MONTERREY, Nuevo Leon — The murder of a drug lord who operated in the border state of Tamaulipas during the 1990s points to yet another escalation of cartel violence. The elder kingpin was kidnapped almost two weeks before his body was dumped in a parking lot.

Recently, authorities in Nuevo Leon discovered the body of Rolando “El Roly” Lopez Salinas in the ritzy suburb of San Pedro. The victim, aged between 65 and 70 years old, was found wrapped in a plastic tarp under a cartel banner. The victim died by strangulation. The banner warns of more violence and specifically targets various men who are known operators for the Beltran Leyva Cartel. Authorities believe the murder is part of an ongoing war for control between rival heads of the Beltran Leyva.

Law enforcement sources consulted by Breitbart Texas revealed that El Roly was a longtime resident of San Pedro, an upscale suburb of Monterrey. The man was spotted jogging and walking around the city without bodyguards or any type of escort. Earlier this month, a team of gunmen took El Roly by force–triggering his family to alert authorities.

Lopez Salinas is known as an old-time drug dealer who was a major player in the 1990s before the Gulf Cartel (CDG) and Los Zetas took over the Tamaulipas border and forced independent drug dealers to join their ranks. The elder smuggler was from Miguel Aleman, Tamaulipas, immediately south of Roma, Texas. That region is now one of the most important corridors used by the CDG to move drugs and illegal immigrants into Texas.

When the CDG began to take over territories, Lopez Salinas initially sided with the Sinaloa Cartel and later a splinter known as the Beltran Leyva. The rebuke led to a rivalry where the criminal organization tried to have him killed twice in the 1990s. Since then, Lopez was living in the border state of Nuevo León.

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 León.