The Cartels Next Door:(2nd in a 6 part series) Far from dead, Juárez Cartel flexes its muscles

Posted by DD republished from Albuquerque Journal

Thanks to BB reader Judeg99 for the heads-up on this story.

 By Mike Gallagher / Journal Investigative Reporter

Which cars in the daily traffic jam on the Bridge of the Americas heading into the United States are being used by the Juárez Cartel to smuggle heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine across the border? (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) 

SECOND IN A SERIES: The Juárez Cartel is one of the heavyweights among Mexican drug cartels that earn billions in profits as they funnel heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana into drug-hungry countries such as the United States. Crime, death and ruined lives flow right along with those drugs to places as varied as New York City, West Virginia, Albuquerque and Española.


The death of the Juárez Cartel has been greatly exaggerated. In fact, it is alive and well and doing a booming business.

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The threat from Sinaloa

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Original article available at ZETA 
Translated by El Wachito

They are being hunted like flies, and all of them are informants because they are giving away locations and contacts, that's the way that "The Damaso" operate, they go after them and if they find them, it is likely that they will engage in armed combat", warned a trusted source to ZETA, about the war in Sinaloa that has expanded to La Paz and Los cabos.

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El Chango Mendez of LFM, with one foot in the USA

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

Subject Matter: Jesus 'El Chango' Mendez, La Familia Michoacana
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

A minister of the Supreme Court will ponder of whether or not to deny an amparo, promoted by the leader of the cartel La Familia Michoacana, promoted against the law on International extradition.

Reporter: Rueben Mosso
The ex leader of the La Familia Michoacana cartel, Jesus 'El Chango' Mendez is on the point of being extradited to the USA, after a Minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation ponders whether to deny his amparo, promoted by the capo to impugn the law of International extradition.

In a case of protection approval, the case will return to the Primary Collegiate Court in Penal matters  of Mexico City in order to resolve some legal aspects and after conclusion, the PGR could execute the order of extradition.

The Federal District Court of South New York is claiming 'El Chango' Mendez because between 2006 and July of 2011, during his leadership of La Familia, he is associated with distribution in USA territory of cocaine and crystal meth.

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The Cartels Next Door (a 6 part series) : Cartels' Roots Run Deep in N.M.

Posted by DD Republished from Albuquerque Journal 
Thanks to BB reader Judeg99 for the heads-up on this story.

By Mike Gallagher / Journal Investigative Reporter

 Mexico’s drug cartels earn billions of dollars in profits as they funnel heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana into drug-hungry countries, including the United States. Crime, death and ruined lives flow right along with those drugs to places as varied as New York City, West Virginia coal country, Albuquerque, Española and western Europe. Despite the efforts of law enforcement, the cartels rival international corporations in size and reach. The drugs they peddle are cheaper and more plentiful than ever before, claiming thousands of victims every year. The Albuquerque Journal today begins a six-part investigative report on a criminal enterprise wreaking havoc across the country.

FIRST IN A SERIES

A Ciudad Juárez drug runner who goes by the name of Saxon. (Roberto E. Rosales/Journal

You don’t have to look south across the border to see the Mexican drug cartels in operation. They are operating right next door.

Heroin rings and methamphetamine dealers with direct connections to international drug traffickers based in Mexico have operated out of stash houses in Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights, horse ranches in Valencia County, communities on the Navajo Nation and small towns a stone’s throw from the Mexican border.

And while we in New Mexico focus on drug-fueled property crimes such as auto theft and horrific violence such as the murders of 10-year-old Victoria Martens and Rio Rancho police officer Gregg “Nigel” Benner, our state is much more than a local market. It is a primary corridor for the cartels to ship drugs nationwide.

Federal law enforcement estimates the Sinaloa Cartel alone controls somewhere between 40 and 60 percent of illegal drugs used in the United States. It supplies dealers in cities and states including New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, New England, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Mexico.

The Juárez Cartel supplies heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana dealers in North Carolina, Alabama, Oklahoma, Minnesota, New Mexico and parts of Texas.

A Homeland Security officer inspects the interior of a tractor-trailer rig that had been carrying produce into the United States through the port of entry at Santa Teresa. (Roberto E. Rosales/Journal)

There is plenty of proof of Mexican cartel operations in New Mexico, as evidenced by some of the operations taken down by law enforcement. For example:

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The High Cost of Torture in Mexico

Posted by DD republished from Human Rights Watch

Originally published in Animal Politico

By Daniel Wilkinson

Managing Director, Americas Division

Secretary of Defense (SEDENA) Apologizes For Soldiers Using Torture

 Torture will be on the agenda of the Mexican Congress this month. Curbing the widespread practice should be an urgent priority for all branches of the Mexican government. Its impact on Mexico has been devastating, not only for the many individual victims, but also for the credibility of the criminal justice system itself.

 
     


Take, for example, the case of Taylin Wang and “Pedro Salazar,” a kidnap victim for whom we’ll use a pseudonym to protect his identify and privacy.

Wang came to Mexico from her native Peru seven years ago in search of a better future for her children. She found work selling clothes, then opened a Peruvian restaurant. She married a Mexican, and together they were raising her 7- and 9-year-old daughters and 16-year-old son. When the federal police raided their home in February 2014, she was 7-weeks pregnant.

Recently, Wang provided Human Rights Watch with her account of the raid, in the hope—she said—that her story might help prevent others from a similar fate.

Wang and her husband, who had gone to bed late after watching a horror movie, were awakened by police bursting into their residence around 3 a.m. The officers did not present an arrest warrant. Instead they pulled her out of bed, called her a “whore,” and demanded to know where her “lover” was. They took her husband to another room, where they were holding the three children.

One of the officers stripped off Wang’s nightgown and forced her onto the bed. With the other officers looking on, he raped her with his gun, mashed her breasts with his hands, and asked if she liked it.

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El Mochomo files to rescind guilty plea and Chapo Update

by Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat

El Mochomo filed with the court to withdraw his guilty plea 

                 

 From the motion filing:

Court of Appeals considers “three factors in reviewing denials of motions to withdraw: ‘(1) whether the defendant has asserted a viable claim of innocence; (2) whether the delay between the guilty plea and the motion to withdraw has substantially prejudiced the government's ability to prosecute the case; and (3) whether the guilty plea was somehow tainted.’” West, 392 F.3d at 455. The District Court has broad discretion is reviewing a motion to withdraw a guilty plea. See, e.g., United States v. Hanson, 339 F.3d 983 (D.C. Cir. 2003).

Which do you guess is the basis of withdrawal he is using?

If you guessed (3) you are correct. And he has a good shot at being victorious at some point, maybe appeal.  I have a mountain of documents and opinion to peruse, and little time, but I am working on an overview.  As I previously reported, Mochomo was extradited on limited charges, and no ROS waiver.  Such a waiver is given by Mexico to allow or give permission to the United States to add charges subsequent to the extradition.

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Sinaloa Cartel: Chino Antrax Sentencing

by Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat

There is an scheduling update in the United States case against Rodrigo Aréchiga Gamboa.  Aréchiga is better known by his Sinaloa Cartel moniker of “Chino Antrax”. He was the one of the founders and leaders of the Sinaloa enforcer group Los Ántrax along with Jesús Peña (El 20). The group operated for and under the direction of Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

Aréchiga was arrested on December 30, 2013, while at the Amsterdam International Airport. Dutch police arrested the wanted man,  on behalf of a Interpol warrant issued by the United States. He was subsequently extradited to the U.S. to stand trial, but pleaded guilty after cutting a plea deal. 

(to read the plea use this link to previous post)

According to court documents, there was a sentencing date scheduled for January 17th 2017.

“Minute Order by Judge Dana M. Sabraw: Sentence With PSR set for 1/12/2017 10:00 AM in Courtroom 13A before Judge Dana M. Sabraw.”

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The Sinaloa counter-attack

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

Subject Matter: Sinaloa cartel vs CJNG in Baja California Sur
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

January 2017 has been the a very violent month, with 32 Homicides in Los Cabos, 12 In La Paz, five in Loreto,   One in Comondú and one in Mulegé. "It's already a War, of two cartels, they are fighting and we as authority, there is nothing we can do ": source of Coordination Group of  Public security

In a clear message of "here we are and we are going to face it", the Sinaloa Cartel gave a hard and bloody coup against cells of the New Generation Jalisco Cartel (CJNG) at 2:20 pm on Sunday, January 29 in the colony The Zacatal of San José del Cabo.

"It is already a place of war, the two cartels are fighting it and we as an authority we can do nothing, and if we participate maybe a massacre is worse, it was a very meaningful notice where these two people, where they practically ripped  to shreds," he said. A member of the Public Security Coordination Group in Baja California Sur, after the execution of two hitmen in the service of the cell "La Barredora".

The murder took place in Juan Pedrín Castillo and Fabián Chacho Cota, right on the corner where the Fire Station is located. According to witnesses, the deceased were "following them along the Pedrín and were "made" and terminated (...) When they were "made" the men who traveled in a black Hyundai ", tried to flee.

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“The greatest instrument the oppressor has is when they have closed off the gaze of the outside world from what is happening.”

Posted by DD for Borderland Beat Republished from The Irish Times

DD:  The title to this story is one of the reasons that BB exists - to shine a little light on what is happening and allow the outside world to gaze inside.   That is what the protagonist in this story, Maria Esmeralda Saldana, is also doing.  

 Borderland Beat has reported  on the Zeta's control of the coal mining operations in Coahuila and another on the abuses the people of the small town of Cloete have suffered.  For more info see Borderland Beat stories by Havana Pura at http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2012/11/narco-gold-mine-coahuila-coal.html and DD at http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2015/03/mining-companies-rapacity-devastates.html

A typical Zeta owned or operated "posita" in Coahuila

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Sinaloa:"El H2" participated in September ambush of military in Sinaloa

Guest Reporter Anasazi with material from Radio Formula journalist Omar Sánchez de Tagle,

Journalist Omar Sánchez de Tagle, indicated that the authorities do not want to say that "El H2" was the one who planned the Culiacan attack, but what the military sources say is that "he was involved and was at the scene at the moment when we were attacked (the military), but they stop short from giving him full responsibility for the attack.

According to sources from the Secretaries of the National Army and the Navy, all elements determined that Juan Francisco Patrón Sanchez alias "H2", alleged leader of the Beltrán Leyva cartel, participated in the military ambush in September of 2016 in Sinaloa.

Graphic foto on following page..........................

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Tijuana: Narco manta de CTNG to Los Nuevos Rebeldes, "No playing for Aquiles"

Tijuana: Narcomanta de CTNG to Los Nuevos Rebeldes

After a hyper violent month in Tijuana, in which over 102 were executed, the violence has not slowed, but intensified, with banners, limbs, entambados, being displayed throughout the city.  The banner went up in La Mesa yesterday, prompting the cancellation of Los Nuevo Rebeldes scheduled performance on Friday night.  Los Nuevos Rebeldes, a group out of Culiacan, well known for their songs to Los Antrax, Chino Antrax, Mayo Zambada, Mayito Gordo, and the Zambada/Imperial/Antrax line of Culiacan. 

"You kill those who sing for us, so we will kill yours...."

"We are going to kill Lenin Ramierz"

The quote likely refers to several executions and killings of singers in Tijuana, including Beto Cervantes, who was executed in Rosarito last fall, found in only his boxers, after an attempted kidnapping.  Hours later, another was shot in Tijuana, who sang for La Cafatera.  

CTNG and CJNG, the loose, and shifty alliance that is responsible for fighting Rene and Alfredo Arteaga Azarte for control of the retail drug trade in Tijuana, have taken some hits in recent months. Arturo Giovanni Herrera, 'El Gross' was killed in Guadalajara, ambushed, and shot multiple times in the head, as he got his haircut.  

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Francisco Daniel "El Señor de las Tanquetas, El Dani or H9" Has been executed in Ahuacate, Nayarit by Mexican Forces

Original article available at NNC.MX
Translated by El Wachito

This Friday night, elements of the Fiscalia General del Estado, executed "El H9", member of the Beltran Leyva Cartel.

This was posted by H9, 24 hours ago in his Instagram account: "It is my turn... dogs"

According to information given by law enforcement authorities, the firefight started around 2100, in a street of the small town of Ahuacate, when Law Enforcement officers engage in a firefight against two armed civilians that were traveling on board a red Nissan, Sentra.

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The end of "H2" *Graphic Content*

Original article available at DEBATE
Translated by El Wachito

During Friday afternoon, Federal Forces made available to the public the scene were criminals liderated by Francisco Patron Sanchez engage in an armed battle against Federal Forces of the city of Tepic, Nayarit. 

 

 Members of the Army, Marines and Federal Police were able to anihilate the criminals after two firefights, and "El H2" was also exterminated.

Currently there is a temporary climate of tranquility in the capital state of Sinaloa, and people believe that it will remain in that manner due to the fall of "El H2".

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Idalia Romelia Salazar Gonzales, ex-sister in law of "El Chapo" executed in Zapopan, Jalisco *Graphic Content*

Original article available at PROCESO
Translated by El Wachito

Guadalajara, Jal.- Idalia Romelia Salazar Gonzalez, sister of Alejandrina Maria, who was the first wife of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, was executed yesterday in the municipality of Zapopan.

The 45 year old woman was driving around in a white Mercedez Benz by Goya Street, in the intersection with Patria Avenue, in Real Vallarta, when she was attacked by an armed command.

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BREAKING NEWS: Mexican Marines shot and killed "El H2" a Nayarit Plaza leader of the Beltran Leyva Organization *Video*

Original article available at ZETA
Translated by El Wachito

Juan Francisco Patron Sanchez, alias "El H2" or "El Chico", leader of the Beltran Leyva Cartel, was executed this Thursday night by elements of the Secretary of the Armed Marines of Mexico (SEMAR), in Tepic, Nayarit -where he was the plaza boss-, according to a spokesman of the Presidency of the Republic, Eduardo Sanchez Hernandez, to the journalist Denise Maerker, who made the announcement through her television news show.

Also, "El H2" was executed with 7 of his sicarios, confirmed the SEMAR through their Twitter account: "Today during an armed clash between criminals and Federal Forces, Juan Francisco N. was executed with 7 other criminals".

In a video that was distributed through several social media websites, we can observe the Helicopter of the Marines flying over an area of the capital of Nayarit -colonia Linda Vista, San Juan, Arboledas and Laderas del cerro de San Juan-, after being a target of an armed attack, the helicopter shoot towards the criminals.

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