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Sunday, May 2, 2021

Throwback Series: Notes on 'El Chuta', Fugitive Zetas Founder

"Kraphtous" and "Morogris" for Borderland Beat

This article includes notes from "Kraphtous" and Borderland Beat contributor "Morogris" on Jorge López Pérez ("El Chuta"), founding member of Los Zetas. 

Picture of El Chuta, as shared by Mexico's Attorney General's Office (PGR) in 2003

We don’t know his real name. The name listed on records is Jorge Lopez Perez, an incredibly generic name. It has been suggested that this is a fake name, with various theories to the real identity of El Chuta. The strongest theory states that El Chuta is possibly Arturo Muro Gonzalez, a fugitive Zeta sanctioned under the Kingpin Act in 2010. Muro Gonzalez shares certain facial features with the photograph identified as El Chuta. El Chuta was an expert in martial arts, and there is photographic evidence of Muro Gonzalez having run a martial arts school at some point.

We have absolutely zero information about El Chuta’s DOB or POB. According to general info, El Chuta’s real name is Jorge Lopez Perez. He joined the Mexican Army on October 1, 1979, during the dirty war. He was a highly trained elite paratrooper part of the Brigada de Fusileros Paracaidista (Brigade of Paratrooper Riflemen) stationed at the Santa Lucia military base in the State of Mexico. Here, he developed advanced skills in martial arts, parachuting, explosives, and guerrilla warfare. His nickname, Chuta, is derived from the word "parachute", alluding to the fact that he was a paratrooper. Given this background, it is possible he manipulated the information about him, and changed his name at some point.

In roughly 2 years, on September 17, 1981, the promising paratrooper deserted his post. This was roughly 17-18 years before the majority of the Zetas deserted in 1998-1999. He joined the Guadalajara Cartel under Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo. After the breakup of Felix Gallardo’s organization, he continued to work with the Juarez Cartel. He was assigned to take part in trafficking operations in Cancun, and the whole state of Quintana Roo under a man known as Alcides Ramon Magana.

Many years later, in June 2001, Magana was captured. El Chuta’s associate, Beto Meraz contacted him with an offer to work for the biggest drug lord in Mexico, Osiel Cardenas Guillen, leader of the Gulf Cartel. El Chuta refused, and instead took up operations as an independent trafficker in Veracruz, paying toll and using other’s plazas to move his own weight. Soon, in 2002, Beto Meraz was captured, and Chuta had to lie low. He moved to Yucatan where he worked with some Colombians. After this he was temporarily hired by Los Zetas’s Z-2 to train their new recruits. Once the Mexican Army learned, they intensified their efforts to capture El Chuta. Because of this, El Chuta had to flee to Tamaulipas in early 2003.

Comandante Kelin (Z-2) contacted Chuta upon his arrival in Tamaulipas; Los Zetas wanted him permanently. This was because of his elite background in the paratroopers. El Chuta, with nothing to lose, accepted the job offer, and joined Los Zetas, where he reunited with some old friends from the Army.

March 2003. Osiel Cardenas, leader of the Gulf Cartel, was captured. Joaquin Guzman became the most powerful narco in Mexico. The Attorney General’s office released Chuta’s photograph and identified him as a high ranking leader in Los Zetas. A military court convicted him, in absentia, of high treason. This was because he had deserted his post to join organized crime.

Some point in 2004, El Chuta was appointed to lead Los Zetas’s drug trafficking in Quintana Roo, due to him knowing the area well, as he worked in Quintana Roo for the Juarez Cartel some years prior to this. El Chuta quickly started coordinating international drug shipments in Quintana Roo. This was done in the Riviera Maya area in Quintana Roo, an area that allowed Los Zetas to receive shipments of drugs from South America. These drugs were then stored in Cancun and Playa del Carmen.

5 years later, in 2009, Mexican authorities listed El Chuta as a regional leader in the state of Coahuila, and one of the original Zetas that remained. Apparently, Chuta had been called back from Quintana Roo, as the war between Los Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel was raging. Heriberto Lazcano (Z-3), top boss of Los Zetas, had appointed Chuta as plaza boss in Coahuila.

As the war started to turn in favor of the Sinaloa Cartel, in 2012, El Chuta was again called back by Heriberto Lazcano and appointed to lead Los Zetas’s war in the state of Nuevo Leon. Chuta was reporting directly to Lazcano at this point. Intelligence reports indicated that El Chuta was highly loyal to Lazcano, even as Miguel Trevino Morales, Z-40, gradually took control of Los Zetas. This was likely because Chuta and Lazcano were both ex-special forces, and Chuta may have looked down upon Z-40, who was a car washer (?) before joining Los Zetas.

October 7, 2012. Heriberto Lazcano was killed by the Mexican Navy in Saltillo, Coahuila. El Chuta disappeared off the face of the earth.

There are several theories as to where he may be today. The first states that he spends most of his time travelling between Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, and Cancun, Quintana Roo, as well as staying for long periods of time in Algeria with his money, as Algeria does not have an extradition treaty with either Mexico or the United States. Another theory and perhaps the more believable one states that he has Italian citizenship through ancestry, and so El Chuta was Los Zetas’s envoy at some point to the ‘Ndrangheta, an Italian criminal organization, because of which, he is now hiding out in Italy with his drug fortune. The latter is supported by the rumors that other founding Zetas like El Vera are hiding out in Europe too.

This September 17 will mark 40 years since he deserted the paratroopers to join organized crime. In those 40 years, El Chuta has never been arrested. He remains a fugitive.

Sources: Borderland Beat (2019); Anonymous sources

NoteThis article includes information from the Wikipedia page of Jorge López Perez ("El Chuta"), which was published by Borderland Beat contributor "Morogris" in December 2019. It includes over 25 sources.

40 comments:

  1. Few original Zetas left. I wonder where this man is and the rest too. Smart enough to pull out from the game before it got more dangerous.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @9.46. He didn't pull out from the game or retire because he was "smart" . Like the Zeta trainers sent to Nicaragua, or the ones trying to build links in Honduras and Colombia who dodged the Government/ Cartel alliance that killed or arrested most of the other leaders, he just wasn't caught up in the crackdown, or didn't get publicly named. He might have been murdered or disappeared long ago.

      Delete
  2. Smart man outran into infinity.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Esos de le boina roja son pocos. No cualquiera tiene los huevos para presumirlo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree SOL
      This guy is the REAL deal..
      SPECIAL forces COLD blooded killer..

      Delete
    2. Boinas Rojas or Special Forces do not become criminals without becoming traitors that should be dressed down and drummed out to the firing squad after getting convicted in martial court.

      Delete
    3. 5:41
      I agree only a non-military would talk like that as if it's something to be proud of.

      Delete
  4. “Chuta”, “Vera”, “Erotico” and “Chocotorro” are the only living and free original Zetas members, if I remember correctly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don’t forget Zeferino Peña Cuellar AKA Don Zefe.

      I have a list of about 9 or 10 Zetas originals who were never captured or confirmed dead. I’m on my phone but will post later.

      Delete
    2. Quiza Mamito también este libre como TP en USA, esto me hace preguntar cuantos Zetas lograron un acuerdo con el Gobierno Americano

      Delete
    3. El Erotico was one of the first to die

      Delete
    4. Fugitive Zetas founders/originals who are still at large or at least never confirmed captured/dead:

      1. Jorge López Perez ("Chuta")

      2. Prisciliano Ibarra Yepis

      3. Gustavo González Castro ("Erótico")

      4. Carlos Vera Calva ("El Vera")

      5. Daniel Enrique Márquez Aguilar ("El Chocotorro")

      6. Benjamín Torres Sosa

      7. Eduardo Estrada Gonzalez

      8. Leopoldo Flores Soto

      9. Zeferino Peña Cuellar ("Don Zefe")

      10. Maxiley Barahona Nadales ("Z-19")

      Delete
    5. Smart guy low Key. He not a Showboat

      Delete
    6. U forget William Shakespeare @MX

      Delete
    7. 11:42 MX isn’t there an original Zetas guy that’s rumored to be hiding in Algeria or somewhere in Africa?

      Delete
    8. 2:19 WRONG. One of the first original zetas to die was el Tisico who comitted suicide in 2001 after winning a vehicle in competition

      Delete
    9. Z1 #2 Fidel Herrera Beltran has never been taken to court or gone into hidding.

      Delete
    10. 12:33 - That's El Chuta, the guy this article is about.

      Delete
  5. Mx el nombre Proceso que dice antes de Arturo es porque ellos fueron los que publicaron originalmente el artículo, este compa es empresario y según está muy adiestrado en las artes marciales del Oriente. No sé si aquí ya habían publicado un artículo extenso de este vato el B Jeff, Itzli o el compa analista Redlargarthem?. Que es pedo que que están diciendo otros que el Lazcano fue capturado?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. True. I remember Bjeff/LeChef saying that. I’ve amended the article.

      The other article about El Chuta is linked at the very bottom, along with the Wikipedia page we made.

      The whole Lazcano thing is because it says “Captured” on the US government page. But this is a mistake. The problem is the US government rarely changes these pages due to archival reasons. El Mexa and others reported on the story for click bait reasons.

      Delete
  6. El chuta maybe reffers to a futbol nickname, when someone hit it real hard and also is used when someone doesnt know how to kick a ball whith techinque..
    In the mexican 90s futbol they used to said something like
    Chuta y gooool...
    Maybe thats where it come from and not the parachute version..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I always use use the term in this context.

      Delete
    2. In the military, "Chuta" is usually in the context of parachuting. I've read this in Mexican forums where some ex-military have said this.

      Delete
  7. El chuta maybe reffers to a futbol nickname, when someone hit it real hard and also is used when someone doesnt know how to kick a ball whith techinque..
    In the mexican 90s futbol they used to said something like
    Chuta y gooool...
    Maybe thats where it come from and not the parachute version..
    Chuta also is a term for rematar in footbal argo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In the military, "Chuta" is usually in the context of parachuting. I've read this in Mexican forums where some ex-military have said this.

      Delete
  8. He was training GATES in coahuila.

    https://media.breitbart.com/media/2016/02/Screen-Shot-2016-02-04-at-2.05.09-PM.png

    ReplyDelete
  9. So he is 60 years old now

    Wow made it to retirement

    Smart man

    Hard to find in special ops groups

    ReplyDelete
  10. Who is the most low profile crime groups?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NOBODY knows because they are too discreet...

      Delete
    2. Chinese too flashy.

      Delete
    3. When you say Chinese there not like stupid things.. it’s the Chinese government involved much like cia helping narcos and stuff like that..

      Delete
  11. I have a feeling El Lazca is alive and got out the game too. Somewhere in another country.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Does anyone know what happened to Victor Nazarío Castrejon Peña?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought that was an alternate name for Nazario Moreno Gonzalez.

      Delete
  13. In Algeria,Italy,the Med,Aus,Finland,Norway,what about Libya,james bond got nothing on this fucker lmao

    ReplyDelete
  14. Nice one Morogris, as always. Personally I think the most likely scenario is that he was given up long ago, by whoever he was being helped by, after the pressure from the groups who were given free reign, with police and military assistance, to wipe out the remaining Los Zetas leadership. He was one of the few original Zetas that had a military career that might justify the bullshit that glamorises the others, deserters who were sent on punishment courses designed to weed them out. People still talk about the Original Zetas as if they were hand chosen for their Special Skills, the best of the best, instead of the most humiliated and brutalised, or the most desperate.
    Or other's are right and he's living in an underground bunker in the Calabrian mountains and he'll be frowning at his laptop at what I've written and swearing vengeance, like the old don at the beginning of ZeroZeroZero.

    ReplyDelete

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