Top Three Narcos Wanted by the DEA

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  TY Gus  Source

The drug traffickers have not stopped their operations because of the Covid-19 restrictions, but the DEA, at the same time, has not stopped, either. The hunt for the top 3 most wanted Drug Lords, some of the most dangerous men wanted by the DEA continues.

According to the DEA, the capture of the famed Sinaloa Cartel Kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and his appearance in U.S. Federal Court last year, sent a message you will get caught. With El Chapo behind bars, the DEA is now looking for his son.

"One of our fugitives is El Chapo Guzman‘s son Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar and he too has been involved in narcotics trade, involved with his father, trafficking cocaine methamphetamine heroin across the southwest border," said Dante Sorianello, the assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in the San Antonio district.

El Chapo’s son was released a few hours after his arrest, because the Sinaloa Cartel wreaked havoc in Mexico with gun fights and violence on the streets. El Chapo’s son was involved heavily in the business of his father, and while Mexico may have come under pressure to release him in order to save innocent lives, the DEA does not feel the same, which is why Guzman is still in hiding.

Read More

Mexican General Cienfuegos L.A. hearing was brief, he remains in Metro detention in Los Angeles for now

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  Source and KTLA Los Angeles

The former Secretary of Defense in Mexico, General Salvador Cienfuegos, was detained at California airport his first hearing was yesterday in Los Angeles

The audience of Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, former head of the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) with Enrique Peña Nieto, it barely lasted five minutes, where he heard the three charges against him related to drug trafficking; His next hearing will be on Tuesday, October 20, at 1:00 p.m., it is speculated, in New York.

The retired general was detained the night of this Thursday, October 15 at the California airport, USA, when he arrived with his family. The arrest warrant was issued by Magistrate Judge Vera M. Scanlon since August 14, 2019.

Via video, they were read three counts of conspiracy to the manufacturer, import and distribute drugs, plus a money laundering charge.

Read More

"The fight against drug trafficking should be a partnership" says US ambassador to Mexico

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat   Reforma

Los Angeles Consul spoke twice to Mexico's former security chief, after his arrest in U.S.

The United States Ambassador to Mexico, Christopher Landau, urged that the authorities work together on both sides of the border against organized crime.

"The fight against organized crime and drug trafficking is a shared fight. Criminals and drugs kill Mexico and the United States," said the diplomat on his Twitter account.

"We urgently need to work shoulder to shoulder on both sides of the border. It is not easy at all, but we are more the good guys."

For her part, the Consul of Los Angeles, Marcela Celorio, reported that she had already met twice with the former Secretary of National Defense, Salvador Cienfuegos, who has been detained since Thursday  in the United States.

Read More

How Chapo Isidro initiated the downfall of General Cienfuegos

 By Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat

Mexico was not in partnership in the U.S. investigation and arrest of Mexican General Salvador Cienfuegos on Thursday night at LAX.

In the indictment, unsealed yesterday, albeit bare bones and will be superseded, it charges that Cienfuegos during the years of December 2015 to February 2017 with drug trafficking and money laundering in collusion with Beltran Leyva’s H2 cartel.  

During those years H2 was led by Juan Francisco Patron.  Patron was killed in February 2017, interestingly, killed the very month and year the U.S. seemingly alleges Cienfuegos stopped his criminality. 

Since he is charged with steering his military away from H2 and notifying H2 of any operations, he obviously betrayed the cartel.

Yesterday I posted the story of H2 who they were and their violent end in 2017 in an all-out effort by the military both land and air killing the leader and a dozen of his men (image below).

Chapito Isidro

According to the NYT the initiation of the investigation by the U.S. stems from the 2013 investigation of apparent BLO heir; Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, commonly known by his moniker El Chapo Isidro.

Isidro in the opinion of this contributor is the most intelligent, calculating leader ever in the drug war of Mexico.  It is his skills that have allowed BLO to continue with a heartbeat and profitability. He is BLO.

Read More

2,224 pounds of meth, 893lbs cocaine 13 lbs heroin tied to Sinaloa cartel seized in California – largest haul in DEA history

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  TY Borderland Beat Follower  DEA-LA

DEA Acting Administrator Timothy J. Shea and local law enforcement officials announce the largest domestic seizure of methamphetamine in DEA history

LOS ANGELES – At a press conference today, DEA Acting Administrator Timothy J. Shea and Los Angeles Field Division Special Agent in Charge Bill Bodner announced the seizure of 893 pounds of cocaine, 13 pounds of heroin, and 2,224 pounds of crystal methamphetamine, which is the largest domestic seizure of crystal methamphetamine in DEA history. 

In June 2020, the Los Angeles Field Division, Southwest Border Group 2, began investigating a large-scale drug trafficking organization with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel involved in the transportation and delivery of large quantities of cocaine and crystal methamphetamine.  During the course of the investigation, agents identified a Southern California-based narcotics courier/stash house manager along with multiple locations and vehicles associated with the courier and the DTO.

On October 2, 2020, through investigative means, agents and Fontana Police Department investigators established surveillance on the courier’s residence.  During surveillance, Fontana Police Department investigators observed the target and a secondary associate load two duffle bags into a vehicle and leave the location.  The courier target and the associate ultimately met with a third associate at a Sam’s Club parking lot in the city of Moreno Valley where they unloaded and delivered the two duffle bags to the third associate.  During that time, investigators detained the courier target and the two other associates in the parking lot for questioning and they were later released.

Read More

(Indictment) Former Natl Security Chief Salvador Cienfuegos worked with Cártel de Nayarit (Beltran Leyva) alleges United States Attorney

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  Reforma Borderland Beat Archives

The United States accused Salvador Cienfuegos, Secretary of National Defense in the past sexenio (EPNs six-year term), of having worked for the H-2 Cartel, a violent criminal group based in Nayarit, in exchange for bribes.

The United States Attorney for Eastern Brooklyn today asked Judge Carol Bagley Ammon that, once he is sent from Los Angeles to New York, General Cienfuegos be under permanent arrest, in a letter detailing his alleged criminal activities and the risk escape if released on bail.

"Evidence including thousands of intercepted messages from Blackberry reveals that, when he was Secretary of Defense, the defendant, in exchange for bribes, assisted the H-2 Cartel in numerous ways, including ensuring that there were no military operations in  against the group; assuring initiating military operations against their rivals; obtaining maritime transport for drug shipments; acting to expand the territory controlled by H-2 to Mazatlán and the rest of Sinaloa, "the Attorney General's Office for the Eastern District of New York said today.

Cienfuegos also introduced cartel leaders to other corrupt Mexican officials, and alerted the DEA investigation, which led to the murder of a cartel member who was not actually collaborating with the US agency. 

Read More

CJNG paranoia in Tierra caliente, clemente and his family forced into exile

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  La Silla Rota

“The CJNG now also includes children on its blacklist: grenade launchers and rifles are pointed at them.”  (CJNG has never established boundaries, children were never off limits)

There are already about 90 families from the Michoacán Sierra de la Tierra Caliente who have had to abandon their homes and heritage to avoid being assassinated by cells of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación  aka CJNG who residents say are “excessively paranoid.”

The families flee so as not to be burned, beheaded or dismembered alive.

The CJNG now also includes children on its blacklist: grenade launchers and rifles are pointed at them.

La Silla Rota presents stories of two families who have lost everything and now seek to reach the northern border alive to seek asylum in the United States.

This is the first story:  

Don Clemente has no words to describe what he had to live and that forced him to abandon his heritage he built for 30 years. "It's one thing I don't know how to describe. They were going to kill me and my children, says the 53-year-old man with his voice cracking with emotion.

He narrates that a few days ago, heavily armed and hooded people who identified themselves as being from Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación entered his home. The construction worker points out that these men have no scruples, because they not only attacked him, but also his children and his wife.

Read More

Cienfuegos Zepeda, Mexico's former, Secretary of National Defense detained at LAX

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  Reforma

At the request of the DEA for criminal conspiracy, money laundering and drug trafficking.

First hearing in Los Angeles at 2:30pm today

Once again it happened in the United States.

This time it is General Salvador Cienfuegos, head of the Defense Secretariat in Enrique Peña's administration, who was arrested in the United States.

He is the highest official of the Mexican Government, ever captured abroad.

Chief of the Army for the entire term of Enrique Peña Nieto, General Cienfuegos was arrested, at the request of the DEA, at the Los Angeles Airport, California, on charges of criminal conspiracy, money laundering and drug trafficking.

The General was traveling with his family, the family members names were not disclosed but were released.

Tlatlaya, 22 people were executed in June 2014 by the military.

Read More

EL Azul: New leader of Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel has been arrested

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

Adán Ochoa, aka El Azul,  leader of Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel was detained by the Guanajuato authorities. He was the successor for El Marro Jose Antonio Yepez.

The governor of Guanajuato himself, Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo, announced the arrest through his Twitter account.

The arrest was announced by the governor of Guanajuato.

El Azul had the leadership of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel for only two and a half months’ time.

Read More

Chiapas- Navy secures 850 kilos of cocaine off coast

 Steve C Borderland Beat Excelsior

Elements assigned to the Fourteenth Naval Zone of the Secretariat of the Navy-Navy of Mexico (Semar), located and seized 39 sacks of cocaine off the coast of the State of Chiapas.weighing more than 850 kilos. Black market value amounts to 190 million 900 thousand pesos.

Intelligence work through which it became known of a smaller Go Fast vessel that was carrying alleged illicit cargo, which was sailing 150 nautical miles south-southwest of Puerto Chiapas.

From the Command and Control Center of the Mexican Navy, the command of the Fourteenth Naval Zone was instructed to immediately deploy personnel and units for the optimal maritime and air surveillance patrol to combat the situation. Surface units such as Oceanic, Coastal and Interceptor Patrol participated, as well as a Persuader type aircraft and an MI-17 helicopter with Marine Corps personnel on board.

Read More

Guanajuato: State Police armed attack and kill six gunmen in Celaya, seize weapons, equipment, vehicles

 Steve C Borderland Beat  Source    Source

Celaya, Gto.- While responding to a report of shots fired in the Juan Martín community of this municipality, elements of the State Public Security Forces (FSPE) repelled an attack by a group of armed civilians, killing six of them, also securing weapons, tactical equipment and vehicles.

The aggression with firearms against FSPE personnel was recorded on the road that leads from the Rincón de Tamayo communities to San Isidro, south of this municipality, when the elements of the Operational Tactical Group (GTO) of the FSPE, deployed a patrol to search for the armed subjects who had made detonations shortly before in the Juan Martín community, fleeing immediately.

As the state units circulated on said road between Rincón de Tamayo and San Isidro , they saw two pickup trucks, a white Volkswagen brand SUV and a Nissan pickup truck, with a group of armed civilians, who, for no apparent reason, began to shoot at the members of the State Public Security Forces , damaging one of the patrols.

The FSPE officers repelled the attack and four of the alleged aggressors were killed in the same place. Meanwhile, two more individuals escaped, still firing against state elements, thus initiating a pursuit while they were called by loudspeaker to lay down their weapons; however, they continued firing and when the aggression was repelled, they were killed.

Read More

Images of the Zacatecas confrontation aftermath between State Police and Los Talibánes which left 14 dead

 By Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

Yesterday BB reported on the confrontation between LosTalibánes Cartel and Zacatecas State police.  The state is reporting 14 gunmen Talibánes killed and 3 police injured.

Barret rifles and grenade launchers were used in the conflict.  The confrontation that broke out between the rural area of ​​the Nueva Alianza and Río Frío communities, some 40 kilometers from the Zacatecan capital.

Los Talibánes Cartel was founded by Iván Velázquez Caballero, also known by his alias El Talibán, a former regional leader of Nuevo Laredo for  Los Zetas, he was   known as L-50.  Early Zetas years monikers were either Z or L.

In 2012, fierce infighting erupted in the Zetas organization, primarily between Miguel and Omar Trevino against Velázquez.

Velázquez split from the Zetas and rejoined Golfo Cartel (CDG), from who he split from with the Zetas. 

Read More

Jose Rodolfo Villarreal-Hernandez "El Gato' Added to Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List

 Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat FBI Gov Press Release

“El Gato” Allegedly Had Victim Tracked and Murdered in Texas; $1 Million Reward Available

The ‘Most Wanted’ man sent sicarios to texas to kill Texas attorney Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa the personal lawyer for the leader of the Gulf cartel.  Villarreal-Hernandez, who wanted Chapa killed as revenge for his father’s murder.

Jose Rodolfo Villarreal-Hernandez, wanted for allegedly directing his associates to track and murder a man in Southlake, Texas, has been added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. The Department of State’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program is offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading directly to his arrest.

Villarreal-Hernandez, also known as “El Gato,” is believed to hold an active leadership position in the Beltran Leyva Drug Trafficking Organization within the region of San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. He is also believed to be responsible for numerous murders in Mexico.

The victim of the Texas murder, 43, was shot while sitting in the passenger seat of his vehicle outside an upscale shopping center in a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb on May 22, 2013. His wife was standing near the driver’s side door when her husband was killed. And the brazen ambush occurred in the early evening hours, while the center was full of shoppers.

El Gato

According to evidence and testimony gathered in the trials of those accused of tracking and killing the man, Villarreal-Hernandez ordered and financed a multi-year effort to find and watch the victim and then kill him. 

Read More

Mexico is poised to become the biggest legal marijuana market in the world. Who will most benefit?

Steve C Borderland Beat  LAT   TY Steve C

An activist smokes marijuana in a protest camp in front of the Mexican Senate building. (Ricardo Castelan Cruz / Eyepix Group / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

The Mexican marijuana revolution is just steps away from the Senate, where activists have tended a fragrant cannabis garden for the past nine months.

Every day hundreds of people stroll through a maze of towering green plants, freely ignite joints and get tall.

Its billowing smoke is meant to remind senators who have to struggle to get to work. Legislators have until December 15 to pass a pot law by order of the Supreme Court, which ruled a marijuana ban unconstitutional two years ago.

After decades of restrictive drug policies that sparked deadly cartel wars, Mexico is poised to become the largest legal cannabis market in the world.

The upcoming deadline has intensified the debate about what exactly legalization should look like and who should benefit from it. Among the questions haunted by lawmakers, how easy or difficult should it be for users to buy and consume a pot? And should the estimated 200,000 families who grow it now be protected from competition with the big overseas marijuana companies that have been battling for influence?

Read More

Mexican and Guatemalan Officials on Alert for 28 Men Who Escaped From Maximum Security Prison in Belize

 "stevectpa" for Borderland Beat

Authorities patrol land, air and sea to find the 28 escapees (source: Twitter @pablovazquez_27) 

Vigilance on the Guatemala–Mexico was redoubled after 28 inmates from a maximum-security prison in Hattieville, Belize, escaped. Although the initial report mentioned 13 inmates, the number increased to 28 after prison authorities carried out a roll call.

According to the report, the prison break occurred after a confrontation between inmate groups. Some of the inmates disarmed three guards who had tried to tried to intervene during the brawl. The inmates, classified as highly dangerous, escaped towards the nearest highway. One of them was carrying a large firearm. 

The Belize National Police, in coordination with elements of the Defense Forces, intensified their surveillance patrols in the Belmopan area and its adjacent districts. Mexican  and Guatemalan authorities were alerted about the prison break to reinforce the border and prevent them from crossing illegally into their respective countries.

Read More