Eideard

Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

Mutilated bodies of nine people turned up in the southern state of Guerrero…amid a spike in drug-related violence there.

The victims had been beheaded, hacked to pieces and left in 18 black plastic bags in the bed of a pickup in the town of Tlapehuala, Guerrero’s public safety department said.

Officials said they had not identified the victims, whose remains were found late Thursday in a rural zone, nicknamed Tierra Caliente, or “hot land,” that is known for drug-trafficking activity…

The state’s location on the Pacific coast makes it a relay point for smuggling narcotics from South America to the U.S., and coveted turf for warring cartels. Gangs also compete to sell drugs to tourists and residents in the resorts.

Officials said handwritten messages with the decapitated bodies indicated that the killings were carried out by La Familia, a powerful trafficking group based in the neighboring state of Michoacan.

“So that you learn to respect,” one note said.

I learned more about respect from Aretha Franklin than I ever could from these scum-sucking thugs.