Source: Slain cop suspected of Mexican Mafia affiliation

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SAN ANTONIO — The stunning killing last week of a Balcones Heights police officer by armed masked men has the hallmarks of a gang hit, which is partly why investigators are now looking at his suspected affiliations with the Texas Mexican Mafia, sources have told the San Antonio Express-News.

Social media postings show that Officer Julian Pesina — co-owner of Notorious Ink, where he was gunned down May 4 — was covered in tattoos. An “M-13” tattoo on his shoulder is exclusive to the Texas Mexican Mafia, also known as La Eme, according to gang experts. The M, or “eme” in Spanish, is very important to the Texas Mexican Mafia. The number 13 also denotes an M, the 13th letter of the alphabet.

“That's very group specific,” said Johnny Santana, a former criminal investigator with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice who has investigated scores of Eme hits.

Pesina also uploaded on his YouTube channel two videos of a near relative named M-One. One of the videos opens with the singer saying, “Merecido for life, partner.”

A “merecido” — deserved one — is what Texas Mexican Mafia members call themselves, as they subscribe to the philosophy of the gang's founder, San Antonio's Herb Huerta. He pushed a philosophy that TMM, or Mexikanemi, is a mystical descendancy of Aztec warriors.

Another indicator of possible gang involvement, according to experts, is a University of Michigan cap Pesina is seen wearing in Facebook photos. It is an accessory many members wear. In 2004, the FBI and Santana unearthed a Mexican Mafia member from a shallow grave in southern Bexar County. Found with his remains was a Michigan cap.

Pesina took peace officer classes at San Antonio College but was never a student in Michigan, according to his Balcones Heights personnel file, which was released to the Express-News Tuesday.

“He just had too many indicators as far as the gang world,” Santana said. “Officers who work this, we recognize all of those things.”

But whether Pesina's slaying was related to gang activity, only the investigation will tell, he said.

The FBI, which has taken down several leadership groups of the gang in the past two decades, is now assisting the San Antonio Police Department in the investigation of the killing. The FBI would not comment beyond that.

Sgt. Javier Salazar, an SAPD spokesman, would not discuss the details of the shooting or the possible motives. He said they were treating it as a murder and that the homicide division — not the gang task force — was investigating.

For more on this story, visit ExpressNews.com or read the Wednesday print edition of the San Antonio Express-News.

Staff Writer Drew Joseph contributed to this report.