Mexico is like the ending of a Scooby-Doo cartoon, except Scooby-Doo and the gang work for the cartel, and have no reason to hide their identities.  Notice how their victims are gagged and bound before they're turned over to the "police."  Fortunately, they edited the torture out of the original cartoon.  Such a brazen display of lawlessness:

Scooby & Co. were so powerful, they even drove around in a van with the name of their band clearly emblazoned on the side.  "The Mystery Machine" was the name of a band that performed música norteña and narcocorridos along the northern border in the 1960s.  The Scooby Gang was a notorious group of musical gringos who performed under the "Mystery Machine" moniker.  Their art and weed were both supplied by the CDG and CDN cartels.  Ridiculously, the compromised, innocent-looking gringos drove around in a fancy van with the name of their band painted on the side.  It was as if they were saying to the world, "free guitars and weed inside... if you dare."  Of course, "The Mystery Machine" was never broken into.  Nobody advertises their valuables in Mexico without connections:

I've been wanting to write an article about the band who was kidnapped and killed in Reynosa this week (the singer survived, perhaps for reasons of being tipped off, or a famous cartoon dog), but the story isn't as interesting as it could be.  Tragic, yes, but not interesting.  My bass player in San José Iturbide cleared $300/month between all his jobs.  And my van was broken into in Guanajuato, for reasons of simply being obvious and easy.  Also, there is NO WAY any street-level American band is going to make themselves a target by emblazoning expensive vehicles and trailers with a logo (the SUV they were kidnapped from was even nicer than the one pictured below.  It had their logo on the door as well).

There is no middle ground.  There is simply no way these guys weren't sponsored by a cartel.

Behold the group of musical Scooby fugitives, running for their lives:

So, even though this article has been trying to write itself all week, the more I learn about the case, the less interested in it I become.  Other than the revelation that the Scooby Gang worked tirelessly to kidnap and extort the local cartoon population and hand them over to the "authorities" in exchange for legal immunity and an endless supply of Scooby Snacks, there is no new angle here.  Though it would seem that the 2 finger backhand is some kind of gang sign for either the CDN or CDG, whoever it was that let these guys borrow their van.

Who cares.

Anyway, another Spanish-language tragedy.

Descansen en paz si pueden, mis hermanos musicales caídos.

To God,

p.s.  If you happen to be in search of a criminal sponsor, don't let your jefe cheap out on you by letting you borrow an SUV with stickers on the door.  While the obligation would be even higher than life itself (the lowest commitment you can make), if you're going to go there, demand a Sinaloan tour bus.  With the exception of everybody in your inner circle (and all their friends and relatives), no one will ever mess with you again.