The drug war raging in Mexico is nothing new. The war was bloody in Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey in the early 1970's Things were out of control. Well, by today's standards things back then out of control meant a dead cop here and there meant all hell was breaking loose. The heat back then seems like a tea party with heavily armed mustachioed men, compared to the horrors befalling the nation now.
In Nuevo Laredo a hard ass woman named Simona Reyes de Pruneda ran the drug trade. the 72 year old woman had her buttload of sons and nephews working for her. They ran shit in the northern border back then, killing Comandantes and rivals alike and not taking no shit.
Born poor, the Reyes-Pruneda clan were forced to turn into a life of crime, having no other options. Being dirt poor campesinos didnt pay. Smuggling goods, marijuana, cocaine and heroine up north, did. Hmm. decisions, decisions.
By 1972, the clan ambushed and killed the top cop in Nuevo Laredo, Everardo Perales. The city had enough. They couldnt put up with the Reyes Pruneda and their cronies. They called Mexico City who sent a bad ass lawyer and cop to keep the criminal in line in the northern border.
That man was Salvador del Toro Rosales. The infamous "Iron Prosecutor".
Why was he called Iron Prosecutor? Well because Del Toro made Iron look like silly putty. He was a hard ass and a mean shot. He beat up perps first and asked questions later. A good Trafficker was a dead one. His methods were brutal, harsh and downright rude, but he got results every time.
Del Toro was sent to clean up Laredo. His position there was too dangerous which is why he was given a home on the US Border. Every morning he drove to Laredo in a convoy, full of armed guards. Del Toro himself carried a 44 magnum and a AR-15 assault rifle.
The Reyes Pruneda didnt flinch at this law dog. They sent their lawyer/drug dealer, Antonio Bernal to talk to him. Perhaps the Iron Prosecutor was like all the rest, flash a suitcase of pesos and Del Toro would turn a blind eye to the crime and maybe have a Pina Colada or two with Simona Reyes.
No Dice. It was said that Del Toro not only smacked Bernal for insulting his integrity by trying to bribe him but he also kicked him in the balls for being a dumbass drug dealer passing himself off as a respectable lawyer. Del Toro was a Lawyer. You didnt fuck with him.
Salvador Del Toro rounded up all the drug dealers in the city, killing most of them. He didnt want to waste taxpayer money and clog the city jails with scum. They would be let out soon enough by crooked judges so he just shot them and said they fell and tripped on his bullets.
Soon enough crime dwindled in Nuevo Laredo. He had one of Simona's son's, Cuco Pruneda Reyes lured out of his hideout by one of his lovers while he was getting his groove on and he was cut down in a hail of bullets. His body was dumped on a hill in a pile of a trash to add insult to injury. Simona Reyes Pruneda didnt appreciate this much.
Simona Reyes was eventually captured, with her gang of sons and nephews, dead, in jail or crippled. Peace came back to the north.
Salvador del Toro Rosales "El Fiscal de Hierro" had made crime his bitch and kicked its ass.
Amazingly Del Toro was not murdered in retaliation for his badassery. Corridos were composed in his name and the Mexican classic "El Fiscal de Hierro" starring Mario Almada as Eduardo Lobo and Lucha Villa as Ramona Pineda was a fictionalized account of the war between Del Toro and Pruneda.
Salvador del Toro continues to be active in Mexican politics. Simona Pruneda died of old age in prison.
