BajaNomad - Tijuana killings, infighting among the Arella Felix

Tijuana killings, infighting among the Arella Felix

tjBill - 10-5-2008 at 10:04 PM

Los Angeles times has excellent article explaining all the killings in Tijuana this year.

"http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-arellano6-2008oct06,0,570471.story"

The Gull - 10-5-2008 at 10:07 PM

Whatever the LA Times prints has to be the truth.

Cajones - 10-5-2008 at 10:14 PM

Isn't it about time for all the Mexican politicos to blame the sensationalist American press for the lack of tourism?

It sure as Hell couldn't have anything to do with the 60 people executed in TJ this week.

:rolleyes:

Agreed

The Gull - 10-5-2008 at 10:20 PM

If an article was written correctly, it would appear as the consolidation of power in the drug world will result in a world of less risk for a prospective visitor. These lower eschelon victims are a matter of housekeeping.

lizard lips - 10-6-2008 at 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by The Gull
Whatever the LA Times prints has to be the truth.

The Gull - 10-6-2008 at 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by lizard lips

Quote:

Originally posted by The Gull
Whatever the LA Times prints has to be the truth.

I see you got my point about the "truthseekers" who bait the public from American newsprint.

Just like the Internet, if I see it in print or on my screen, it must be true, RIGHT?

Woooosh - 10-6-2008 at 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cajones
Isn't it about time for all the Mexican politicos to blame the sensationalist American press for the lack of tourism?

It sure as Hell couldn't have anything to do with the 60 people executed in TJ this week.

:rolleyes:

It's intersting to me that Mexico says the toursit decline is due to the bad econmy on both sides and the long border wait times. No mention of crime. So who is making the border waits longer if it isn't the tourists?

The Gull - 10-6-2008 at 09:59 AM

Woooosh,

It ain't me. I'm in SENTRI with all the Mexican Nationals. It wasn't my friends who crossed in 25 minutes on Sunday at OTAY without having to show proper identification.

It must be the mules carrying the dope across to the consumers in the US. It certainly is the school moms transporting the children to get better educations on the US side. It is certainly the Mexican Nationals who live in Baja and work in the US. With the expansion of Home Depot, WalMart and CostCo, it should be fewer day trippers going over to shop.

Unless the CBP agents are taking more time because of their more dedicated screening, which by the way did not take place with five crossings this weekend, then who can say why the crossings are taking more time.

With the construction at SY, crossing in either direction is certainly more dicey.

Tijuana killings may signal fall of Arellano Felix cartel

elgatoloco - 10-6-2008 at 10:39 AM

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-arellano...

Tijuana killings may signal fall of Arellano Felix cartel
With dozens of bodies found in the last week, some in law enforcement see 'the tail end' of the organization. But others warn that elements of the ruthless cartel remain very much alive.
By Richard Marosi
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 6, 2008

TIJUANA — The birthplace of one of Mexico's most infamous drug cartels looks more and more like its graveyard. Gunmen and associates of the Arellano Felix cartel, rulers of the city's criminal underworld for two decades, are being massacred by the score.

Their mangled bodies turn up in garbage-strewn lots, a dozen at a time. Killers cut out their tongues, slice off heads, and leave behind taunting messages. Two barrels of industrial acid left on a sidewalk last week are believed to contain liquefied human remains.

In all, at least 57 suspected organized crime members, a majority of them believed to be part of the Arellano Felix organization, were killed in the last week, including 12 dumped in front of an elementary school Sept. 29 and eight tossed in an industrial yard Thursday.

The carnage may be a sign that the cartel named for the Arellano Felix brothers is fractured and vulnerable to contenders, inside and outside the organization, who are looking to get control of lucrative trafficking routes into the United States, according to law enforcement sources.

Several forces have converged on the trafficking organization. The U.S. government has dedicated tens of millions of dollars over two decades to combating trafficking across the border with Baja California. The Mexican government also has intensified its efforts aimed at the cartel, which has splintered. Rival cartels have attacked, announcing their arrival with the savage killings and banners unfurled across busy intersections.

"El Mayo and El Chapo are the ones trying to enter Tijuana," read one banner, referring to alleged trafficker Ismael Zambada, and Mexico's most-wanted man, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa cartel.

"We are now seeing the tail end" of the Arellano Felix organization, said John Kirby, a former federal prosecutor in San Diego who co-wrote indictments against several members of the organization. "They're losing what was left of their grip on Baja California."

Elements survive

Not so fast, others warn. Elements of the organization, which earned its ruthless reputation by turning back all challengers, remain very much alive. Some of its deadliest assassins still roam the region. Its reputed leader, Fernando Sanchez Arellano, nicknamed El Ingeniero, a nephew of the group's founders, is believed to have a large war chest. The organization retains strong ties to law enforcement. And a contender for control has emerged from within the Arellano Felix organization.

"Old cartels don't seem to go away; they just seem to morph into new variants over time," said David Shirk, director of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego. "There's strong continuity for these organizations, dating back multiple generations of smugglers."

The cartel came to power in the 1980s when Colombian cocaine barons, shut out of traditional trafficking routes across the Caribbean Sea into Florida, began partnering with Mexican crime groups.

The Arellano Felix brothers -- Benjamin, Ramon, Javier -- moved in from Sinaloa and provided the perfect springboard. From their Tijuana stronghold, they controlled trafficking routes into California, the biggest drug market in a country that is the biggest consumer of cocaine in the world.

By the 1990s, the brothers were smuggling tons of cocaine into the U.S., mostly through the crossing at Mexicali, and killing anyone in their way. Authorities believe they killed hundreds, including prosecutors, police and judges.

The cartel suffered its biggest blows in 2002, when Ramon was gunned down by police in Mazatlan. With the feared enforcer out of the way, Mexican authorities weeks later arrested his brother Benjamin, the reputed brains of the organization.

Javier, often likened by authorities to the inept Fredo Corleone of "The Godfather" film clan, managed to keep the cartel together with the help of brutal and loyal lieutenants.

But after his 2006 arrest on a boat off Baja California, one associate after another began to fall. Gustavo Rivera, an alleged top lieutenant, was arrested outside a hot dog stand in Cabo San Lucas in March. Days later, Saul Montes, identified by authorities as an enforcer, was pulled out of his car by police at the Baja 250 off-road race. In August, another reputed enforcer, Ruben Rios Estrada, nicknamed El Pit, was dragged away from the bingo tables at a local casino by federal agents.

The cartel's leadership is said to have passed to Sanchez Arellano, the son of an Arellano Felix sister. Not much is known about Sanchez Arellano and it's unclear whether Mexican authorities even know what he looks like. They have not released a photo, as they commonly do for drug suspects.

Sanchez Arellano's attempts at reviving the family legacy have been blocked by his chief rival, Teodoro Garcia Simental, nicknamed El Teo, a former cartel lieutenant who broke off earlier this year, according to law enforcement authorities.

Garcia often is blamed for the spate of abductions over the last few years, which have turned the city into one of the kidnapping capitals of the world. By April, the medical community, led by physicians who had been held for ransom, was threatening to stop treating patients in Tijuana.

Sanchez Arellano demanded a halt or cutback in the kidnappings because they were bringing down too much heat on the organization, according to Mexican media reports confirmed by Mexican law enforcement authorities.

Garcia allegedly refused, leading to an April gun battle between the rival groups that left 15 gunmen dead. Garcia fled to Sinaloa after the shooting. Tijuana enjoyed a relatively peaceful early summer.

Then in late August, four decapitated bodies were found in an empty lot. Their heads, charred from gasoline burns, were left at their feet, along with a message, "We are people of the weakened Engineer," referring to Sanchez Arellano.

Killing field

Since then, Tijuana has turned into a killing field of burned, decapitated and mangled bodies, many bearing similar messages.

"I think Teo's back, with a vengeance," said one U.S. federal anti-drug official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak with the media.

Garcia's fierce offensive suggests that he has formed alliances with outside organized crime groups, possibly the Sinaloa cartel. The powerful Gulf cartel also could be operating in the city, said Martin Rubio, the Mexican federal attorney general's top official in Baja California, who said the beheadings were the telltale signatures of the Texas-based organization.

The main battle for now appears to be between the cartel leader and the renegade lieutenant. Sanchez Arellano is said to control the coastal area; Garcia, the sprawling eastern part of the city. Each leader has an army of about 100 gunmen who roam in convoys of SUVs, according to the U.S. anti-drug official.

If Sanchez Arellano claims the intimidating pedigree, Garcia boasts the fiercer reputation. One of his top enforcers, Raydel Rosalio Lopez, is nicknamed Crutches because he has left so many of his victims disabled.

They're apparently the lucky ones.

Police found eight more bodies Friday. Two had been decapitated, their tongues cut out and their heads placed atop their torsos. The killers left behind another message, according to the Baja California attorney general's office.

"Here you go Engineer," wrote the killers.

elgatoloco - 10-6-2008 at 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by The Gull
If an article was written correctly, it would appear as the consolidation of power in the drug world will result in a world of less risk for a prospective visitor. These lower eschelon victims are a matter of housekeeping.

Maybe we should ask the Baja Times to write the article?

Let us know when the risk is 'less'.

It may not take that long, the article says the two gangs have about 100 enforcers each 2x100 = 200 divided by 57 a week means that maybe Dia de Los Muertos (no pun intended) would be a good time to tell friends and family to head down with no worries.

I plan on hitting the tequila festival in TJ next weekend but will keep a low profile.

After three or four

Dave - 10-6-2008 at 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by elgatoloco
I plan on hitting the tequila festival in TJ next weekend but will keep a low profile.

That should not be a problem. :rolleyes:

gnukid - 10-6-2008 at 12:22 PM

The countries of USA and Mexico are wealthy and powerful. Few things come to pass that were not planned, coded as reality and orchestrated to be decoded by the general public.

The news you read in main stream media is a theater written and presented to coax and urge people in the direction desired by these governments via their messaging. This is a problem reaction solution paradigm.

Now review the theater of the drug war in light of the facts we know about the perpetrators. We know that some members of these governments and in particular leaders have been involved in the control and profit of drug trade.

Under the direction of these leaders, organized gangs in the military, CIA and local police have been repeatedly caught transporting drugs. As residents we know who delivers drugs and who sells them and it is not underground gangs. It is channeled and trafficked by existing government supported militias.

So when you play the game, when you fear the chaos and are thinking of supporting an increased para-military presence throughout San Diego and TJ, recall who is the perpetrator and who is the victim. Who profits from drug trafficking, who suffers, who profits from prisons, who profits from increased military and para-military budgets. Who pays the bills and who suffers.

The idea that things are controlled by underground organizations who run rampant with no repercussions is laughable. Recall that the head of Arellano Felix was in jail and was released under a circumvented parole policy. Why? Because it serves the needs of the government run theater. He was in jail and was granted parole months after sentencing, which serves the story line to play this role.

Lies are presented up front to be consumed. You do not have to be a sleuth to see the goals of the illusion of the illuminati.

The goal is create a high degree of fear, chaos and disorder such that the public demands supra-para-military control and toltalitarianism.

People can see or believe what they choose to believe, people can take back their expanse of thought and move their points of observation and consciousness to see that the world and most people are good and diverse but there are clear criminals that must be stopped. We know who they are, we just need to stand up and say no.

Consider your state of mind, consider the idea of love as mindset as opposed to fear and hate. Consider pursuit what is right, fair, just and do not fear, we can end this nonsense, we can organize toward solutions that meet our goals through love and not fear this false war on drugs.

http://www.narcoticnews.com/Cocaine/2008/Feb/Cocaine_2008_Fe...

http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/arellano-felix-drug-cart...

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN05614931200...

[Edited on 10-6-2008 by gnukid]

Another 10 killed in TJ last night

Cajones - 10-9-2008 at 11:02 AM

Want some killer tacos in TJ?

Some of those dead where just standing next to the wrong person and eating a taco.

woody with a view - 10-9-2008 at 11:29 AM

i guess we'll have to re-think that old saying, "it's best to eat where the locals eat". and you thought food poisoning was the only thing that could ruin your day.

[Edited on 10-9-2008 by woody in ob]

Stickers - 10-9-2008 at 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by gnukid

The goal is create a high degree of fear, chaos and disorder such that the public demands supra-para-military control and toltalitarianism.

[Edited on 10-6-2008 by gnukid]

I was in Spain in the early 1970's when Francisco Franco was still in power. No drug problems there. The Guardia Civil was on every street corner in every campground and it was a little scary, but no crime - none.

robrt8 - 10-9-2008 at 08:57 PM

20,000 of the Mexican army would be nice. :yes: