Borderland Beat
El Wicked confessed to participating in the "El Colorado Bar Massacre." Then he confessed to killing activist Marisela Escobedo! Her family calls him a scapegoat! Is he portraying himself as a victim of a bad childhood? Who's buying it?
Standing in front of the prosecutor, José Enrique Jiménez Zavala stares at his three three tattoos that somehow define his personality. One has an inscription in Vietnamese that, translated into Spanish, says: "Do not trust no bitch." The second contains an EPT acronym that refers to El Paso, Texas. The third is a silhouette of Subcomandante Marcos.
Then "El Wicked," born on December 29, 1982 in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, recounts his childhood with an air of pride. After leaving his father behind, moving from Juarez to an apartment in El Paso at age eight, "I lived on Alameda Street and Copia with my mother, and brothers,...my mom was devoted to the home and paid expenses by working in bars and taverns."
Jiménez Zavala admits that he wasn't a good student, that gang activities would pulled him from school, and that he "only got through high school. I did my studies at Basset High School and did two years of high school in Austin; likewise my brothers also studied in El Paso schools."
He practiced football: "During sports season everything was fine, but vacation time was the beginning of getting in trouble."
He joined gangs, was expelled from school for gang fights, and the punishments soon began to match his escalating infractions. He was placed in a "Challenge Bootcamp." At 15, El Wicked was sentenced to one year at the Texas Commission for Children with a charge of theft.
Upon his release at age 16, he became a gang leader, stole narcomenudo drugs for resale and began experimenting with heroin and guns.
El Wicked graduated to County Jail in Abilene, Texas with a five-year stint for supermarket robbery. In county lockup he sealed his downward spiral by joining Los Aztecas. Upon his release, he took control of the capital of Chihuahua plaza, distributing heroin and committing murders. More recently, he participated in the murder of 16 people in the El Colorado bar in Chihuahua on April 20, 2012.
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| El Wicked's Presentation--detained in a parking lot carrying a ..38 on Oct. 4 |
El Wicked Confesses to Killing Marisela Escobedo!
Jiménez Zavala confessed that the order to kill Marisela Escobedo came from Jesus Antonio Rincón Chavero, a.k.a. "el Tarzan," a former ministerial officer, third in command of the organization La Linea, who has already been arrested and detained in a federal prison.
He also said that the order came from "above." At that time, the leaders of the criminal group were "El Diego" and "El Brad Pitt," both also arrested.
He also said that the order came from "above." At that time, the leaders of the criminal group were "El Diego" and "El Brad Pitt," both also arrested.
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| Marisela Escobedo |
Everyone knows the the sad story of Marisela Escobedo, "Rubi's Mom." Escobedo's abruptly became an activist when her daughter, Rubi Frayre Escobedo, 16, disappeared in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, in 2008. Escobedo worked tirelessly to attract attention to "the disappeared" Juarez women, while "uber-focusing" on bringing justice for her missing Rubi, who had turned 17 by the time her burned and dismembered body was found in the trash in 2009.
Once wrapped only in a banner with her daughter's photograph, Escobedo demanded justice. She contacted federal research groups, initiating in-depth investigations into officials in various levels of government as a means to expedite the arrest of Raphael Barraza Bocanegra, a Zeta who the Escobedo family firmly believed responsible for Rubi's death. Although Bocandegra was finally arrested, he was quickly acquitted and released. It was a devastating blow to the Escobedos. (The acquittal was eventually reversed by a panel of judges.)
El Wicked said the day he killed Escobedo, she was was opposite the Palace of Government. After shooting her first in the head, the gun "jammed," and the victim's brother threw a chair that hit El Wicked in the arm. Escobedo tried to flee her assassin by running across the street, but the gunman chased her down. She died shortly after at a hospital.
According to state authorities, El Wicked said the killing of Escobedo was an agreement between the Juárez and the los Zetas cartels because her protests were attracting too much media attention. Jiménez Zavala explained that Sergio Barraza, the man who slayed Rubi, was in Zacatecas with the Zetas.
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| Sergio Rafael Barranza Bocanegra |
Attack of Activist Marisela Escobeda
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| In Memory of Marisela Escobedo |
Juan Manuel Frayre Escobedo, son of Marisela Escobedo, said his uncle, Ricardo Escobedo, who witnessed the murder, does not recognize El Wicked as the author of the crime. Frayre said his uncle, who like him and another brother asked for political asylum in the United States after they buried his mother in Ciudad Juarez, said the man presented by Chihuahua authorities as the alleged killer of Marisela Escobedo is a "scapegoat."
Frayre Escobedo, who has taken refuge in the U.S. from alleged death threats, said in a press conference that they have identified the "real murderer," a U.S. citizen. "My mom's brother witnessed the murder and reported it to the Attorney General's Office (PGR). They know it's a Gringo," he clarified. He would not reveal the identity of the alleged murderer, but he did say that he could only be residing in Ciudad Juarez or El Paso. Although Chihuahua authorities presented this weekend El Wicked as the murderer, Frayre insists that he may have been pressured to plead guilty and settle the case.
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| Marisela Escobedo Ortiz paid the ultimate price for standing up for her beliefs |
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