El Chapo Guzman transferred this morning to Ciudad Juarez prison to await extradition

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Proceso article

Subject Matter: Extradition of Joaquin Guzman Loera
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

Reporter: Patricia Davila
Joaquin El Chapo Guzman will be housed in Cefereso No.9 while waiting to be sent to the United States, this country presented the Mexican Government with two extradition requests.

The morning of this Saturday, Joaquin Guzman Loera arrived at Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, on the frontier with the United States, where, for security protocols, he was transferred from "Alitplano, in the State of Mexico, to the Federal prison of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua

From 2am this morning, the Sinaloa Cartel leader can be found in the central penitentiary located at kilometer 33 of the Pan-American highway, confirmed sources of OADPRS.

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Tijuana: Los Aquiles lieuteant 'El Secre' detained

Ranking Los Aquiles lieutenant detained

In the midst of a lull in the civil wars and conquests for Tijuana, a figure close to the premier Sinaloa distributors in Tijuana was arrested.  His name has been mentioned in the previous months as being a top level lieutenant and enforcer, along with the elusive 'Alexy', Raul Miranda Ortiz, another enforcer who has pushed the Los Aquiles agenda in Tijuana for years, through killings and kidnappings.  

Earlier this week saw a spasm of controlled violence in various areas in the city, 4 shootings and killings in the same 24 hour period, and a body dropped off the day after, prior to that, there had been a familiar tense calm to the violence.  Two members of the CAF, or displaced traffickers were quietly murdered at taco stands, and in the their neighborhoods, but no banners, or bloody announcements were seen.  

In the wake of the ton seizure of cocaine from an unnamed group, there was no violence, no banners, not a word.  The presence of the CJNG grows from whispers and rumors to news articles and references by DEA in San Diego, they haven't full revealed themselves, but their immersion into Tijuana seems to be more realized by the week.  La Rana and Aquiles are said to have long fled Tijuana, some reports indicate they operate in Mazatlan, from the comfort of the breezy, gorgeous Pacific coast city, and it's dozens of resorts and condos.  

'El Secre', who may bring La Rana and Aquiles one step closer to arrest, and extradition to San Diego on federal trafficking charges, was arrested near Rosarito, by Los Pepos (State Preventative Police)  He was alone, driving a 2007 Mercedes Benz with no plates, and was pulled over, in possession of an AR-15 and 900 grams of crystal meth.  The drug which has flowed through Tijuana, enriching few, but devastating many.  It's price has dropped to around 250 an ounce in San Diego, and a purity level of 95% plus.  

Jose Luis Martinez Hernandez, 'El Secre', is 33 years old, and began work as a thief in Zona Norte, in 2009, before being recruited into the organization of Luis Manuel Toscano, killed last year in La Mesa.  The Colima native, Toscano, ran Zona Norte with his brothers, cousins, and immediate family, on behalf of CAF, until his death in 2015, after numerous arrests and releases.  After the killing of Manuel Toscanco, and the arrest of 'El Jackal', a cousin of Toscano and Zona Norte/CAF loyalist, he flipped to Los Aquiles.  He was in charge of collecting debts owed to Los Aquiles, likely for piso, and the sale of meth, to  the retailers in the colonias.  

The cards are being shuffled, constantly, re aligning, re organizing, retreating and regrouping.....What will the next 6 months hold for the faces and names of the Tijuana plaza.....

Sources: AFN Tijuana 

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'El Chapo' Guzmán had more airplanes than the biggest airline in Mexico

Posted by DD material from El Universal

 The air freight service operated by the Sinaloa Cartel could be considered bigger than Mexico’s largest airline, according to an investigation by the newspaper El Universal. - Aeroméxico,owns 127  

Between 2006 and 2015, military officials seized 599 airplanes and helicopters allegedly belonging to the cartel, dwarfing the fleet of 127 aircraft operated by Mexico’s largest established airline, Aeroméxico.

If a legal company, the cartel would also compete as the most lucrative airport company in the country, operating 4,771 clandestine airstrips between 500 meters and one kilometer long, nestled in the heart of the mountains in northern states.

The leader of the organization itself, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman Loera said in his interview for Rolling Stone, released in January: 'I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anyone else in the world. I have a fleet of submarines and aircraft.'.

In recent years the Sinaloa cartel has added many ultra-light aircraft to their fleet to continue moving their cargo north across the border after the larger planes have brought it to the clandestine along the border.  Ultralight aircraft that can carry more than 500 kilos of drugs and have been piloted   by senior elements of the Mexican Air Force.   according to reports by federal prosecutors in the United States. 

The route drug pilots followed is where most of the aircraft seized.   Out of the states of Sinaloa, Durango and Coahuila, in the Golden Triangle.      The Sedena provided data about where the planes are taking off and landing.

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Luis Montoya "Don Carlos", plaza boss of Ismael Zambada executed in La Paz

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a BCS Noticias article

Subject Matter: Luis Montoya Beltran, Don Carlos, El Montoya
Recommendation: See link to article on Don Carlos

Executed man in La Paz identified as alleged Jefe de plaza

Reporter: BCS Noticias Redaction
It appears that the violent events commenced with a chase on Colosio Boulevard, even though there are loose ends, and the testimonies point to another person in the same vehicle, the authorities have declared nothing in that respect.

The dead man is un-officially identified as Luis Montoya, who was executed this morning in the Arboledas Colonia of this city, his body was found inside a vehicle close to an SEP building; he is allegedly plaza boss of a local cartel, what could be inferred is that the death was a result of a war between criminal cells. ( Otis: see link in Recommendation above for details of the sides in this war).

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The Purge of old school CAF

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Zetatijuana article

Subject Matter: Cartel Arellano Felix
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

Carlos Ibarra, killed this week in a restaurant in the East zone of Tijuana, was identified as a member of the Cartel Arellano captured by the DEA and related to the operation of a narco tunnel, he had been returning to Tijuana since 2011. The PGJE have no leads in the investigation into his assassination. (Otis: I bet some BB readers have some theories on who did it and why.)

Reporter: Rosario Mosso Castro

When they assassinated him, Carlos Ibarra Castellanos was in the interior of the restaurant Dona Cuca located at number 20638, plaza la Riveriera on Cucapah Boulevard in the Buenos Aires Fraccionamiento in South Tijuana.

The homicide victim was shot three times, one of the bullets hitting the neck of the victim, who was converted to violent homicide number 255 from the start of the year to the 5th of April.

His murder would have been passed over unnoticed in the current wave of blood violence that affects Tijuana, if it had not been for two aspects: one that the body was identified as a member of "Old School" Cartel Arellano Felix; two that he was shot after a "strange" period of calm, with a total of 3 assassinations in a week, when previously there was an average of 13 - 16 bodies every 7 days.

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El Guero Cleofas of CDG to be extradited to the United States

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Proceso article

Subject Matter: Cleofas Alberto Martinez Gutierrez, El Guero Cleofas
Recommedation: See link to BB reporter Lucio R article on his arrest

Reporter: Patricia Davila
Cleofas Alberto Martinez Gutierrez "El Guero Cleofas", identified as second in command of the group "Los Metros", of the Cartel del Golfo, and detained by the PGR will be extradited to the United States, accused of crimes against health, criminal association and money laundering.

El Guero was arrested on 13th of March in Mexico City and according to investigations carried out by Federal authorities, is considered responsible for highway blockages and confrontations which occurred recently in the cities of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, as one of the command that heads and criminal organization that operates on the Northern frontier of the country.

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Tamaulipas: 3 Texans Rescued after being kidnapped in Mexico

Lucio R. Borderland Beat Material from Zocalo and Facebook

Three members of a family who were kidnapped on April 13th, were rescued by a joint operation of the Anti - Kidnapping State Coordination (CEA), Tamaulipas Ministerial Police Force and the State of San Luis Potosi .

The Coordination Group Tamaulipas (GCT) reported that the coordinated action, which ended the yesterday, when authorities arrested two of the kidnappers and killed the ringleader, identified as Edgar Ariel Gallegos Gallegos, 45, residing in Ciudad Victoria.

The accomplices arrested were Juan Gabriel Idrogo Perez, 19, and Rucina Guadalupe Cruz Gomez, 27, who remain under investigation.  It is presumed they participated in other kidnappings in various parts of the Victoria-Zaragoza-Tampico highway.

The Tamaulipas state government said the three Mexican Americans from Dallas, two women and a man, were freed Monday from a criminal group’s camp along a highway near Ciudad Victoria.

The trio told Mexican authorities that they left McAllen on April 13 to attend a funeral in Ciudad Valles, when they were ambushed by gunpoint. The kidnappers demanded a ransom for their release.

When the kidnappers camp in Lazaro Cardenas ijido, in Zaragosa near Victoria was discovered, a shootout commenced which resulted in the killing of the ring leader.

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Does Acuna have a serial killer?

Posted by DD for Borderland Beat

A big thanks to our readers for the tips that gave us additional info.  Keep em coming.

forensics guy collecting evidence  near body

 In the early hours of Sunday, May 1, a taxi driver traveling on the beltway in Acuna saw a woman's body laying in a pool of blood alongside the Beltway.  He immediately called the police and when they arrived they found the body of Nidia Karina Maldonato Salazar. 

The police reported that she was 24 years old, but various media sources list her age anwhere from 22 to 24.  Local reliable sources in Acuna have told BB that she was only 19.

She was dressed in  black shorts, pink blouse and black shoes, and had an apparent  head wound.  that appeared to have have been caused by a heavy blow to the head by a blunt instrument.  Because of the pool of blood under and around the head had not dried the police suspected that death had come to the lifeless body very recently.

After cordoning off the scene and collecting the evidence, the body was taken to the Medical Examiners office for autopsy and then turned over to the family for burial. 

Family members told police that Nidia had no problems with anyone and they knew of no reason why someone would take her life in this manner.  The police said in a press conference that they had begun an investigation, starting with trying to determine her activities in the last hours of her life.

The fact of a dead body found on the street in Mexico is not usually occasion for a big news story.  But when you start looking at the number of women who have been murdered in Acuna in the near past, perhaps it should be a big story.

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Guerrero: Los Rojos, Los Ardillos and ICDA are now dominant in Guerrero

Lucio R. Borderland Beat sent in by "Daily Reader"

There has been a shift in cartel control of Guerrero.  Whereas some groups have spread their territorial ground,  at least one has advanced from a small cell to a full-fledged cartel.  The shift occurred when Guerrero Unidos, once having a strong hold in key areas, became greatly weakened.  G.U. became weakened after the Iguala massacre of 49 presumed dead, including 43 normalistas (students) still unaccounted for.  The story went global and public pressure for answers unrelenting.  This resulted in the killing and arrests of many G.U. leaders, as G.U. is the cartel pointed at as responsible for the killings.  G.U. still has control, albeit tentative, of the much sought after drug hub Iguala.  Despite federal and state forces present in Iguala, violence is far from unabated, in fact many of those on the ground report it has only become worse.

As for Cartel Jalisco New Generation, their operational control is primarily along the upper coast, adjacent to Lazaro Cárdenas port and Michoacán. Michoacán is the birthplace of CJNG’s premier leader El Mencho,  a territory he sought after, and subsequent to the crumbling of Caballeros Templarios, he now has prominent control of.  To read the full story, in Spanish, use this link…..L.R.

From El Sur Guerrero: Los Rojos, Los Ardillos and  el Cártel Independiente de Acapulco are now the dominant criminal groups in Acapulco, and Guerrero, according to a report published last Friday in Mexico’s newspaper, EL Universal, “Three Cartels Disputing Control of Acapulco.”

The report was based on investigation of the (federal) Criminal Agency of the attorney general (PGR),  Information and Analysis to Combat Crime, dated March 8th. 

The document also claims that there are 5 other groups operating in Guerrero; Guerreros Unidos, La Familia Michoacana, Los Granados, La Empresa, and Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG).  The report attributes these eight groups to the high episode of violence, and homicide that has erupted in the past couple of years.  Guerrero now holds the undesirable title of most violent state in Mexico.

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Faced With Insecurity, More Autodefensas Begin Arising In Sonora & Morelos

Archive photo

Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

With the increase of incidents of common crimes and the inaction from officials to fight against insecurity, citizens of Sonora and Morelos are beginning to organize themselves in order to confront criminals.

Morelos:

Members of 11 citizen groups, from eight municipalities of the eastern region, meeting in Yecapixtla, decided to give an ultimatum to the state government to restore security to their families, whose lives have been disrupted with the waves of executions, extortions, robberies, and kidnappings registered in the area.

Since the weekend, they gave the head of the state, Graco Ramírez, 30 days to put a stop to these crimes, which have become constant in the municipalities in the East, according to members of Grupo Relámpago, an organization that the residents of Tetela Del Volcán formed to defend themselves, officially recognized by the authorities.

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3 Sides war for La Paz

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Zetatijuana BCS Report

Subject Matter: Fight for the plaza of La Paz, BCS
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

In the last crime map elaborated by authorities both Federal and Military, they confirmed the presence of  cells from the Cartels of Sinaloa, Beltran Leyva Organization in a de facto alliance with Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Los Zetas, and the Arellano Felix Organization, who are all fighting for control of the narco trafficking plaza of La Paz, Comondu and Mulege.

Reporter: Zeta Investigations

Nothing slows the bloody war between criminal cells of the cartels of Sinaloa, Beltran Leyva in a de facto alliance with Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Los Zetas, and the Cartel Arellano Felix, neither the meetings of the Group for Coordination, nor public safety summits, or triumphal speeches made of the merit or the operations carried out the length and breadth of the State of Baja California Sur.

These criminal organizations, with the backing and protection of Police Chiefs, live in an intestinal fight for control of the narco trafficking plaza, according to declarations made by Melissa Margarita Calderon Ojeda "La China" to SEIDO.

In all the number of violent crimes and intentional homicides has risen to 35 in the first seven months of the administration of Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis, at the last recount.

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Part 2: Narco Warfare Progression-50 Cal-RPGs-MANPADS

Lucio R. Borderland Beat Republished from Small Wars Journal
Yesterday we published a post of an overview and links to background information supporting this article.  Read that post by using this link...

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #28: Redeye MANPADS Seized from La Linea in Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua

by Robert Bunker

Key information:  “Tigers, weapons, and cars seized from La Linea in Chihuahua.” Borderland Beat. Friday 22 April 2016, http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2016/04/tigers-weapons-and-cars-seized-to-la.html. *Translation of La Opción de Chihuahua article by Texcoco De Mora:

Wounded criminals, criminals killed by police, six detainees, powerful missile launchers, Barret rifles, thousands of bullets, more than 20 stolen vehicles, drugs, tactical gear, cash and exotic animals were seized by the General Office of Chihuahua during an operation in several points of the city of Nuevo Casas Grandes.

Under the operation “For The Safety Of Casas Grandes” agents of the Attorney General seized powerful weapons such as rocket launchers, Barret rifles, over a thousand 300 cartridges, lots of tactical equipment, vehicles reported as stolen including modern sports cars, drugs and exotic animals, in addition to the arrest of six subjects, a cell belonging to organized crime…

Who: La Linea cartel operating in Chihuahua state, Mexico.

What: A Redeye MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense System) 

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Southlake lawyer’s sister sent beheading video to El Gato, as vengeance witness says

El Gato, the cartel boss who ordered a hit on a Southlake cartel lawyer in 2013 later received a video of one of his relatives being beheaded, according to testimony in federal court Friday.

Rodolfo Villareal Hernandez, a Beltran Leyva cartel “plaza boss” known as El Gato, received the video from the lawyer’s sister, said Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Campano, one of the men accused of stalking the lawyer before he was killed at Southlake Town Square.

Ledezma-Campano, who pleaded guilty to interstate stalking earlier this year, testified for a total of about six hours in Fort Worth federal court Thursday and Friday.

His father, Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Cepeda, and his uncle, Jose Luis Cepeda-Cortes, are on trial this week for their involvement in the death of Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa.

All three men were indicted in 2014 on charges of interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit murder for hire. Prosecutors said this week that the men used GPS trackers and rented an apartment in Grapevine to find Guerrero, watching him closely until his death.

Ledezma-Campano’s testimony for the last two days — given in exchange for prosecutors dropping the conspiracy charge — revealed the background, buildup and aftermath of the plan to kill Guerrero.

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Guerrero: Autodefensas Begin Forming To Tackle Organized Crime & Federal Police

By: Ángel Galeana | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

The mayors of San Miguel Totolapan and Copalillo warned that the residents of their municipalities have begun to organize themselves in order to create autodefensa and community police groups with the intent to tackle organized crime, and the federal police.

Interviewed separately on the premises of Casa Guerrero, they reported that the residents of their municipalities are creating civilian police forces, as has happened in other municipalities in the state, although for different purposes.

The PRD mayor of San Miguel Totolapan, Juan Mendoza Acosta, said that residents of the municipal capital have begun meetings to create autodefensa groups “against the federal police” because the people are outraged by their actions, and he said that he will participate, bearing a weapon.

—“Is there a possibility of creating an autodefensa group in your municipality?”-He was asked.

—“Of course there is, look, the people are outraged, they’re outraged with the federal police, which is in charge of the Department of Public Safety in the municipality, the truth is, they’re not doing their role as they should, the people are outraged with them, and they are the first ones who are going to arm themselves against them,” he said.

He also added that federal police detain people with arrest warrants, but then they free them “and the people are against that, and they have a reason to, I am supporting the citizens, the truth is, I agree that this needs to be eliminated.”

—Are you going to arm yourself?

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MANPADS: Weaponry Progression and the Changing Face of Narco Warfare

by Lucio with C.E. Martinez with material from SWJ by Dr. Robert Bunker

In December 23, 2012, Chivis interviewed Dr. Bunker of Small Wars Journal about Mexican cartel weaponry employment patterns, and what the future of narco weaponry may look like. The use of 50 cal. sniper rifles was discussed in the interview. Chivis asked Dr. Bunker what he thought the next progression weapon might be. He answered, “50 cal”, at the time there had been rumors of its use but unconfirmed and no photo evidence. The title of the post is, ‘The Changing Mexican Drug War Brings New Challenges".

From the December 2012;

“Watching the ever evolving cache of weapons lingering at the aftermath of shootouts, I wondered what they represented in the changing war.

I immediately thought of Dr. Robert Bunker as a go to person for answering some of the questions of narco tactical and weapon advances focusing on MANPADS and other weapon… link here to read interview”

Two months later February, 2013

Then In Monterrey, N.L. two months later, State Police Chief, Gustavo Gerardo Garza Saucedo, was executed in the  early morning by a sniper using a .50 caliber rifle, 20 kilometers northwest of the capital, reported by the Prosecutor of Nuevo Leon.

From Dr. Bunker at the time: 

“The standoff range was reported to be 60 meters which is about 66 yards away. This is the distance where a tripod (e.g. tripié del fusil—this is likely in error as a bipod would typically be utilized— but it was left behind so the stabilization device is in question) was found abandoned along with a shell casing—which possibly suggests a lower level of training and/or the immediate need to escape and evade pursuers.” 

The sniper may have been in a prone firing position as the items were reported found in vacant lot near the Commander’s home. The target was hit in the back with the lot providing a clear line of site to the parking and/or door of the residence”

RPG's

At the time of the 2012 interview there had not been a cartel hit from a RPG, but that changed in May, 2015 when in a failed attempt to capture El Mencho, leader of CJNG resulted in a deadly RPG attack on a military helicopter. 

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