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Monday, March 22, 2021

La Linea Boss 'El Brad Pitt' Will Face Charges for the 2010 Juárez Car Bomb Attack

"MX" for Borderland Beat

Marco Antonio Guzmán Zúñiga was arrested by the Federal Police in June 2011. He is currently on the most-wanted list of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) along with La Linea fugitive boss Jesus Salas Aguayo ('El Chuyin').

A judge in Chihuahua confirmed last week that Marco Antonio Guzman-Zuñiga, a former drug cartel boss known by his alias 'El Brad Pitt', will be charged with the murder of three state police officers.

Guzman-Zuñiga was a high-ranking member of La Linea, the former armed wing of the old Juarez Cartel. He was arrested in Chihuahua in June 2011 for his involvement in multiple murders, including the car bomb attack that killed three state police officers in July 2010. 

According to Félix Aurelio Guerra Salazar, the presiding judge in his case, the trial will begin in 18 May 2021, nearly a decade after he was arrested. It is not uncommon for Mexican drug kingpins to spend years behind bars without going to trial due to the complexity of their criminal cases.

In Mexico's cuttthroat drug underworld, 'El Brad Pitt' shares the stage as one of the most unique monikers of a drug cartel leader. Drug traffickers' nicknames run from flashy and threatening to surreal and downright goofy.

“It’s a name given to the man by his associates. I guess they think he looks like him,” a spokeswoman for federal police said during Guzman-Zuñga's arrest, referring to the Hollywood star Brad Pitt.

Background

Guzman-Zuñiga was originally an officer in the Ciudad Juarez Municipal Police force. Many of the original members of La Linea were active and/or former police officers, including from the Chihuahua State Police. They were hired to become part of the old Juarez's Cartel's paramilitary wing.

Their role was instrumental in the helping the Carrillo Fuentes clan hold control of the Ciudad Juarez plaza, which was under dispute with the Sinaloa Cartel in the 2000s. Over the years, the power of the Juarez Cartel diminished but La Linea grew to become a larger criminal network. It is currently one of the leading criminal groups in Chihuahua and Ciudad Juarez.

In July 2010, La Linea members detonated a car bomb in Ciudad Juarez's downtown area. As reported by Borderland Beat, this was the first successful car bomb attack in Mexico. The attack was carefully planned to catch civilians and security forces off guard. Three police officers and one uninvolved civilians were killed. The officers were Esteban Mario Ramos Márquez, Luis Ángel Padilla Maesse and Martín Barranco Juárez.

"It's [was] a lot like Iraq," said Claudio Arjon, who owned a restaurant near the scene of the attack and was surveying the damage from behind police lines. "Things [were] very different. It's very different. It's very ugly."

Investigators say the attack was done as retaliation for the arrest of La Linea boss Armando Acosta Guerrero ('El 35'), who was arrested hours earlier. Several La Linea chiefs have been blamed for masterminding the attack, Guzman-Zuñiga included.

Sources: Diario de Juarez (1); (2); Diario de Chihuahua; Reuters; Borderland Beat archives

40 comments:

  1. He does look a little like Brad Pitt after a car accident,after Covid 19 ,after an extreme case of Diareah !

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  2. Good NICKNAME 😆

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    1. It's like I'm looking directly at the real Brad Pitt. Spittin' image, for sure.

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  3. El Diego was also known as el bablazo but only people close to him called him that. My barber that's from juarez told me that, I thought he said el babozo lmao

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    1. You live in El Paso or Juárez? I live in El Paso and do most of my groceries and stuff in Juarez lol tastes better and it’s cheaper 😆

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    2. El mas pesado de Juarez son los Zaragozas. Low key tho. Pedro Zaragoza senior was my ex girlfriends uncle. Ballin.

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    3. 11:18 - A uno de ellos lo levantaron por más de un mes en Juarez en 1995. Valentín Fuentes Téllez, cercano a Pedro Zaragoza Fuentes. Fue de los primeros secuestros del crimen organizado en el área. Mi mamá trabajo para los Zaragoza en un restaurante que tenían en Juárez. Ellos tenian o tienen una hacienda muy grande en Villa Ahumada. La que se ve cuando vas de Juárez a Villa Ahumada de mano izquierda.

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    4. There's a YouTube video of el Diego saying himself he's called "bablazo".

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  4. Looks wise he's no Brad Pitt. What do the females here think?

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    1. aint no females here amigo

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    2. He is even more handsome than the real thing.

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    3. There are ‘females’ here... and hes no brad Pitt.

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    4. Female here 🙋🏽‍♀️ that ain't no Brad Pitt, more like Brad Shitt

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  5. Check out “The New Juarez” documentary for a good look at this era. In that doc, the late great Charles Bowden suggested that the numerous murders of police in Juarez during 2009-2010 were actually committed by fellow police officers under Julian Leyzaola, with the purpose of removing officers that were friendly with the old Juarez Cartel administration. The murders were then pinned on the “NCJ” and provided more reason for Leyzaola to aggressively confront the Juarez Cartel.
    That doc also includes testimony from an American held in a Juarez prison while Leyzaola was police chief. He says he witnessed Leyzaola beating prisoners with 2X4s, including seeing Leyzaola beat a prisoner to death in the rec yard.

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    1. Leyzaola is running for mayor of Tijuana. Imagine that.

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    2. Well, Leyzaola did that same bullshit in Tijuana "to stamp out competing corruption" before getting his ass kicked out, and he went back to Tijuana to run for Mayor, that true, but his secret weapon is his secret alliances with tijuana criminals allied to his motherfacking ass, his military background does not betray the atrabiliarian tactics and authoritarism of mexican military kaibilized into police work even Cienpedos qualified of inapropriate for police work when he demanded he and his "muchachos" get sent back to barracks because as military they are not trained to arrest but to kill.

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  6. Still shocking that Genaro Garcia Luna and others higher up the chain from Leyzaola were arrested for taking bribes from CDS while Leyzaola has remained free. Leyzaola was complicit in the deaths of more than 10,000 people between his wars on behalf of CDS in Tijuana and Juarez. Leyzaola must have some good dirt on the current administration.

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    1. Leyzaola was never arrested because he was the main puppet for the DEA in it's attempt to dismantle the Juarez cartel.
      DEA was entirely in the know of Leyzaolas dealings because they dealt with him more.

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    2. Thats pretty bad if the dea was involved and Chapo still couldnt take Juarez

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    3. 6:51 I DEMAND A SECOND OPINION, from STEVE DUNCAN...

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    4. 5:58 Chapo had the full support of DEA and most of the Mexican Government.
      This is why Sinaloa grew to become what it is now.
      Stupid ass cheerleaders for Sinaloa just like to listen to fake ass corridos and believe Chapo and Sinaloa was all big and bad and shit and cannot accept the truth that without this help Sinaloa had across two countries it would have been all but wiped out by all it's rivals like Tijuana, Zetas and Juares cartel a long time ago.

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  7. They probably called him el brad Pitt for being ugly...kinda like calling a tall person shorty...

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    1. Esta feo pero tiene finta de guapo jajaja

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  8. After 10 years, Blablazo still looks like el brad Pee but will the charges stick?

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    1. Let’s hope they stick. He killed many in Juarez when it was the murder capital of the world. Justice needs to be served. If he gets extradited he will get a soother sentence. Seems like Mexico is the best option at the moment.

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  9. El Brad Pitt? WTF?

    BB should publish a list of the top 20 funniest or weirdest “apodos.”

    One that stands out is “La Chichis.” 😂

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    1. That would be a good one, but I'm sure I'll miss many of them. You should start a post in the forum and see if others can recall some weird ones. My favorite is from Zetas founder 'Winnie Pooh'. He's probably the pioneer when it comes to these funny/weird aliases.

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    2. Omg, "Winnie Pooh" and a narco too!! Lol

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    3. Don Porfirito is another funny nickname, "queso".
      No mameees!

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    4. @11:50

      Thanks for following me and being a fan.

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    5. “El cuarto culos”

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  10. He looks like something brad pitt shitted.

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  11. I met some old School J C guys back in the early 2000s thru an accueintence and they goofed around alot funny nicknames too they would joke around the law would never take them serious if they ever tapped their phones i couldnt bealive they we're actually top guys either.

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    1. JC from wrong to strong?

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    2. The old Juárez cartel not JC from wrong to strong sorry for the mix up but JC was moving Big at some point too not sure if it was with people from Tijuana any how like i said some big guys back then we're pretty chill fellers things started getting Bad around 04 i think thats when Vidal Gamez was killed by 07 Coke prices we're on the up back before that You could land a key for 13 Grand in Juárez at least 90% purity...

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  12. In pic does that Guard have blood on his face ??
    it looks like his forehead bled!

    Yea brads mexican twin

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  13. So, is he rival or friend with El Tom Cruise?

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