"HEARST" for Borderland Beat
In Salamanca, Guanajuato, a package that was delivered to the restaurant-bar called “Barra 1604” exploded and killed two and injured four.
Initial reports suggest the two men were the the owner and manager of Barra 1604. El Financiero reports four more were confirmed to have been injured by the explosion, although more injured may be reported as the story develops.
"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat
An armed criminal cell from the state of Chiapas has released a video. For this broadcast the interrogation of a captured enemy reveals the inner workings and illicit dealings of an opposing crime group.
The names of high ranking military personnel in Mexico. Along with public functionaries, one in a neighboring country are given up. In addition the following films have been deemed safe for all to see.
Sicario: Alright, here it goes you son of a bitch. You’re going to answer every question that I’m about to ask. Who do you work for?
Captive: I work for Beltran Perez Alfaro, Leider López Maldonado aka El Chumi, and Julio Alfa de Sinaloa.
Sicario: What does your boss specialize in?
Captive: He extorts grocery stores, agricultural producers. Just as well he commits the kidnapping of migrants, women and children who they abuse and afterwards ask a ransom for their rescue.
Sicario: Which authorities protect your boss?
Captive: The Chiapas sub secretary of public security, Francisco Javier Orantes. We give this individual a certain amount of money for the extortions we commit. Along with Guzman Santiago, a major for the 15th Cavalry Regiment in the city of Comitán. He was gifted a truck worth 500,000 pesos. Along with 400,000 in cash. And a .308 machine gun. Just as well Jose Luis Camacho, an infantry Lieutenant for the 15th Cavalry Regiment in Comitán. This individual is in charge of bringing intel along with the pay of soldiers, sergeants, and the officials who are aligned with us.
Sicario: Who among the military personnel are bodyguards for Beltran?
Captive: The corporal Rigoberto de Jesus Vargas who recently left the 15th Cavalry Regiment in Comitán. As well as the State Policeman Filiberto Tanziso Tomas.
Sicario: Which other authorities provide security protection for Beltran?
Captive: The regional commander Reynaldo Coto Moreno. He’s in charge of providing heavily armed Ministerial agents as protection for Beltran from the city of Lázaro Cárdenas to Comitán de Domínguez.
Sicario: Where did you guys bury the dead from that armed confrontation that took place on July 28, 2021, how many individuals died?
Captive: There was 23 dead. They were from Culiacán, Sinaloa. And some from this region. Armando de Julio Alfa and El Chumis. They were buried within a mine near a cemetery on the road to Tezuala.
Sicario: Who took care of that problem when the military apprehended the Beltran gunmen in Lazara Cardenas?
Sicario: It was the major Guzman Santiago of the 15th Cavalry Regiment in the city of Comitán. He was given a sum of 200,000 pesos in cash. And the person in charge of receiving that money was the lieutenant Jose Luis Camacho of the 15th Cavalry Regiment in Comitán.
Sicario: Where was he?
Captive: He was in El Caif that evening.
Sicario: Why are you guys robbing and extorting citizens?
Captive: Because our boss doesn’t have funds to make the payments.
Sicario: Who do you guys sell the stolen property to?
Captive: We sell them to the mayor Rudi Gordillo Velazco of Nenton, Guatemala.
Sicario: Who’s kidnapping citizens and disappearing them here in the city of Comitán…
"HEARST" for Borderland Beat
Benjamín Mollinedo, alias “El Pantera” , the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación’s (CJNG) regional leader for Tabasco was just arrested by members of the National Guard. El Pantera
El Pantera is believed to be the CJNG plaza boss for the Chontalpa area, which consists of the four municipalities of Huimanguillo, Cárdenas, Comalcalco and Paraíso, all located in western part of Tabasco state.
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| Benjamín Mollinedo, alias “El Pantera” |
El Pantera was recently arrested on September 16, 2021, in the Framboyanes neighborhood of Ciudad del Carmen in the state of Campeche. Soldiers from the National Guard allegedly arrested El Pantera however bizarrely almost no details are currently available on how he was captured. This mystery surrounding his arrest only further adds to intrigue around Pantera’s criminal career as he is considered a kind of usurper, or a cartel-version of Marcus Brutus to the druglord Julius Cesar that was El Kalimba.
"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat
A California-based trucking company has been the subject of a months-long, multiple agency investigation that has resulted in large drug seizures and multiple arrests.
On Thursday, the Salinas Police Department held a press conference to report on the results of “Operation Black Hawk,” a five-month investigation into the suspected drug trafficking of Salinas-based trucking company Nor Cal Transportation.
According to the Salinas Police Department, Nor Cal “is suspected of operating a drug trafficking organization (DTO) with the specific intent to transport and distribute narcotics between Yuma, Arizona and Salinas, California.
During the investigations it was determined that, Nor Cal Transportation was directly connected to the Sinaloa Cartel and transporting narcotics in conjunction with Norteno gang leaders.”
Police have issued charges against eight people connected to the drug trafficking scheme. Charges include conspiracy to transport and distribute narcotics, firearms possession, gang enhancements, and conspiracy to commit murder.
Those arrested in connection to the Operation Black Hawk investigation include Everardo Rodriguez Duran, Brian David Duran, Guadalupe Duran, Juan Duran, Uriel Coronel Jesus Miranda Haros, Juan Carlos Magana, and Amaytani Nunez.
On September 9, the Salinas Police Department executed five search warrants and arrested four people. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Yuma executed four search warrants in Somerton and Yuma County, Arizona, and arrested two people.
After multiple warrants served and traffic stops performed during Operation Black Hawk, authorities seized 60 pounds of methamphetamine, 5 pounds of heroin, a pound and a half of cocaine and 25,000 Fentanyl pills. The estimated street value of the seized drugs is $1.8 million.
Police also seized 9 firearms, two bank accounts, a Nor Cal Transportation tractor trailer and approximately $90,000 in cash/cashier’s checks as suspected proceeds from illegal narcotics sales.
According to the Salinas Police Department, more than 170 law enforcement officers from various agencies participated in the execution of multiple search warrants connected to the investigation.
Agencies that assisted in the investigation include:
* California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
* Federal Bureau of Investigation
* California State Parole
* Monterey County Sheriff’s Office
* California Highway Patrol
* Arizona Department of Public Safety
* US Customs and Border Protection
* San Benito County Sheriff’s Office
* San Benito County Probation Department
* Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
* Yuma County Sheriff’s Office
* Yuma County Narcotics Task Force
* Yuma Police Department
"HEARST" for Borderland Beat
A Mexico City federal judge ruled that Cártel del Noreste’s Martin Rodriguez Barbosa, alias “El Cadete” will have to stand trial for multiple criminal charges.
This ruling came after evidence was presented that allegedly demonstrated Cadete’s involvement in charges of possession of firearms for the exclusive use of the Armed Forces, operations with resources of illicit origin (at the possession level) and crimes against health (or rather drug charges, one charge at the level of possession and one charge at the level of drug trafficking).
"HEARST" for Borderland Beat
On September 13, 2021, a Texas border town requested citizens help locate a Cártel del Noreste (CDN) hitman who is suspected in a fatal home invasion in Zapata, Texas.
It began when CDN bosses allegedly contacted and tasked two local Texas men, David Mendez, Jr. and Billardo Alaniz, with transporting two Tropa del Infierno hitmen to the home of someone they planned to execute. Both men evidently agreed and a cross borders execution operation was organized by CDN higher ups.
David Mendez, Jr. and Billardo Alaniz arrived at the prearranged location on July 22, 2021 and located the two Tropa hitmen who had just crossed over the US Mexico border illegally through Falcon Lake. They picked up the hitmen and drove them to a house located in the Manuel Medina Addition, of the town of Zapata.
Journalists Justin Scheck, Newley Purnell and Jeff Horwitz published an article in the US news publication the Wall Street Journal on September 16, 2021 which describes, in part, how the Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) has Facebook accounts which recruit new members and share torture/execution videos, however even when the pages are reported, the pages are rarely ever taken down.
The following is a selection of some of the relevant excerpts related to cartels, taken directly from the original article which was written by Justin Scheck, Newley Purnell and Jeff Horwitz.
"HEARST" for Borderland Beat
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| Miguel Báez Guevara photographed in custody. |
A Sinaloa Cartel operative was indicted by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) for organizing a network of drug traffickers who smuggled large quantities of narcotics from Mexico to the US state of Alaska.
The recent DOJ statement and articles detailing the operation offer interesting insight into how logistically a major cartel such as Sinaloa manages to supply drug markets even in very geographically isolated locations, such as Alaska.
"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat
In the early hours of Friday, in the Gobernadores neighborhood, three black bags with dismembered human remains and a cardboard message attached to it with industrial tape were found.
It was at approximately one in the morning that several calls were made to the 911 system informing the municipal police about bags with human remains, on Severo Castillo Street, in the Gobernadores neighborhood.
The area already known by the authorities due to the various homicides that have been recorded there. Crimes ranging from bagged human remains, burned bodies, corpses wrapped in blankets and killed by firearm. Municipal Police arrived, who corroborated the report and cordoned off the scene.
Later, Criminal Investigation Agents arrived for the initial inquiries. The criminal expert who processes the area, located a cardboard with a message from a criminal group. The Forensic Medical Service gathered the remains that were taken to the Semefo facilities. So far the sex of the person is unknown, the results of the legal autopsy will be expected.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General's Office will carry out the investigations for identity and to clarify the case.
"HEARST" for Borderland Beat
The State Attorney General's Office (FGE) arrested Édgar Pérez Villa alias "Cabo 89", a lieutenant of the Cartel de Arellano Felix (CAF) group working under El Flaquito in Baja California.
Due to prior intelligence work by the FGE, authorities were able to identify and anticipate the movements of Edgar Perez Villa, alias “Cabo 89”, “El Nier”, or “El Cuervo” (The Raven). Cabo 89 was infamously hard to track down to his use of different pseudonyms, which he used to keep a low profile, enabling him to avoid being arrested by the authorities or being identified by a rival cartel group. According to Zeta Tijuana, one of the pseudonyms he employed was “León Emmanuel Castillo”.
State Security and Investigation Guard (GESI) agents reportedly closed in on Cabo 89 while he was traveling onboard a taxi alongside a woman, identified as Lucía, as well as two minors.
