Mexican Cartel Victims Fed to Lions and ‘Made into Soup’

A retired FBI agent who spent years dealing with Mexico’s most violent drug cartels has revealed horrifying details about the torture and killings allegedly used against people who crossed them — including victims being fed to a lion and others being “made into soup.”

Former undercover agent Scott Payne, who spent roughly two decades in law enforcement and later wrote the book Codename Pale Horse, described the gruesome cartel tactics during an appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show.

Payne, sometimes nicknamed the “Hillbilly Donnie Brasco,” worked major narcotics cases before becoming involved in investigations tied to smuggling and cartel activity along the U.S.-Mexico border.

His work occasionally involved helping families whose sons had been kidnapped by powerful criminal organizations.

Payne said he would immediately ask desperate parents whether their relatives had been involved in drug trafficking.

He warned them that if they lied, he would end the conversation.

In many cases, Payne said, the truth eventually came out — drugs or cartel money had disappeared.

One case involved three young men, ranging from their late teens to early 20s, who were allegedly transporting drugs into the United States and taking cash back into Mexico.

According to Payne, about $100,000 went missing during one of those trips.

The cartel responded by kidnapping the young men.

Payne said his team worked through a border liaison officer to confirm the victims were being held and then helped negotiate their release.

Families would sometimes raise cash and even surrender vehicles as part of the payment demanded by the cartel.

But kidnapping was only part of the brutality Payne described.

He recalled one victim accused of stealing from a cartel who had his hands or fingers cut off before being placed inside a 55-gallon drum.

Payne said the victim was then burned or chemically dissolved alive in a punishment known as “El Guiso,” which translates roughly to “The Stew.”

“It’s soup,” Payne said while describing the practice. “They’re making you into soup.”

He said violent criminal organizations used similar methods to send a message to anyone considering stealing or betraying them.

Payne also recalled hearing about an unnamed cartel boss who allegedly kept a lion and used the animal to dispose of victims.

He said law-enforcement contacts flying over the property noticed unusually large bones inside the lion’s enclosure.

When questions were raised, Payne said the explanation was supposedly that the bones came from chickens.

But the remains appeared far too large.

“Pretty big chicken,” Payne recalled. “Looks a little more like a femur.”

Payne also described other alleged torture methods, including victims being beaten with bricks, burned with cigars and electrocuted.

One of the strangest stories involved claims that a cartel used a little person to sexually assault prisoners as a form of torture.

Payne initially believed that story was nothing more than a rumor.

Then came another kidnapping case.

According to Payne, a man stole a vehicle and drove it across the border intending to sell it to a cartel — apparently without realizing there was an infant inside.

The cartel became furious because the child’s disappearance could attract massive police attention.

The man was allegedly taken captive.

Payne said law enforcement later helped negotiate his release.

When the victim finally crossed back into the United States, Payne said he was sobbing.

That was when Payne received a stunning call from colleagues.

“Dude, the little person’s real,” he recalled them telling him.

The victim allegedly told authorities that the individual had been inside the room while the cartel prepared to torture him.

Payne’s account offers a chilling glimpse into the extreme violence used by Mexican cartels to enforce loyalty, punish theft and terrorize rivals.

He dealt with several powerful organizations during his career, including the Gulf Cartel, one of Mexico’s oldest drug-trafficking groups.

At the time, the organization was led by Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, who was also instrumental in the rise of Los Zetas — a cartel organization that became infamous for exceptionally brutal violence.

For Payne, the message behind the violence was simple and terrifying.

Steal from the cartel, betray the cartel or bring unwanted police attention — and the punishment could be unimaginable.