Mexico convicts 11 cartel gunmen in killings of 122 bus passengers near US border over 2 years

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican prosecutors have finally won convictions against 11 drug cartel gunmen for the massacre of 122 people who were pulled off passing buses and forced to fight each other to the death with sledgehammers. The 50-year sentences announced Wednesday involved one of the most gruesome chapters of Mexico’s drug war, so horrific it was hard to believe until scores of bodies were found in unmarked graves with their skulls bashed in. Prosecutors in Tamaulipas state said male passengers were pulled off buses by the now-splintered Zetas cartel. It happened in 2010 and 2011 but didn’t immediately come to light because bus companies were under threat and failed to report the disappearances.