A Mexican hitman has been executed for murdering a woman who failed to pay "tax" on her drug sales.
Manuel Vasquez, 46, was killed by lethal injection for beating and strangling 51-year-old Juanita Ybarra in San Antonio in 1998.
His sister and a friend cried as they watched his death through a window at the prison in Huntsville.
Ybarra's sister also witnessed the execution and Vasquez was pronounced dead at 6:32pm CDT, 17 minutes after he was injected.
In a final statement he told his family and friends he loved them and thanked "the Lord for his kind mercy, faithfulness and unconditional love".
"In Jesus' name I pray," he said, before telling the warden: "I'm ready."
Vasquez and two associates had been instructed by Mexican Mafia boss Rene Munoz to murder Ybarra for failing to pay a 10% tax on the proceeds of her street drugs sales.
The trio confronted Ybarra and her boyfriend Moses Bazan at a motel in San Antonio in 1998.
Ybarra was beaten and strangled with a telephone cord by Vasquez.
Bazan was severely beaten and stabbed, but he managed to survive and identified his attackers.
One of the men, Johnny Joe Cruz, testified against Vasquez in a plea deal that saw him imprisoned for seven years. The third man, Oligario Lujan, was sentenced to 35 years.
Vasquez was the fourth Texas inmate put to death this year and at least six are scheduled for execution in the coming weeks.
But the state only has enough of of the lethal drug for one more killing.
A court decision which ruled the names of suppliers of the drug must be made public has made obtaining supplies difficult.
Many states in the US are facing a shortage because some manufacturers are refusing to sell their chemicals for capital punishment.
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