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El Negro Azabache fell in a trap of El Nini and is being held

June 25, 2020, 11:37 am
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Chivis Martinez  Thank You Borderland Beat Follower! Via email


For a few days, I have been hearing about an abduction of Nego Azabache, aka El Prieto dark skin) or his sister.

Today a follower of Borderland Beat sent me this image that seems to confirm the rumors.

The follower also stated, as heard for days, allegedly that it was the sister Anahi, who was abducted first by El Nini. 

They then called on Azabache to turn himself over to Nini in exchange for his sister.

The tactic worked for Nini as Azabache did agree to the exchange and turned himself over.

However, they now are assumed to have both of them, as the sister has not been seen, nor have any images of her in captive have been published.

Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, “El Nini” is the chief of “Los Ninis” the  enforcers for for Los Chapitos. 


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“Operation The Real McCoy” Yields 47 Arrests for Gang & Drugs Charges and $1.7 plus in Meth

June 25, 2020, 4:17 pm
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Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: gbigeorgia.gov / ajc.com
Pickens County, Georgia June 24, 2020: 
As a result of a 9-month investigation known as “Operation The Real McCoy,” the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), the Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad (CMANS), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) served 47 arrest warrants for multiple charges including gang and drug related offenses and seized more than $1.7 million worth of methamphetamine following a nine-month drug investigation across the state.

In September 2019, Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad (CMANS) agents began an investigation into a supply chain of methamphetamine into Cherokee County.  The initial investigations led CMANS agents to DeKalb and Gwinnett counties and members of the Ghostface Gangsters.

Among those charged were seven Georgia inmates locked up in various prisons across the state, according to Phil Price, commander of Cherokee County’s Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad. Officials also conducted search warrants at six homes, resulting in the seizure of 136 kilograms of meth worth nearly $2 million, he said. 
Agents also seized $100,000 in cash. According to the GBI, the investigation into the drug trafficking organization centered on 26-year-old Brannon McCoy, a Georgia inmate. Investigators said McCoy acted as a “broker” from within the State Prison Camp in Sumter County, facilitating the movement of meth from trafficking organizations in Mexico.
                                                         
Based on the initial investigation, CMANS, the GBI Gang Task Force, and HSI conducted an intensive investigation into the drug trafficking and distribution organization involving Brannon McCoy, age 26, Michael  Hazelwood, age 45, and Tricia Setser, age 38, who are traffickers of methamphetamine operating within numerous counties in Georgia including Sumter, Effingham, Fulton, Clayton, DeKalb, Cobb, Cherokee, Gilmer, and Pickens.  

The investigation revealed a network involving members of the Ghostface Gangsters, the Gangster Disciples, and the Sureños.

The following were charged with Violation of the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in Pickens County as part of “Operation The Real McCoy”:

Tanner Burnell, 31, currently in custody at the Pickens County Jail
Donnie Chastain, 47, currently in custody at the Pickens County Jail
Cindy McCoy-Wilson, 49, currently in custody at the Pickens County Jail
Christopher Morris, 34, currently in custody at the Pickens County Jail
Allyson Moyer, 41, currently in custody at the Pickens County Jail
Jesse Rodriguez, 22, currently in custody at the Pickens County Jail
David Skinner, 46, currently in custody at the Pickens County Jail
Amanda Vliek, 37, currently in custody at the Pickens County Jail
Brandon Sanchez Laney, 32, also charged with Violation of Georgia Street Gang and Terrorism Act, currently in custody at the Cherokee County Jail
Tyler Morris, 28, currently in custody at the Cherokee County Jail
Carl Welchel, 49, currently in custody at the Cherokee County Jail
Tricia Setser, 38, currently in custody at the Cherokee County Jail
Casey Plumb, 31, currently in custody at the Cherokee County Jail
Michael Hazelwood, 45, currently in custody at Cherokee County Jail
Josh Phillips, 23, currently in custody at the Gwinnett County Jail
Josh David Collins, 37, currently in custody of GDC
William Jamie Fields, 27, currently in custody of GDC
Brannon Chase McCoy, 26, currently in custody of GDC
Terrell Jamar Owens, 38, currently in custody of GDC
Bryan Thomas Pitt, 36, currently in custody of GDC
Kevin Rodriguez, 24, currently in custody of GDC
Joseph Seaborn III, 47, currently in custody of GDC
Dewane Cook, 46, currently in custody in Monroe County, TN
Orvelin Garcia Penaloza, 25, currently a fugitive from justice
Evan Dannny Taylor Yancey, currently a fugitive from justice
Dillon Thompson, 40, currently a fugitive from justice
Savannah Newton, 22, currently a fugitive from justice
Tracey Shirley, 47, currently a fugitive from justice
Brittany Owen, 41, also charged with Violation of Georgia Street Gang and Terrorism Act, currently a fugitive from justice
Dennis Debord, 39, currently a fugitive from justice
Jessica Darby, 33, currently a fugitive from justice
Derick Barker, 35, currently a fugitive from justice
Justin Barker, 31, currently a fugitive from justice
Mindy Skelton, 38, currently a fugitive from justice

These individuals conspired with one or more persons to participate, directly and indirectly, in an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, and did commit at least one overt act and conspired to commit a felony with Brannon McCoy.  Mr. McCoy acted as a broker from within the State Prison Camp in Sumter County, Georgia, for the distribution of methamphetamine from members of Drug Trafficking Organizations in Mexico to the streets of North Georgia, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

The following individuals were arrested on June 24, 2020:

Erik Noe Fuentes Escobar, 26, charged in Barrow County, GA with conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
Kevin Vega-Santana, 18, charged with trafficking methamphetamine in Fulton County, GA.
Artemio Maldonado Santana, 28, charged with trafficking methamphetamine in Fulton County, GA.
Elvis Maldonado-Santana, 21, charged with trafficking methamphetamine in Fulton County, GA.
Buford Smith, 68, charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute in Pickens County, GA.
Leah Thompson, 31, charged with possession of methamphetamine in Pickens County, GA.
Joseph Arp, 50, charged with possession of methamphetamine in Pickens County, GA.
Wendy Kirby, 44, charged with obstruction in Pickens County, GA.
Tracy Kirby, 42, charged with obstruction in Pickens County, GA.
William Ryder, 45 charged with obstruction in Pickens County, GA.
Ashley Foster, 31, charged with possession of methamphetamine and possession of a Schedule IV substance in Pickens County, GA.
Christopher Mountain 47, charged with possession of methamphetamine and possession of a Schedule IV substance in Pickens County, GA.
Marjorie Brown, 61, charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute in Pickens County, GA.
Agents seized over 136 kilograms of methamphetamine valued at $1.76 million and approximately $100,000.

Agencies involved in the investigation were the CMANS, the GBI Gang Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations, the Appalachian Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, Pickens Sheriff’s Office, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, the Cherokee County District Attorney's Office, Georgia Department of Corrections, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Barrow Sheriff’s Office, the Gordon County Drug Task Force, Gwinnett Gang Task Force and Special Investigation Section, DeKalb District Attorney’s Office, the Cobb PD and District Attorney’s Office, the Clayton SO and District Attorney’s Office, the Apex Unit from Atlanta PD, the West Metro Regional Drug Enforcement Office, the Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office, the Georgia National Guard Counter Drug Task Force, and the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office.
The GBI Gang Task Force is made up of GBI Agents, task force agents from the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office, the Atlanta Police Department, the Georgia Department of Community Supervision, the Georgia National Guard Counter Drug Task Force and the United States Department of Homeland Security/Homeland Security Investigations.

The Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad is a joint task force working in Cherokee County and Pickens County to investigate drug related violations. Participating agencies include the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office, the Pickens Sheriff’s Office, the Canton Police Department, the Woodstock Police Department, the Holly Springs Police Department, the Ball Ground Police Department, the Cherokee County Marshal’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office for the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit, the District Attorney’s Office for the Appalachian Judicial Circuit and the Georgia State Patrol. Citizens may call in tips anonymously to (770) 345-7920 or may speak to an agent by calling (678) 493-7625.

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CJNG TJ: 2 Members Arrested After Shooting at Police

June 25, 2020, 4:34 pm
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Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Zeta TJ
                                       Two alleged members of the CJNG fall in Tijuana
Two men, alleged members of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel, were captured in Tijuana by elements of the State Security and Investigation Guard (GESI), the State Attorney General's Office reported Tuesday, in a statement.

The information detailed that GESI agents were conducting a surveillance tour on the Tijuana-Tecate free highway, when they heard what appeared to be firearm detonations, so they carried out an inspection of the area.

Moments later, they observed two armed individuals in the surroundings, who upon realizing the police presence, shot at the uniformed officers, who repelled the attack.

During the confrontation, the state police officers injured the foot of one of the suspects named Jaime Lino Zazueta, who was carrying an .223 caliber AR-15 assault rifle.

Subsequently, another subject who responded to the name of Juan Carlos Gamez González, in possession of a 9-millimeter short firearm, was arrested, and a Nissan Armada vehicle with ballistic evidence was also confiscated.

According to information from the agency, the insured carried out their criminal activity in the Rural Dam area.
The detainees were placed at the disposal of the competent authority.

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Atty General of Jalisco Fires 14 Ministerial Police for Kidnapping during the Aftermath of Giovzanni López's Murder

June 25, 2020, 5:49 pm
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Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Zeta / udgtv / LaJornada
The Jalisco Prosecutor General's Office suspended 14 elements of the Investigative Police for their alleged participation in the protests that took place on June 5.

The agency reported that processes are continuing to demarcate the responsibility of its public servants in the events, in which dozens of people were extrajudicially detained and released in various areas of Guadalajara.

The case of police brutality in Guadalajara, Jalisco, has triggered massive protests, riots, and set the streets and social media on fire, which have been reporting on here on BB.

His name was Giovanni López , and many compare his case to that of Floyd, who also died shortly after being arrested by the police.

Giovanni was 30 years old and a bricklayer. He was arrested on May 4 in the municipality of Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos, in the Guadalajara metropolitan area. A day later, he died in police custody in circumstances that have not yet been clarified.

This week, the video of his arrest with the hashtag #JusticiaParaGiovanni flooded social media. His family reported that the reason for the arrest had been the failure to wear face masks, although this was later denied by state authorities.



This number of suspended investigative police officers adds to the criminal proceeding in court against Commander Salvador Perea and the element Raúl Gómez Mireles, linked to the process for abuse of authority.

On June 5, the ministries prevented dozens of people from arriving at the premises of the Prosecutor's Office, in the Industrial Zone, to protest the police repression of a previous day and the release of 28 detainees.

Investigative agents armed with sticks, tubes and baseball bats, were picking up people who wanted to join the protest in unmarked trucks without plates.

Some of the detained protesters were allegedly beaten, robbed of their mobile phones, and released in remote areas of the city so that they could not reach the march.

Civil society organizations and human rights protectors at the national and international levels described the acts as enforced disappearance; however, state authorities investigate only abuse of authority.
Jalisco Governor for the period 2018 - 2024.

After the events, the next day the Governor of Jalisco Enrique Alfaro Ramírez bowed out of having issued any order to repress the protesters, and incidentally, exonerated prosecutor Gerardo Octavio Solís Gómez.

The Jalisciense was born in Guadalajara on June 20, 1973. Civil Engineer from ITESO and Master in Urban Studies from the Colegio de México.

During his professional career he was a local deputy in the LVIII Legislature of the Jalisco Congress, there he chaired the first Commission of Metropolitan Affairs.

In the period from 2010 to 2011 he was municipal president of Tlajomulco de Zúñiga and in 2015 he was elected municipal president of Guadalajara, for the period 2015 - 2018. 

The president assured that the police elements "went free" and acted on their own, contradicting orders to respect human rights. He even said that the prosecution could be infiltrated by organized crime.

The first actions to sanction the actions of the ministerial agents were the arrest of Commander Perea and Agent Gómez, which caused annoyance in the corporation, when it was pointed out that the orders had come "from above".

Three weeks after the events, the suspension of these 14 elements of the agency is reported, including the deputy director and the building custody commander.

The State Prosecutor's Office expressed through a statement that the agents have already been notified of the suspension by the Internal Comptroller, while investigations continue "to determine what was the participation they had during these events."

The supervisory bodies will determine the possible sanctions to which the public servants would be credited within the administrative procedures, which are independent of the criminal proceedings.

Through whatsapp groups, investigating agents expressed their disagreement with the measures, as they request the suspension of their director (key J1), whom they blame for having "lowered" the order to repress the protesters.
             The Attorney General of Jalisco, Guadalajara Jalisco, Gerardo Octavio Solís Gómez
This Wednesday, June 18,  the coordinator of the Security Cabinet and the head of the Jalisco Prosecutor's Office appeared with local deputies to explain the actions of the security elements in the violent events of June 4 and 5 in the protests carried out for the death of Giovanni.

Erika Pérez García, coordinator of the Morena deputies, highlighted the curriculum of the Jalisco Prosecutor who presents complaints and claims in Human Rights and in international organizations for violating the rights of people when he was the head of the Jalisco Attorney General. She assured that the events of June 4 will lead to the latest consequences.

Enrique Velázquez, deputy of the PRD, questioned the time of Giovanni's investigation folder, since he points out that the legal actions to find those responsible for the death of the young man were acted late. He also questioned the police officers who are not on the payroll of the Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos town hall.

The deputy Mariana Fernández of the PRI did not share the minutes of the investigation folders that the Prosecutor's Office carried out in the death of Giovanni. She said she acted when the case was media.

The deputy of the Citizen Movement, Salvador Caro, stressed that the State Police carried out a good strategy to resist the excesses of the violent protesters who infiltrated.

In his speech, Gerardo Octavio Solís Gómez, Prosecutor of Jalisco, indicated that for the good conduct of the investigation, he met with the Prosecutor of the Republic to receive technical assistance and that the federal agency be certain of the results of the investigations.

He pointed out that on Wednesday the investigation folder was delivered so that the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic could carry out the professional investigation and coordinate with the bodies that took the case, including the ECHR, the FGR and the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office.

In turn, Macedonio Tamez explained that the unit in his charge has neither command nor leadership in the police forces according to the powers given by law. Regarding the riots, he said that the demonstration was viewed as calm, so they let their guard down.
From La Jornada:

Guadalajara, Jalisco: The commander of the Investigative Police of the Jalisco Prosecutor's Office, Salvador Perea Rodríguez, was in charge of the operation last Friday, when some 60 young people were deprived of their liberty by cells of plainclothes agents in vans without official badges.

The action also included the participation of uniformed state and municipal police officers - men and women - who acted under the slogan of intimidating the detained protesters and hitting those who resisted, as well as using official facilities.

Perea Rodríguez was arrested on Saturday along with the agent of the Theft of Vehicles, Raúl Gómez Mireles, accused by Governor Enrique Alfaro and prosecutor Gerardo Octavio Solís of disobeying the orders they gave to avoid attacks and repression of the non-conformists, which according to the president, could be because organized crime infiltrated the agency to destabilize Jalisco .

In an interview with La Jornada , a student at the University of Guadalajara, who was arrested with two friends on Friday by plainclothes ministerial agents on their way to the protest at the prosecution, identified Commander Perea as the one who instructed the police to carry out the arrests.

At the agency's headquarters, Perea also gave orders to uniformed officers to harass the 60 youths locked up in the two provisional detention cages known as kennels .

In fact, according to the collected version that coincides with that of other young detainees, state police officers were in charge of releasing the boys in places on the outskirts of the city and abandoning them to their fate.

This Sunday, relatives of Perea and Gómez Mireles protested outside Casa Jalisco and the prosecution, and asserted that both are scapegoats , since they only obeyed orders given by Octavio Solís.

Agents outraged at the arrest of their colleagues revealed that since Thursday they were concentrated at the heliport and instructed to use tubes and sticks to intimidate protesters. "We did not send ourselves alone, those orders were given by our governor and prosecutor, one of the uniformed men affirmed."

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Chihuahua State Police commander linked to the Sinaloa Cartel is sentenced to 15 years in prison

June 26, 2020, 6:00 am
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"MX" for Borderland Beat
Sergio Alberto Huerta Verzosa
Sergio Alberto Huerta Verzosa ("Comandante Huerta"), former commander of the Chihuahua State Police, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in Mexico for organized crime involvement and drug trafficking.

Mexican federal authorities arrested him in 2014 for his involvement in the escape of several Sinaloa Cartel sicarios (hitmen) who were wounded in a hospital in Parral, Chihuahua. The hitmen were receiving medical attention after a shootout with security forces. Investigators also stated that Huerta was responsible for ordering several murders in the area while abusing his role as a police chief.

Over the course of 2014, authorities arrested several members of the Chihuahua State Police for collaborating with the Sinaloa Cartel: state police coordinator Jesús José Quintana Moreno; anti-theft state police chief Luis Raúl Güereque Herrera; state police officer Héctor Armando Torres Zapién; and two other unnamed state police officers.

Upon his arrest, Huerta was imprisoned at the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 2 ("Puente Grande"), a maximum-security prison in Jalisco. In 2016, a federal judge sentenced him to 15 years for organized crime involvement and drug trafficking, but Huerta's defense appealed the decision. They won the appeal after a tribunal court ordered for a re-trial.

However, the same federal judge sentenced Huerta again to 15 years in prison. As part of his sentence, Huerta was prohibited from holding another public official role for another fifteen years following his release.

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On Tuesday a Guanajuato man sends an open letter to El Marro asking for peace, on Wednesday he was gunned down

June 26, 2020, 7:57 am
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El Parro for Borderland Beat

A Guanajuato man who appealed to a cartel boss for an end to violence against innocent people may have lost his life for his trouble.

Joel Negrete Barrera, a 2018 candidate for mayor of Abasolo, was shot to death Wednesday, one day after he posted an open letter on Facebook to ‘El Marro’, the leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel.

Negrete was working at his convenience store in the community of El Tule Wednesday evening when two armed men on a motorcycle drove up, entered the store and opened fire in front of witnesses, killing him.

Negrete published the document addressed to José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, alias El Marro, on Tuesday morning, making a plea for peace.
“Please be considerate and have respect for all of us who are oblivious to the confrontation that the state holds against your person and organization,” he wrote, pleading with Yépez not to hold the civilian population accountable for the actions of corrupt government officials. 
“You, like all of us, have a mother, brothers, a wife and children. You undoubtedly understand that the well-being of the family is the axis of human existence and that is why, for the well-being and safety of my family, I have had the audacity to address you,” Negrete wrote. “The millions of Guanajuatenses, oblivious to the causes that motivated this endless war, need a climate of peace to be able to continue with our lives.”
The cartel, linked to fuel theft and extortion, has been engaged in a bloody turf war with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which has contributed to making Guanajuato Mexico’s most violent state with 4,500 homicides in 2019.

President Lopez Obrador addressed Negrete’s murder in his morning press briefing today. “We have to continue fighting crime and guarantee peace,” he said. “The situation in Guanajuato has become very serious, more than in any other state.”

So far, authorities have not established a link between Negrete’s letter and his murder.


Source: El Sol de Irapuato (sp), Proceso (sp), Periódico Correo (sp)

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Mob Museum in Las Vegas debuts 'Rise of the Cartels' exhibition

June 26, 2020, 9:00 am
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"MX" for Borderland Beat; The Mob Museum
The new Rise of the Cartels exhibition at The Mob Museum tracks the history of international drug trafficking in the Americas from the 1970s to the present day.

Pablo Escobar, the ruthless Colombian drug kingpin and world’s first billionaire criminal, pioneered mass-market drug trafficking, fueled by bribery and murder, in the mid-1970s. His legacy is still unfolding today.

Escobar’s strategy more than 40 years ago of smuggling tons of cocaine from Colombia into the United States remains a staggeringly successful, and frustrating, reality, if done somewhat differently now. Since the 1980s, Colombia, which produces more cocaine than any other country, has outsourced through Mexico’s drug cartels its secret exports into America — by land, air and sea. The annual proceeds, divvied up among the Latin American crime groups, amount to $19 billion to $29 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The exploits of the late Escobar, his former Medellin Cartel, his henchmen, his heinous crimes and criminal successors make for a fascinating tale, and the subject of the Mob Museum’s latest major exhibition, Rise of the Cartels: International Drug Trafficking in the Americas, which debuted June 20.

The exhibition tells the story by weaving true stories and artifacts with contemporary pop culture narratives about the clash of the Colombian and Mexican cartels with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, as showcased in Netflix’s popular series Narcos and Narcos: Mexico. Key to that story are the DEA’s special agents assigned to dangerous parts of Mexico and Colombia, who risked their lives to pursue Escobar and other infamous traffickers.

One such agent highlighted in the exhibition is Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, who, after busting marijuana ranches in central Mexico, was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by conspirators that included Guadalajara Cartel boss Miguel Felix Gallardo, in 1985. Camarena’s death led the DEA to pull out the stops to find his killers. The effort ended in more than 30 arrests, including Gallardo, later convicted of murder, and the collapse of Gallardo’s cartel.

To assist in producing the exhibition, the Mob Museum enlisted former DEA agents whose work in Colombia and Mexico in the 1980s and 1990s is dramatized in the Narcos series.
The exhibition includes a range of artifacts, including the service firearm carried by DEA special agent Steve Murphy when he was hunting Pablo Escobar in Colombia in the early 1990s.
The first two seasons of Narcos depict the timeline chronicled by DEA special agents Steve Murphy and Javier Pena in their 2019 book Manhunters: How We Took Down Pablo Escobar. Murphy and Pena worked alongside Colombian National Police – on raids, investigations, interrogations — in the search for Escobar in Colombia from 1992 to the drug lord’s violent death by police in 1993.

Both Murphy and Pena provided valuable background information and artifacts saved from their careers in the DEA. Artifacts include the former agents’ DEA badges they wore while serving in Colombia, the Distinguished Service Crosses awarded to them after Escobar’s death, a wanted poster for Escobar, cocaine bags seized from his drug lab, Murphy’s 9mm firearm and a Los Tombos hat like those worn by members of the Colombian Police’s elite Search Bloc unit.

Murphy and Javier say the producers of Narcos took a number of liberties in the show to move the storylines along, including scenes involving their characters that never happened. On one of the panels in the exhibition, Murphy and Pena explain what things the show got exactly right and what amounted to dramatic license. Overall, they both believe Narcos succeeded in bringing the requisite points of their narrative to light.

Former DEA agent Pete Hernandez, who graduated from the DEA Academy with Camarena, served with him in Guadalajara and became his close friend, delivered for the exhibition the cowboy hat he wore while with the anti-drug agency in that city from 1979 to 1983. Hernandez also furnished a photos showing him and Camarena in the Zacatecas Mountains of central Mexico. Another colleague of Camarena’s, former DEA special agent James “Jaime” Kuykendall, furnished for the exhibit a sign from the Rancho Santa Fe a marijuana ranch that he and Camarena helped raid in 1983, resulting in one ranch hand shot to death by police. Kuykendall also made available a photo of him posing beside seven-foot marijuana plants at a trafficker’s farm in Mexico in 1992.
DEA special agents Steve Murphy and Javier Pena pose with a copy of a Colombian newspaper that reported on Pablo Escobar’s demise at the hands of the Colombian National Police in 1993. Courtesy of Steve Murphy
Kuykendall is himself an important character in Narcos: Mexico (portrayed by actor Matt Letscher), shown working as a DEA supervisor alongside Camarena (played by Michael Pena). He and Camarena were good friends in real life. Kuykendall served as the source for the exhibition’s panel on fact vs. fiction in Narcos: Mexico.

Two artifacts in the exhibition come from the Museum’s collection. One is a copy of a rare leather-bound book, commissioned by Escobar, containing a collection of editorial cartoons about him from Colombian newspapers. Escobar had a limited number of the books printed, and only 10 are believed to still exist today.

There is also a security officer’s ball cap from Escobar’s Hacienda Napoles, a ranch and theme park that was home to an array of exotic animals, including hippos, elephants and giraffes.

The exhibition portrays the beginning of Escobar’s career as a drug trafficker in the mid-1970s. A map shows the smuggling route created by his partner, Carlos Lehder, a pilot who bought most of an island, Norman’s Cay, in the Bahamas to use as a stopover to surreptitiously fly loads of cocaine from Escobar’s processing labs in Colombia into southern Florida, where their cohorts fanned out the drugs to distributors. It worked beautifully for several years until Lehder’s capture and the closing of the island in 1983. Lehder, originally sentenced in 1988 to life plus 135 years in a U.S. prison, won release from federal prison on June 15 and now lives in Germany.

The exhibition notes Escobar’s rise as a street hoodlum in Medellin, indulging in kidnapping, murder and police bribery until he happened upon a small cocaine ring. Coming at the time (about 1975) of increased popularity of powdered cocaine among America’s rich urbanites, it was an unbelievable opportunity that would lead to his trafficking of billions in cocaine, plus heroin and other illegal drugs, from Colombia to the United States.

After seizing control of the ring, Escobar vastly increased production of cocaine paste – the “base” for the drug – to make powdered cocaine and used ever-larger low-flying planes to transport more of it than anyone else. Escobar also resorted to more violence than the lessor drug lords dared – wholesale murder and terrorism, such as ordering the downing of a passenger airliner in 1989, innumerable bombings, the assassinations of Colombian Supreme Court judges, a presidential candidate, a cabinet minister, and paid hits on hundreds of police officers, amounting to literally thousands of deaths. His goals was to intimidate and promote fear within the public and police and discourage government officials from agreeing to sign a treaty with the United States for the extradition of wanted criminals like him.

Escobar’s exploits could not last. The exhibition shows his dead body on the roof of a house, the fatal result of a shootout with Colombian National Police in suburban Medellin after police intercepted his radiophone message from one his hideouts on December 2, 1993.
Kiki Camarena was a DEA special agent stationed in Guadalajara, Mexico, who was kidnapped, tortured and killed by a Mexican drug cartel in 1985. Courtesy of James Kuykendall
The dramatic focus of Narcos: Mexico is Miguel Felix Gallardo’s difficulties in maintaining control of his massive illegal drug business, in person and by phone, on the road and in the air, consisting of a confederation of “plazas,” or trafficking territories, in Mexico. Gallardo’s claim to fame was making a major deal with Colombians to supply him with tons of cocaine bound for the United States, smuggled by his coterie of plazas. Amid the tensions, in addition to assuaging corrupt politicians and police, he dealt with the competing personalities and egos of his partners, male and female, and their intervening family members.

Meanwhile, the DEA and Mexican authorities targeted Gallardo and his partner Rafael “Rafa” Caro Quintero for their complicity in the torture-murder of Camarena. They arrested Quintero in 1985 and obtained a murder conviction in court. Gallardo lasted longer, having cut deals with high-level Mexican officials, until his arrest in 1989 and subsequent 40-year prison sentence. (Quintero was released from a Mexican prison on a technicality after serving 28 years, and he remains a fugitive from American prosecutors). With his downfall, Gallardo’s drug federation split into separate cartels, triggering a years-long armed conflict among criminals, called the Mexican Drug War, which has taken the lives of more than 100,000 people since the 1990s.

Today, after the bloody years since the splintering of Gallardo’s Guadalajara Cartel, Mexico’s drug cartels, more or less, include the Beltran-Leyva, Gulf Cartel, Jalisco New Generation, Juarez, Los Zetas, Sinaloa and Tijuana/Arellano Felix. All owe their existence in many ways to what Escobar started 45 years ago, nurtured and killed for until his inevitable demise.

Note: This publication was written by Jeff Burbank, a content development specialist at The Mob Museum in Las Vegas. Borderland Beat was allowed to re-publish this piece.
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CJNG: Gunmen injure Mexico City police chief; 3 dead

June 26, 2020, 9:41 am
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By: Christopher Sherman & E. Eduardo Castillo 

Heavily armed gunmen attacked and wounded Mexico City's police chief in a brazen operation that left three people dead, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday. The chief later tweeted, apparently from the hospital where he was being treated, that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel was responsible.

Sheinbaum said in a news conference that the police chief, Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch, was being treated in a hospital, but was out of danger.

She said a 3 1/2 ton truck holding gunmen with rifles blocked the chief's SUV and opened fire.

Two of those killed were part of García's security detail. The third was a woman who just happened to be driving by. Sheinbaum said that the city's security cameras recorded the attack.

"This morning we were attacked in a cowardly way by the CJNG," García tweeted, using the Spanish-language acronym for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Mexico's most violent criminal group.

"Two colleagues and friends of mine lost their lives," García wrote. "I have three bullet wounds and various pieces of shrapnel. Our nation has to continue standing up to cowardly organized crime. We will continue working."

Mexico City Attorney General Ernestina Godoy Ramos said on Twitter that there were 12 arrests and that her office was investigating the attack.

The police said in a statement that gunmen armed with .50 caliber sniper rifles and grenades exchanged fire with the chief's security detail. The statement said two police were wounded. Harfuch was hospitalized in stable condition, it said.

The attack occurred around 6:30 a.m. on Mexico City's grand boulevard Paseo de la Reforma in an area of large homes surrounded by walls and foreign embassies. Photographs from the scene showed a bullet-riddled black SUV and a high-sided construction truck with a number of rifles in the back that apparently hid the gunmen until the ambush.


There was no immediate word on motive or the identity of the attackers, but a number of organized crime groups operate in the city.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador offered his support and solidarity to Sheinbaum and the city's public security forces.

"It has to do without a doubt with the work he is carrying out to guarantee peace and tranquility," López Obrador said.

Mexico's federal Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo, who was travelling with the president, condemned what he called a "cowardly" attack. "It's clear that the work of the (police) is touching strong criminal interests," he tweeted.

Earlier this month, a federal judge and his wife were killed at their home by gunmen in the western state of Colima. The judge had handled a number of cases related to organized crime.

 After the attack this morning, several images and videos began circulating on social networks.

Several videos of the moment in which the police chief is being treated for injuries sustained from the attack were broadcast on social networks.


In one of the videos, multiple shots are heard during the early morning.


In another tweet, footage is shown on how one of the SUV's that the police chief was traveling in was left.


Journalist Lourdes Mendoza also shared footage of the shootout


Additional tweets:

C5 security footage captured the attack as it occurred.

How the Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection (Secretaría de Seguridad y Protección Ciudadana (SSPC)) responded to the attack:

Sources: Star Tribune, Sin Embargo



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Zacatecas: 14 tortured bodies found in Fresnillo, 26 bodies in 3 areas of the city

June 26, 2020, 11:36 am
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Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat from NTR


On Friday morning, at least 14 people were found dead, tortured, handcuffed, and shot dead.

The events were reported at 06:50 hours; the bodies were abandoned in front of the old military checkpoint on federal highway 45, the  Fresnillo-Cañitas section of Felipe Pescador, very close to the Cerro Gordo community north of this city.

Official sources reported that they are at least 14 bodies after other sources reported that there are 16.

Elements from the three levels of the government arrived at the place, who cordoned off the perimeter area to initiate the first investigations.
So far the bodies have not been identified and the sex is unknown as they were left wrapped in blankets.

Reportedly, 26 bodies of executed people, found in 3 points of the municipality.  

CDS are being attributed to the killings.

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Binational crime-stoppers program expands in Texas and Coahuila after successful launch

June 27, 2020, 6:00 am
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"MX" for Borderland Beat; KTSM
Newly wanted poster
After a successful early run in West Texas and the Rio Grande Valley, a binational crime-stoppers program is expanding. The “Se Busca Informacion” (Information Wanted) initiative is being rolled out this week in the Border Patrol’s Del Rio Sector and in the Mexican state of Coahuila. The program employs telephone tips line based on the U.S. side, posters and billboards at ports of entry and in Mexico.

The posters feature some jovial, smiling faces that law-enforcement officials say may hide heinous crimes. “Many of the targets that we seek may have an association with several cartels — Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), Northeast Cartel (CDN) and Zetas Vieja Escuela,” said Martin R. Clark, acting deputy chief patrol agent in the Del Rio Sector.

Other quarries include people wanted for intoxicated manslaughter, the smuggling of cocaine, meth, and marijuana, and aggravated assault. Criminals for more than a century have tried to escape justice by crossing the Mexican border.

The “Se Busca” program aims to end that and has already led to the capture of several fugitives in Mexico. All of them were either murderers or drug traffickers. “I think this program has the potential to allay some of the fears that the community has. We all know the monstrosity that some of these cartels create,” Clark said. “Reporters, politicians, regular citizens are fearful. Anybody can be a victim and the stronger these cartels get, the worse it is for all of us who live (here).”
Three El Paso suspects were arrested with the cooperation of Chihuahua state officials
U.S. and Tamaulipas state officials rolled out the program last October in the Rio Grande Valley. One target was quickly apprehended, but chaos ensued with days-long gun battles in Nuevo Laredo, travel warnings for American citizens, and constant ambushes against Tamaulipas state police units. And while some Mexican residents may be afraid to approach their own authorities in the middle of a drug war, the fact that the “Se Busca Informacion” program hotline is based in the United States may give people confidence.

“We discussed the protocol making sure information that comes in from Mexico goes to a U.S. number,” said Gloria I. Chavez, chief agent of the Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector. “The level of confidence and trust is high, the program has been well embraced. I think that’s why it’s been very successful.”

The El Paso tips line has received 108 leads — 62 telephonically and 46 through WhatsApp. As a result, three of the 10 most wanted international criminals in the El Paso Sector are already behind bars. They include Jesus Alfredo Martinez Mendoza, a.k.a. “El Fredy,” who was No. 6 on the list. The Old Guard Barrio Azteca leader was taken by Chihuahua state officials acting on information from the “Se Busca” hotline as he headed to the Rio Grande with a backpack loaded with 11 pounds of heroin he allegedly intended to cross into the U.S. that day.
Program suspect "El Fredy" during his arrest
Other targets captured to date in El Paso include a leader of La Empresa drug gang and a man who was wanted for the murder of two women. “These three targets have been arrested because of the support of our community, because of the confidence of community members on both sides of the border who courageously called the 1-800 number anonymously and provided information,” Chavez said.

Both Border Patrol officials highlighted the cooperation and “enthusiasm” shown by their Mexican counterparts, particularly Chihuahua Gov. Javier Corral and Coahuila Gov. Miguel Riquelme Solis. Jorge Nava, Corral’s deputy attorney general, said Mexican officials are going after high-profile targets because they’re the ones sparking most of the murders on their side of the border.

One target, says Nava, either murdered or ordered the murders of up to 50 people in Juarez, Nava said. “We are going after the biggest generators of violence,” Nava said, adding that the binational program has provided valuable intelligence that has allowed his officers to effect the arrests.
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Caborca Sonora: A Truck abandoned with bodies, likely from last week-end's massacre

June 27, 2020, 8:44 am
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Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  Thank you, Follower! Facebook and Expresso.Mx


Four male corpses  were left in an abandoned cargo truck in  Caborca, Sonora.

The bodies also had a cartulina with a narco-message,  they were found on 11th Street,  on one side of the international highway and the municipal cemetery.

The events were reported by witnesses from the place, who detected that after a prolonged period, the unit was not towed and began to emit foul odors from inside.

The truck was left on the side of the municipal cemetery on the side of the international highway, where authorities are already working to move the remains of the victims.

It should be noted that at that point there are C4 security cameras.

These four adds to the execution of 13  people that occurred just 6 days ago and is probably related to that event.

GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW NO FURTHER TEXT







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In six months, 12 'narco' camps seized in Chihuahua; 3 dead and 18 in custody

June 27, 2020, 10:00 am
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"MX" for Borderland Beat
Map of Chihuahua with the camps seized by the Mexican Army in yellow
Chihuahua state officials confirmed that the Mexican Army dismantled 12 clandestine bases used by a local drug cartel in western Chihuahua. Half of them were found in Ignacio Zaragoza and San Buenaventura, two municipalities that are approximately 80 mi (120 km) from the U.S.-Mexico border. The remaining ones were found in the mountainous areas of the Chihuahua-Sonora border, including Nuevo Casas Grande and Madera municipalities.

This area of Chihuahua is a lucrative drug corridor for traffickers who smuggle narcotics through southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. It is currently under dispute by rival drug gangs. In April, a clash between rival gangsters left 19 dead near the town of Madera, as reported by Borderland Beat.

General Miguel Angel Hernandez Martinez, who commands the 5th Military Zone, said that the Army set up a temporary base in the area to tackle the recent drug cartel activity in the area.

“This has allowed us to locate camps that are used by organized criminal gangs to live and provide security for drug shipments,” Hernandez Martinez said in a teleconference. “They were camps of various sizes, the smallest being used by nine, 10 individuals, the largest could accommodate 30 to 40." Many of the investigations conducted in the area have also been conducted by foot.
Mexican Army General Miguel Angel Hernandez Martinez
At least 18 suspected cartel members have been arrested during these camp seizures. 3 of them were killed after they shot at soldiers and police officers who returned fire and effected the seizures and arrests. Hernandez Martinez said that the weapons and arsenal owned by the drug cartels in the area were similar to what the Army uses. In addition, state authorities confirmed that 8.5 tons of marijuana were seized.

The task force also found evidence that there were gun battles near these camps. As high as 800 bullet casings were found in one of the camps.

Sources: Local SYR; Milenio
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Zacatecas: Gruesome video uploaded to social media of CJNG dismembering young girl

June 27, 2020, 8:53 pm
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Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat Sent by multiple followers

A ghastly video was uploaded today to social media in which CJNG animals have a young girl surrounded, they then proceed to dismember her alive.

I only viewed a few seconds of the footage as the twitter link sent to me began the video play when clicking on.  I didn’t see much before exiting, her cries and screams are haunting,   and from my perspective horrible enough, seeing the footage is unneeded. 

The information I have is reading accounts of many bloggers who have viewed it.  First, and also stated by BB followers, the beasts who executed this girl, were CJNG.  Supposedly they state as much.  Also supposedly the girl said she is a student.

From a follower: “The young girl is kneeling blindfolded while her executioners shout: "CJNG".  

The victim is being portrayed as a member of Zetas, they tell her it is because she is with the pinche mugroso (zetas).

The victim may or may not be affiliated with narcos.  Alternatively, she may be an innocent.

EXTREMELY GRAPHIC VIDEO OF DISMEMBERMENT BELOW


15 Bodies were CJNG

In recent days, nearly 15 bodies with evidence of torture were found in Zacatecas, it is speculated that the dead were members of CJNG executed by CDS.

Before murdering and abandoning them, they were interrogated, and they said they were CJNG hitmen.

They also mention they have the support of the authorities, in the end, the CDS announces a cleansing in Zacatecas and say that this will happen to all extortionists.

This video with the group of CJNG has no violence.

The first video is that of the girl.  I strongly recommend anyone hesitating, even in the slightest,  should not view the video.  In fact, I am only posting one of the videos with the girl and wondering if that should be posted. 


Zacatecas is one of the major violence hotspots at this time. CJNG, CDN, Talibanes, CDS are all fighting for control of the important state for trafficking meth.


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Two police chiefs killed in Michoacán; one was an ex-Army special forces member

June 28, 2020, 9:00 am
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"MX" for Borderland Beat
Cesar Ivan Marin Jaimes
Two police chiefs from Zamora Municipality, Michoacán, were killed in a drive-by shooting last week. Their names were Cesar Ivan Marin Jaimes, Director of Public Security in Zamora, and Antonio del Moral Padilla, Commander of the Zamora Municipal Police. The former was a member of the Mexican Army's elite Special-Forces Airmobile Group (GAFE) in the late 1990s.

Both men were driving through the Mexico City - Guadalajara highway in a Volkswagen Jetta when gunmen cut them off the road and shot them from a moving vehicle. The attack occurred in Churintzio Municipality near the payment booth in Copándaro. Investigators said that the evidences found at the scene showed that both police chiefs responded with fire but were eventually overwhelmed by their killers.

In 2019, the former Director of Public Security in Zamora, Daniel Torres Hernandez, was murdered on his day off while he was with his family in Jalisco. He had less than six months on the job. No one has been arrested for the crime.

GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW




Profiles
Cesar Ivan Marin Jaimes joined the Mexican Army in 1998 and was part of the 12th Infantry Battalion in Morelia, Michoacan. During his time in the military, he served as a member of the Special-Forces Airmobile Group (GAFE), a former elite unit of the Mexican Army. Members of the GAFE were trained in aerial assaults, intelligence gathering, counter-insurgency tactics, marksmanship, prisoner rescue, rapid deployment, sophisticated communication and anti-drug operations.

It is worth noting that Marin Jaimes was in the GAFE during a pivotal point in the unit's history. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, several members of the GAFE left the military and joined the Gulf Cartel under kingpin Osiel Cardenas Guillen. These ex-military members formed Los Zetas, which originally provided security services to Cárdenas Guillén and carried out executions on the cartel's behalf.

A lot of the information about the GAFE remain confidential, but given the fact that it was a special forces unit, it is likely that the group was not as large as others in the Army. This means that Marin Jaimes may have met and trained with several individuals who would eventually be part of Los Zetas's original core group.

Marin Jaimes reached corporal rank while in the GAFE and left the military in 2001 to join the Michoacan State Police. He held several leadership roles in the police force, including anti-theft director and investigation chief of the Michoacan Transit Police agency. He was also sub-director of three police forces in Michoacan, and served as the director of Public Security in the municipalities of Tangamandapio, Lazaro Cardenas, Puruandiro and Zamora.

Antonio del Moral Padilla, the other police chief killed with Marin Jaimes, was once arrested in February 2011 for his alleged involvement with organized crime groups. However, he was released after investigators were unable to prove his ties to them.

Background and investigation
The Michoacán government has identified Zamora as one of the most violent municipalities in western Mexico since on average there are between two and five gunshot murders per day.

On April 29, 2019, Daniel Torres Hernandez, then Director of Public Security of Zamora, was shot to death when he was with his family in the municipality of Ocotlán, Jalisco.

The Prosecutor's Office confirmed that the main line of investigation they were pursuing was a possible revenge attack from a local drug cartel. According to the Michoacán Public Security Secretariat (SSP), the victims were heading back to Zamora after a meeting with their superiors in Morelia, the state capital.

There are several active drug cartels in this part of Michoacán. One of them is the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of Mexico's most powerful crime groups. There is also the Nueva Familia Michoacana and Los Viagras. Los Viagras is a spin-off group of the Knights Templar Cartel and is currently competing against the CJNG for control of Michoacán.

Sources: La Jornada; El Universal; NTR Zacatecas; Infobae; Silla Rota
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Judge orders COVID-19 test for Hector 'El Güero' Palma

June 28, 2020, 12:00 pm
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"MX" for Borderland Beat
Hector 'El Güero' Palma in 2016
A judge in the State of Mexico ordered prison doctors to conduct a COVID-19 test to Hector 'El Güero' Palma, a former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. Palma claims to have health complications and said that prison authorities have not allowed him to see a doctor. In the appeal, the judge stated that doctors should monitor his health conditions and see if Palma has any COVID-19 symptoms.

Should Palma test positive, the judge instructed prison authorities to give him the necessary medical treatment to facilitate his recovery. By law, prison authorities are permitted to bring an external medical team to treat inmates who suffer from COVID-19. The judge instructed the prison to do that should they need it.

Palma is currently imprisoned at the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1 ("Altiplano"), a maximum-security prison in the State of Mexico. He headed the Sinaloa Cartel along with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, but his criminal career was short-lived.

In 1995, he was arrested while heading to a wedding on his private jet. While flying his jet suffered engine problems and he had to do a forced landing near the Jalisco and Nayarit state borders. His arrest confirmed what many Mexicans had long known: in Mexico, the police are for sale and drug lords are purchasing them. When Palma was arrested, most of his entourage were active members of the Federal Judicial Police (PJF).

Palma was imprisoned at the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 2 ("Puente Grande"), the infamous prison where El Chapo escaped in 2001. In Mexico, Palma won several appeals and had his charges dropped multiple times. However, in 2007, Palma was extradited to the U.S. and sentenced for his drug trafficking involvement.

He was deported back to Mexico in 2016 and was re-arrested by Mexican authorities who were waiting for him at the border crossing. He was imprisoned for his outstanding charges in Mexico. He is currently facing trial for murder.

Sources: La Jornada; Excelsior; Reforma (subscription required)
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Inside the Sinaloa Cartel's Fentanyl Smuggling Operations

June 29, 2020, 10:41 am
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"MX" for Borderland Beat; VICE News
Note: This article was written by Keegan Hamilton. The video was produced by Hamilton and Miguel Fernández-Flores. Editing was done by Brittany Ross.


Floating in a small fishing boat along Mexico’s Pacific Coast, their faces obscured by t-shirts and ski masks, the four Sinaloa Cartel members looked like pirates. This was months before the pandemic, when tourists were still sunbathing on the beach a few miles away. The masks were to disguise themselves as they smuggled ashore the chemicals used to make fentanyl.

VICE News gained access to a Sinaloa Cartel fentanyl trafficking operation for a few days last year, during the production of new podcast series called “Painkiller: America’s Fentanyl Crisis.” We watched masked cartel members hauling bundles of precursor chemicals out of the ocean, interviewed local bosses, and followed the process of cooking fentanyl into heroin, a combination of drugs that has fueled a surge in overdose deaths across the U.S.

Fentanyl can be made entirely with chemicals, and it’s more powerful than heroin, which is derived from opium poppy plants. While some illicit fentanyl still comes to the U.S. through the mail from China, a crackdown last year on the trade by Beijing has accelerated the outsourcing of production to clandestine labs in Mexico. Chinese traffickers supplying shipments of ingredients, along with the precursors used to cook methamphetamine.

“All the drug traffickers in Sinaloa chip in, they know that the shipment is going to arrive on a given day,” one cartel member told us. “The amount of money is enormous.”

The illicit cargo is offloaded from a large container ship in watertight bundles, which can float for hours until the timing is right for a pickup. The coordinates and tracking information is relayed by phone to a crew on the shore. The masked men we saw were sent to fish the bundles out of the ocean and haul them to the land. Another group then takes the chemicals to “offices” or safehouses in the area.

Mexican cartels have been involved in the heroin trade for decades, but the arrival of fentanyl has made the business even more lucrative. Fentanyl is used to boost the potency of heroin, creating a product that can be diluted by dealers all down the supply chain and still retain value. The risk for users is that it leads to unpredictable and deadly doses.

At a clandestine lab on the outskirts of Culiacán, Sinaloa, in the territory of cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, we watched cartel members blend fentanyl into brown powdered heroin. The process was haphazard, involving large metal cookware and eyeballed measurements. The cooks sipped cans of Tecate Light beer throughout the process, as armed men stood guard. The finished product got refined into powder and packed into taped-up bricks, which were stashed in the trunk of a car, ultimately headed north to the U.S. border.

Ray Donovan, the special agent in charge of the DEA’s New York division, estimates that 80-90% of the fentanyl and heroin sold in New York City is produced by the Sinaloa Cartel. Donovan coordinated the operation to capture Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, and he said the former cartel boss was “one of the main players pushing fentanyl into the United States.”

Despite the successful extraditions and convictions of kingpins like El Chapo, Donovan said, the illicit fentanyl business is still booming.

“These are international criminal organizations that are interconnected because of globalization and technology,” Donovan said. “It’s ultimately greed and money and power. That's what it comes down to.”

Note: This article was written by Keegan Hamilton. The video was produced by Hamilton and Miguel Fernández-Flores. Editing was done by Brittany Ross.
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Six drug cartels operate in Chiapas, report confirms

June 29, 2020, 2:47 pm
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"MX" for Borderland Beat; TY to "leChef"
Map of the criminal groups in Chiapas in 2018; some of the arrangements have changed
At least six drug trafficking organizations operate in the southern state of Chiapas. According to intelligence reports from Mexican federal authorities, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) are fighting for the control of the drug corridors near the Chiapas border with Guatemala and maintain control of municipalities near the Pacific coast.

Meanwhile, Los Zetas control Tuxtla Gutierrez, the state capital, as well as the metropolitan area and part of the state's central municipalities. The Beltran Leyva Cartel, the Gulf Cartel and the San Juan Chamula Cartel also have some presence in at least 15 different areas in Chiapas.

Two Central American gangs, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and 18th Street Gang (Barrio 18), also have presence in the area. The report also cites the presence of five paramilitary and/or subversive groups.

Report details
Gilberto Zavala Páramo ("Don Gil") is cited as the ring leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in Chiapas. José Inés Landero Barrero ("El Apestoso") is the CJNG regional boss. Both men are fighting for the control of the following towns: Arriaga, Tonalá, Cintalapa, Pijijiapan, Mapastepec, Acapetahua, Villa Comaltitlán, Mazatán, Tapachula, Ciudad Hidalgo, Frontera Comalapa, Motozintla, Siltepec and Ángel Albino Corzo.

Don Gil reportedly has the backing of Faustino Damián Castro ("El Patrón"), one of the lieutenants in charge of illicit operations in Huehuetán, Mazatán, Acapetahua, Suchiate, Frontera Hidalgo and Tapachula.

Los Zetas are headed by Adán Juárez Gómez ("El Pelón"), who oversees the capital and the metropolitan area, including: Mezcalapa, Soconusco, the Lacandona jungle, Chiapa de Corzo, Berriozabal, Comitan de Dominguez, Las Margaritas, Ocosingo and Palenque.

Although the Beltran Leyva Cartel has been severely weakened over the years, they have several members in the area under Marco Antonio Zetina Ricardez ("El Zetina") in Palenque. This corridor is a major route for Central American immigrants who make their way to the U.S. The San Juan Chamula Cartel is led by a man known by his alias, "El Caracol". The Gulf Cartel operates on the Chiapas border with Veracruz and Tabasco.

Mexican authorities also detected the presence of Central American gangs such as the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and 18th Street Bang (Barrio 18). They have been linked to homicides and drug sales in Arriaga, Cacahoatan, Escuintla, Frontera Hidalgo, Huixtla, Metapa de Dominguez, Mapastepec, Palenque, Pijijiapan, Ciudad Hidalgo and Tapachula.

Paramilitary and subversive groups
Other perpetrators of violence and social unrest in Chiapas include subversive and paramilitary groups, which have been around for several years. The report mentions at least five of them in Chiapas.

The most famous one is the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN), which has presence in the municipalities of Ocosingo, Altamirano, Larrainzar, Chenalho, Las Margaritas, Tonala, Palenque, Salto de Agua, Tumbala, and Benemerito de las Americas.

The report also cites the Popular Revolutionary Army (Ejército Popular Revolucionario, EPR), which is active in Villaflores, Villa Corzo, La Concordia, Angel Albino Corzo, Venustiano Carranza, Motozintla, San Cristobal de las Casas, Salto de Agua, Altamirano and Ocosingo.

There is also a group known as Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad, headed by Oscar Sanchez Alpuche, which has presence in the communities of Salto de Agua, Tila, Sabanilla, Tumbala and Palenque. The report identifies this organization as a subversive group.

In addition, the report mentions a paramilitary group known as Chinchulines, which was born in May 1996 after the government killed their community leader, Geronimo Gomez Guzman. They are based in Chilon municipality and have been linked to various indigenous and campesino movements. For many years, the Chiapas state government denied the existence of armed groups other than the ones committing crimes.

Sources: El Universal
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Sister of Mexican Mafia member who ferried orders from prison is sentenced to 12.5 years

June 29, 2020, 3:43 pm
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"MX" for Borderland Beat; USDOJ
"The Black Hand", Mexican Mafia symbol
LOS ANGELES – A Whittier, California woman who was convicted earlier this year on several charges related to her role as a “secretary” to an imprisoned Mexican Mafia member who controlled a street gang was sentenced today to 151 months in federal prison. Sylvia Olivas, 73, was sentenced by United States District Judge Dale S. Fischer for playing an active role in the affairs of the Canta Ranas street gang.

Following a 2½-week trial in February, a federal jury found Olivas guilty of participating in three separate conspiracies – one to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act, a second involving the trafficking of methamphetamine and heroin, and a third centered on money laundering.

For at least a decade, Olivas served as the secretary to her brother, David Gavaldon, a long-time member of the Canta Ranas street gang who was not charged in this case as he is serving a life-without-parole sentence in Pelican Bay State Prison. From prison, Gavaldon exerted control over Canta Ranas and other gangs, and he received compensation in the form of “rent” or “taxes” generated by drug trafficking and other offenses committed in gang territory.

Olivas regularly visited Gavaldon to discuss gang business and obtain orders that she brought back to the gang. Olivas “was a Mexican Mafia secretary in a large-scale racketeering enterprise – a powerful and highly respected role within this criminal organization,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

“Despite her false and misleading statements in trial to cover up her involvement in the CRO [Canta Ranas Organization], the evidence overwhelmingly showed that defendant knew exactly what happened in the CRO and participated in it by passing messages from Mexican Mafia leader David Gavaldon to two generations of shotcallers, delivering edicts on extortionate taxes, secretly meeting with CRO members to collect taxes and launder them through her accounts to distribute them to David Gavaldon and his chosen recipients, and using code and other measures to cover her criminal activity from law enforcement.”

When she imposed the sentence this morning, Judge Fischer disputed Olivas’ contention that she should receive leniency because she had no prior criminal convictions. “She has been in trouble every day of her life helping the CRO, she was just never caught,” the judge said. Olivas was among 51 defendants charged in a 2016 federal grand jury indictment targeting Canta Ranas members and associates.

Nearly all of those defendants have been convicted, including Jose Loza, the “shotcaller” of the Santa Fe Springs and Whittier-based Canta Ranas gang, who was sentenced in March to life plus an additional 30 years in federal prison.

The RICO indictment targeting the Canta Ranas gang was the result of Operation Frog Legs, which was an investigation by the Southern California Drug Task Force, which is led by the Drug Enforcement Administration as part of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) initiative.
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UC San Diego launches think tank to study opioid epidemic in Mexico and worldwide

June 29, 2020, 6:00 pm
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"MX" for Borderland Beat; UC San Diego
Reports of the pandemic’s impacts to the production of synthetic opioids like entangle have incentivized poppy cultivation in Mexico, which could lead to more substance abuse, violence and drug trafficking.

Despite being considered the world’s third largest producer of opium and heroin, little is known about poppy cultivation in Mexico. Yet, the opioid crisis remains a huge problem across much of the U.S. and Mexico and COVID-19 appears to have made matters worse: Recent lockdowns have disrupted the flow of synthetic opioids and have ostensibly increased production of heroin in Mexico.

To address the global opioid crisis, the "Mexico Opium Network", a first-of-its kind international effort, was recently launched to examine the socio-political challenges posed by illicit poppy crops in Mexico.

An estimated 128 people die every day in the U.S. from opioid overdoses, largely caused by synthetic opioids manufactured in China and Mexico. Reports of the pandemic’s impacts to the production of synthetic opioids like fentanyl have incentivized poppy cultivation in Mexico, which could lead to more substance abuse, violence and drug trafficking.

“The poppy economy is crucial to some of the Mexico’s most marginalized rural regions, despite its illegality and constant efforts at eradication,” said Rafael Fernández de Castro, director of the University of California San Diego’s Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, a key partner institution in the Mexico Opium Network. “More research and data on the opium economy and its stakeholders is needed to understand these communities’ social realities.”

In addition to UC San Diego, the global network is comprised of researchers from Noria Research, Mexico United Against Crime (MUCD, Mexico), the Latin American Center for Rural Development (RIMISP, Colombia), the Transform Drug Policy Foundation (TDPF, United Kingdom) and the Transnational Institute (TNI, the Netherlands).

“While we know that the opium production in Mexico is the top source of opioids to the U.S. and other countries, in most publications and discussions regarding poppy cultivation in the world, Mexico is—at best—mentioned, when not totally absent,” said Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, head of security research programs at the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, which is based at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. “Therefore, when it comes to addressing challenges posed by this issue we are almost blind; however, the launch of this new network will allow us to build a decisive new space for research and public policy dialogue, both at the Mexican and the international level.”

Poppy production is often a complementary activity in the family farming economy in mountainous regions, providing a source of income that is alternated with food production, manufacturing and local trade, to sustain economies that are, in many cases, precarious. However, analysis of the social, economic, and political characteristics and impacts of opium production in Mexico has effectively been nonexistent.

The Opium network will seek to shed light on these communities by understanding: how many farmers work and live from opium poppy production in Mexico, and under what conditions? How are these illicit activities regulated? What is the economic weight of opium in Mexico?

To understand the dynamics of this market and evaluate which political responses are appropriate and effective, the Mexico Opium Network will focus on five key activities:
  1. Produce systematic knowledge on the Mexican opium economy, and the evolution of law enforcement policies, through fieldwork and quantitative analysis.
  2.  Work with the producing communities in order to design a rural development strategy.
  3. Generate an evidence-based debate with civil society at the national and international level.
  4. Engage with key civil decision-makers within national and international forums.
  5. Offer alternatives addressing the different thematic areas: rural development, drug policy, public security strategies.

“The Network will be a clearinghouse for the production and dissemination of knowledge on opium poppy production, from the local to the national and international stages,” said Romain Le Cour Grandmaison head of Noria’s Mexico and Central American Program.

“In addition our work will produce qualitative, field-based evidence that will be openly and freely disseminated to the public, generating an unprecedented source of knowledge on international platforms to help global communities better address the global health crises of substance abuse, illicit cultivations, violence and drug trafficking.”
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El Marro's parents are released from prison; their lawyer is then killed by gunmen

June 30, 2020, 8:03 am
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"MX" for Borderland Beat; TY to "Parro"
José Antonio Yépez Ortiz ("El Marro")
Rodolfo and Maria Eva, the parents of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel (CSRL) leader José Antonio Yépez Ortiz ("El Marro"), were released from prison over the weekend. One of the family's attorneys confirmed to the press that several of El Marro's relatives, including his brother, fled to the United States to avoid persecution from the Mexican government.

El Marro's father was arrested in Celaya on March 6 for driving a stolen vehicle, as reported by Borderland Beat. At the time of his arrest, the Mexican government confirmed that there was an ongoing investigation against him and that they were looking to press "more charges".

However, he paid a MXN$10,000 fine and was released from prison on Friday, June 26. His lawyer explained to the judge that El Marro's father was over 60 years old and had high chances of getting sick of COVID-19. The judge allowed him to be on house arrest in San Miguel Octopan (Celaya Municipality). His trial is still pending. 

The case against El Marro's mother was dropped on June 27 after her legal team was able to prove that there were "irregularities" in her arrest, particularly in the discrepancies found in the warrant documents. Her legal team said that the addressed in the warrant document were different than address she was in when she was arrested. Moreover, the reported times of capture were different than the ones the prosecution presented to the judge.

Judge Paulina Irais Medina Manzano said that the charges linking El Marro's mother and four of other suspected CSRL members to a drug investigation were inconclusive and ordered their release. Since her arrest, El Marro's mother complained that she was subject to psychological torture.
El Marro's mother, Maria Eva, was released from prison on Saturday

El Marro's mother was arrested on June 20 in the San Isidro de Elguera (Celaya Municipality), as reported by Borderland Beat. Authorities said she was in possession of 1 kg (2.2 lbs) of methamphetamine and MXN$2 million in cash. To prevent her capture, people linked to the CSRL burned vehicles to block roads and attacked multiple businesses across the city. 26 people were arrested for the attacks, but they were released after approximately 48 hours due to lack of evidence.

Upon leaving the prison, four Silao Municipal Police officers temporarily detained El Marro's mother at a checkpoint near the penitentiary. In an ambush attack, suspected members of the CSRL killed three of them. El Marro reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack and blamed the police officers of working for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), a rival criminal group that competes with the CSLR for control of Guanajuato.

Lawyer's murder
In an unexpected turn of events, one of the lawyer of El Marro's mother was killed by gunmen in Irapuato. The attack occurred on the evening of Sunday, June 28. According to Guanajuato investigators, the legal team of El Marro's family was traveling through the Irapuato-León highway when unknown assailants attacked them.

Their attorneys lost control of their vehicle during the attack; one of them was shot in the head and killed
The attorneys lost control of their Volkswagen Jetta and it overturned. One of them was shot in the head and died before authorities arrived at the scene. Their identities were not available by press time.

Sources: Excelsior; La Jornada; El Jornada (2); La Jornada (3); El Milenio; Periodico AM; SinEmbargo; Sipse; El Universal
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