he bragged to a laredo police detective, that killing made him feel like superman, taking the gun out of his hand was like taking candy from a kid. how in the world did it come to this for two american teens? cardona and retta grew up here on lincoln street, a few blocks away from the mexican border. this is the neighborhood where they became friends. like many people around here, they each had families on both sides of the border in mexico and the united states. they could easily move back and forth between both sides. and as it turns out, that s exactly what the zettas drug cartel was looking for. as a teenager, he started stealing cars and selling them in mexico, then he started carrying drugs and weapons across the border, working his way up the cartel ranks to become a hit man. cardona dropped out of school in ninth grade. it was great. reporter: did you feel like you could do whatever you wanted? you were untouchable yeah, it
you could do whatever you wanted? you were untouchable yeah, it gives you that sense. you can do whatever without being touched or having that sense of power. reporter: he says cartel leaders supplied him with thousands of dollar as week, a mercedes and a house. the money was seductive and intoxicating for these teams who came from the ram shackled streets of a texas bored town. reporter: you enjoyed the money, but did you enjoy the killing? we did enjoy the money. you don t enjoy what you re doing. it didn t seem to bother you that much? no. reporter: kpar dona and retta
from texas. in an instant i went from being a 13-year-old to a killer. we pulled up, ien cot believe what i was seeing. people getting tortured, killed, decapita decapitated. it was kind of hard to believe. i knew that day my life had just changed forever. he then says an argument broke out. miguel trevino broke out wanted to know why retta was there. trevino handed him a gun, they stood over a man tied up on the ground. what did they tell you to do? to kill that person. i have to do it. if i don t do it, i know what s going to happen to me. an then after you did it, you shot him? yes, sir. how many times? multiple times. a 13-year-old assassin was born. the first day i had to take somebody s life.
in mexico, then he started carrying drugs and weapons across the border, working his way up the cartel ranks to become a hit man. cardona dropped out of school in ninth grade. it was great. did you feel like you could do whatever you wanted, you were untouchable? yeah, it gives you that sense. you can do whatever without being touched or having that sense of power. cartel leaders supplied him with thousands of dollars a week, a mercedes and a house. the money was seductive and intoxicating for these teams who came from the ram shackled streets of a texas bored town. you enjoyed the money, but did you enjoy the kill something. we did enjoy the money. you don t earn joy when you re doing. it didn t seem to bother you that much? no. cardona and retta say they would wait for the phone to
reporter: he then says an argument broke out. miguel trevino wanted to know why retta was there. trevino handed him a gun, they stood over a man tied up on the ground. what did they tell you to do? to kill that person. i have to do it. if i don t do it, i know what s going to happen to me. reporter: and then after did you it, you shot him? yes, sir. reporter: how many times? multiple times. reporter: a 13-year-old assassin was born. the first day i had to take somebody s life, that s a day i m never going to forget. after that i had no life. reporter: but you kept op killing after the first time at that ranch? i had to. reporter: that s what a lot of people don t understand. that s what retta says now. in this police interrogation video, the young killer relished the deadly power he wielded.