Mexican Cartel Ordered To Pay $1.5 Billion To Families Of Victims From Mormon Community

The people behind the gruesome killing of nine women and children from an offshoot Mormon community got a bit of justice thanks to a federal judge from North Dakota.

After filing a lawsuit accusing the Juarez cartel of attacking the said family in November 2019 in Mexico. The legal move was their way of retribution for the public criticism and protests against the cartel.

Cartel members allegedly fired hundreds of rounds of ammunition into vehicles at the time and then set them on fire. In 2020, Mexican authorities said that the mastermind behind the attack was one of the 17 people arrested, the Post reported.

The reason behind the ballooned amount was due to the Anti-Terrorism Act. The award of US Magistrate Judge Clare Hochhalter was tripled, now amounting to $4.6 billion.

Also, the government can opt to freeze the assets of the terrorist organization. However, it has yet to be confirmed if the US Treasury holds any cartel assets.

When word got out, the cartel has yet to respond to the published summons. They also did not have a representative present at the trial in North Dakota in March.

Nine people were killed in the said massacre. Among those dead include Rhonita Miller and her four kids.

Dawna Langford, Christina Marie Langford Johnson and two children were also among the victims.

Among the surviving family members include the two widowers of the women killed. The two were working in North Dakota at that time.

“We went into a United States courtroom in North Dakota seeking some acknowledgement of and measure of justice for the trauma inflicted on our family and we received it,” David Langford, the husband of one of the victims, said.