By Mondo Frazier
Big Journalism
July 26, 2010

Texas Ranches Seized by Los Zetas Drug Cartel. Over the weekend this story caught fire in the blogosphere. One big reason the story went viral was that it fit the highly-believable narrative of violence spilling across a porous southern U.S. border.

As it stands, the story has neither been disproved or confirmed–although there’s disagreement on that point. Here’s a few reasons readers might want to keep an open mind.

Starting as a post on a blog dealing primarily with illegal immigration, Digger’s Realm, the story, BREAKING: Multiple Ranches In Laredo, TX Taken Over By Los Zetas [Update 3], began with a late Friday night tip.

Founder of the San Diego Minutemen Jeff Schwilk tipped me off to this story and passes along the following information on the location. The ranches are said to be “near Mines Rd. and Minerales Annex Rd about 10 miles NW of I-35″.

Statement from Mr. Schwilk:
I can personally vouch that this info came in late last night from a reliable police source inside the Laredo PD. There is currently a standoff between the unknown size Zeta forces and U.S. Border Patrol and local law enforcement on two ranches on our side of the Rio Grande. The source tells us he considers this an “act of war” and that the military is needed on the border now!

Digger added a “story is not 100% confirmed” to his article and posted it, but continued to work the story throughout the night.

First, let me clarify that I was also skeptical of the story when I initially heard word. It is certainly not because there haven’t been armed intrusions into the United States before from Mexico. There have been a ton in the last decade, but there have not been any where they would hold onto a position. They usually leave after a standoff or upon discovery…

I put out my feelers throughout the night to try and collect information and other credible sources to confirm the occupation of ranches in Laredo. I did not receive actual confirmation until this morning when I got word that Kimberly Dvorak of the Examiner had made multiple confirmations within the Laredo Police Department. Up until this point the story had not spread wide. There was no reason for the Laredo Police Department to crack down hard and keep things truly blacked out as there was no heavy interest from media.

At this point, things “took off” as more blogs jumped on the story; a few, myself included, worked the phones, contacting area police and other locals who might possibly confirm the story.

Local law enforcement were not saying much–but they were not denying it either. The policeman I spoke to alternated “I can’t confirm” with “I can’t say anything” for his answers. When asked if the “Webb County Sheriff was taking the lead on this,” the Laredo spokesman answered, “Yeah, and they can’t confirm anything either.”

Which makes those with suspicious minds wonder: why does someone take the lead on an event that’s not happened? Perhaps the spokesman misspoke?

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