Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico
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Sunday, August 8, 2010

Crying Zeta suspect appears in court

August 07, 2010 12:20 AM
THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD


A man alleged to have been a member of Mexico’s Gulf Cartel and later of the Zetas criminal organization appeared in U.S. federal court Friday and – when he saw his mother, wife and sister in the room – broke down sobbing, his big frame shaking visibly.

Wearing khaki pants, a wrinkled blue shirt and shackles on his wrists, Luis Alberto Blanco Flores, known as “El Pelochas,” appeared at a preliminary hearing as a follow-up to his arrest on July 23 for illegal entry to the United States.

At the hearing, an agent for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement testified that Blanco has told authorities that he previously was a high-ranking member of the Gulf Cartel and played a significant role in narcotics distribution. The agent stated that Blanco has been cooperating with U.S. authorities since his arrest.

Friday’s hearing was held in the court of U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Morgan, who asked the agent to reconfirm his information because the court didn’t want to hear testimony based rumors, innuendoes or newspaper articles.

Blanco, 30, was arrested in Brownsville two weeks ago in an operation that involved U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, the U.S. Border Patrol and Brownsville Police.

According to court documents, he is charged with re-entering the United States illegally after having been previously deported on Sept. 16, 2003.

A Mexican law enforcement official said Blanco previously had been part of the Gulf Cartel but more recently was affiliated with the Zetas organization, working under Arturo Castillo, known as “El Apache.”

Castillo was arrested in Brownsville a day after Blanco in the same interagency operation and also is charged with illegal entry to the U.S. Both men are in the custody of U.S. Marshals, and both will face extradition to Mexico after their cases here are resolved, ICE spokeswoman Nina Pruneda said.

Solitary confinement

During Friday’s hearing, Blanco and his attorney approached the bench to ask that he be removed from solitary confinement and allowed to join the general jail population.

“My client is going crazy,” attorney Rick Canales told the judge. “He is being treated like a caged dog, being locked in a little tight room.”

At that point, Blanco – wearing earphones so that he could listen to a Spanish translation of the proceedings – broke down again, sobbing as his family members cried and embraced each other. The judge responded that any decision about solitary confinement rests with the U.S. Marshals, not with the court.

A lawyer from the U.S. Attorney’s office asked that Blanco’s bail, currently set at $25,000, be increased, noting that federal authorities have information that Blanco had been a high-ranking member of the Gulf Cartel working under Alberto Castillo, known as “Beto Fabe.” Blanco is not only being held in lieu of bail but also on an immigration detainer.

Beto Fabe, brother of Arturo Castillo, was killed in May. According to a source with firsthand knowledge of criminal activity in Mexico, who for security reasons asked not to be identified, Beto Fabe was the head of the Gulf Cartel in Matamoros but cooperated with the Zetas by letting his brother operate there.

According to the source, after Beto Fabe was killed under orders of Gulf Cartel bosses, his brother and a group of hitmen – including Blanco – began openly attacking Gulf Cartel and police assets.

Arturo Castillo is believed to have ordered a recent attack at the Matamoros Municipal Police station which resulted in the murder of seven officers, authorities have said.

A few days after Castillo’s arrest in Brownsville, 15 bodies with signs of torture were dropped along a Matamoros highway. Each of the bodies reportedly had a large “Z” painted on its back, and sources have said the men were part of Castillo’s group.

At around the same time, the Mexican navy announced that it had arrested 12 Zetas at a motel in San Fernando, all of whom were also part of Castillo’s group. Authorities have said those 12 were among the 14 men killed early Friday in violence at the Matamoros State Prison.


















15 alleged Zetas executed Thursday, July 29

















Image of several Zetas in a group of 12 executed Monday, July 12


The images above are of the victims of 2 mass executions, both occurring on highways outside of Matamoros, Tamaulipas. These men and women were allegedly members of a Los Zetas cell known as "Grupo Apache" and led by Arturo Castillo, alias "El Apache" and were executed by Gulf Cartel rivals.

Arturo Castillo is also under arrest in Brownsville, Texas. He was detained in the same operation that resulted in the arrest of Luis Alberto Blanco Flores.

Blanco Flores was also a member of this cell that was involved in attacks on police forces and rival Gulf Cartel gangsters.

In further news coming out of Tamaulipas, a unit of Mexico's elite Marine force clashed with a band of Zetas possibly associated with the "Grupo Apache". The Brownsville Herald also covered this story.


Shootout kills 4 in San Fernando

August 07, 2010 12:20 AM
THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD


Four Zetas were killed in a fierce firefight and a cache of weapons was seized, Mexican armed forces reported Friday.

According to a press release from the Mexican Navy, the shootout took place Thursday at approximately 6 p.m. in the city of San Fernando, some 80 miles south of Brownsville along the main highway corridor in Tamaulipas.

Mexican marines were patrolling the area around the city when they came under fire from Zeta members traveling in SUVs, the release said. The marines fought back, killing four Zetas and forcing the rest to flee, according to the statement. The marines didn’t report any casualties.

The marines reported that they seized three SUVs, one of them armored, more than 223,000 pesos (about $17,700), one pound of cocaine, one rocket launcher, six R-15 assault rifles, one AK-47 assault rifle and two .223 assault rifles. The military also seized 10 bulletproof vests and more than 2,600 rounds of ammunition, according to the release.


Link to the SEMAR press release for the San Fernando operation. (Spanish)
http://www.semar.gob.mx/sitio/?option=com_content&task=view&id=1431&Itemid=300

Images of weapons seized by Marines in San Fernando



21 comments:

  1. I love the headline!


    ...ande cabron...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ha, Ha, Ha!

    Very good job Gerardo!

    Thanks.


    AR
    Por La Canasta en
    Matamoros.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Keep crying,punk. Karma's a bitch and I'm sure the blood of many is on your hands.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sadly, this is just a spit in the ocean. Within minutes, more Zetas will just fill the vacuum.

    For so many years, we turned a blind eye to the cartels and corruption in our police, military and governments. Decades of evidence link the PRI to selling plazas to the cartels and receiving payments - all the way up to the president.

    We were so naive and self-centered! As long as it didn't affect the general public, we ignored the growing crime and corruption

    But years of abuse of the public's money for personal purposes and collaborating with the cartels has left us with a completely ineffective government structure that can deal with the subject. Presidente Calderon has been very brave to take on the problem,but the corruption is too widespread.

    With less than 2% of murders prosecuted and virtually no kidnappings reported or investigated, unless we ask others for help, we will never get things under control.

    Let's investigate EVERY politician that takes office, and every police force and military detachment in the country. Until we clean house, we will never be free.

    We are all responsible for letting the corruption grow. Let's admit our mistake and ask for help from the US and the UN. Follow Columbia's lead to make real change.

    Without these steps, I fear for Mexico's next 200 years...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Crying Zeta...love it, but WTF??? a significant role in narcotics distribution and can only be charged with illegal entry? 25K and he can't make bail? I say deport him into the hands of the Gulf Cartel or the families of the 7 officers...caged like a dog? that is an insult to dogs

    ReplyDelete
  6. Zeta chillon! No llores buey, nomas acuerdate de todas las chingaderas que te trajeron hasta aca, puto.

    Que pena que esto nunca se pude ver en un juzgado Mexicano.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AMEN, to all above! ESPECIALLY 1;09 PM !

    ReplyDelete
  8. I completely agree with 1:09PM!!! That's the best we can do to an admitted trafficker and cartel member? And that is why these culeros will keep going. The worst they can expect is a little slap on the wrist, 3 meals a day until they are pushed back into Mexico where someone will pay off a judge and he'll be back to work...

    Sad....

    ReplyDelete
  9. I agree that President Calderon has taken more steps than anyone. He's bet his and all our farms on it. Will the political capital he's earned be enough for the the Mexican people to not want to go back to the "peaceful" days of yore?

    The political will and budget commitments needed to support or restructure governmental institutions (like PFM and PFP, and a credible correctional and judicial infrastructure, just to name a few) can't be short term pledges. Key investments that will naturally propagate an infection of pride and confidence will take an extraordinary national vow of solidarity with Calderon.

    "¡Mexico siempre fiel!" -Karol Józef Wojtyła

    The writing is on the wall for the regular citizen: you wanted political change? Unfortunately this is what it looks like for us and, like Reagan said, "there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth" for us (I can't believe I just quoted him).

    Why would these fuckers allow themselves to fade silently into the dying of the light?



    "Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things." -RONALD REAGAN, from a speech at Moscow State University, May 31, 1988. On November 9, 1989, just 18 months later, The Wall crumbled.


    ¡Si se puede! ¡Estamos contigo!


    ¡Viva Mexico!

    ReplyDelete
  10. This cry baby will have the same fate as his brother. I don't agree with some say that the Z's will just replace those killed. There has been causalities on both sides but a lot of Z's have been killed since the war started. Add the fact that they don't pay the soldiers and the people of Mexico against the Z's... Sounds like a recipe of a downward spiral for the Z's. Once the CDG take over Nuevo laredo, and Piedras, everything else will go downhill from there for the Z's.

    ReplyDelete
  11. ¡ Ha, Ha, Ha ! ¡Aunque no lo creas, you creo como para diez como tu!


    En el valle siempre han habido Vallucos; son la caca del valle. Son los hijos de mojados que nacieron aca pero nunca se sintieron que podrian ser mas que mojados. Ellos componen las aguas negras que enceban y tapan las tuberias. Nomas caminan chueco, se visten como payasos, se les caen los pantalones, se gomean y es todo lo que los define. Nada mas. Se acabo.

    Cuando haz visto un pachuco rico? O por lo menos que propio se mantenga? Viven con su mama cuando vienen a visitar de la pinta, mientras se los vuelven a guardar alla.

    ...son pura crepa...

    ReplyDelete
  12. I think the Zeta's will not make it or last as a top player cartel, like Sinaloa, CDG, or even CAF, but they will be around doing their thing for awhile. I hope CDG can push them out of Tamaulipas, and curb some of the violence and victimization of the citizens, because that is not right, taxing businesses, and robbing people to fund war against CDG, who I suspect have much longer money.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I don't think the 'caged dog' defense is the best way to go. But yeah, he probably deserves it.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Te creiste bien hombresito Zetacaca
    cuando fumabas mota y prendido con pase
    extorsionabas y brindabas salud a la delincuencia. ahora aguantate, pinche chillon
    pone el culo hacia arriba ijo de puta.

    ReplyDelete
  15. deport him, just like the american judges kicked russian spies the hell out of the country.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Is it me or is the alias "El Pelochas" short for "El Pelotas" or "bolas peludas?" In other words colloquialism or made-up word for...testicles?

    Isn't it great how we get to laugh at these wankers?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Que prepare las pompis el buey.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous 8.9.10 at 7:18 AM

    Funny! But that doesn't happen as much in federal prisons, he'll probably end up at a medium facility before being deported back to Mexico.

    ReplyDelete
  19. and that's a bitch because the federal prisons are comparatively soft and comfortable. Maybe he was crying tears of joy how easy the states are dealing with him...

    ReplyDelete
  20. hey guys the corruptions is in the goverment if the goverment does not do nothing with the politicans if they do not change the laws never gonna do nothing the president can not do everything by his self, if he has around him the enemy ,he need to put every politican corruptor on the jail like he does with police officer he loss his time trying to faith againts with drugs dealears

    ReplyDelete
  21. Esta es una prueba más justa, que si quieres hacer cosas locas en cualquier momento a cualquier persona ... Consigue tus amigos, robar un arma, matar a alguien con más armas, tomar los camiones y robar ... y tú eres un cartel ... Siempre tendrás a alguien para que se pase a cabo, siempre que no se matan otros primero ... Me gustaría pensar que el Cartel del Golfo se está "bien" Zetas caza, pero es la verdad, es sólo el Zetatias y forraje de baja sonado como este tipo para llamar la atención, los Zetas le tallo, y la agachadiza común que de toda la ciudad si que se siente como una amenaza real ... simplemente no es necesario llamar a los lobos, sin embargo, no aquí. Hmm ... Triste día para México.

    ReplyDelete

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