They’re not only hiring, they’re openly advertising and listing job benefits in their recruiting efforts:

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico—The job offer was tempting.

It was printed on a 16-foot-wide banner and strung above one of the busiest roads here, calling out to any “soldier or ex-soldier.”

“We’re offering you a good salary, food and medical care for your families,” it said in block letters.

But there was a catch: The employer was Los Zetas, a notorious Gulf cartel hit squad formed by elite Mexican army deserters. The group even included a phone number for job seekers that linked to a voice mailbox.

Outrageous as they seem, drug cartel messages such as the banner hung here late last month are becoming increasingly common along the violence-savaged U.S.-Mexico border and in other parts of the region. As soldiers wage a massive campaign against drug trafficking across Mexico, they are encountering an information war managed by criminal networks that operate with near impunity.

A similar sign in the Gulf of Mexico city of Tampico promised “loans and life insurance.”

“What else could you want?” it read. The banner closed with a boast: “The state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, the United States and the world—territory of the Gulf cartel.”

How do you say “chutzpah” in Spanish?