Tijuano Borderland Beat
With information from Zeta Tijuana and Agencia Fronteriza de Noticias Tijuana.
With information from Zeta Tijuana and Agencia Fronteriza de Noticias Tijuana.
Antonio Felix Quintero aka "El As(The Ace)"
31 year old Antonio Felix Quintero aka “El As(The Ace)”, “21”, “Vicente Aispuro Araujo”, “Palillo” and “El Caudillo” was arrested by agents of the Baja California State Attorney General Office when he was released from the federal prison of Villahermosa, Tabasco. Felix Quintero is accused of killing two Baja California preventive agents in 2002.
Felix Quintero is a known hit-man of the Arellano Felix Cartel (CAF), in 2002 he worked as bodyguard for Francisco Javier Arellano Felix aka “El Tigrillo”, “Zeta 6”, “El Conan”.
Francisco Javier Arellano Felix aka "El Tigrillo" or "Zeta-6"
On August 24th, 2002, he was, along with two more men, in the Tijuana nightclub known as “Tangaloo” safeguarding “El Tigrillo” and his girlfriend along with her brother, Jorge Briseño aka “El Cholo”. “El As” and the other two men waited on the outside, then they entered the nightclub and began drinking, when “El Tigrillo” was ready to leave, the bodyguards were too drunk and one of them took an AK 47 and shoot the electric power transformer.
The bodyguard then leaved the scene following Arellano Felix´s BMW on their way to Tijuana´s international airport, on their way toward the airport the BMW was stopped by a police car, “El As” and his men stopped besides the police car, Felix Quintero grabbed an AK 47 and stepped down from his vehicle identifying himself to the police men with a fake federal agent badge, however the officer didn´t believe him and without saying anything “El As” shot them while “El Tigrillo” escaped in his BMW.
Since the officers were badly hurt, Felix Quiteros´s partner took the AK 47 and finished them. Months after this “El As” and his men were arrested and charged with possession of illegal weapons and organized crime. They were sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Federal agents outside Villahermosa´s federal prison.
Fast forward to 2013, when his release was ordered (before completing his 15 year sentence), the Baja California Attorney General office was notified and they sent a group of investigative agents to Tabasco. But apparently they weren’t the only ones interested in “El As”, he already had a “job” in Guadalajara.
The agents in charge of re-apprehending “El As” believe someone tried to avoid it. When they arrived at Villahermosa, Tabasco, they noticed that an SUV with suspicious people was following them closely.
The next day, when they had to visit the Federal Social Rehabilitation Center (Centro de Readaptación Social Federal) in which Felix Quintero was held, they noticed the SUV was still after them, they called the state commander who gave them a phone number which they could call if something happened.
When they arrived at the prison, for security reasons one of the agents from Tijuana had to step down from the vehicle and walk toward the prison door, suddenly an armored truck caught his attention because it was backing towards the prison main door.
“In just one minute the truck was on its way out and without stopping, so I went back and we followed it”, said the agent, who couldn´t find “El As” inside the prison. Fearing that Felix Quintero was inside the truck they insisted in following it but the driver didn´t stop, even though state police units were ordering him to do so.
The agents called for reinforcements and managed to block the path of the armored truck, however, the driver insisted in not opening the vehicle. A convoy of federal agents arrived from inside the prison and the situation got tense because everyone cocked their weapons and pointed them at each other.
After the agents called the number they were given, the state commander arrived and explained to the federal agents that everything was ok, therefore they needed to let the agents from Tijuana do their work.
After this, the driver, who had previously refused he was carrying “El As”, opened the truck´s door and let them took Felix Quintero. According to the agent in charge, the driver told Javier Arellano´s former bodyguard “I just tell you that you are free, I don´t know whi they are and where they´ll take you. You already had a job in Guadalajara and there´s where I was going to take you”.
After this, the state officers from Villahermosa intercepted the SUV that previously followed the Tijuana agents, but the passengers were not carrying anything illegal. “They only confirmed us that they were here to take “El As” to Guadalajara, Jalisco, without giving explanations about it”.
After all this, the Tijuana officers asked the local military to safeguard the police station where they had to sleep in order to avoid Felix´s escape.
Antonio Felix Quintero has now been taken to Tijuana, where a judge ordered his incarceration and now faces up to 50 years in prison for each murder charge against him.