Texas executes man for 1998 gang murder

A Mexican mafia hit man convicted of beating and strangling a San Antonio woman because she didn't pay the gang's 10 percent tax on her illegal drug sales was executed Wednesday evening.

The injection of Manuel Vasquez with a lethal dose of pentobarbital leaves Texas with enough of the powerful sedative to carry out only one more execution. Vasquez was the fourth Texas inmate put to death this year, and at least six are scheduled for execution in the coming weeks.

Vasquez became the 522nd prisoner executed in Texas since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the most of any state.

Texas prison officials, like those in other death penalty states, have found it increasingly difficult to find suppliers to provide drugs intended for capital punishment use.

Vasquez, 46, was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m., 17 minutes after the drug began being administered.

Vasquez, in a final statement, told his family and friends he loved them and thanked "the Lord for his kind mercy, faithfulness and unconditional love."

"In Jesus' name I pray," he said, then told the warden, "I'm ready."

He took three deep breaths and then began snoring loudly. The snores became quieter, and all movement stopped within less than a minute.

The sister of his victim was among witnesses watching through a window. He never looked at her.

His sister and a female friend cried as they watched through a window in an adjacent room.

Vasquez's lawyers filed no late appeals to delay his execution for the 1998 slaying of 51-year-old Juanita Ybarra.

Witnesses at Vasquez's capital murder trial testified that Ybarra ignored the gang's "dime" tax on street drug sales in San Antonio, so Vasquez and two partners were ordered that she "had to go down."

"Most drug dealers do know," said Mary Green, an assistant Bexar County district attorney who prosecuted Vasquez. "I'm sure she was told, 'If you're selling, you've got to pay the tax.'"

Ybarra's boyfriend, Moses Bazan, was with her on the night of her death. He was beaten and stabbed but survived to identify one of the attackers, leading to the arrest of all three. He said he saw Vasquez ask one of his companions for a phone cord and saw Vasquez strangling Ybarra.

One of the men, Johnny Joe Cruz, testified against Vasquez under a plea deal that carried a seven-year prison term. The third man charged, Oligario Lujan, is serving a 35-year sentence.

Court records show the three were carrying out orders from Mexican mafia boss Rene Munoz, who spent years on the Texas Department of Public Safety's 10 most wanted list until his arrest in 2012.

The Associated Press