Los Angeles ( CNN ) -- When Joe Saenz walked up to a Whittier , California-area home in the summer of 2008 , a surveillance video shows he was smiling , rubbing his hands together and greeting associates , according to authorities . On the streets he was known by the nickname `` Smiley , '' and his demeanor that day fit that handle -- right up until he reached the front yard of the home . That 's when , the FBI and police say , he drew a gun and shot one man several times in the head , execution-style . The slaying , caught on video , was over drug money , authorities believe . It was not the first murder Saenz was accused of . Authorities also say that in 1998 he killed two rival gang members and kidnapped , raped and killed his girlfriend . The FBI placed Saenz on its 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list in 2009 . Authorities suspect he later became a hit man for a Mexican drug cartel . Despite being featured on the `` America 's Most Wanted '' television program and on the websites of the FBI , the Los Angeles Police Department , and the Los Angeles County Sheriff 's Department , Saenz eluded arrest for 14 years . On Friday , authorities announced his capture in Guadalajara , Mexico , after a tip led officers to his location . `` The adage that you can run but not hide speaks truthful here , '' said Bill Lewis of the FBI 's Los Angeles field office . During a news conference Monday , Lewis said Saenz was arrested by Mexican authorities without incident on the second story of a modest apartment building above a beauty salon . He said the $ 100,000 reward that had been offered for information leading to Saenz 's arrest will be paid but he declined to identity the source of the tip . `` Surveillance of the vicinity and attempts to arrest him went on for several weeks , '' Lewis said . `` With the assistance of our Mexican law enforcement partners , we were able to take him into custody . '' Saenz was flown Friday to Los Angeles , where he faces the multiple murder counts . Before authorities discovered the video of the 2008 killing , Los Angeles police detectives theorized Saenz might be dead . The grisly crime scene in Whittier , about 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles , indicated to Los Angeles County Sheriff 's Department Detective Traci Gonzales there were drug and gang ties to the slaying , so she showed the video to Los Angeles Police Department Detective Ron Chavarria , a veteran on the gang beat . With that , the videotape broke open a case that had frustrated local and federal authorities for more than a decade . Now detectives knew Saenz was still out there . Police say Saenz was a member of the Cuatro Flats gang in the Hollenbeck area of Los Angeles , where he grew up and where 34 gangs fight over turf and drug trafficking . He stepped into police cross-hairs in 1998 after the fatal shooting of the two rival gang members at a housing complex . AC360Ëš revisits Hollenbeck gangs . Then , police say , he was a fresh-faced 22-year-old with a dark side . `` Just gruesome , gruesome , cold-blooded , '' detective Chavarria said . `` Just walks right up to these guys , shoots them and then just walks over and stands over them and shoots them each in the head and casually walks away . '' Police made his capture a priority . `` We had pictures of him constantly on our dashboard so that there was no question if we saw this guy we knew who he was , '' said Chavarria , who spent time with a gang patrol unit in the neighborhood . Within two weeks , Jose Luis Saenz -- known as Joe , Louie Louie and more than two dozen other aliases -- was wanted for a third murder . Investigators say that on July 25 , 1998 , after hearing that Sigreta Hernandez , the mother of his child , would turn him in for the double killing , Saenz kidnapped , raped and murdered her at his grandmother 's house . `` He leaves a note indicating that his grandmother has nothing to do with the murder and that he left the scene . And from that point on he became a fugitive , '' Gonzales said . Authorities believe Saenz moved up the hierarchy from local gangs to international drug trafficking , crossing the border with falsified documents . Los Angeles County Sheriff 's authorities said Monday the motive for the 2008 murder was $ 500,000 in cash earmarked for Saenz that authorities seized during a traffic stop involving an alleged associate of Saenz . As a fugitive , Saenz is suspected of traveling through Mexico , Central America , Canada and the United States while trafficking in narcotics . `` He was quite an affable character who masked his identity to elude authorities , Lewis said . While he avoided capture for years , Saenz reportedly made statements that he planned to kill a police officer if they ever found him and arrested him , according to the FBI 's Most Wanted Fugitive website . During his flight from Guadalajara to California over the weekend , authorities say , Saenz bragged about his extensive travel , including to the Los Angeles neighborhood where he was first indoctrinated into a gang , and to Los Angeles Laker pro basketball games . `` We heard rumors that not only citizens were afraid of him , but also his own gang members were afraid of him , '' detective Chavarria said . The arrest of Saenz involved a multiple-agency task force that includes the Mexican National Institute of Immigration , the Mexican attorney general , the FBI 's legal attache in Mexico City and its sub-office in Guadalajara , Mexico , the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department and the Los Angeles Police Department . `` It was in the endless perseverance of the hunt and continued efforts over the past decade that led to his capture , '' said LAPD Deputy Chief Michael Moore . At Monday 's news conference , Chavarria described Saenz as a calculated cold-blooded murderer who is more intelligent than most gang members . But it was the chilling video that put him on the FBI 's Most Wanted list , the detective said . `` He always seemed to stay one step ahead of us , '' Chavarria said . `` It looks like he really enjoys what he does , he enjoys killing people . '' Saenz was scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Pomona County , California , for the 2008 slaying and the 1998 death of Hernandez . On Wednesday he will be arraigned for the two other 1998 shooting deaths , authorities said . CNN 's Kara Finnstrom contributed to this report .
A fugitive arrested in Mexico City is suspected in three slayings . Joe Saenz was put on the the Mexican National Institute of Immigration 's Most Wanted Fugitives list after a 2008 slaying . He previously was wanted for three slayings in 2008 . Video from the 1998 shooting let police know he was still alive , authorities say .