Hunt for cartel boss who abducted four Americans and killed two

The Mexican government has launched a manhunt for a high-ranking cartel leader thought to be behind the kidnapping of four Americans, including two who were murdered.

José 'La Kena' García is identified as the leader of a Gulf Cartel cell known as the Cyclones' that since 2015 has been operating in Matamoros, a border city in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas.

Sources with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador told Mexican news outlet Milenio that state and federal authorities are investigating whether García was involved in the kidnapping of the four South Carolina residents last Friday.

Latavia 'Tay' McGee, a mother-of-five, was joined by her cousin Shaheed Woodward and her friends Zindell Brown and Eric James on a drive to Matamoros for her 'tummy tuck' surgery when their minivan was attacked by alleged members of the Gulf Cartel.

Video footage showed cartel henchmen escorting McGee into a pickup truck while the three other men were dumped into the vehicle's flatbed.

Mexican state and federal authorities are looking into whether José 'La Kena' García, leader of the Gulf Cartel faction 'The Cyclones', was involved in the kidnapping of the four South Carolina residents in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, last Friday

South Carolina resident Latavia 'Tay'McGee is escorted by cartel fighters to a pickup truck moments after her minivan was intercepted on a Matamoros, Mexico, street last Friday

On Tuesday morning, security forces located McGee and James, who was shot in the left leg, in a stash house about six and half miles away in the rural town of El Tecolote.

The bodies of Woodward and Brown were found dead in the home, where an alleged cartel member identified as José, whose responsibility was to look after the Americans, was arrested.

García, who is also known as 'Ciclón 19' is one of the most wanted criminal suspects in Tamaulipas, where a reward for $2.4 million Mexican pesos ($139,192 USD) is being offered for information that leads to his whereabouts and/or his arrest.

Authorities say that García has been able to avoid capture because he is living under the alias of Gilberto de la Rosa.

García rose through the cartel ranks as one of the most trusted persons for José 'El Contador' Cárdenas, who was arrested in February 2022.

Milenio reported that with Cárdenas' arrest, the day-to-day operations were going to be split between his two sons, Axel Cárdenas and Alán Cárdenas, and García.

However, García reportedly was obsessed with controlling the faction by himself and betrayed Axel Cárdenas by having him arrested by federal authorities in June 2022.

Mexican authorities are offering $2.5 million pesos ($139,192 USD) for information that leads to his whereabouts and/or his arrest

José 'El Contador' Cárdenas, former leader of the Gulf Cartel faction known as 'The Cyclones.' He was arrested in February 2022 and is awaiting extradition to U.S., where he is accused of drug trafficking

The plan is said to have backfired with Axel Cárdenas paying off the officers in exchange for his freedom while four bodyguards were taken into custody.

The Gulf Cartel has been around since the 1930s and has a strong presence in Matamoros.

The criminal organization got its feet wet by smuggling booze and other banned goods into the United States during the Prohibition era.

Latavia 'Tay' McGee had traveled down to Mexico for a tummy tuck procedure before she was kidnapped at gunpoint by a drug cartel on Friday

McGee was joined by her cousin, Shaeed Woodard, (left) and friends Eric Williams (right) and Zindell Brown

Once the ban on alcohol sales was lifted, the cartel turned to car theft, gambling, prostitution and smuggling.

In the 1980s, the group got involved in drug trafficking under the leadership of Juan García.

Through his connections with the Colombian Cali Cartel, the Drug Enforcement Administration estimated that the Gulf Cartel generated about $10 billion in profit. Fortune Magazine once placed García's net worth at $15 billion.

García made it to the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted List in 1995 and busted in Monterrey at a ranch in 1996. He was later convicted by a federal court in Texas and sentenced to 11 consecutive life terms.