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on the border line between the US and Mexico
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Thursday, November 15, 2012

Murdered for Losing Product

Murdered for Losing product
 
November 6th 2012:  Two brothers were found murdered in Tijuana, on the 'free road' to Tecate, from Tijuana.  The first Alberto Galeana, known as 'Aldo', 20 years old.  A little up the road, and not known until later, was the body of his older brother, Antonio Galena.  Both bodies were wrapped in black tape, with the 'Looney Tunes' logo, adorning the tape, which covered the brothers completely.  Bruises were visible on both of the bodies, amidst other signs of torture, or interrogation, Aldo's front teeth had been wrenched out, forcefully, and not surgically removed.  

The two lifeless bodies found on the road, on the Sunday afternoon, were in a sense two more anonymous corpses, found with all the pre requisites of a narco related murder, wrapped in plastic, signs of torture, dumped on a road, coldly, like an afterthought.  Two more, that will garner a brief mention in the local papers, and in a sense, that's all there will be.

 This is not to slander the dead, or accuse the innocent, just a closer look at two brutal, yet, almost run of the mill executions, in a land where debt settling, and lines of credit will leave family members wrapped in plastic and tape, on the side of the road.

Alberto Galeana was 3 weeks away from graduating from the Autonomous University of Tijuana, (UBAC), with a degree in computer science, he was also an intern at 'El Mexicano', the prime contributor to this article, and one of the most well read newspapers in Tijuana, and San Diego, along with Zeta, and Frontera.  Aldo held a 9.5 grade point average, was considered by classmates and employers to be a good student.  His brother, Antonio, was involved in drug trafficking, and smuggling, going back at least eight years.  He was arrested by San Diego police in Chula Vista, with an amount of drugs, which he was imprisoned for, sometime in 2004, or 2005.

This time, Antonio lost, across the border again, in San Diego, another car of drugs, which he was either delivering, or received on credit. Reports state that tried to work out a deal, by giving up another vehicle, and partial payment, but it didn't work out, one way or the other, and he and his brother were kidnapped, tortured, and killed.  Then, thrown on the side of the road.  The scenarios may not matter to some, and least of all to the family and friends of the victims, but here are a few different paths of what may have happened.

The Drugs: Roughly estimating, 25,000-50,000 worth of product, which is roughly 150 pounds of marijuana, cost, 35,000, somewhere in the realm of 300 per pound, depending on when he came into possession, and other factors.  Or maybe 2 kilos of cocaine at 20,000 per kilo.  Or 3 kilos of crystal, at 15,000 a kilo.   Enough product that someone wanted their money made up, wouldn't have been less then 20,000, to have two people picked up and murdered.  And not retail sales in Tijuana, but shipments that crossed the border.  This wasn't someone killed for selling to the wrong customers or in the wrong place.

It could have been a case of Antonio losing the drugs, he was delivering, either by being robbed by a third party, or losing them to the police, or some other way.  If they were indeed seized by police, usual protocol, would be Antonio would have to come up with police statements, like a search warrant, or arrest sheet, which spells out exactly what happened, and if he is without fault, he would not owe for the shipment.

 Workers are expendable, but good workers, can keep working, and simply pay off their employers with services, not receiving payment, indentured servitude, in a way, but at least you live.  Was he unable to come up with the proper documents? Did they not exist?  Was the load lost some other way, and he wasn't telling the truth? Did he have a history of these situations, and someone was just out of patience? Did he mistakenly trust someone who was an informant, or an undercover officer?

The labyrinth of murky drug deals, murder, drugs, and their owners is fascinating, leaving the tragedy and loss of life aside, it is like going down the rabbit hole.  It reminds me of the Greek underworld, Hades, and all the mythology from school.  A twisted, brutal, and bizarre dual life, where flesh is cheap, and drugs are expensive, even at wholesale prices, where it is better to kill two, then let something go unpunished.  The catch, if you call it that, is this is an interesting story, but on the same Sunday, in Tijuana, authorities found 2 more bodies, unrelated to the Galena brothers.  And more the next week. And today, and yesterday.  The stories behind them are as endless as the bodies, tossed onto the road, wrapped in blankets on a street corner, bloody and wounded in a ditch, hung from a bridge, executed in their home, kidnapped from work.  It just goes on.  We can try to hypothesize, predict, guess, project, and to what end?  I don't know, but I'd rather try, then simply shake my head, and turn the page, or click away, watching the bodies of two dead men, whose stories I will never really know.

Sources, AFN Tijuana, El Mexicano, Zeta Tijuana.

32 comments:

  1. Easy money equalls easy death.

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  2. huh? wheres the rest of the story,that was a damn tease.

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  3. I am from SLRC kidnaps n torture are still n abnormality. I wish it will never change.

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  4. Seems like Aldo was doing good in school to bad he paid the ultimate price for his brothers mistake. Aldo was probably with his brother when they went to kidnap his brother and the kidnappers decided to take aldo to.

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  5. super good story, I did not know the part about providing police records got one off the hook for the loss.

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  6. This was a nice piece, good article.

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  7. So sad how one spoiled family member involved in the buisness can ruin the whole bunch. Had to drag his brother into it what a shame.

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  8. Keep the stories coming well informed.

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  9. if you cant make dough stay out tha kitchen

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  10. Who cares? Not me.. Play with fire get burned.

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  11. Sad story.. good and hard working school kid gets murked cause of his dumbass brother... Good story

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  12. Why the fascination? Stories like these are a daily affair along the border. Motherfuckers get credit and they wanna keep the money, all of it, so they come up with somoe kind of "clever" plan to keep it, and even in the face of impending death they are unwilling to give it up. Nothing new nothing special, just greed, even the "good" workers get the sickness, when a few easy grand month isn't good enough anymore.

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  13. If you deal with scum, scummy shit happens... Duuuhhh

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  14. Thanks for humanizing at least one of these murder victims. I believe the 'good' brother may have been collateral damage. Either way, very sad for the family of these boys. I love the people who react like "hey, they had it coming". I guess that's pretty cool to act so nonchalant about it all. But imagine if they were were brothers, or sons, or friends. These brothers represent the fact that whether you take the good path or the bad path in life, Mexico does not discriminate its victims.

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  15. The sad part of it all it happens all the time in Mexico.

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  16. Yikes...getting your front teeth pulled out forcefully with a wrench! Now that's torture! I Don't understand why these guys would want to take risks for so little profit! But oh well each to his own...you do what you gotta due but remember the dead only know one thing...it's better to be alive!

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  17. "If you deal with scum, scummy shit happens... Duuuhhh"
    Drug dealers are people just like you,except it takes more balls than most of you got.

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  18. What's this bs about providing police records/reports? You think you gonna walk into the police station and they're gonna make some nice photocopies for you to show to the criminals? You think the Mexican cops are interested in "fair"?

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  19. November 15, 2012 5:46 PM

    Why you dont care...because you have no heart. Hey as long as its not your family you dont care. wow, the rest who have given an opinion on this article care..I guess we all arent as tough as you. JERK!

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  20. I'd guess they wanted to torture Aldo to make Antonio talk, they wanted info. I'd imagine it was 50k or more, a second offense, or he was working for an enemy.

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  21. Shitbag gets what shitbag deserves. Shitbags' brother can't go to school on dope money then turn around and expect 'it all to be ok' when shit goes wrong for shitbag.

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  22. As far as the records, like most things in that line of work, it is by no means some sort of 'set in stone', type of thing, but it is fairly common, and easily looked up on a half dozen or so high profile arrests, including the Flores brothers. If a search warrant is executed on your home, you have the right to a copy of the warrant. If you are arrested, you can easily access you're arrest records, which documents the arrest in black and white. Useful items, if 50k is on the line, and people are looking at you, like you are responsible. Of course, based on the documents, the blame may still lay on the person.

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  23. The young man was "picked up" first, they malandros called the family and asked for Antonio to show up, when he supposedly lost the drugs, instead of calling his boss like she should, he just turned off his cell phone, that´s why they picked up his young bro, to put pressure on him, Aldo didnt have ANYTHING to do with his brother´s job, however that didnt matter to the sicarios and since his brother wasn´t showing up, they just picked Aldo.

    Tijuano

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  24. Zeta is reporting that the prime witness from the "Los Pelillos" trial in San Diego, Eduardo González Tostado "El Mandil", is related to the victims, and may be involved in their kidnapping and murder. Ironically, "El Mandil" is a protected witness in the US, while he's wanted BC.

    http://www.zetatijuana.com/ZETA/reportajez/investigan-posible-relacion-de-hermanos-tostado-con-el-mandil/

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  25. "Shitbag gets what shitbag deserves"
    How would a shitbag like you know?

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  26. "I don't give a damn what color you are if you are a drug dealer, you are scum"
    You talkin about a world you know fuck all about making generalizations(i can even use big words)you are a soft ass fool who thinks there is black and white.There is every fuckin color in between,and you happen to have not seen this part,good for you.You probably one of the clowns who think people"give it free to kids to hook them"fuckin sheltered little fools,there is so much easy violence and hatred,,good for you and your little correct opinion.
    Those pesky drug dealers,shoot them.

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  27. Some soft fools on here,afraid im in the other corner.

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  28. This is always the thought that comes to my mind, how did they got in thaat ditch and meet their bloody end? i was watching news coverage of a shooting in creel where the sicarios role into town like they own the place( wivh they do more then the autorities) and execute 8 people and the news anchor said "does it really matter" regaurding the people who were executed, and it always does to the family but to us its just another statistic

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  29. Too bad you don't have any facts other than a picture we have already seen, his name and his brothers name and then you just make up a story. It would be interesting if we had some factual statements instead of a hypothesis of a lost load and retribution.

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  30. Soft is going for the easy money and not giving a shit about anyone you hurt along the way.

    Hard is getting up for a hard day's work every morning and living to a high standard so my kids will have a dad they be look up to.

    Soft is murdering defenseless people.

    Hard is being a soldier or police officer in mexico right now.

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  31. It takes being raised with morals, values and respect for others..to live in an enviroment that we all deserve to have, not a damn drug-zone war!All of this starts at home, with mommy and daddy teaching their young the right things in life...they will never go too far from their teachings!! It's when they don't have any teachings, except what they learned from other gangsters...is when we all have problems with it. BTW, it does effect us all.We all have the power not to use those drugs, so then it wouldn't be no demand for them here. We can do so much just by doing that. No demand means no supply!

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