A criminal gang that kidnapped Americans is arrested in Mexico. Despite paying ransom, some were killed

Six people were accused on Tuesday of leading a gang of kidnappers based in Tijuana, Mexico, which kidnapped nine people and, despite demanding a ransom from their relatives in the United States to free them, ended up killing six of them even after receive money to let several hostages go, according to local authorities.

Among the six murdered are three American citizens.

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles charged the alleged leader of the organization, Germán García Yera Hernández, 37, and five other people with crimes that include extortion and conspiracy to commit a hostage-taking resulting in death, according to the prosecution. of the city in a statement.

Members of the Mexican security forces in Acapulco in June 2018.Marco Ugarte / AP

The other defendants were identified as Gilberto Omar Ávila López, 27;

Aylin Estrada Reyes, 24;

Joel Eduardo Mascorro Delgado, 22;

Victoria Camila Espinoza Ballardo, 22;

and Oscar Bautista Valencia, 30.

If convicted, the six defendants could face the death penalty or receive a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

All of them remain under arrest in Mexico, where they face additional charges, although authorities did not specify which ones.

It is also unknown where they are being held, and a spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office in California avoided confirming whether they will be extradited to the United States.

[These children went to jail for a crime that does not exist]

The criminal group is accused by the US authorities of leading a gang of kidnappers that between January and April of last year kidnapped people whom they convinced to attend meetings under false pretenses.

He would then hold them captive at gunpoint and sometimes brutally beat them.

The gang then demanded ransoms for the relatives of the victims in the United States.

Those who did not pay were killed, but the group also killed some victims despite receiving ransoms.

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In one case, two people from the United States and Mexico were allegedly kidnapped after meeting with one of the kidnappers at a Tijuana nightclub and being invited to a home, according to the indictment.

They ended up being physically assaulted and killed after the captors found out that he had no money.

In another case, a US citizen from Southern California was abducted while visiting a relative in Tijuana on April 11.

The gang demanded $ 25,000 for his release, but his mother was only able to offer $ 1,000 and her son's vehicle.

The gang murdered him and his body was found in Mexico the next day.

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In another case, which occurred in April, a woman from Pasadena, California, told authorities that the group demanded $ 20,000 from her in exchange for the release of a relative.

Mexican authorities found the victim alive in a Tijuana hotel.

It is unknown whether the ransom was paid.

Another man was killed despite his adult son leaving a $ 25,000 ransom in the women's bathroom of a McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro, a town near the Mexican border.

With information from