MONTERREY, Nuevo Leon – A cartel boss wanted on federal homicide charges in Texas is now suspected of ordering hits on two former police officers in one of the wealthiest cities in the Mexican border state of Nuevo Leon. The deaths are tied to a theory that the cops switched from working with a cartel to become informants.

On Thursday evening, an unidentified gunman shot two former cops as they left a local restaurant in the Centrito Valle entertainment district in the Monterrey metro. The ritzy suburb is often touted as the safest in the border state, however, U.S. law enforcement sources say it is the operational hub of Jose Rodolfo “El Gato” Villarreal, a deadly cartel lord who now controls drug trafficking, extortion, and money laundering operations in the area. Villarreal and his gunmen are not only considered ruthless, but methodical in their executions, surveillance avoidance, and evidence disposal.

The two victims are identified as David Alfredo “La Fiona” Neira Llanas and Jesus Moreno de Haro. Prior to leaving the San Pedro Police Department, Moreno de Haro received various service commendations.

Law enforcement sources revealed the main suspect in the case is Jose Rodolfo “El Gato” Villarreal, who apparently believed his two cops became informants following a series of raids on his assets. Villarreal is currently wanted in Texas for the Dallas area execution of narco-lawyer-turned-informant Jesus Guerrero Chapa. Guerrero Chapa was living in Southlake when gunmen killed him after a paramilitary surveillance operation. Villarreal had a personal vendetta against Guerrero Chapa, who he blamed for the murder of his father.

Intelligence information obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed that Neira Llanas left the department in disgrace in 2012 after being linked to the kidnapping and execution of David Villarreal Fernandez, a local businessman heading the Alcohol Bureau in Monterrey at the time. Authorities found the victim’s tortured body in San Pedro. A subsequent investigation revealed that Eleazar “El Cochi” Palomo, a jailed lieutenant for the Beltran Leyva Cartel, ordered that murder over a debt of $8 million pesos ($400,000 USD). The probe found that numerous police officers in San Pedro, including La Fiona, were moonlighting for the Beltran Leyva.

U.S. authorities assigned to work in Mexico routinely keep a close eye on San Pedro since the area is the wealthiest suburb in Monterrey and attracts considerable foreign investment and tourism. The town is also where many of the employees assigned to the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey reside.

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by Tony Aranda from Nuevo Leon.