THE BORDER REPORT

There seems to be gross amounts of misinformation hitting the press about that missing plane carrying the top figures of the U.S.-Mexico International Water and Boundary Commission. And I don't think it's the press's fault, but it does have me wondering if the story's being, shall we say, handled.

The Mexicans are saying they know where the plane is while the Americans are saying they do not know.

Citing Chihuahua Gov. Jose Reyes, The Associated Press reported yesterday that the Cessna 421 had been found near Ojinaga and Presidio. The governor's office retracted that report this morning, telling the ABC News affiliate Reyes had based that off initial reports.

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THE BORDER REPORT

Well this is going offend a certain someone in Sinaloa.

AskMen.com has named the nearly extinct Arellano Felix organization as the eighth deadliest organized crime syndicate in the world, behind the Russians, Japanese and a small but growing Italian syndicate.

Their source for this prestige is a DEA quote naming the Arellanos as the deadliest of Mexico's top three drug cartels.

Magazines run top ten lists all the time, usually scantily reported nonsense – that happens to feed 7 million readers. I've no idea if Joaquin Shorty Guzmán reads AskMen.com, but if he did, he'd probably be offended.

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SECRETO A VOCES

As far as scoops go, it wasn’t a bad story. A drug lord from the provincial narco-capital of Nogales had been attacked along with his 17-year-old stepdaughter. She died, he was shot four times, taking two to the arm. The Feds made note of who they were dealing with, Jose Peralta, the second in command of Arturo Beltrán Leyva’s operations in Nogales. Someone in Justice Department realized who he was and wrote it up into an intelligence report sent out to Arizona law enforcement. Someone else passed the report on to me and thank goodness they did; sources are the bedrock of how I get anything done around here.

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THE BORDER REPORT

Reforma newspaper, and indeed every newspaper in the country, is carrying the story this morning; 24 found dead, all with their hands and feet bound, the traditional tiro de gracia to the head.

What size army do you need to manhandle 24 men, stringing them up like marionettes and delivering an execution shot to each and every one?

It started with a mass levantón in Acapulco and went on from there. You figure, what, four to seven men for every one that is lifted, that's at least 100 gunmen in 20 vehicles. Someone is cruising Mexico with a small army right now.

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THE BORDER REPORT

Is the United States letting known narco-trafficking figures into the country for treatment? A recent case in Sonora last week appears to give a resounding, yes.

A top cartel figure in the Beltrán Leyva organization shot four times in Nogales, Sonora, was treated at a hospital in Tucson last week after being admitted to the U.S. by the Homeland Security Department.

José Guadalupe Peralta Valenzuela was identified as the second in command of Arturo Beltrán Leyva's Nogales operations. Peralta's standing in the organization was noted in an intelligence report drafted by the Arizona HIDTA. He was attacked Aug. 24, his 17-year-old step-daughter murdered and he himself taking four bullets.

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