Grisly warnings from Mexico's drug cartels
"In case decapitating their victims and dumping the heads in picnic coolers didn't make the point, the killers left a note," writes the Times' Ken Ellingwood in Mexico City.
" 'This is a warning,' " it said, listing an alphabet soup of Mexican police agencies and the noms de guerre of several well-known drug figures. "' You get what you deserve.' "
"Amid a wave of drug-related violence across Mexico, the dead these days are frequently accompanied by macabre calling cards known popularly as 'narco-messages.' "
"Part threat and part boast, the messages have multiplied as drug killings have risen to record levels amid a government crackdown on organized crime and deadly turf wars among traffickers."
Photo: A forensic expert lifts a human head from the scene where two decapitated heads were found in the city of Ciudad Juarez, northern Mexico, June 2, 2008. Credit: David Cruz, Associated Press
-- Reed Johnson in Mexico City
