In 1885, Kosterlitzky was appointed commander of the Gendarmería Fiscal, the customs guard for the Mexican government, by President Porfirio Díaz.

[2] In March 1896, the United States Government had arrested Lauro Aguirre and Flores Chapa, who were both revolutionary insurgents, for being accused of engaging in revolutionary actions since they had established an anti-Díaz newspaper that claimed Porfirio Díaz, the Mexican president, had violated the Constitution of 1857.

Around sixty Yaqui, Pima, and Mexican Revolutionaries united in a rebel band called ''Teresitas'' to participate in a raid.

Kosterlitzky, who was in charge of many Mexican soldiers, had chased the Teresitas out of Nogales with the help of the U.S. 24th Infantry Regiment, under Brigadier General Frank Wheaton.

Holmdahl had previously worked for Díaz as a captain in the rurales, which Kosterlitzky was in command of, as a security guard for the American railway operating near Mazatlán.

[9] Throughout most of January, 1911, Holmdahl, alongside an unknown number of men, had captured small towns and villages including a majority of Nayarit near the West coast.

[11] In 1913, Kosterlitzky was commanding a force of 400 men in Northern Mexico to help stop actions of Venustian Carranza and Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution.

Because of his unique qualifications he was assigned to work border cases and to conduct liaison with various Mexican informants and officials.