic bomb was tested in New Mexico, the MSM kept it under wraps. Nowadays, they all want to be first to break the big story.

    True or not, one fact is the people who live close to the border live in fear of this all the time. Those isolated ranchers know the time may come when their homes are invaded by an armed force and them and their families will be tortured and killed.

  13. comment number 13 by: TexasFred

    The time may come when I win the lottery and Charlize Theron wants to be my lover…

    It COULD happen, but it ain’t happened yet… :?

  14. comment number 14 by: TexasFred

    One other thing, and this is VERY important to the whole story, NO MAINSTREAM MEDIA has reported this…

    Malkin, a shrill Drama Queen, and Breitbart are the only thing even close to REAL media to touch this, and they do report good stuff on occasion, but they get it from SOURCES, they are NOT out in the field reporters with boots on the ground…

    All the IF it’s real is just that, IF, and so far, NOTHING as leaked out…

    C’mon people, do ANY of you believe that in this day and time that a NEWS BLACKOUT can be imposed and enforced? Short of shutting down the entire WWW? And obviously, that hasn’t happened…

    The *boy that cried WOLF* has struck again, and a great many people fell for it, hook, line and sinker…

    I am appalled at what the MSM has become, but for crying out loud, the Conservative blogosphere is supposed to be better than that, don’t fall for the BS folks, verify, and if in doubt, post a disclaimer… Our credibility is at stake here…

  15. comment number 15 by: Katie

    I wonder what a bunch of highly trained, highly motivated US veterans, armed with the best the military has in equipment would do to these low-life scumbags? (Pardon the language.)

    This vet is ready for action again. No vet is fully out of the service. The military can recall us for any reason. Securing the borders is a damn good reason!

  16. comment number 16 by: TexasFred

    Katie — Which bunch of low-life scumbags would you be talking about?

    The Los Zetas, that haven’t actually come over and seized anything??

    The idiot Dan “Digger” Amato at Diggers Realm that posted and spread this bogus BS??

    Jeff Schwilk, supposedly a San Diego Minuteman? An idiot that has NO knowledge of anything going on in Texas yet posted this as if he were a messenger from God?

    How about Kimberly Dvorak? The writer for *The Examiner* that hasn’t got a clue?

    Or maybe The Cypress News? They fell for it…

    Wait, I know, it’s those low-life scumbag bloggers that bought into this bullshit without verifying it…

    Stand down Katie, lose the *lets round up the Vets and go to war” histrionics, it’s a HOAX, didn’t you read ANY of this??

  17. comment number 17 by: Katie

    Did read it Fred. All of the above. We don’t need hoaxes like this when good men are being murdered on their own land.

    Although reactivating the “Radioactive Reserve” as we called ourselves may not be a bad idea. It would put some out of work vets back to work, and the skills we know will make a difference. It just might be a solution to the border problem until we can build a proper fence.

    1200 National Guard troops with orders not to engage the enemy will not work!

  18. comment number 18 by: TexasFred

    Well Katie, unless YOU have plans to lead an anarchist, revolutionary force…

  19. comment number 19 by: TexasFred

    Friends of ALIPAC, bloggers, leaders, and members of the media,

    As the primary focal point of information flows regarding the borders and illegal immigration, ALIPAC has both released astounding information to the public that was verified and we have stopped stories that were fakes.

    Many of you will remember the fake Shawna Ford photos, and some other false stories and rumors that ALIPAC took steps to quell.

    Today, we are issuing an advisory that the story being circulated on many blogs titled “Mexican Cartels Invade Texas” or “LOS ZETAS TAKES OVER TEXAS RANCHES” that was written by blogger Dan Amato aka Digger is unconfirmed. In fact, it is starting to look like it is completely false.

    While we will hold the door open for the possibility there’s some fire with this smoke, the story claims that the paramilitary drug and alien importing gang Los Zetas had invaded our side of the border and taken over several ranches in the US thus sending the American occupants running for their lives.

    In the past, materials from Dan Amato were welcome at ALIPAC, but his materials are no longer allowed in our archives after we observed Digger writing and attempting to publicize false information on multiple occasions.

    The current story he has circulated has not been confirmed using any of the standards or practices we would use, or any professional would use, to verify before releasing such claims.

    Claiming that military grade forces have actually seized US territory is not a matter that should be treated lightly. The threat of that happening is very real and the intense and costly reaction to such an incident is nothing to take chances with. Dan Amato took a lot of chances and ran a story that was just a rumor.

    Now we have reports from local law enforcement, local media, and citizens who live in the area Digger claims is under Los Zeta occupation and they all say there’s nothing like that happening in the area.

    While ALIPAC has documented, and fought against, many legitimate media blackouts on stories like these, we are not seeing the usual patterns that we have experienced before around this story. This coupled with the fact that Digger of Digger’s Realm BLOG acted on complete hearsay from a lone second hand source might indicate that a media blackout is not the true problem.

    We will advise everyone, if this story changes or actual verification or evidence surfaces.

    Until then we are advising everyone not to post or circulate the unverified claims by Digger that Los Zetas has taken over ranches in Texas.

    Furthermore, no new materials by Dan Amato or Digger’s Realm are allowed in ALIPAC’s archives because those materials do not meet our quality standards and we have a big problem with groups or individuals who make sensational claims without proper verification and confirmation that our readers and activists would expect.

    The ALIPAC Team
    http://www.alipac.us

  20. comment number 20 by: Katie

    This group will be part of the US Military. Protecting the border while younger men serve elsewhere. Best way to put them would be the old British term: Home Guard. Not outside the law, but a part of it.

  21. comment number 21 by: TexasFred

    Yeah… Whatever, that’s NOT what you inferred in the prior posts, NOW it’s starting to make a bit of sense…

  22. comment number 22 by: HoosierArmyMom

    Thanks Fred for the post on ALIPAC. As always, you are a consummate professional!

  23. comment number 23 by: Stormwarning

    Your integrity is so far above everyone else who “reported” this hoax that it isn’t fair to you.

    The border is porous (and I’m alot closer than you). Los Zetas have crossed the border before, but not this time (and if they had, there would be blood on I35). There is plenty to be concerned about without rumors and hoaxes.

    Border security is a serious problem. The people who perpetuated this rumor diminished AZ SB1070 and distracted everyone else from the real issues.

  24. comment number 24 by: Robert

    Not sure I agree with that Storm. I think this faux incident proved that for the most part, us bloggers are more engaged than ever. It also proves we won’t be duped into asshatery. There were a few folks out there that took this story and ran, thinking they would get the big break and become a TV news guest. MOST didn’t and refused to get drug into the mud with pigs.

    Nobody was distracted from AZ’s bill, we are keeping a keen eye on all the goings on in the Government. AZ’s bill is front and center but it’s only a fraction of the news. It is a huge part of the liberpuke agenda and it will be front and center for a long time to come. But we can’t take our eyes off the other stuff.

    Every bit of a “media frenzy” these days is followed by a slight of hand trick from the administration. Follow them carefully.

  25. comment number 25 by: Bloviating Zeppelin

    Robert, you make probably the best point here.

    BZ

  26. comment number 26 by: Katie

    This story also shows that we bloggers can do our own media frenzy. I saw this story in one form or another without bothering to check the facts.

    Sorry I didn’t make myself clearer earlier. I have been working for the last 36 hours straight. No sleep, coffee overdose.

  27. comment number 27 by: Stormwarning

    Robert, if you re-read what I wrote, I wrote that the rumor “diminished” AZ SB1070 (because it could trivialize its intention) and then I wrote that the rumor “distracted” everyone from the real issues. Consider the impact of this hoax on people who only know what they read on selected websites on the Internet.

    I hope this clarifies what I meant.

  28. comment number 28 by: TexasFred

    Indeed, the very existence OF this story may well have been to diminish AZ SB 1070… And to some degree, it may have worked, time will tell…

    But I am more and more convinced that this was a contrived and concerted effort to denigrate the RIGHT and our stand against ILLEGALS…

    An attempt to identify the crazies on the right, if you will, and folks, we DO have some less than sane people that claim to be *on the right*…

  29. comment number 29 by: Trencher

    @TexasFred #28

    That’s exactly what I was thinking

  30. comment number 30 by: Stormwarning

    Honestly you don’t have to be on the extreme right to be strongly in favor of control of illegal immigrants. We must stand against this silent invasion of the US from Mexico. And it is also critically important to understand that the are “other than Mexicans” crossing the border along with the illegals.

  31. comment number 31 by: TexasFred

    Storm — Fully agreed, but ya gotta admit, when something like this breaks, the extreme RIGHT reacts in the most incredible fashion, even though there was NO confirmation…

    I saw a link to Strom Front, those NAZI bastards we ready to go kick some ass… Not that some ass doesn’t need to be kicked, but Conservatives get branded every time a bunch like Aryan Nations or Storm Front rears their ugly heads…

  32. comment number 32 by: streetsweeper

    Thanks Fred! I don’t feel like the lone ranger checking this dumba** rumor out. Don’t leave out the Texas Nationalists, they’ve been itching for secession…

    Later neighbor!

  33. comment number 33 by: Stormwarning

    Even now those who perpetrated this fraud (I mean hoax) are weasels wording their retractions (which aren’t really retracting anything).

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