A federal judge from North Dakota ordered a Mexican drug cartel accused of killing nine members of Mormon families in November 2019 to pay $1.5 billion to the families.
According to the Associated Press, U.S. Magistrate Judge Clare Hochhalter's award would be tripled under the Anti-Terrorism Act, increasing the amount to $4.6 billion.
David Langford, the husband of one of the victims, said they went into a United States Courtroom in North Dakota to seek acknowledgment and justice for the trauma inflicted on their family, and they received it. The victim's family filed a lawsuit in North Dakota accusing the Juarez Cartel of carrying out the gruesome November 2019 attack on their wives and children in Mexico.
AP stated that the Cartel did not respond to a published summon nor gave legal representation at a trial in North Dakota. Although the government can freeze the assets of terrorist organizations, it is unclear if the U.S. Treasury Department holds cartel assets.
The brutal murder of the Mormon families
The brutal murder happened in November 2019 in a border community between Chihuahua and Sonora. They were members of the LeBaron and Langford family, a group of dual Mexican and American citizens who lived in a fundamentalist Mormon community.
The victims included Maria Rhonita LeBaron and her 12, 10, and twin eight-month-old children, Christina Langford, Dawna Langford, and her 11- and two-year-old children.
As per The Sun, the women were traveling in a three-vehicle caravan that fateful day. Christina Langford and LeBaron were meeting their husbands in the U.S., while Dawna was headed to a family wedding.
Unkown to the families, 100 heavily armed individuals met at a ranch that belonged to the leader of Juárez Cartel the day before the attack. The meeting was about planning an attack, hoping to regain territory from a rival gang. The gang members were instructed to shoot anyone, regardless of whether they were civilians or the police.
Senseless deaths
The Cartel shot at LeBaron's car for at least five to ten minutes, hitting the car at least 321 times. Then, the Cartel burned the vehicle even if some members were still alive. Survivors shared how shooters peppered their cars with bullets, burned babies alive, and shot one boy in the back as he tried to flee the scene.
Christina Langford's vehicle was hit at least 41 times. Christina Langford stepped out of her car with her hands up in the air, saying there were women and children and asking the Cartel not to shoot. The cartel member killed her anyway.
Dawna came up from her vehicle to help Cristina, but the Cartel fired at the car, killing her two-year-old son as an older sibling held the toddler in her arms. Dawna's 11-year-old son died of a shot in the head. Dawna was shot and killed after that.
The Cartel let out the surviving siblings at gunpoint despite having severe wounds, without food, medical supplies, or jackets to protect them from the cold. Two children carried their younger sibling down the mountain, while another ran eight miles to his family for help while dodging shots from the Cartel.
Per Vice, the attack was one of the worst in Mexico's drug war history.
