Borderland Beat |  |
- "Changuito Ántrax” Captured in Culiacán
- Osiel Cardenas Nephew sentenced to 20 years in Texas
- 13 Million USD seized in transit from Tijuana
- Piedras Negras Bishop Tells Secretary of Government Osorio Chong To Take a Reality Check.
- Alfredo Beltran: El Mochomo Extradited to the US
| "Changuito Ántrax” Captured in Culiacán Posted: 17 Nov 2014 06:16 PM PST Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat  Rafael Guadalupe Félix Núñez alias "el Changuito Ántrax", was captured by the Mexican navy last Thursday in Culiacán. He is considered a successor to Rodrigo Arechiga aka "El Chino Antrax". Félix Núñez is the son in law of Martiniano Vizcarra, the current sub director of the Ministerial Police for the State of Sinaloa. The arrest follows on the heels of last week's capture of Ismael Zambada Imperial, alias 'El Mayito Gordo', the son of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, and his cousin Eliseo Imperial alias "El Cheyo". Those arrests were on Wednesday.  | ||
| Osiel Cardenas Nephew sentenced to 20 years in Texas Posted: 17 Nov 2014 08:24 PM PST Borderland Beat My San Antonio by Jason Brusch and Valley Central . A federal judge sentenced Rafael Cardenas Vela, a one-time Gulf Cartel plaza boss and the nephew of  Cardenas Vela, 41,had previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine and more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana. He was one of several Gulf Cartel plaza bosses arrested in the Rio Grande Valley in the fall of 2011 as the gang's upper echelons tried to slip across the border to escape internal conflict in Mexico. Agents arrested Cardenas Vela in October 2011 in Port Isabel. He later testified against childhood-friend-turned rival Juan Roberto Rincon in Rincon's 2012 trial. A federal judge also ordered Cardenas Vela to pay a $100,000 fine. Prosecutors are asking for a $5 million money judgment against him as well as a house they say he owns in Brownsville. Cardenas Vela is the nephew of Osiel Cardenas Guillen, the Gulf Cartel's former boss who was extradited to the U.S. in 2007, and Antonio Cardenas Guillen, Osiel's brother and successor who was killed in Matamoros, Mexico, in 2010. Cardenas Vela acted as the plaza boss, the overseer of cartel operations in a region, for several cities during his career, including Matamoros, the gang's base, according to federal prosecutors. Plea Deal Court records show that "El Junior" received a reduced sentenced due to a plea deal and his cooperation with federal investigators. During his sentencing, Judge Hanen heard how Cardenas-Vela had testified for three days in the drug trafficking trial of Juan Roberto Rincon-Rincon. Rincon-Rincon was a former high-ranking plaza boss for the Gulf Cartel in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas. During that trial, Cardenas-Vela described the command and control structure of the Gulf Cartel between 2002 and his arrest in 2011 as well as the creation of the Zetas drug trafficking organization and its' split from the Gulf Cartel. Big thanks to "Pepe" for the heads up | ||
| 13 Million USD seized in transit from Tijuana Posted: 17 Nov 2014 02:29 PM PST 13 million seized in Sonyota, Sonora On November 13th elements of the military and Tax Administrative Services (SAT), seized 13 million from two trucks, en route to Jalisco, Guadalajara. The money was concealed in empty crates for storing produce, under the guise that the crates were being returned to Jalisco. The crates had double bottoms, revealing millions in US currency, packaged and wrapped in plastic. The two drivers were arrested, and the money and vehicles seized. It is unknown how authorities were able to identify the trucks containing the money, it is extremely unlikely it was a random search, likely the result of intelligence, interrogations, or information from US assets.  The money is likely proceeds being gathered in Tijuana from several large drug shipments, of likely cocaine and crystal, possibly marijuana, as it is harvest season in the sierras of Sinaloa, Chihuahua, and the rest of the Golden Triangle. The money would be housed in one or several safe houses in Tijuana, likely in middle to upper class neighborhoods, and then gathered for transportation south, to the owners of the product. Seizures like this are common in Tijuana, and border cities, two years ago an accidental electrical fire and accident revealed a Sinaloa safe house, with millions concealed. In 2011, a stash house with 15 million was raided, and Juan Sillas Rocha admitted in an interview post arrest, he was planning on robbing it, before he was detained, following a shooting of onetime ally El Marquitos. The seizure comes as 100 pounds of liquid meth is seized in San Diego, and several members of the Zambada family circle are captured in Culiacan. Sometimes these are strands of a larger scope, as in the case of the arrests of Serafin Zambada, and Jose Rodrigo Archeigia Gamboa, Chino Antrax, late last year. And most of the time, no one really knows, including the players, as we all connect pieces and threads of the puzzle. The money goes south, the drugs north, and everyone keeps getting paid. Sources: Zeta Tijuana, AFN Tijuana | ||
| Piedras Negras Bishop Tells Secretary of Government Osorio Chong To Take a Reality Check. Posted: 17 Nov 2014 02:29 PM PST
DD for Borderland Beat story reported in Zocolo The international press has taken notice in the last month on the violence in Mexico. It's attention was drawn by the murder and disappearance of the 57 students at the teachers college in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero. The huge demonstrations across Mexico and then internationally demanding the return of the missing boys kept it in the news. But it was just in the last couple of weeks that the press started recognizing that the rage and fury of the demonstrators and that was simmering in much of the populace of Mexico was not just the result of the massacre in Iguala. Iguala was just the straw that broke the camels back. (NYT, WSJ, Financial Times, Washington Post) The feeling of insecurity of the people due to the indifference, ineptitude, and corruption of their government to provide security is rooted in the tens or hundreds of thousands of missing and dead all of Mexico in the last decade. There is no way to know an actual number of dead and missing because most of the bodies were either buried in mass graves, dissolved in acid, or reduced to ashes by incineration. Mass graves are being found across Mexico on a daily basis. Many missing persons are never reported because the families fear the government was involved in the disappearance and fear retaliation if they make a report. The federal government, in an attempt to project an image that is it doing something to provide security has sent tens of thousands of military and federal police into the states of Michoacan and Guerrero. From statements by government officials it seems the federal government believes that if the case of the missing students can be resolved the public will be placated. The Catholic Church this past week seems to have joined the chorus demanding that the federal government address insecurity all across Mexico - not just in Guerrero.  After a meeting of Bishops from across Mexico with the Secretary of Interior Osorio Chong the Bishop from Piedras Negras Coahuila said Coahuila and Tamaulipas "are much ahead of other states in the county in the number of disappearances, even above Guerrero." " It is sad to say it, we did not want to have the first places in this field, but these states of the border overcome many others and it is very lamentable, only that here is not so famous, because it was not in only one event in which there were so many missing persons and so many dead persons, but I believe that yes we take the front to many states of the country and I hope that changes ". Speaking of the meeting with Osorio " We presented him our views of it being a problem all across Mexico and it was a big contrast to what he thinks of the situation principally of safety. We questioned him strongly on these situations that are so difficult because it crosses the country. Then we asked him everything what is Government government doing so that this is solved promptly." The federal official explained that insecurity is mainly concentrated in Guerrero and Michoacan, the bishops stated that the problem is a threat in the rest of the country. Then, as is typical of of Mexican culture to not place blame for a problem directly on a person you are having a meeting with the prelate said; "Perhaps in the Church as bishop I do not find out and know if it happens, but in the Government they (the leaders) are human as all of us, perhaps those who are next to them make things up, I am saying perhaps, cannot be sure of that. But definitively the Government has to take cognizance of the reality." | ||
| Alfredo Beltran: El Mochomo Extradited to the US Posted: 17 Nov 2014 05:47 PM PST Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat-thanks again "Pepe"  As BB reported in August, Alfredo Beltran Leyva alias "El Mochomo" had exhausted his appeals, hoping to block extradition to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges. Today the Justice Department announced that Beltran was quietly extradited to the U.S. this past Saturday. This afternoon he attended his first court appearance in a Washington DC Federal Court room, presided over by U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay. Judge Kay read the charges, and Beltran entered his plea of not guilty. His next hearing is on Friday. The following is the Justice Department Press release: One of the alleged leaders of the Beltran Leyva Organization, a Mexican drug-trafficking cartel responsible for importing multi-ton quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States, was extradited to the United States from Mexico on Nov. 15, 2014, and will be making an initial appearance this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay of the District of Columbia. Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, Assistant Director Joseph S. Campbell of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, New York Division Special Agent in Charge James J. Hunt of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Executive Associate Director Peter T. Edge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI) made the announcement. "Over the past two decades, the Beltran Leyva Cartel has distributed tens of thousands of kilograms of dangerous narcotics and engaged in a campaign of violence that sparked drug wars and jeopardized public safety across North America," said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. "Today's extradition of alleged kingpin Alfredo Beltran Leyva is an important step toward stamping out an organization that has ruined the lives of so many. The Justice Department is committed to working with our international partners to bring the rest of the organization to justice." "The arrest and extradition of Alfredo Beltran Leyva represents a significant milestone in combating transnational criminal organizations," said FBI Assistant Director Campbell. "It is through collaborative efforts with our law enforcement partners that the United States will stem the tide of this continuing threat." "For years Alfredo Beltran Leyva, along with his brothers, was responsible for not only smuggling tons of cocaine to the United States, but also for the violence that has plagued the lives of Mexican citizens," said DEA Special Agent in Charge Hunt. "His extradition to the United States is an example of a commitment to international cooperation and the rule of law." "The illegal drugs distributed throughout the United States by the Beltran Levya Cartel ruined countless lives in this country and sowed violence and chaos throughout Mexico," said HSI Executive Associate Director Edge. "The arrest and extradition of Alfredo Beltran Levya to face justice here for his crimes is a great victory for ICE HSI and our partner agencies." Alfredo Beltran Levya, 43, was indicted on Aug. 24, 2012, for international narcotics trafficking conspiracy in connection with his leadership role in theinternational drug-trafficking cartel bearing his family name. According to a motion for pretrial detention filed by prosecutors, between the early 1990s until his January 2008 arrest by Mexican law enforcement, Beltran Levya allegedly led the Beltran Levya Organization with his brothers Hector Beltran Levya and Arturo Beltran Levya, the latter of whom was killed in a December 2009 shootout with the Mexican army. Since the 1990s, the Beltran Levya Organization, together with the Sinaloa Cartel, allegedly directed a large-scale drug transportation network, shipping multi-ton quantities of cocaine from South America, through Central America and Mexico, and finally into the United States via land, air and sea. The organization also employed "sicarios," or hitmen, who allegedly carried out hundreds of acts of violence, including murders, kidnappings, tortures and violent collections of drug debts, at the direction of the organization. Following the January 2008 arrest of Alfredo Beltran Leyva by Mexican law enforcement authorities, the Beltran Leyva Organization severed its relationship with the Sinaloa Cartel, which was blamed for the arrest. This resultedin a violent war between the two drug cartels, and the murder of thousands of citizens in Mexico, including numerous law enforcement officers and officials. On May 30, 2008, the President added the Beltran Leyva Organization to the Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control's Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. On Aug. 20, 2009, the President specifically designated Beltran Leyva as a specially designated drug trafficker under the same Kingpin Act. The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The investigation is led by the FBI's El Paso Office, in partnership with the DEA's New York Field Division and HSI's New York Office, as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. This case is being prosecuted by the Criminal Division's Narcotic and Dangerous Drugs Section, with the assistance of the Criminal Division's Office of International Affairs. The Justice Department thanks the government of Mexico for their assistance in this extradition. |
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