Singer of ‘narco-ballads’ shot dead in Mexican capital

MEXICO CITY – Javier Reyes, a singer of ballads lionizing drug gang bosses, was shot dead in the Mexican capital, authorities and local media reported.

Mexico City prosecutors said in a statement that the 33-year-old man was found with multiple bullet wounds in an SUV on Friday in the southern borough of Tlahuac. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.

Prosecutors did not name the victim, but Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera confirmed that he was the singer of a “narco-corrido” about a now-dead cartel leader known as “El Ojos,” or “The Eyes.”

Mancera called the killing “a direct execution” and said a gun was found in the vehicle, though it was not clear whether it belonged to the victim or how it got there.

Prosecutors were investigating the case as a homicide.

Javier Reyes is seen in online videos performing the ballad about “El Ojos” and another dedicated to the late Amado Carrillo Fuentes, a cartel boss known as the “Lord of the Skies” for his extensive air smuggling operation.

“El Ojos,” said to have been the leader of a gang named for the Tlahuac borough, was killed by security forces in an operation last July in Mexico City.

Carrillo Fuentes died in 1997.