Monday, March 13, 2017

Tijuana: 5 executed in Zona Norte

5 executed in Zona Norte

In a small room between Primera and Miguel F. Martinez streets in Zona Norte, a grim stash house of sorts, a man clings to life.  His associates, friends, perhaps family lay dead, between the floor, and and the bleak furnishings, a few battered couches.  Blood leaked from their wounds, all head shots, one or two apiece, spreading out onto the floor.  

Three women and two men, executed, ambushed, likely betrayed.  All 9mm shells, no signs of heavy weapons, long rifles.  They were part of a narco retail cell operating in La Zona.  The kind of group that bears both the blame, and burden for many of the constant killings and mutilations, severed limbs, and bullet holes, weaving in and out of flesh, hot bullet shells dancing across victims insides.

These killings were different then the public executions, shootouts in bars, clubs, mariscos stands, these people saw their killers, and interacted with them before they were killed.  Single shots mostly, no signs of torture, or bounding have been reported.  More then one, to retrain, and to kill 5 people, without problems. At least 3. 

They may have thought they were going to leave.  They were either surprised, lured, or betrayed. They may have begged, pleaded, confessed. They may have stood defiant to the end.  They may have anticipated the shot, as the deafening crack of gunshots echoed across the room, flinched before the bullet pierced their skin, into the back of their skull. 


The retail cells are many, tentacles of larger cells, dispersed all through Tijuana, esp in La Zona.  The family and group of the fallen El Mono, Manuel Luis Toscano, known as Los Iqualos, still maintains a presence.  The people of Los Aquiles have a certain degree of control.  The people of CTNG, formerly under 'El Gross' operate.   It is simply the largest retail market in the city.

The Red Light district attracts sex tourism from San Diego, and internationally, sending hundreds to the bars and brothels that line the area.  Meth and heroin are sold at a retail level to the desperate addicts of Zona Norte, whose addiction consume them, fuel blood and violence across the city. "Globitos" small quantities of crystal and heroin are packaged, labeled, and sold by the retail cells, who in turn pay plaza, and buy product from a larger group.  

Most all of us, are more then what we do, more then what we have done, or will do, and complexity and humanity lays behind the killings and brutality.  There are very truly evil people.  It is undeniable though that in death, what we live behind can represent us, our desperation, our fears, our failures. 

-Maria Guadelupe Ramos Navarro, was 22, bullets struck her neck, and left shoulder.  "Gabriel' was tattooed above her left breast.  

-Unknown male victim, single shot behind the ear, another to the jaw, three skulls tattooed on his forearm.

-Unknown male victim, 30-35 years, single shot behind the ear, "Margarita" tattooed on his left breast. 

-Unknown female, 40-45 years, single shot to the head. 

-Unknown female, 30-35  years, single bullet to the head, behind her ear. "Suerte Puta" tattooed on her chest.  

Sources: AFN Tijuana 


Small Wars Journal: Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #29

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #29: By Robert J. Bunker and Marisa Mendoza

Vehicular Ramps Used to Bypass Border Fencing, "As borders tighten, smugglers raise their game"

  Photos from Border Patrol-Campo Ca
…Ongoing measures to erect 670 miles of new fence on the border are credited with helping to cut arrests to some 870,000 last year from 1.1 million. Nevertheless, smugglers are trying and, in many cases succeeding, in breaching every kind of barrier thrown in their paths.

Sturdy steel posts have been sunk in the ground in many areas to stop vehicles crossing north, although drug traffickers have responded by building elaborate vehicle ramps to drive cars over the top, border police say.

“It’s like the old show ‘The Dukes of Hazzard,’ cars flying through the air,” said James Jacques, a supervisory Border Patrol in San Diego, Calif.

Illegal border crossers are also routinely beating pedestrian barriers using ladders tailor-made in clandestine Mexican workshops, border police say, while others have used screwdrivers to try to clamber over new 14-foot tall, steel-mesh barriers designed to deny handholds.

One such attempt was foiled. “It took the man a while, and by the time he got to the top, we were waiting for him,” said Andrew Patterson, a Border Patrol agent in Yuma, Arizona…

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Silvestre Piolo Blas: From Professional Soccer Player to Heroin Trafficker

An Original Borderland Beat Story written by Chuck B Almada

***Note From Chuck: Hi to all Borderland followers and fans, I had to take a brief hiatus from contributing to the blog due to professional and educational reasons, but now I am happy to be back full of energy and eager to report on important stories and issues that matter to all of us. For the past few days, I have been working on this story, a story that perhaps none of you have heard about. This story is by far an exclusive to Borderland Beat and I hope you all enjoy it. This story was possible thanks to information received from reliable sources and also with information obtained through the Open Records Act that helped corroborate some of those facts***


ATLANTA, GA- Early this month, several Spanish language outlets, including Univision, ESPN Deportes, El Debate, and even the Official Twitter account of Monarcas Morelia announced the death of former professional soccer player, Silvestre Blas Fierros better known as “Piolo.”  Up until today, the details surrounding the death of the 23 year old were unknown. Univision originally reported:


“Through social media, Monarcas Morelia revealed that their former player, Silvestre Blas Fierros died this past Wednesday from unknown causes in the United States. Blas Fierros lived in the United States after leaving Monarcas Morelia, the team in which he debuted in 2014 against Necaxa when he was 20 years old. As of right now, there has been no information regarding the death of the soccer player. In their Twitter message, Monarcas Morelia limited their information to only sending their condolences to the family of the soccer player" (Univision, 2017)
After conducting extensive research throughout the web, all news outlets contained similar information as the above statement, with none mentioning details surrounding the soccer player’s death. Through several reliable sources, Borderland Beat received exclusive information regarding the death of Piolo and his activities in the United States prior to his death.

Border Patrol Tunnel Rats

By Javier,  Guest reporter Borderland Beat
They are called "tunnel rats", when referring to the U.S. Border Patrol agents who descend  into underground Narco Tunnel that have appeared along the U.S., Mexico border over the past 20 years.  What may appear clear above ground, could have border patrol on duty below the surface.

Sinaloa Cartel  capo Chapo Guzmán, is credited as the innovator behind the drug tunnels, used primarily to traffic drugs.  But the most infamous usage of the Guzmán tunnels, which increasingly have become very sophisticated over the years, was on  the night of July 11, 2015, when chapo disappeared into the underside of his prison cell shower, descending a ladder,  to the tunnel, hopped on a motorbike and exited to freedom.  Albeit, for only six months.

Arguably, the greatest factor of Sinaloa’s trafficking success, are the tunnels. It provides  the ability to transport drugs, in bulk,  to its number one customer, the United States.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

International coaine trafficker of the Comorra Mafia in Napoli arrested in Tamaulipas

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

Subject Matter: La Cosa Nostra, Italian Mafia, Tamaulipas
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

Giulio Perrone, alleged member of the Italian Mafia from Napoli, has been sought by law enforcement for 10 years for his probable responsibility in international cocaine trafficking.

Giulio Perrone, alleged leader of the Italian mafia in Napoli, was detained by elements of the PGR in Tamaulipas, for his alleged involvement in international cocaine trafficking.

The detainee, 64 years of age, originally from the province of Gragnano, Italy, had a red notification in Interpol and a sentence of 20 years, 11 months and eight days in prison, handed down by the Napoli court.

Perrone, who has been for 10 years in the list of most sought after fugitives by the Italian Government, delivered by the authorities of his country.


Arturo Beltran Leyva, the life, the death of "El Barbas" part 3 "The final stand of Don Arturo"

Arturo Beltran Leyva, the life, the death of "El Barbas" part 3 "The final stand of Don Arturo"

Written for Borderland Beat by Otis B Fly-Wheel, with additional material and photos the BB archive.

Subject Matter: Arturo Beltran Leyva, El Barbas, El Fantasma, El Botas Blancas, La Muerte
Recommendation: Read Part 1 of this article here see link
                              Read Part 2 of this article here see link




Born in the cradle of narco's, La Palma ,Badiraguato Sinaloa in December of 1954,though some put his birth day as September 1961. Arutro Beltran Leyva also known by the nicknames, "El Barbas", El Botas Blancas, El Fantasma and La Muerte, he worked with small time poppy growers and learnt his trade from Amado Carrillo Fuentes , and later became known as Jefe de Jefes, boss of bosses. His life was characterized by the extreme violence he visited upon anyone who stood in his way. He was eventually cornered and killed by Mexican Marines with the ELINT intelligence help of the US 7th Special Forces group in Cuernavaca, leading to a power vacuum and the "Hydra Effect".  

Big thanks go out to Chivis and BB's friend Narcomics, for the images. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram @narcomicscorp

Reporter: Otis B Fly-Wheel

An alliance with the Executioner
As Don Arturo made his plans to take what he saw as rightfully his from the Sinaloa Federation, he realized that he would not be able to do it with the personnel available to him in the BLO. Despite the large amount of crews in his organization ( see crews section in Arturo Beltran Leyva part 2 ), he saw common ground with Los Zetas.

Los Zetas were unhappy at this time with Osiel Cardenas Guillen from the Cartel del Golfo and were making their own plans to split from their parent organization and seize power for themselves. Leading Los Zetas at this time were Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, "The Executioner" and Miguel Trevino "El Z-40". Los Zetas also found common ground with Arturo in his willingness to resort to horrific violence to achieve his aims as a first resort.

Arturo arranged a meeting with the heads of Los Zetas in Torreon, Coahuila. At this meeting it was agreed that three cities were key to their plans for domination. Torreon, Acapulco and Aguascaliente. Torreon was a strategic city for drug trafficking and was previously dominated by the Sinaloa Federation.

The war for Torreon was defined when Los Zetas/BLO alliance attacked Carlos Herrera Araluce in Gomez Palacio, Durango, who was key for the Federation in the city. By some miracle Herrera Araluce and his wife survived the attack, and immediately left the country for Spain. Los Zetas then delivered an ultimatum to Lawyer Alberto Romero, who later disappeared in the form of a letter and a video showing the torture of a Police commander of Coahuila, Enrique Ruiz Arevalo.

The Federation and the Juarez cartel retreated from Torreon, next was Acapulco, and another campaign of be-headings, kidnapping, and executions saw the Federation driven from the town. Lastly was Aguascalientes, which suffered the same fate as the other two cities with the Federation being driven out and BLO/Zetas sharing the plaza.

To dethrone the Federation, El Chapo and El Mayo must die

Don Arturo knew that if he was going to kill "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, currently languishing in prison in the USA, that first he would have to get rid of the people protecting him. As Arturo had been in charge of paying off bribes to those in power high up in the Army, PGR and Mexican Government he was uniquely placed to know exactly who to kill. Indeed the Sinaloa Federation had relied on the extravagance of Arturo and his brothers to charm, or bend the arms of those in power so the Federation could continue its drug production, logistics and sales without interference.

Arturo knew that on while El Chapo had holistic protection, to get close, he had to kill those protecting him locally, the Municipal and State Police in Culiacan and the surrounding regions, who were in the position to tip off  El Chapo to any upcoming threats to him or his immediate family.

Friday, March 10, 2017

The US government is worried 'El Chapo' Guzman's legal team may have cartel infiltrators

Posted via forum by Mica, and republished with the permission of the author Christopher woody. For Business Insider

 
Guzman, right, and defense attorneys Michael Schneider, center right, and Michelle Gelernt, center left, in a court sketch, January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Christine Cornell

 Former Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has pleaded not guilty to the array of charges against him and his next court date is May 5.

But the legal wrangling around the Mexican capo has not slacked.

In the most recent development, US prosecutors slated to face Guzman in an Eastern District of New York courtroom have asked that US authorities investigate any foreigners added to Guzman's legal team.

US Attorney Robert Capers and Arthur Wyatt, Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section chief for the Justice Department's Criminal Division, argued that, based on their experience, an unvetted member of the defense team could compromise the case brought by the government.

"If a foreign lawyer or investigator that also was a member of the Sinaloa cartel was united with the defense team, [they] could travel to the United States, review the evidence that is protected, and travel later out of the United States with that knowledge," Capers and Wyatt wrote in a letter to Eastern District judge Brian Cogan.

"If a member of the cartel traveled to the United States and found out the identity of a cooperating Mexican witness, [they] could later travel to Mexico with this information and give the name of the witness to other members of the Sinaloa cartel who could kidnap or kill the family of that witness," the letter added
Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman arrives at Long Island MacArthur airport in New York, January 19, 2017, after his extradition from Mexico. Reuters
The letter was confirmed to Univision by Jose Refugio Rodriguez, one of three Mexican lawyers who represented Guzman in his home country.

He said that while they are not allowed to act as lawyers on Guzman's behalf in the US, they had been advising his current legal team and could visit him in the future.

Refugio Rodriguez said it was the right of prosecutors to look into the background of members of the defense team, but he said he took issue with this specific request as it seemed to cast Guzman's Mexican lawyers as complicit with the kingpin, which he said violated the presumption of innocence

Guzman's defense attorneys, Michael Schneider and Michelle Gelernt outside the federal courthouse in the Brooklyn, New York, January 20, 2017. Reuters / Joe Penney
 In their letter, Capers and Wyatt denied that they did not trust Guzman's Mexican lawyers, but said that in the past "foreign professionals," including lawyers, had used their status to commit crimes and bribe officials.

Guzman's US lawyers — Michael Schneider and Michelle Gelernt, two court-appointed public defenders — criticized the request as a "prohibition" on foreigners joining the defense and said the prosecutors' letter did not offer legal arguments for why "the citizens of other countries are less trustworthy than Americans."

According to Refugio Rodriguez, Guzman's US lawyers have already brought a motion against the request, "because lawyers cannot be treated like criminals."

Duarte’s wife found abundance she craved

Posted by DD republished from Mexico News Daily

Karime Macias;  "I deserve abundance"
The wife of former Veracruz governor Javier Duarte was a tireless shopper, spending 8 million pesos on clothes, personal articles and luxury hotels during her husband’s first 14 months in office, according to documents obtained by the newspaper Reforma.

Karime Macías Tubilla, who disappeared with her husband last October, spent US $511,740 in the United States, 1.27 million pesos in Mexico and 51,000 pesos in a jewelry store in Brazil between December 2010 and January 2012, a credit card statement revealed.

Macías, believed to be the person who copied the phrase “I deserve abundance” 45 times in a notebook discovered last month in the city of Córdoba, went on shopping sprees in which she spent an average of 675,000 pesos a month, nine times the monthly salary of her husband, now wanted on corruption charges.

The credit card purchases were racked up on an American Express Platinum card in the name of Moisés Mansur Cysneiros, a close friend of Duarte and a presumed accomplice in his alleged embezzlement of public funds.

La China will return to Baja California Sur

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

Subject Matter: La China, Melissa Calderon Ojeda
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

The transfer of Melisa Calderon Ojeda aka La China, to a Federal penitentiary in the State of Morelos was illegal, estimates a Judge of La Paz district, who conceded an amparo and ordered that she be returned to the penitentiary from which she was transferred in March of 2016.


Reporter: Luis Carlos Sainz
Due to penitentiary authorities in Baja California Sur illegaly moving the ex Jefa de Sicarios of the Las Fuerzas Especiales de Damaso, Meliso Calderon Ojeda, a Federal Judge conceded an amparo and ordered her return to La Paz penitentiary.

Melisa Margarita Calderon Ojeda is currently imprisoned in Cefereso No. 16 Femenil in Caotlan del Rio, in the State of Morelos, however, her return to her former penitentiary will depend on resolving the revision that was put before the Public Ministry of the Federation.

Her original transfer was agreed to because she required special forms of security or vigilance, so the authorities in BCS solicited a space for her in the Morelos Maximum Security Prison, and commissioned the OADPRS with base in Mexico City to authorise her transfer, which they did on 23rd of March 2016.


Thursday, March 9, 2017

Sinaloa Cartel Sicario arrested in Tijuana

Original article available at El Mexicano
Translated by El Wachito


Elements of the Preventive State Police (PEP) captured Sicario that had links to the Sinaloa Cartel. He was found in possession of a modern assault rifle that had capabilities to perforate armored vehicles of the highest bulletproof grade. 


He was detained in Colonia Planetario, delegacion San Antonio de los Buenos.

At the moment of his arrest, he was traveling at high speeds. The gun was of caliber 5.56 and attached a grenade launcher.

According to the PEP, at the moment of the arrest, the Sicario was heading to a location where he would locate a Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion(CNJG) member to execute him.

According to ZETA, the Sicario is identified as Rafael "N', 25 years old, and arrived to Tijuana a month ago from Sinaloa.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

The Santa Fe, Veracruz Grave




The latest report of the exhumation work in the collective grave of Colinas de Santa Fe in Veracruz highlights that most of the remains found in the grave are of young high school and college aged men and women.  The search groups narrate that they haven’t walked through half of the land and they don’t stop from discovering corpses.  People continue to disappear in Veracruz, in the context of the war declared by the delinquency against the local government.  240 bodies from 170 clandestine graves have been exhumed.

By: Ignacio Carvajal García | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Mexico City/Veracruz, March 7, 2017— Blogexpediente had access to the latest report on exhumation work in the collective graves of Colinas de Santa Fe, and what stands out the most of the 240 bodies exhumed so far is that they mostly consist of young people.

The last cutoff on the works in the collective graves of Colinas de Santa Fe state that 240 bodies from 117 clandestine graves have been exhumed.

And in the middle of the cluster of bodies, the mothers of the collective Solecito, who are actively working in this grave, what has surprised them is the high number of young people among the victims.

“Most of them are young people, women and guys, although people with gray hairs have also been found, despite the advanced state of decomposition, that detail has been observed,” said a source close to the work on the grave, at the request of anonymity.

Among the findings of the various graves, which show the slaughter of young people; clothing, footwear, and intimate clothing corresponding to the ages of 14 and 25 are also abundant.

The information that this medium accessed shows that the finding of bodies far from diminishing increases, and these graves are not even half of the terrain.

The last cutoff on the works in the collective graves of Colinas de Santa Fe state that 240 bodies from 117 clandestine graves have been exhumed. Photo: Cuartoscuro Archive
They consist of 125 graves located until the beginning of March, of which 177 have been worked on, which have resulted in the findings of 240 skulls, which is equal to the number of victims, more than half, correspond to boys who were high school or college aged.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

"El Kevin" Found executed in Navolato

Original article available at ZETA
Translated by El Wachito

Julio Oscar Ortiz Vega, alias "El Kevin" was found dead -encobijado- last Sunday, in the parking lot of a mall in Navolato, Sinaloa, his body -had signs of bullet wounds- has already been claimed by his family, according to Denise Maerker. This information was also confirmed by the local newspaper El Noroeste.



"El Kevin" was rescue by an armed commando of 50 sicarios, last September 30th, after ambushing a military convoy that was protecting an ambulance of the Mexican Red Cross, in Culiacan. El Kevin was medically treated by military personnel in an hospital of Badiraguato, after a firefight.

El Lucifer, head of Sicarios for Fuerzas Especiales del Damaso arrested in BCS

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Zetatijuana article with additional picture from the Borderland Beat archive

Subject Matter: El Lucifer, Las Fuerzas Especiales de Los Damaso
Recommendation: See Link to article on El Lucifer



On Monday afternoon, March 6, in the streets of San José del Cabo, Los Cabos municipality, in Baja California Sur, "El Lucifer", an alleged plaza leader and chief of Sicarios for the Dámaso Special Forces (FED), was arrested. 

According to data obtained by ZETA, a surprise operation was carried out to identify the occupants of vehicles with tinted windows, to find arms and drugs that are flooding the conflict zone, in calles Batalla de Puebla and Eduardo Rodriguez in the El Zacatal colonia. They stopped a particular vehicle and captured the Jefe de Plaza in La Paz and Los Cabos, together with two women of approximately 18 years of age.






Juan Carlos Sierra Santana, leader of Los Viagras shot dead in confrontation

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

Subject Matter: Los Viagras, Michoacan
Recommendation: See link to article by Chivis on Juan Carlos Sierra Santana


Reporter: Francisco J Castellanos
Juan Carlos Sierra Santana, La Sopa, one of the seven brothers that heads the criminal organization Los Viagras ( Otis: also see Fuerzas Rurales Michoacan), lead by El Gordo Santana, was taken down Sunday afternoon during a confrontation with antagonistic groups in the limits of this town and Buenavista, informed sources from the SSP and the Army.

La Sopa was killed by wounds sustained by bullets. The confrontation was reported by the authorities, but the local Police did not intervene. At the site of the confrontation hundreds of rounds, rifle magazines, rifles, 40 mm grenades and tactical equipment was confiscated.


Monday, March 6, 2017

He Livestreamed About the Cartels—Until He Was Shot Dead




By: Andrea Noel Republished from The Daily Beast




TIJUANA—After a long day of driving and livestream reporting from the narco hotbed of Guerrero state, Cecilio Pineda Birto took his dusty car to a local carwash in the sleepy little riverside town of Pungarabato on Thursday evening.

There, while Pineda was resting in a hammock and waiting for his newly washed car, two men opened fire on him then fled the scene on a motorcycle with the murder weapon in hand.

But the closest witnesses to the attack—the carwash attendants—were not questioned by authorities, as they immediately went into hiding, state attorney general Xavier Olea Peláez said.

First responders were unable to revive the journalist, who had reported for local and national media outlets like La Voz de Tierra Caliente and El Universal. He was soon after pronounced dead, just past 7:30 p.m.

Pineda covered the crime beat and had made a name for himself as a fearless journalist working to keep his community informed, often livestreaming on-the-scene reporting to his more than 31,000 Facebook followers, as he did on Thursday, just hours before his death.

That afternoon, while driving along a Guerrero highway, cellphone in hand, he complained in a livestream about the local and state government’s inaction, corruption, and collusion with dangerous and organized criminals—as he so often did.

His target in what would be his final video was Raybel Jacobo de Almonte, a criminal more commonly known as El Tequilero—the subject of an ongoing, statewide, months-long, failed manhunt. More specifically, he spoke out against the authorities and public officials who are believed to grant Almonte official protection and collude with his criminal underlings.

“Even the hitmen for El Tequilero … have revealed his location,” Pineda said, referring to the feared criminal organization known as Los Tequileros. “The government does not want to arrest them, even though they know exactly where they are.”

CJNG the winner in the war between narcos

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from an El Debate article

Subject Matter: Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required



There is a Federal intelligence report that analyzed the involvement of the most dangerous cartel of the last six years, as the most dangerous in 2016.

The document affirms that in the last year the criminal group led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, and the Gonzalez Valencia family, who go by the nickname Los Cuinis, have consolidated a meteoric rise in the strategy of expansion, where they control almost totally six coastal states of the country, Colima, Jalisco, Michoacan, Guerrero and the two of Baja California, and are exercising power in zones that were historically in the hands of other groups.

The other zones are the states of Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Morelos, Puebla, Quintana Roo and Mexico state. The organizations that, according to the document have been resisting the advance of the CJNG are; The Pacific Cartel, The Cartel del Golfo, Los Zetas, The Knights Templar and La Familia Michoacana.


Friday, March 3, 2017

Money laundering: From the Sinaloa Cartel to LA’s fashion district

Original article available at YouTube
Posted by El Wachito

In September 2014, more than 1,000 federal and local agents raided 75 different locations in Los Angeles’ fashion district. They seized around $90 million dollars, most of it in bulk cash, from the Sinaloa Cartel. Authorities claim it was the biggest money seizure in U.S. history. Correspondent Mike Kirsch examined the issue in this feature documentary for Americas Now.


San Diego: 30 kilos of cocaine seized in Chula Vista

30 kilos of cocaine seized in Chula Vista

The nondescript Mercury Sable sedan made it's way into Chula Vista, getting off the 5 north, coming from the San Ysidro border crossing, winding through the neighborhoods, stoplights,  off the South Bay community, shortly after the sun set, across the horizon.  

Maybe the driver had that feeling, that intuition, the reflexes and instincts that may come with driving nondescript cars with dozens of kilos of cocaine stuffed into hidden compartments.  Nondescript cars under the surveillance of investigators on a task force.  The surveillance team watched as the Mercury pulled into a storage facility in Chula Vista, just before 7:00 PM. 

It was there they made the arrest, dismantled the car, and found a somewhat odd mixture of bundled drug shipments.  The key was the 30 kilos of cocaine, worth 20,000 or so in Tijuana, but there was also just over a half pound of brown heroin, 25 pounds of highly compressed marijuana, and about 24 pounds of crystal meth.  

In all the shipment is worth close to 650,000.  News reports, based on law enforcement briefings, have put it at 1.1 million, which I think is a stretch.  The crystal isn't worth more then 35,000 or so, the marijuana is worth even less, at about 300 a pound X 24.  The heroin is barely 5,000 dollars. You'd have to estimate the cocaine at almost 30,000 to reach 1.1 million.  

Michoacán Journalist Assassinated; Had Previously Denounced Death Threats Against Him




Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

On Thursday, journalist Cecilio Pineda Brito was assassinated in Ciudad Altamirano, located in the Tierra Caliente region.  The incident happened around 19:30 hours.

It has been reported that the Cecilio was in a car wash when they opened fire on him.  It should be noted that  Cecilio Poneda worked in the newspaper Despertar del Sur, in the weekly La Voz de Tierra Caliente, as well as collaborating in La Jornada Guerrero and El Universal; he lived in Riva Palacio, Michoacán.

He wrote for the police section.  According to a report, gunmen aboard a motorcycle arrived and fired towards Cecilio who was lying in a hammock in the car wash.

Pineda was seriously injured, however, he died while he was being treated by paramedics who arrived aboard an ambulance.  Previously, through his Facebook account, the journalist had reported that he received death threats from organized crime.

This is not the first time that the reporter for La Voz de Tierra Caliente had suffered from an armed attack.

In September 2015, according to information from the newspaper El Sur de Guerrero, Pineda survived a gunshot attack.

In November of last year, Animal Político released a report from the organization Artículo 19 that indicates that 2016 had been the year with the most murders of journalists in the six years of the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Javier Duarte nominated for Guinness record


Posted by DD from material at Mexico News Daily  and Vercruzanos Info and a file on Duarte I have compiled over a couple of years.

By DD for Borderland Beat

I am number one

Breaking Guinness records is a popular sport among many Mexicans but the latest bid is a little different: former Veracruz governor Javier Duarte has been nominated as the most corrupt person in the world along with the former President of Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko.

Ernesto Villanueva, a researcher at the National Anti-corruption Organization, proposed the nomination, comparing Duarte’s corruption to that of the former leaders of Zaire and Senegal.

“I say this seriously, it’s no joke. Fugitive  Javier Duarte has been proposed . . . as the most corrupt person in the world,” he told a press conference.


Villanueva believes Duarte’s win is all but certain to win the disgraceful first place  due to his having left the state of Veracruz on the brink of bankruptcy and seemingly literally sneaked out of the state and gone into hiding. 


Duarte is currently being sought by the Mexican authorities for illegal enrichment and organized crime. The state’s debt increased by almost 1.5 billion pesos during his term as governor between 2010 and 2016.  Efforts to find Duarte have been concentrated on Mexico but authorities are not discounting the possibility he could be elsewhere in the Americas or in Europe or Africa.

The search in Mexico has been focusing not only on Duarte’s alleged network of phantom companies and prestanombres, or front men, but also on well known business people with whom he could have had dealings,

Besides the dubious companies that existed only on paper, the Veracruz politician’s “money trails” have led the authorities to plantations, transportation companies and real estate in the states of Oaxaca, Chiapas and Tabasco.

The Mexican people will laugh about his nomination as the most corrupt person in the world, but  the most damning evidence  which maybe made him the most hated man in Mexico was the finding that distilled water had been substituted for the chemicals needed for chemotherapy treatment of children with cancer at a children's cancer treatment center.

 

Some Doctors at the clinic said that there were at least 8 documented cases where the children might have survived if that had been treated.  They also said that there was no way to know how many children died at home after receiving "treatment" with distilled water.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

San Diego: 55 indicted in heroin/meth trafficking crackdown

55 indicted in heroin/meth trafficking case 

Oceanside and Vista have been some of the communities most impacted by the drastic increase of cheap, pure, methamphetamine.  'Operation No Worries', a sprawling look at the drug and gang distribution networks of North County was unsealed today, a total of 10 indictments and 55 defendants.  No Worries is one of close to 10 major trafficking cases originating in the North County area since 2013.  The amount of product seized, and those indicted has grown every year.

San Diego community El Cajon was once considered the meth capital of the country, this was a long time ago, in the early 90's.  It was a different time, innocent would be an ironic word choice, but it was a kind of innocence.  Hells Angels and various independent distributors, manufacturers, and dealers sold meth, but not like this meth.  'Bathtub crank', from the term 'bathtub gin', of Prohibition era was the main kind produced.  In small labs, trailers, hotel rooms, small cook ups, with home made meth were how the product was created.  Some larger groups had bigger labs and more supplies.  

That's all long over. After the decline of the Arellano-Felix brothers, Benja and Ramon, the groups under Javier Francisco Arellano Felix, and his lieutenant, Manuel Arturo Villareal Heredia, diversified into Mexican made meth.  They made in roads in the market.  By 2008 La Familia Michoacana, was making some of the purest meth available, and trafficking through the Tijuana border.  By 2011 the Sinaloa Cartel was making it in superlabs, producing ton quantities weekly, and with their new access to the San Diego corridor, they had transformed the city.  

San Diego is not the meth's destination point.  70% of the meth in the country comes through San Diego. But, there is a large market.  Meth and heroin related deaths have surged by 80% in the last 5 years. Just under half of all male and females arrested have meth in their syste
m.  Prices have plunged. Purity is in the low to high 90's.  Pounds are about 2500 dollars, almost 4 times cheaper then in 2010.

The gangs that snake through North County became the prime distribution points for Sinaloa affiliated trafficking networks, based in Tijuana.  Two operations in 2013, Operation Crystal Haven, and Operation Corridor revealed the extent of Sinaloa's influence, working with street gangs, who in turn answered to the Mexican Mafia, La Eme, inside and outside of prison. 

In 2015, Operation Narco Polo revealed major meth distribution rings, including the Deep Valley Crips, this is a continuation of that trend.  Many of those charged here are gang members or gang affiliates, including the lead defendant, Yadira 'Pini' Villalvazo.  The Vista Home Boys, Varrios Fallbrook Locos, Varrio Carlsbad Locos, Encintas Tortilla Flats, Varrio San Marcos, Escondido Viejo Diablos all have members named in the indictment.  

"Pini" was a Vista Home Boy's associate, and attended Vista High School, she was deported following a federal drug conviction in 2002, and now runs a Sinaloa affiliated trafficking network that supplied pound quantities of heroin to the Vista Home Boys, and other gangs.  The money was trafficked back to Tijuana, and further south to Sinaloa.  "Pini" remains a fugitive in Tijuana.  Her brother Joel Villalvazo was named in the indictment.  He is in custody.  

Today more then 150 members of the Regional Gang Task Force served search and arrest warrants.  8 defendants remain fugitives.  The Regional Gang Task Force includes members of the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, San Diego Sheriff's, Oceanside Police Department, Bureau Of Prisons, ATF, San Diego District Attorney's Office, U.S Marshals, among others. 

The DOJ also assisted with their Office of Enforcement Operations Electronic Surveillance Unit.  The case included wiretap intercepts and extensive surveillance, over the course of a year long investigation.  The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, OCDETF, was involved also.  

It's estimated these networks supplied 25% of the heroin and meth in North County.  One of the distribution cells under Jorge Enrique Jara Cervantes, mailed meth to Tennessee and Alabama.  'Pini's cell sent pounds of heroin to Kingsman, Arizona.  

The defendants are charged with assorted drug and money laundering conspiracy charges, and firearms violations.  Dozens of which were seized during the course of the investigation.  

List of Defendants and Charges: 

Sources: US Attorney's Office, Southern District of California.