Boy runs drug gang, murders women, faces light sentence

Mexican authorities say they have captured a 15-year-old boy who has confessed to managing  a drug trafficking gang near the Mexican resort of Cancun.

CANCUN, MEXICO (Catholic Online) - Police say the boy has also confessed to killing two women who may have been working as drug dealers. 

This is the second time in a year that a very young male has been arrested and accused of being a drug gang killer in Mexico. In November of last year, soldiers arrested a 14-year-old American citizen who said he had killed four people and hung their bodies from a bridge.

The arrests are signs of a disturbing trend as increasingly savage and violent Mexican drug cartels begin to employ larger numbers of children in their myriad schemes to terrorize civilians and generate profits for themselves.

Mexican authorities say the young man is heavily tattooed, and are only referring to him by his nickname, "El Gallito" which means "The Little Rooster".

The Quintana Roo State Attorney General, said the boy claims to have been responsible for the Isla Mujeres drug market and a gang known as the "Los Pelones" or the "Shaved Heads". The gang is reportedly fighting the Zetas cartel for control of the drug trade around the coastal resort of Cancun.

An anonymous spokesman for the police told reporters, "He confessed to having full participation in carrying out these deeds, and from the start he claimed to have been in charge of drug sales in the area, in this case for the Pelones, and that his duties were to receive the drugs."

The women he killed, were found on Thursday with their throats slashed in a local hotel. According to officials, the women were killed because they sold drugs obtained from an outside source.

The boy is currently being held in a youth facility and will face homicide charges. Because of his age, he cannot be identified, nor can he be tried as an adult. Additionally, he cannot be held in prison after he turns 18, regardless of the severity of his crimes.

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