14 DAY TRIAL // Los Angeles gang member Joe Luis Saenz is being brought to the States after being captured in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Saenz is listed on the FBI' 10 Most Wanted List of fugitives, following charges of murder, kidnapping and rape. Officials caught up to him in Mexico on Thursday, November 22, according to a statement by FBI assistant director for the Los Angeles office, Bill Lewis.
US and Mexican law enforcement agencies collaborated to track down 37-year old Saenz, the St. Louis Post Dispatch details. Police was offering $100,000 (€77,000) for information on Saenz's location. He has been listed on the FBI record for dangerous criminals still at large, since 2009.
He is suspected of being an enforcer and hitman for a drug cartel operated by Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles. Two murders of rival gang members, dating July 1998, are said to have been carried out by Saenz. The shootings occurred after they allegedly went after one of Saenz's associates, taking his life.
Police reports also point to him as the responsible for Sigrieta Hernandez, his girlfriend at the time, who was in the process of testifying against him. The mother of their daughter, Hernandez was found dead two weeks after coming forward. She had been kidnapped and raped.
The fugitive will also be charged for the drug-related murder of one Oscar Torres. He reportedly owed $600,000 (€462,600) from a transaction that went wrong, when the police pulled him over in traffic and confiscated the amount.
In October 2008, Torres was killed in his home in Whittier and another person at the scene was injured. CCTV footage reveals that Saenz was responsible for his death.
Joe Luis Saenz's extradition to the United States is on its way, with a hearing to be scheduled for the next few days. The FBI website notes that he planned to shoot a police officer, in the event of his arrest.