3 Templarios Arrested Suspected of 200 Murders

Borderland Beat

Note: early reports state they are with LFM, later reports say

they moved to Templarios when it was formed.

The Federal Police arrested three men in Jalisco that belonged to La Familia Michoacana -now are with The Knights Templar - who are allegedly linked to more than 200 killings of hostages, members of antagonistic groups of organized crime and drug dealers.

200 murders of kidnapped victims, members of rival gangs, and drug dealers, a 30-year-old man has been arrested in Mexico. Felipe Viveros Garcia is being held responsible for 200 murders and was arrested by police in Jalisco in Mexico, according to a news report by Latino Daily News and Mileno..

Along with 30-year-old Felipe Viveros Garcia, two other men were arrested including 43-year-old Jose Bernabe Lopez Alcaraz and 40-year-old Froylan Barrera Morales, said the the Mexican National Security Commission in a statement on Tuesday.

All three men were arrested in a joint operation with the Attorney General's Office after an investigation by police in the cities of Tomatlan and Zapopan. All three men are accused of having committed criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, extortion, murder, arms trafficking, and arms possession.

“Lopez Alcaraz and Barrera Morales allegedly led gangs that monitored the activities of the authorities, provided security to members of the criminal organization and managed communications gear.”

Being able to monitor activities of authorities gives drug cartels and vigilante groups in Mexico an upper hand in a drug war that has recently become even more bloody. Just on Monday, Mexican authorities found the bodies of eight kidnap victims, some dismembered, on a highway in Guerrero.
 

The famous resort city Acapulco, which is in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, is only about 186 miles southwest of Mexico City. Acapulco, along with other cities in Guerrero, is seeing again an increasing number of murders and kidnappings. In Mexico, about 1,000 people are killed each month in drug-related homicides. Kidnapping victims, who are sometimes being held over long periods of time in so-called “safe houses”.

Even though Felipe Viveros Garcia is the youngest of the three men arrested, he has been identified as one of the leading figures of a group extorting various authorities in Jalisco. According to investigators, Felipe Viveros Garcia “ordered and participated in more than 200 killings of kidnapping victims, members of rival gangs and drug dealers in different cities in Jalisco and the southern state of Guerrero.”

Big thanks to reader Luis who sent this story to me yesterday.  Sorry for the delay