Slaughter At The Tula River

In early 1982, Mexico City residents and Mexican society at large were shocked by a grisly discovery upriver, some miles north from the capital city. The evidence of a grisly crime, shocking at the time, tame by today's standards, nevertheless it was a gruesome occurance, that left more questions than answers.

The morning of January 14th, 1982, a peasant walking the riverbank of the muddy and polluted Tula river made his daily walk to the fields. He noticed something peculiar washed up on the bank. He bent down and picked it up and dropped it immediately in horror: It was a severed human head in advanced state of decomposition. Glancing towards a chute that spilled waste into the river he saw one body, then two, splash into the water. Soon there were more than 10 dead bodies splashing and bobbing in the dark waters. Scared out of his wits, he ran to notify authorities.

By the time the police reached the Tula, outside the town of Atotonilco, in Hidalgo State, curious villagers had gathered to watch the gruesome spectacle. The bound and gagged bodies of dead men, floating in the waters of the river. Authorities called a Red Cross diving team from Mexico City and they recovered the bodies. 12 in total.

All were men and were in different states of decomposition. All bodies showed signs of being brutally tortured. One body was decapitated. Another had its arms chopped off. Another was missing a leg. All had broken bones, bruises, and cuts. One had its belly slashed, perhaps with a machete. Another was shot ten times with an automatic rifle. All were blindfolded, gagged and had their hands tied behind their backs. All had the coup de grace: a single gunshot to the forehead or the base of the neck.

Who were these men? Victims of a drug deal gone wrong? Vengeance among narcos? Central American refugees killed by mercenaries? Various theories popped up in the media who were all over the story. Front page newspapers and alarmist crime tabloids showed the gruesome pictures on their covers. Mexican news media dubbed the crime "The Tula River Massacre".

Mexico City coroners stated the victims had not been murdered in Hidalgo. Mexico City's Great Sewage Canal and sewer system all ends up washing out to the Tula river. The victims could of been murdered in some dark place in the city and dumped to the sewer and ended up in the Tula.

The men were well dressed and didnt seem to be farmers or Mexican even. They were tall and had South American features and were dressed in clothing with "Made in Colombia" tags. Mexico City Police Chief Arturo Durazo quickly dismissed the case as simply "a fight among drug traffickers than ended up in a massacre". Out of his jurisdiction, Durazo appointed himself head of the Tula River massacre investigation.

Two weeks later, two more bodies popped up in the Tula. They were found to be part of the original group of massacred. This brought the total to fourteen men executed. Who were these men? Why were they killed with such savagery?

The notorious crime was quickly forgotten however. The investigation went nowhere. Killings among narcos, a simple massacre. The death toll stunned the nation however. 14 men slaughtered savagely and dumped into the sewer. But the case was declared close and the men were surely foreigners who ran afoul of the wrong person and ended up dead. Years later, that would prove to be right on the money.

Chief Arturo Durazo Moreno was arrested two years later on charges of corruption, bribery, drug and arms trafficking and just being a world class asshole/douchebag. Turns out "El Negro" as his friends called him, indeed was the worst Police Chief ever. A book written in 1983, by his main bodyguard Jose Gonzalez accused Durazo of being the mastermind behing the Tula massacre.

A group of Colombian and Venezuelans nationals were picked up by the notorious Mexico City vice squad the DIPD. Rather than get in trouble, they cut a deal with Jefe Durazo. They would rob banks and deal drugs, with the DIPD's protection and the lions share of the loot would go to "El Negro". They would operate in the city and other major cities in Mexico and they would be untouched. For 2 years the gang robbed various banks, often ending in violent shootouts that would claim lives, police and bystanders alike, nevertheless they were never caught.

Heists in Guadalajara, Jalisco and Zamora, Michoacan netted millions in pesos. A great portion of the money went up to Durazo and his cronies. Durazo was a greedy man, he wanted ALL the money. He had the gang and their Mexican getaway driver, a taxicab driver named Armando Magallon Perez rounded up and "arrested" in June 1981, by the same DIPD agents who protected them. The head of the DIPD, Francisco Sahagun Baca, a notoriously sadistic and mean spirited man and Durazo's right hand man held the gang in one of the city's "secret" jails.

There they were tortured and slapped around, trying to force them to give up the location of all their loot. Whether the DIPD got what they wanted and were asking for, is unknown. The men were later held at La Castaneda psychiatric hospital. There they were held for months, subjected to waterboarding, electrical shocks on their testicles, whacked with heavy rubber hoses and finally sometime in December 1981, the men were taken to a Mexico City sewer gate at a unknown location in the dead of night, the blindfolded and bound men were shot and slashed to death and tossed into the sewer.

Durazo was arrested and sent to Federal prison.Manuel Cavazos Juarez, one of the lead executioners was arrested in 2007 after being on the run for 25 years. Sahagun Baca went into hiding where he was said to have been killed by Federales in a shootout at his ranch in Sahuayo, Michoacan in July 1989. Some say that Sahagun, a cousin of ex first lady Martha Sahagun is still alive and enjoys protection from his wealthy and powerful cousin but the truth is not known.

Mexican news organization in 2004 reported that a peculiar name was found on a guestlist for a party organized by Martha Sahagun, then President Vicente Fox's wife.

The name? Francisco Sahagun Baca. A man who has been "dead" for 15 years.

2 College Dropouts And A Christmas Heist

An empty display case after the 1985 heist at the Natl Anthropology Museum in Mexico City

On Christmas Morning 1985, Mexico City newspapers rolled out a sensational story. 140 priceless artifacts from 7 display cases at the city's National Anthropology and History Museum had been stolen.

At 8 o clock on the morning on December 25th, the morning shift of security guards entered the National Anthropology Museum in sprawling Chapultepec Park and were shocked to see the Maya Room of the Museum virtually empty. Several display cases were empty. Nearly 140 Aztec, Mayan and Zapotec pieces had been stolen overnight.

The media and society immediately blamed an inside job. The night security guards, who were supposed to visit the rooms every hour on the hour were arrested and interrogated. Due to lack of evidence they were freed. Focus turned on international thieves. The problem was that the artifacts were so famous and well known that it would be virtually impossible to sell them off. Several pieces were from the Palenque and Chichen Itza archaeological sites in southern Mexico. One was the famed "Murcielago" Zapotec God mask. One US expert said trying to sell the items was like trying to "hock the Mona Lisa".

Three years later investigators caught the real culprits of the daring multi million dollar heist at the Anthropology Museum: Two college dropouts with an obsession for archaeology. It wasn't a gang of professional international art thieves as previously thought and how they did it wasn't that difficult either. They were certainly no Danny Ocean.

On Christmas Eve 1985, they scaled a fence at the museum. Then they broke in through an air duct. Once in the Mayan rooms they pried open the cases and stole about 100 priceless artifacts (not 140 as previously thought). Then they drove off with the loot.

First they wanted the artifacts for themselves but then decided to sell them off. They met in Acapulco with a drug dealer and supposedly established a "1 billion dollar" deal. They would trade the items for Cocaine. Before this could happen, authorities closed in on them and some accomplices, arrested them and recovered most of the stolen loot. The Murcielago Mask had been cracked and had to be repaired but most the artifacts were indeed recovered.

Far from being sophisticated, 2 amateurs with a fetish for history committed one of the most expensive museum heists in the world one Christmas Eve in 1985 and stole irreplaceable and priceless objects important to Mexican culture and heritage.

Nightmare at Balderas Station

Esteban Cervantes (white) grapples with gunman Luis Castillo (center). Note man in blue shirt rushing to aid Cervantes before he too was shot.


On the evening of September 18, 2009, all seemed normal at Mexico City's busy Balderas subway station. Commuters crowded the platform and watched a metro train arrive in direction to Indios Verdes station. Unknown to them, pissed off Jalisco farmer Luis Felipe Hernandez Castillo who had recently arrived in the capital with 500 dollars had an agenda. He hated the government, whom he believed was responsible for the countries woes. He believed the Calderon administration responsible for Global Warming and believed a famine would soon ravage the nation in 2012.

With a permanent marker he started to write the words "This Government of Criminals..." on the wall at Balderas station, ignored by the commuters. Police Officer Victor Manuel Miranda saw Hernandez defacing the wall and approached him and told him to stop and drop the pen or he would write him up.

Hernandez quickly scuffled with Officer Miranda and pulled out a .38 caliber revolver out of a small black leather bag and shot at him. The crowd on the platform soon scattered and fled in terror as Hernandez shot an unarmed and fleeing Officer Miranda, killing him.

Inside the train that had just pulled up to the station, Hernandez' wild shooting was being observed by the terrified passengers. One such passenger, a construction worker named Esteban Cervantes Barrera reacted instinctively. He hated injustices and always stood up for others. Without thinking and without saying one word to his friend who accompanied him on the train, he darted out of the metro doors and lunged at Hernandez.

Cervantes and Hernandez struggled for a minute as Cervantes sought to disarm the crazed gunman. Hernandez shot at Cervantes, who slipped several times trying to tackle the shooter. A third man approached Hernandez and attempted to also stop him, receiving a gun shot wounds in the hand. The man walked away, to tend his wounds as Hernandez and Cervantes continued to struggle, their fight being watched by stunned onlookers who opted to do nothing and offer no aid to Cervantes, who was now on the floor.

Hernandez then, seeing he had the upper hand in the fight, without hesitating shot Esteban Cervantes point blank in the head, in front of the Metro's Surveillance Cameras, taping the entire incident. Cervantes body slowly grew limp.

As the bodies of Officer Victor Miranda and Esteban Cervantes lay dead on the platform amid scattered sheets of paper and bags, Luis Felipe Hernandez Castillo walked into the stopped train and kept shooting out at the platform at approaching Judicial Police officers. He yelled out to the people on the train that "his beef was not with the people but with the government". He also said "he was doing God's work". Then he said "This is all fucked up", referring to himself having being shot in the right shoulder by a Judicial Police officer who was quickly reaching the train.

Several plainclothes and uniformed cops rushed the train and tackled Hernandez Castillo, stopping the madman's shooting rampage, an event unheard of in the city that usually, has seen everything (An Aeromexico jetliner having being hijacked on Sept 9, by another deranged man claiming to also be doing God's Work) They arrested him and sent him to Reclusorio Oriente prison. 10 people were hurt in the rampage.

After the tragic events at Balderas station, one thing was certain. Two modern day "heroes" had died that day. One in the line of duty, and another acting on instinct. Without a doubt, Esteban Cervantes' attempt to stop Hernandez, gave time for the rest of the people on the platform to flee. His selfless action cost him his life. Only sad thing is that among the hundreds of people at Balderas, and witnessing the events, Cervantes seemed to be the only one brave enough to take action.

Several other able bodied men only watched as Cervantes and Hernandez fought for control of the gun. They watched, and didnt act, as Cervantes fell four times, almost catching a bullet every time he fell, nevertheless getting up each time and rushing the gunman. One final headshot, finally stopped the brave Cervantes.

In a city of 18 million. In a station crowded with several hundred. Only one man had enough balls to rush a man randomly shooting. Esteban Cervantes left behind 5 children.

As of September 21, 2009, the Mexico City Metro System announced they had created the Esteban Cervantes Award for Bravery, a medal that would be given to any citizen committing a heroic act. People in Mexico City also suggested to the city government they rename Balderas to "Heroes of Balderas" station in honor of the two men who died that day trying to stop a deranged farmer with a gun.

A well deserved honor indeed.

The Murder of Cardinal Posadas Ocampo: Accident or Conspiracy?

Cardinal Posadas lies slumped in his car with his driver after the gunbattle at Guadalajara's International Airport on May 24, 1993.


On the morning of May 24th, 1993, Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo, the archbishop of Guadalajara and Number 2 man in Religious importance in Mexico, held mass at the diocese. He noticed three men standing in the back, who stared at him all throughout the ceremony. These are not average law abiding, church going citizens he thought. He thought right. A few hours later he would be dead, and his death would mark the beginning in one of the darkest crimes in modern Mexican history.


After the mass he ate and got dressed. Later that afternoon his driver, Pedro Perez would take him to Guadalajara's Miguel Hidalgo airport to pick up the Vatican nuncio in Mexico, Girolamo Prigione. Cardinal Posadas had interesting information to give him. Incriminating information that many in power in the government and in the countries drug mafias, did not want made public.

Parallel to these events, Jalisco Highway Policeman Jose Zamudio responded to a automobile crash on the Chapala Highway, leading from the city to the airport. Upon leaving the scene of the accident, which turned out to be nothing worse than a fender bender, he noticed a red Mercury Grand Marquis with two men inside, parked under an overpass. He circled around them, but they didnt prove too suspicious. He then decided to grab a bite to eat at one of his favorite fast food eateries, The Red Baron, located inside the domestic terminal at Miguel Hidalgo.

As he got to the airport he noticed a lot of police action. He saw four armored trucks. What looked to be several Judicial Policemen in dark uniforms, wielding assault rifles patrolling the airport. Inside, when he sat down to eat, he noticed other men, sporting buzz cuts, dressed in plaid shirts, western jeans and cowboy boots, carrying fancy looking portfolios. The portfolios didn't match the men's aspect, and these mystery men walked about, agitated and talking on two way radios. Perhaps they were undercover Judicial policemen. He thought nothing more of it and proceeded to finish his meal.

At the same time, Joaquin Guzman Loera, "El Chapo", boss of the Sinaloa Cartel, got into his custom, armored green Buick sedan, driven by his driver and 2 bodyguards. He went to the Holiday Inn where he had some business to attend, then his armored car got onto the Chapala Highway, airport bound. Guzman Loera would catch a flight to Puerto Vallarta later that day.


Joaquin Guzman "El Chapo", possible intended assassination target on May 24th


Perhaps in the wost timings ever, or perhaps a deliberate event, as these events simultaneously unfolded, "El Chapo's" one time partners turned arch enemies and rivals in the drug trade., the Arellano Felix brothers from Tijuana, were about to catch a flight, Aeromexico 110, to Tijuana.

Ramon Arellano Felix, the cartel's hitman and Number 2, along with his crew of several San Diego gang members, had been scouring the city of Guadalajara for weeks now, searching for El Chapo. The plan was to assassinate him. Since their search had been fruitless, they were now on their way home, not realizing (or realizing, depending on who you talk to) that their enemy was closer than they thought.

At the time, the Arellanos were on the plane, El Chapo had pulled into the front of the airport terminal and Cardinal Posadas' white Mercury Grand Marquis had pulled into the airport parking lot .A man wearing a airport parking lot attendant vest waved to the Cardinals car to make a left turn. A car with armed men awaited .

At that time, four men descended a tan Dodge Spirit and shouted "That's Him!" and fired a volley of AK-47 fire into the air. The men ran up to the Grand Marquis, 2 men shooting AK-47s at the driver, one man firing into the back of the car, and yet another pulling up to the passenger side door, where Cardinal Posadas had been trying to get out. The gunman held the door and shot the cardinal in the ankle then proceeded to fire 14 shots of automatic gunfire into the prelates chest, stomach and legs.

As the shooting started, El Chapo, thinking he and his men were under attack, opened fire on the gunmen, who according to witnesses were dressed in police uniforms. Several shots hit the armored car, and 2 of El Chapo's gunmen were shot dead in the parking lot. In the crossfire, a woman and her nephew fell mortally wounded at the terminal door. One of the men firing on Cardinal Posadas, then noticed a blue Buick Century, driven by the mayor of Arandas, Jalisco's chauffeur Martin Alejandro Rivas Aceves and opened fire on the cars winshield, striking Rivas in the face and killing him instantly. His car then rolled to a stop and crashed into some parked cars.

Martin Rivas Aceves lies dead in his car after the shootout. The gunmen killed all witnesses near Posadas' car.


All was pandemonium inside the airport and out. Travelers ran to and fro, trying to escape the rain of bullets that seemed to come from all directions. El Chapo Guzman by this time had sought refuge behind a Aeromexico ticket counter and fled through the baggage claims, where he and one of his men flagged down a taxi and spend off to a safe house in Zapopan. The driver of his armored car had fled the airport and had been engaged again at the airport parking lot's toll booth, which ended up shot up by the gunmen.

After approximately 10 minutes of shooting, seven people were dead. Cardinal Posadas had been hit 14 times, Pedro Perez his driver had been hit 10 times. Martin Rivas Aceves, the innocent driver; 2 of El Chapo's gunmen, Jose Rosario Beltran Medina and Ramon Flores; and Francisca Rodriguez and Manuel Vega, the 2 bystanders at the terminal door had bled to death.

Quickly after the shooting, the Airport was shut down by the Mexican Army and the Judicial Police already at the airport swarmed the crime scene, collecting bullet casings. The government later that night had said that the shooting had been the result of a "confrontation between rival drug traffickers which culminated in the accidental shooting of Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo".

The Government alleged the Cardinal had been caught in the cross fire, and his car, had been confused with one of El Chapo's many luxury cars. El Chapo was reported to own a new white Mercury Grand Marquis, same as Posadas. An hour after the shooting, amazingly an unidentified man, presumibly high up in the federal government, called Mexico's Attorney General from Guadalajara and informed him that El Chapo and the Arellano Felix brothers had shot it out at the airport.

He even described how El Chapo was dressed that day. While the investigation was barely beginning, how did they know who had been involved? Why were there known drug traffickers and policemen mixed among the crowds at the airport?Many questions quickly surfaced.

The reports of a accidental shooting were quickly questioned however by Guadalajara's coroner Mario Rivas Souza who examined Posadas body and said that he had a great amount of GSR (Gun Shot Residue) on his body and clothing. This meant the gunman shot Posadas from no more than 3 feet away. No way the assassin could of confused Posadas for El Chapo. El Chapo was dark haired, 5'6, and had a mustache. Posadas Ocampo was 6'1, heavyset, more than 60 years old with glasses and gray hair, dressed in his clerical garb with a pectoral cross. Indeed Cardinal Posadas had been the target.

Then came reports from eyewitnesses that the gunmen had popped open the Grand Marquis trunk after killing Posadas and his driver, and one of the shooters had fled with what looked to be a portfolio or manila folder under his arm, while the rest of the men shot it out. What were the contents of this seemingly valuable manila folder? Contents and information that perhaps had cost the Cardinal his life and started a shoddy cover-up.

After the shooting, federal forces shut down the airport. They confiscated the airport parking lot surveillance videos, which never resurfaced again. Several of the parking lot attendants had been told to go home a half hour before the shooting, something very unusual. Then there were reports that a Mexican Attorney Generals Office jet had landed at the airport, prior to the shooting and was waiting on the tarmac until after the shooting.

There were also the reports of heavy security and police presence at the airport since early in the morning of May 24th. Who were the men in civilian clothing, looking visibly agitated and talking on walkie-talkies, seen by Officer Zamudio ? Why was there a heavy police presence at the airport since early that day yet they failed to prevent the shooting? The Mexican public cried foul and suspected a "conspiracy".

There were 3 theories of what had happened: One stated that unknown forces, perhaps in the police or government, conspired to have El Chapo and the Arellanos meet and face off at the airport so they could kill each other. Another theory was that Cardinal Posadas had been the intended target, the Arellanos and Chapo shooting it out, while a mystery 3rd person hit team approached Posadas and eliminated him, blaming his death on the shootout. The third was, that indeed Cardinal Posadas had suffered terrible luck and had been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

After the murders, The Arellano Felix's issued a statement to the government, via Vatican envoy Girolamo Prigione (the very man Posadas was to pick up that fateful day at the airport), that the Arellanos HAD been at the airport, but had already boarded their plane, when the shootout started.

Chapo Guzman was arrested in June 1993, a month later and he too told authorities, that he had already been inside the terminal when he heard shooting, prompting him to flee through the baggage carousels and outside, flagging down a taxicab and leaving the airport. None of the men blamed for the act claimed responsibility. Perhaps they were scapegoats and Posadas had been slain by a mystery hit team intending to silence him.

According to some men arrested in the later years after the airport gun-battle, the whole operation had been a hit. The Arellano Felix had placed 2 Chevrolet Pick Ups full of guns, grenades and ammo, in front of the terminals before the supposed hit. The two Guzman associates killed that day, were actually prisoners of the gunmen, held in a car at the parking lot, used as bait for Chapo, or used to ID El Chapo's car. The 2 men were later disposed of and shot ,left lying the car park. The supposed Judicial Policemen at the airport were actually Arellano hit men dressed as cops waiting for the arrival of a white Grand Marquis.

When they Grand Marquis arrived they opened fire, thinking they had bumped off El Chapo. But El Chapo was in a different car, a few yards away. This action prompted El Chapos men to fire on the Cardinals aggressors, while El Chapo made his getaway. After the assassination-gone-awry, Ramon Arellano and his men ran to catch Aeromexico 110 which had been held 20 minutes for them. Upon arriving in Tijuana they were met by crooked policemen who ushered them out of the T.J. airport and provided them shelter. El Chapo too, feeling the heat, fled to Guatemala, where he was arrested a month later.
Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo - 16 years later his murder remains a mystery


Cardinal Posadas was a outspoken man. He had been arguing lately with President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. He had also received death threats prior to his murder and some men had broken into his home in Tlaquepaque a few weeks before the shootings. According to some in the prelates inner circle, Cardinal Posadas had important information about the ruling party and the president's involvement with organized crime figures and shady deals. He had planned to meet with Girolamo Prigione who would not give the info to anyone in the Salinas administration, but to Pope John Paul II himself.

That never happened. The mysterious folder and contents were gone and their contents remain a matter of speculation to this day. Several airport employees and witnesses went missing or died under mysterious circumstances in the years after.The Attorney General's plane's presence at the airport and "in-the-know" information about the shooting was never clarified. Was the murder of Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo deliberate or an accident? Ordered by those high up in the government to shut him up or killed by accident by drug mafias?

16 years later, the case remains a mystery.

The Guadalajara Cartel Part III: The Abduction and Murders of Camarena and Zavala and the Fall of the Cartel

Camarena and Zavala's bodies arrive in Zamora, Michoacan after their discovery- 3/5/85

On the afternoon of February 7, 1985, Special Agent Enrique 'Kiki" Camarena Salazar left the DEA office inside the US Consulate in downtown Guadalajara and walked to his pick up truck for a lunch date with his wife.

He never made it.

Before reaching his truck, outside the Consulate, a light colored Volkswalgen 4 door and a black Grand Marquis with a siren stopped camarena. Some men, known to Camarena as Jalisco state cops got out and told "Kiki" that "El Comandante wants to see you". Camarena told the men he would have to notify his office as was protocol but the men pushed him into the car where the men threw a jacket over his head and beat him with pipes while holding him at gun point. The cars rapidly sped away and got lost in the city traffic.

Almost at the same time, Mexican Ministry of Agriculture pilot and a friend of Camarena's, Alfredo Zavala Avelars plane had touched down at the city's airport. Zavala had taken Camarena on some flights over the Bufalo ranch and other pot farms. Besides a government pilot he was a frequent DEA collaborator. As he worked at the city airport all the time, he would spy on Felix Gallardo's and Caro Quintero's planes and he would report back to Kiki.

That day he had brought home a group of businessmen from Durango and the men offered Zavala a ride home. Shortly after leaving the airport on the Chapala highway to the city, a brown Ford LTD sedan intercepted them and two men armed with AR-15 assault rifled got out and forced Zavala out and into their car. The gunmen took out the businessmen's keys out of their vehicle and threw it into a field. The car sped off with Zavala

The next day after his wife informed the DEA office he had never shown to the lunch date or to the house later that night, Enrique Camarena was declared missing. The DEA agents also quickly learned of Alfredo Zavala's abduction and soon started combing the city for the missing men. They asked the Jalisco state police for assistance and were met by Director Carlos Aceves Fernandez's stonewalling and uninterested attitude. Governor Enrique Alvarez del Castillo also did not call the Consulate and offer assistance in searching for the missing agent.

After their abductions, Camarena and Zavala were taken to Rafael Caro Quintero's home on 881 Lope de Vega street in Zapopan, a Guadalajara suburb. The plan was to have a talk with Camarena and Zavala and find out exactly how much they knew about the Cartel's operations and their partnerships with the state and Mexican government.

While Kiki and Zavala were held at the house, Ernesto Fonseca "Don Neto" came to visit and saw a lot of armed men at the house. When he was informed about Camarena's presence by Caro Quintero, he told Caro he felt ill: too many lemon spirited tequilas had triggered his allergy to citrus and he needed a nap. He would question Camarena after he awoke. After Don Neto had awoken from a drunker stupor, he noticed more armed men at the house, men he didn't recognize as his own or Caro's. By then he didn't feel like talking to Camarena at all and went home.

When he returned on the morning of February 8th, he found Camarena to be barely conscious, he had been the victim of severe torture and was near death. An unknown dead man lay in a laundry room. One of the armed men told Fonseca that the unknown dead man had been a "snitch". Seeing A US agent tortured to near death infuriated Fonseca, who reprimanded Rafael Caro and almost slapped him prompting Caro's men to raise their weapons and Fonseca's men to raise theirs. Fonseca, feeling the repercussions of what had happened and what was about to come, left the house.

Enrique Camarena had been savagely tortured for an entire day. Several times he had passed out from pain and was near death and each time he was revived by shots administered by Dr. Humberto Machain. An unknown military man interrogated Camarena for a day and a half: What did he know about Caro Quintero? Gallardo? Fonseca? What did he know about the Secretary of Defense Juan Arevalo Gardoqui?

A barrage of questions peppered with insults and beatings with fists, sticks and pipes and non fatal yet painful stabbings with ice picks, all of it being taped by his tormentors. Zavala was considered a mere snitch. He had been tortured but killed almost right away. Camarena was the one they wanted.

Sometime on the morning of February 9th, Agent Enrique Camarena Salazar was killed when a tire iron was driven into his skull. The two bodies, in their underwear, bound and gagged and placed in plastic bags were driven out to Primavera Park, a huge forest outside Guadalajara and buried in a pit.

While Camarena lay dead buried in a shallow grave outside the city, his DEA friends searched for their missing colleague. On February 8th, They requested help to Mexico City and Mexican Federal Judicial Police director Manuel Ibarra Herrera. Ibarra then told Comandante Florentino Ventura to commision Primer Comandante Armando Pavon Reyes to be in charge of the search for Camarena and Zavala. Pavon, along with Comandante Lorrabaquio were in the hills of Colima searching for some thugs and would not be available until the following morning

Comandante Pavon Reyes and his contingent of Federales arrived in Guadalajara from Colima state on the morning of February 9th. They had picked up a trace from Felix Gallardo and Caro Quintero saying Felix would deliver money to the Guadalajara airport. The Federales and several DEA agent sped to the airport to catch the narcos.

Upon arriving at Miguel Hidalgo airport, the Federales saw several armed men surrounding a private Falcon business jet preparing for takeoff. After a brief standoff between the armed strangers and the Federales, Comandante Pavon Reyes met with the man seemingly in charge, a tall mustachioed man with thick curly hair, in black cowboy gear and wearing a lot of gold. He flashed Pavon a badge and the two men walked around the jet and talked, the man in black looking back and smiling at the DEA agents who watched incredulously.

Comandante Pavon soon shook hands with the man. Several of Pavon's men also walked over and greeted the man in black. When questioned by the DEA agents who thought surely the man was a trafficker, Pavon told them that the man had been Pedro Sanchez Parra, not a drug trafficker but a DFS agent. His badge had identified him as such.

As the Falcon jet taxied out to the runway, the man in black and wearing gold stuck out his head from the plane's open door and waved an AK-47 to the Federales and DEA agent and shouted: "Next time my children, bring better weapons, not toys!" The man then waved a champagne bottle, took a swig and went back inside the jet and closed the door. The man was Rafael Caro Quintero.

Rafael Caro Quintero had promised Comandante Armando Pavon Reyes, 60 million pesos and had fled Guadalajara to Culiacan where he picked up his teenage girlfriend, Sara Cosio Martinez, niece of a prominent Jalisco PRI politician. They later flew to Caborca, Sonora where Rafael had a huge ranch and waited for the heat to die down.

The entire month of February the investigation went nowhere and Camarena was nowhere to be found. Seeing as how Comandante Pavon had probably already been compromised, the DEA agents asked Mexico City to send top Comandante Florentino Ventura Gutierrez to aid them in the search for their missing comrade. Federales chief Ibarra Herrera denied their request. Pavon's raids on empty mansions and abandoned ranches yielded no results. The arrest of Tomas Morlett Borquez, a crooked cop, was deemed pointless as he and 2 others were quickly released.

A man resembling the bearded and be-speckled Morlett had been seen by eyewitnesses in Lopez Cotija, a Guadalajara suburb inside a black car, beating a man in the back seat around the time of Camarena's abduction. The witness had then later been visited by the same man resembling Morlett and told to keep his mouth shut about what he had seen. After Morlett's release, a photograph of Enrique Camarena had been found at a home belonging to Miguel Felix Gallardo, plates of half eaten food and drinks bearing testament of people who had left the house in a hurry right before the arrival of the Federales. Someone in the Feds was tipping off the traffickers. The DEA agents grew more and more frustrated.

On February 28th, Comandante Pavon Reyes produced a letter, postmarked in Los Angeles, CA, saying that the letter informed his office that Agent Camarena was being held at a ranch in neighboring Michoacan state. Thousands of notes and letters had been sent, all of them phony. One said Camarena was being held in Yahualica, Jalisco. Another that Camarena was being held in an abandoned mine in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. Pavon however, seemed eager to pursue this particular lead. He informed the DEA agents they would raid El Mareno ranch near La Angostura, Michoacan at 9 am 2 days later on March 2nd, pending further investigation and surveillance. The DEA agents were invited by Pavon to participate in the raid.

At 9 am on March 2nd the DEA agents were surprised and angered to find out the Federales, led by Comandante Alfonso Velazquez Hernandez had left the city to Michoacan three hours prior. The Americans quickly hopped on cars and sped to El Mareno ranch, a two hour drive from Guadalajara.

Upon arriving at El Mareno they were met with a horrible scene. Six people were dead. According to the Federales, as they arrived at the ranch they were met with gunfire from the people living at the ranch. Federal Agent Manuel Esquivel had received 13 shots from an AR-15 and the Federales were forced to open fire and engage the attackers.

What followed was a half hour shoot out in which all 5 members of the Bravo family had been killed. Manuel Bravo Cervantes, owner of the ranch, had shot at the Federales. His wife Maria Luisa Segura Vazquez along with their handicapped 11 year old son Rigoberto and their 2 grown sons Hugo and Manuel Bravo Segura had all been armed and refused to surrender and thus had to be killed as well. 2 women were in custody along with 2 other men, believed to be Mrs Bravo's brothers, accused of having arriving in a stolen car full of ammunition.

The four survivors of the massacre at El Mareno told Michoacan state authorities and the news media that the Federales had cut down the family in cold blood. The DEA agents, piecing together the events according to the women, who were the now widows of Hugo and Manuel and a local villager boys eyewitness account the real story went something like this:

The Jalisco Federales had arrived in Michoacan without informing the Michoacan state authorities and had raided El Mareno early the morning of March 2nd. Rigoberto Bravo Segura, the mentally retarded 11 year old son of the Bravos, who slept in a downstairs room, was awakened by men breaking into the house. He shouted to his father, who slept upstairs that armed men were breaking in. The armed men, who were Federales, took Rigoberto hostage, pointed a gun to his head and demanded that Manuel Bravo surrender and come down.

Manuel Bravo, not believing them to be real Federales, saying that he had many enemies, asked to speak to police in the nearby city of Zamora or Vistahermosa, officers he knew personally. His request was denied. Bravo then shot at the men and engaged them in a brief shootout in which Agent Esquivel was killed, probably by friendly fire, before Bravo finally surrendered and came down with his wife. Manuel Bravo and his wife were then promptly shot in cold blood, Maria Luisa receiving shots in the back as she tried to flee. Rigoberto was also killed, his body left on the patio.

Upon hearing the shooting, Maria Luisa's brothers, who lived on the property, had called Hugo and Manuel to their homes in Zamora and the two men raced to El Mareno to aid their parents and brother. They also had their children spending the night there with their favorite uncle, Rigoberto. The two men left to El Mareno while their wives summoned help at the Michoacan state police office. Hugo and Manuel arrived only to find their parents and brother dead and were soon captured by the Federales and slapped around only to be also shot in the head point blank. When their wives arrived with the Michoacan state cops, the women were arrested and the cops told to lay down their arms.

Quickly after the massacre, Comandante Armando Pavon Reyes produced some ammo, some shot guns and assault rifles along with cocaine supposedly found at the ranch. The guns' incomplete serial numbers were given to the US agents when they requested them and the drugs seemed planted at the scene. The whole scene looked like a hit rather than a police action. The Bravo Segura family was billed in the media as a family of drug dealing cop killing kidnappers. A search of the lemon orchards of El Mareno, where the anonymous letter said Camarena would be found buried was delayed pending Agent Esquivel's funeral and burial.

On March 4th, Michoacan state governor Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, who just so happened to be a distant relative of Manuel Bravo Cervantes, received a call from an official in Tanhuato, Michoacan informing him that the La Barca- Zamora highway next to El Mareno ranch was again shut down by Jalisco state authorities. The Guadalajara anti-riot police was at El Mareno and men were digging in the orchards looking for Camarena. Once again Jalisco state police had done another unauthorized search at the ranch away from their jurisdiction.

A very angry Governor landed in his helicopter near El Mareno and was not allowed entrance by the Federales, prompting him to voice a complain to the Jalisco state government. The search at El Mareno turned up nothing.

On the afternoon of March 5th, 1985, a rancher walking on a footpath next to El Mareno ranch was assaulted by the strong odor of decomposing flesh and flies buzzing around. He followed his nose to a field, a few yards from the entrance to El Mareno, and found two plastic sacks, one with rotted human legs jutting out. The other had a head sticking out, its mouth wide open and face grimacing in horror. He quickly ran to the nearby village of La Angostura and summoned the constable who hopped on a tractor and headed to to the scene of the grisly discovery only to find several villagers already crowding the bodies and trampling the crime scene. The bodies were placed on a the bed of a pick up truck and transported to the coroners office in Zamora.

A few hours after the discovery of the two badly decomposed and unrecognizable bodies, the Mexican media was already saying that the dead were indeed Enrique Camarena and Alfredo Zavala. The DEA agents in Guadalajara found out through the television about the find, no one had informed them and once again they raced for Zamora. Upon arrival at the Zamora town square, they were met by a huge crowd of people, curious to glimpse at the body of the dead American agent. The US forensic experts after several hours of autopsy and using dental records, finally ID'd the bodies as those of Camarena and Zavala. Both men had been brutally tortured and buried somewhere else and dumped at El Mareno. Both had been dead about a month.

The body dump went awry. The man delivering the bodies to be planted at El Mareno was surely late and seeing the activity at El Mareno, could not dump the bodies in the orchard and opted for leaving the corpses near the footpath near the ranch. The night of March 5th, Comandante Pavon Reyes reportedly told Comandante Everardo Ochoa Bernal to hurry to Zamora, Michoacan because "Camarena would soon be found". Upon arriving in Zamora, Comandante Ochoa found that the bodies had already been found, picked up and transferred to the town morgue.

After the discovery of the bodies, Comandante Pavon Reyes was arrested by Comandante Florentino Ventura who was now in charge of the Camarena investigation on charges of corruption, bribery and obstruction of justice. Ventura also rounded up 13 city and state cops, one of whom, Gabriel Gonzalez, died during interrogation. Ventura said he had died of a hemorrhage, Gonzalez's wife said he had been beaten to death.

Quickly he was piecing together that Camarena had been abducted by local cops paid off by Caro Quintero and Fonseca Carrillo. All of the cops arrested denounced torture and denied knowing anything about the Camarena abduction.

In early April, DEA and the Federales picked up a call from Rafael Caro Quintero's teenage girlfriend Sara Cosio to her parents. The call came from San Jose, Costa Rica. Florentino Ventura and his team quickly flew to Costa Rica and on April 4th, 1985 raided Quinta La California near the airport in San Jose and arrested a group of Mexican nationals and Sara Cosio. One of the man ID'd as Marco Antonio Rios Valenzuela was indeed none other than Rafael Caro Quintero. Caro and his cronies were put on two Mexico Attorney General jets and flown to Mexico City in less than a day, one of Costa Rica's fastest deportations ever. Sara Cosio was returned back to her parents and Cosio announced to the press she had not been abducted but was in love with the married drug lord and was pregnant.

By coincidence three days later, on April 7th, cops responding to a bar fight in the Pacific resort city of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, followed a group of thugs to a villa and were engaged in a shootout. The municipal cops quickly subdued the thugs and found money and weapons at the home, that belonged to Candelario Ramos, the chief of police of Ameca, Jalisco. They also found a lazy eyed old man who ID'd himself as Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, Don Neto.

Don Neto and his henchmen were put on Norte de Sonora buses, escorted by 14 Army trucks full of soldiers armed to the teeth and driven to La Mojonera air force base in Zapopan where a plane awaited them to take them to prison in Mexico City.

In Mexico City, both Rafael Caro Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca were tortured and forced to confess by Florentino Ventura's men. They were forced to sign confessions but later recanted when they were paraded before the news cameras. Yes, the two men alleged, they were drug traffickers, but they knew nothing of the abduction and murder of the American agent and his pilot. Fonseca contended that he and Caro had been at 881 Lope de Vega, but had left, at the same time a group of unknown armed men arrived at the house. What happened to Camarena after that was unknown to them.

A married Caro Quintero regaled the press with stories about his love for his teenage girlfriend Sara Cosio whom her family had alleged, had been kidnapped by the Sinaloan in March. the Caro-Cosio love affair became media fodder for months. The Mexican public grew enamored with the country boy from La Noria, who had made millions before his 29th birthday and helped out the poor.

"I love to help out the country people, because they are a pure and noble people as I am, and as Ernesto (Fonseca) and his people are, we do things for them the government doesnt do in 10 years. We do it not to get recognition, but because it makes us feel good to help them" Caro told the press after his arrest, while Fonseca clowned around with a pair of sunglasses and flashed photographers a peace sign
.


Both men were convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison. There the duo shared a living area designed for 600 prisoners, and made their own penthouse, complete with nice beds, TV's VCRs, liquor, music and good food. They didnt have to wear a prisoners uniform they could wear what they wanted. During their four year stay at Reclusorio Norte, their stay was a good one. Every year on his birthday, Caro Quintero would bring the finest Sinaloan bands to play for him and his friends at the prison all with the director's blessing.

Javier Barba Hernandez, the Cartel's lawyer turned gangster was shot down by soldiers in Mazatlan in November 1987. Tomas Morlett Borquez, a suspect in the Camarena kidnapping was slain outside a Matamoros bar in 1988. Comandantes Pavon Reyes and Alfonso Velazquez, responsible for the disastrous "raid" at El Mareno were both sent to jail for 25 years.

The head of the DFS and a possible Camarena interrogator and torturer, Antonio Zorrilla Perez was also sent to jail after being arrested in Spain. Ramon Mata Ballesteros, Felix Gallardos Honduran partner was jailed in 1986 and extradited to the US where he now incarcerated in Colorado's Super Max penitentiary.

Dr Humberto Machain, responsible for keeping Camarena alive during his brutal interrogation was also arrested in Guadalajara and illegally transported to the US by American agents. Don Ruben Zuno Arce was also tricked into entering the US where he was arrested for his alleged role in the Camarena kidnapping. He was sentenced to life in prison in San Diego. To this day he maintains his innocence.

On September 17, 1988 Comandante Florentino Ventura, who arrested Rafael Caro Quintero was found shot to death at his Mexico City home along with his wife and wife's friend. Authorities said Ventura went into a cocaine fueled rage and shot his wife and her friend before turning the gun on himself. Others say its was the narcos' revenge from behind bars.

Miguel Felix Gallardo, the cocaine kingpin and co founder of the Guadalajara Cartel was betrayed by his friend Comandante Guillermo Gonzalez Calderoni, Ventura's successor on April 8, 1989 and taken into custody at his home in Zapopan, Jalisco. Felix Gallardo also denied any participation in the Camarena kidnapping and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Manuel Salcido Uzeta, "Cochiloco", Kingpin of Mazatlan and last leader of the Guadalajara cartel was ambushed and shot to death on October 9th, 1991 by a 8 man hit team at a red light on Obsidiana Street in Guadalajara. He, his daughter and his driver were shot more than 80 times. He reportedly pulled out a grenade to fend off his attackers with but was killed before he could throw it at them.

Juan Jose Esparragoza "El Azul" was arrested in the late 80s and imprisoned in Reclusorio Sur and was freed in 1992. With the ex leaders of the Guadalajara cartel in prison or dead, he left and partnered up with Ismael Zambada and others where he is now considered one of the leaders of the violent and infamous Sinaloa cartel made up of descendants and proteges of those who ran the old Guadalajara cartel. "El Azul" keeps an extremely low profile, not much is known about his life or modern day activities

The Camarena kidnapping and murder and its messy aftermath sealed the fate for the once powerful Guadalajara Cartel. Its remnants are now seen as coming together and forming the poweful Sinaloan Alliance, the Sinaloa Cartel, led by Felix Gallardo protege turned nemesis Joaquin Guzman Loera "El Chapo"

What was then a "Mans Business" made up by a few peasants from Sinaloa with a lot of business savvy, later turned into a ultra violent billion dollar industry that claims the lives the innocent men, women and children every day in Mexico. Criminals and Law Enforcement officials alike fall dead every day, victims of a seemingly never ending drug war where broken rival factions of a once strong united alliance, fight it out each day for control of Mexican territory.

The Guadalajara Cartel Part I: Birth of Organized Crime in Mexico

criIn the early 20th century, the rural areas of the northern Mexican states of Chihuahua, Sinaloa and Durango were desolate lands. Small villages dotted the Sierra Madre, isolated from civilization. Access to these backwater hamlets were by horse or by mule and trips that would take hours now by car, would take days back then. Their source of life was growing beans and vegetables. If it was a good crop, they would eat. If it was a bad one, they would starve. To eat meat, was a luxury.

After World War I, the Mexican government approached these humble ranchers with a proposition: Grow Opium Poppy on these fertile lands. The poppy is used to make Morphine, which was in dire need for the United States soldiers who came back wounded or the ones who just came back addicted. Poppy however, is also used to create something else much more nefarious and sinister:

Heroin.

The hill folk of the Sierra Madre who during Prohibition made some extra cash bootlegging liquor and sending it up north to the Hooch starved Gringo, now started to grow the Poppy flower. The mountain man of Sinaloa, Chihuahua and Durango soon learned that out of the sticky Opium gum, you can do this, and do that and presto: you have Heroin.

Another notorious herb grew happy and green in these fertile and warm climates: Marijuana. Soon the old bean farmers and bootleggers started growing opium and marijuana and through their kin, either by blood or by marriage, started smuggling the stuff north. Many of the entrepreneurial hillbillies made contacts with infamous mob bosses in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and all the border cities. Lucky Luciano and Bugsy were some of the famous clients of the Mexicans.

For years throughout the 1940s and 1950's up till the sixties, the boys from Sinaloa grew the pot and sold the pot up north. These poor peasants soon found themselves rolling in dough and left their poor crumbling houses in the mountain towns of Badiraguato and surrounding villages and migrated to the Sinaloa state capital city of Culiacan.

There the noveau riche drug kingpins bought ostentatious mansions, rolled around in armored Lincolns and Fords, shot it out with rivals at weddings and nightclubs, and held lavish parties that lasted days, with the finest Sinaloan brass bands of the time livening up the fiestas.

In the 60's Pedro Aviles Perez, born in Durango but Sinaloan at heart, was the man who controlled the drug trade in Mexico. He was untouchable and said to be a friend of Ol' Blue Eyes Frank Sinatra himself. Pedrito would be the man who would serve as mentor to many and most of Mexicos future notorious mafia bosses. Many of the men responsible for the illegal drug trade in Mexico now were snot nosed kids running errands for Aviles when he was king of "contrabandistas".

Many others ran the trade in the state of Sinaloa, violence was rare but not unheard of in Culiacan, all the men worked together, and if not, they at least respected each other. It was a man's business, families and women were not touched. That was taboo. Lamberto Quintero Paez was one such man, as well as Roberto Alvarado, Ruben Cabada and Lalo Fernandez.

Around 1975, the Mexican government was growing weary of the monster it had created. These Narcos were getting out of hand and something had to be done. They had too much power, and too much money, they ran the state of Sinaloa and much of the north like feudal warlords. Governors and Mayors were friends of the traffickers. The Mexican Government came up with "Operacion Condor".

Hundreds of soldiers and federal agents descended upon the "Golden Triangle" of Sinaloa, Durango and Sinaloa, beating up the farmers, whether they were pot farmers or legitamite, it didn't matter. They sprayed herbicides all over the lands so now not even beans would grow. Many were tortured and killed, thrown out of helicopters or simply "made disappeared" by the brutal soldiers. The brutal campaign lasted three years.

In January 1976, drug kingpin Lamberto Quintero was killed by rivals in El Salado. On September 15, 1978, big boss Pedro Aviles was set up and ambushed by Federales outside a roadblock in Culiacan. The heat was growing for the Sinaloan mafia with the violence and Operation Condor, they could no longer stay in Culiacan. They had to set up a new base of operations:

Guadalajara.

Alfredo Rios Galeana: Mexico's Public Enemy Number One

Army Sergeant. Ex Policeman. Army Parachutist. Nightclub Singer. Bank Robber. Kidnapper. All this and more was Alfredo Rios Galeana, pain in the ass for the Mexican authorities for years and admired by much of Mexican lower class society.

Born into poverty in 1951 in Arenal de Alvarez, Guerrero state, Alfredo Rios Galeana lost his father when he was only one year old. He left with his mother to Acapulco where she had to work hard now as a widowed mom, Rios Galeana didnt finish school. Soon after he and his mother moved to Mexico City.

When he turned 18 years old he joined the Mexican army. Due to his body build and height and natural proficiency for handling firearms and explosives he was made Sergeant by age 22. Using his combat skills learned in the military along with his knowledge of handling submachine guns and pistols, he started to rob stores and homes and a bank here and there. Pretty soon he ran afoul of the feared Secret Service police, who luckily for him, seeing how Rios Galeana was a bad ass, they employed him and soon after that he became a Police Officer for Mexico state (which borders the Federal District).

Despite Rios having a criminal record and being an army deserter he became policeman and under the protection of the Directorate of Federal Security, DFS (Mexico's CIA) he was allowed to keep doing his robberies. He started to make up his gang and together they would rent homes or apartments near or in front important bank branches all over the capital city and surrounding states, stake out the place then hit it.

During the 70's he was Mexico's most feared outlaw. Always armed with a machine gun and holding a grenade, he robbed dozens of banks in several states, not hesitating to shoot any cocky guard or policeman who tried to be a hero. But he wasnt all a mean bad ass bank robber ala John Dillinger. He had his soft side.

He would sometimes anonymously send the widows of the guards and cops he killed cash money for all their troubles.

One time during Christmas week, dressed as a businessman, Rios Galeana convinced a bank to open after hours, so he could give "his friend, the manager" a Christmas gift. Once inside, Rios and 4 others robbed the place.

Everytime he fell in the hands of the law, he would escape. Ever so vain he would comb his hair and flash a smile for the waiting reporters. He would joke and put his arm around the cops and jailers. So cocky and arrogant was he that sometimes he would announce by what date he would escape. And escape he would. In 1974 he fled the Tula, Hidalgo jail. Months later he was caught and sent to Santa Martha Acatitla prison in Mexico City and again he escaped.

When he wasnt busy looting banks, going on wild high speed chases and shooting it out with the cops, he had another passion: Singing.

He had plastic surgery done, he would don a Charro suit, and under the pseudonym Alfredo del Rio, he would sing at cock fight rings, nightclubs and he even recorded a LP singing his favorite ranchera songs.

In 1981 he once again was apprehended and Public Enemy number One was paraded in front of the Mexican press by none other than notorious Mexico City police chief Arturo Durazo. An arrogant Rios Galeana sat nonchalant in a chair and regaled the press with stories of his exploits, vowing to not stay in prison for long. He grew tired of jail and once again busted out, just as promised.

After the disastrous gas explosions in San Juan Ixhuatepec in 1984, Alfredo Rios Galeana donated thousands of dollars in cash to those affected by the blasts. In 1985 he was once again arrested and sent to Mexico City's Reclusorio Sur prison.

On November 22, 1986, an armed commando made up of men and women wielding machine guns stormed the prison courtroom where Rios Galeana was and tied everyone up. Using a hand grenade they blasted a whole in the wall and escaped. Once again Alfredo Rios Galeana was gone. This time for good. It was said his wife Yadhira led the armed commando that busted him and several others out of Reclusorio Sur.

But not for long. Alfredo Rios Galeana might of been a criminal mastermind but his skills faltered in his old age.

On July 12, 2005, after trying to renew his California drivers license near Los Angeles, Alfredo Rios Galeana, now known as Arturo Montoya was identified and after weeks of surveillance was arrested by ICE on charges of entering the US illegally.

His neighbors described Arturo Montoya, whom they had known as for 12 years, as a quiet religious man who ran his own janitorial service. He was active in church and loved to sing spiritual songs and show religious movies in his front yard for all to enjoy. Everyone was shocked to find out they lived next door to a notorious killer and bank robber.

He had been ID'd by his fingerprints that were still on record at Mexico's Attorney Generals office. He was deported over the border where he was met by a group of Mexican AFI agents armed to the teeth, put on a plane and sent to Mexico City where he would be charged with six murders and dozens of robberies and destruction of federal property, kidnapping, extortion and illegal arms possession.

Upon arrival in the capital the Federal District government said they didnt want him in any of the cities' prisons, due to Galeanas afinity for escaping and blowing things up.

They sent him to La Palma Maximum Security prison where he told the press eagerly awaiting Mexico's Public Enemy Number One, that he was a born again Christian, had found Jesus, was sorry for killing and robbing banks and all his loot from the holdups had been spent.

Songs were written in honor of Rios Galeana. Here is the translation of one sung by El Puma de Sinaloa, Fredy Bojorquez in 1990.

The Bank Robber

I am the bank robber
That the law is looking for
Because robbing from the rich
Gives me great pleasure
They search for me in Jalisco
In Sonora and Monterrey.

10 armored trucks
in Sinaloa state I robbed
Also in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez
I "visited" several banks.
From the Federal District's jail
I recently escaped.

So that you can catch me again
Its going to be rather hard
for I carry good machine guns
and a legal passport.
They call me Rios Galeana
at your service.

When you have more millions
I will pay you another visit
Let me "borrow" more millions
So I can help you spend them.

Alfredo Rios Galeana
My name you wont soon forget.
I send out a greeting
and to my friends I met in jail
To all the cops and agents
of the Federal District.

Arturo Durazo Moreno : Epitome of Corruption

Arturo "El Negro" Durazo (Center) was Mexico City's most corrupt and infamous police chief.


A peasant was walking along the muddy banks of the Tula river on the cold gray morning of January 14, 1982 when he spotted something macabre: A rotting, severed human head. In shock he peered out to the dark waters of the river and saw one body. Then two, then three. Five
bodies.

One was missing a head. Another was missing a arm and a leg. Some were naked with visible signs of torture others were clothed, all with a shot in the head. One man had been castrated, another had machete cuts all over his torso and yet another had been shot 20 times with a machine gun.

By mid afternoon, a Red Cross diving team had pulled out 14 bodies from the Tula river. a curious throng of villagers gathered at the sides of the river, witnessing the beginning of a scandal and one of Mexico's most heinous crimes commited by people in power.


Arturo Durazo Moreno was born in 1924 in the town of Cumpas in Sonora state. He came from a poor family. Despite his humble beginnings, "Humble" was not a word in Durazo's vocabulary. He didnt know the meaning of it. In grade school he was the typical bully. Nicknamed "El Negro" (Darkie) for his dark complexion he was a rough brute not averse to fighting dirty. One of his best friends was Jose Lopez Portillo, future president of the republic of Mexico. In exchange for copying Lopez' homework, Durazo would defend and protect the meek Jose Lopez. This friendship would forge one of Mexico's most darkest partnerships and culminate in one of the country's most shameful episodes of corruption ever.

Durazo worked at the Banco de Mexico until 1948. He then became Traffic Inspector. A short time later he came a Direccion Federal de Seguridad (Mexico's CIA the DFS) Agent. At the end of the 1960s he became a member of the terrible White Brigade, a right wing paramilitary police force made up to crush the Student movements of 1968 and eradicate (IE: torture and kill) the threat of Communists and Communism in general in Mexico.

In the early 1970's he was assigned bodyguard during Lopez Portillo's campaign for president, following him on tour throughout the states. It was then that Lopez, The PRI's choice for candidate, promised Durazo a cushy job in his administration when he won the race (note the word "WHEN he won, not IF he won, Lopez was a shoo-in)

Having "won" the election, Lopez Portillo made Durazo Chief of Police of Mexico City. He was rude, crude and a brute, someone probably "good" to have as boss of the city's police force. Being the Presidents friend was good enough to have one of the country's most important positions of power. Durazo then created the Direccion para Investigaciones y Prevencion de Delincuencia (DIPD).

Almost immediately Durazo started to figure out ways of how to pocket the police budgets money for himself and his family. His wife Silvia Garza demanded only the best, and as her husband as police chief of the Federal District the she was ENTITLED to the best. Instead of using the money for the maintanance of the city's police cars, he pocketed it. Policemen were forced to use their own cars to patrol the city's streets. Did a Policeman need a new uniform because the one he had was kind of worn? He had to pay for it. Fork over the cash, man. Do you want a promotion? A few thousand pesos to be Sergeant, a few thousand more and some change to be Lieutenant. Pay the boss Durazo.

The city's Tow trucks stopped cars and towed cars for no reason. The owners of the cars had to pay exagerated amounts to retrieve their vehicles, a portion of the loot of course went up to El Jefe Durazo.

His right hand man was Francisco Sahagun Baca, an equally nefarious and sadistic fellow. He would gladly kill anyone for his boss Durazo. He was once quoted as saying "I would not do for my own son what I would do for Boss Durazo". He was also known for changing his tie and suits four times a day and spraying his office with cologne. He was appointed director of the DIPD (Delinquency Prevention Investigations Division), the much feared Mexico City detective goon squad created by Durazo. When the city's criminals saw the Ford LTD's with hard looking men in snazzy suits, ties and dark shades pull up, they ran for the hills.

One day Durazo (most likely his wife) had a dream: To build a huge mansion, a Swiss type Chalet on top of Ajusco Hill. When the architect asked the couple where they wanted their access road, Mrs Durazo exploded. "Where there are roads there are poor people!". No roads were to be built. Access to the house had to be BY HELICOPTER.

In order to save on workers wages to build their grandiose home, Mrs Durazo using her intellect, had an idea. Ol' "Negro" had thousands of policemen at his orders. Put them to good use. So now veteran cops and rookies alike were bricklayers and construction workers too, and if any of them complained, they would spend 15 days in jail, placed on probation or simply fired. So no one dared complain. Since there was no access road, vehicles could not be used to haul up the materials need for the house. The boys in blue had to carry bricks and sacks of cement on their backs in a scene reminiscent of the building of the egyptian Pyramids.

When construction was complete, the generous and gracious Mrs Durazo threw the slaves/policemen a party not on Policemen's Day but rather on Mexican Labor Day, May 3. They werent respected policemen to her, they were mere bricklayers. Everyone was treated to two tacos and one soda each. If they wanted to drink alcohol they had to provide it themselves out of pocket. What a grand party it was.

It was said that President Lopez Portillo was so impressed with the house that he told Durazo to build him one just like it. Thats how the House on Dog Hill * came to be.

Not only did Durazo Moreno have his house on Ajusco Hill, he had another huge compound on the Cuernavaca Highway at KM 25.5. This "modest" ranch, included its own discotheque (an exact replica of famous NYC Studio 54), bullring, horse racing track, helipad, and huge garage to store Darkies' collection of antique and sport cars. He also built a third palace on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Zihuatenejo, Guerrero complete with Greek style columns, gaudy Roman statue replicas and huge iron gates that, the joke went, were stolen from historic Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City. The palace was nicknamed "The Parthenon".

Durazo was never known for his kindness or respect towards others but rather his immaturity , pettiness and egomaniacal ways. He asked President Lopez Portillo to make him a five star Army Division General even though Durazo never served in the military. Granted. He proudly wore the five star insignia, ignoring the fact that Mexican Division Generals only wear Four.

This angered the Secretary of Defense, Felix Galvan Lopez, who disgusted, politely voiced his dissaproval to Durazo during a speech made by President Lopez Portillo. "Arturo, with all due respect, I think Mr President made a mistake assigning you that extra star and making you General".

Irate, Durazo snapped back "Well see about that". Durazo then hurried to his buddy Lopez Portillo and told him about Galvan's comments, who now embarrassed, was the victim of Lopez angry glare.

At the end of the speech, the President shook everyone's hand and said goodbye. To everyone except Galvan, publicly snubbing and embarrasing him.

From 1976, to 1982, "General" Arturo Durazo Moreno amassed a huge fortune. He only smoked imported cigarretes from the US, drank the finest French wines and ate only the best French and Swiss cheeses. Anything Mexican was deemed too low class for him and his family.

He always used and paid with Dollars, he refused to touch national currency. An Honoris Causa degree was awarded to him as well, by the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice, just because he wanted one. He also asked the President to name him Governor of his native state of Sonora, but the president declined, the one thing he had to say no to.

In an attempt to cheer up an upset Durazo, the President wrote a letter to the man who won the Sonora Gubernatorial race saying that "Durazo had been nominated to the Sonora race but had gracefully declined the offer in order to fulfull his duties in Mexico City and continue helping out President Lopez Portillo". Anything to make Arturo happy.

He gave out submachine guns as gifts to the country's stars and singers, gave out authentic Mexico City police badges as souvenirs to his guests and friends and let his son close down part of the capital's beltway so he could stage drag races and motorcycle races in order to impress a local newswoman he had his eye on. If Durazo Jr had bad grades at school, he would machine gun his teachers cars, I mean what are they going to do? His dad is the city's police chief. Daddy would simply tell the teachers to let it go, and allow him to buy them new cars.

He also grew fond of having prostitutes over in his office, specially built with secrets doors and passages which allowed him to hide the hookers and for him to change in case Mrs Durazo came charging in to the Police Headquarters like she often did. Mrs Durazo didnt like or allow closed doors: Someone always had to be on hand to open the doors for her or to make sure doors were open when she was around, lest she throw a fit.

In 1981 a gang of Colombian bank robbers arrived in the city and started to cause problems for the police. No problem, they would now work for El Jefe. Rob all the banks you like, but give Ol' Jefe a piece of the pie.

Dozens of bank robberies in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Zamora, Michoacan netted millions of pesos, most of which Durazo recieved the lion's share of the loot. But Durazo grew tired of this gang and in order to cover his ass, he had the gang, and their Mexican getaway driver picked up by Sahagun Baca and his goons, and tossed into La Castaneda insane asylum where they were tortured day and night. Finally, the 14 men were bound and gagged, hacked to death with machetes or shot in the brain and tossed into Mexico City's sewage canal.

When the tortured and mutilated bodies ended up in the Tula river in Hidalgo state, a few miles up north from the capital, Durazo dismissed the ghastly discovery of the dead men as simply a "mafia hit". "Rivalry between drug gangs" led to the Tula River Massacre as the city's media dubbed the crime.

After 1982 when President Lopez Portillos term was up, the gang of thieves and murderers with badges fled town.In January 1984 a court in Los Angeles charged Durazo in absentia with several counts of illegal arms possetion and drug trafficking. Durazo was arrested later that year in June in Puerto Rico by Interpol on charges of mass corruption and an assortment of other crimes, including, murder, extortion, robberry and arms and drug trafficking.

Despite all his wrongdoings and abuse of power, Durazo was respected by domestic and foreign police forces. A Soviet delegation once voted him "Best Police Chief in the World." Also during the six years he was police chief, crime actually went DOWN in Mexico City. Maybe because the police WERE the crooks or maybe because Durazo actually did a good job when he wasnt busy embezzling, thats up for speculation.

On July 6th, 1989, the Mexican Federal Judicial Police raided Francisco Sahagun Baca's ranch in Sahuayo, Michoacan and brought him out in a body bag. Apparently "Pancho" had given he Federales hell with his machine gun and they had to cut him down. People in town however say, that Don Pancho did not die in 1989 but he is alive, hiding out under another name and another face thanks to plastic surgery and they also say he is the man who controls drug trafficking in the Jiquilpan area.

In an interesting note, caught by the Mexican media, during a 2005 party for Martha Sahagun de Fox, wife of Mexican President Vicente Fox, and cousin of Sahagun Baca, the name "Francisco Sahagun Baca" appeared on the guestlist. Despite Martha's cousin Pancho being "dead" for 16 years, she decided to still invite him to her party. How nice.

In 1992, Durazo Moreno was paroled, due to his old age and bad health. He lived out his days in obscurity at his Parthenon style mansion overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the resort town of Zihuatenejo.

Arturo Durazo Moreno "El Negro" died August 5, 2000 of respiratory failure. He was 76.



*House on Dog Hill, dubbed Dog Hill for President Jose Lopez Portillos nickname "El Perro" meaning the Dog. In September 1982, during an impassioned speech at the senate in Mexico, President Lopez Portillo loudly exclaimed to "Defend the Mexico Peso like a Dog!". This prompted the Mexican people who didnt like the President to bark at him whenever he attended a public function.

24 Hours of Terror: The Los Mochis Bank Heist

Onlookers crowd the armored truck where the assailants escaped on April 21, 1988 in Los Mochis. 4 people were killed, 12 injured in the notorious bank heist.

Wednesday April 20, 1988
Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico

Its 12:25 pm. Inside the Banco Nacional de Mexico (Banamex) bank long lines of customers await to deposit or withdraw money.

A young woman named Rosi Padilla stands near the glass doors, smiling and greeting the customers who enter the bank and informing them of the new Invermático ATM machines that Banamex will soon be adding to this branch.

On the other side of the building, bank co manager Manuel Sandoval is helping a customer.

It seems like everything is peaceful; customers and bank employees proceed with their transactions. More than 50 people fill the building, busy as many take advantage of their lunch hours to go to the bank.

5 minutes later, the peace of another routine business day at the bank ends. All hell breaks loose.

Exactly at 12:30 pm, 6 men enter the bank violently brandishing guns and yell "This is a hold up! Nobody move!"

Only a few listen to the robbers. The rest of the people run away, desperately searching for an exit; the men are blocking the main doors. They stop running when they hear a gunshot from a .38 caliber pistol.

"Nobody freak out!" yells the man who pulled the trigger, shooting his gun in the air. The rest of the gunmen take small groups of customers and employees and push them into the restrooms.

Rosi Padilla the smiling cashier at the door is still standing, petrified as she sees the men yelling and threatening to kill anyone who gets in their way.

One of the robbers notices that she doesn't move, looks at her in the face and shoots her in the chest. The young woman falls backwards spitting blood and with her bright eyes wide open as if asking "Why me?".

The bank robbery has claimed its first victim. The robber doesn't flinch as he watches Rosi die on the marble floor.

The story being told is real. Its the story of the most violent and dramatic bank heist in the history of the state of Sinaloa. For 24 hours, Mexico and the world watched as 6 men held dozens of hostages, threatening to kill them and blow up the bank. The ending to the ordeal was an embarrassment to a city and to a whole state. It happened when future Presidential candidate Francisco Labastida Ochoa was governor of the state and Ernesto Alvarez Nolasco was mayor of Ahome, Sinaloa.

It was planned on March 25. That day, Mario Valdez, Ivan Camarena, Ramon Terrazas "The Frog", Gilberto Valenzuela, Catarino Felix and Guillermo Gonzalez met at a house to plan the heist.

After agreeing on the type of weapons to use, they chose the date: April 20th. 12:30 pm, the time the Servicio Panamericano armored truck would make a drop at the bank.

After shooting Rosi that April afternoon, one of the robbers rushed to co manager Manuel Sandoval Rendon and grabbed him by the arm, pushing him towards the vault in the back of the building. Inside of the vault, millions of pesos awaited: the men guarding the vault had earlier picked up the money from the Bank teller stations and stashed it in the vault and the armored truck had made the deposit earlier than previously thought.

"Open the door!" one of the robbers screamed at Sandoval.

"I cant! The door opens from the inside!" Sandoval replied.

The robber in frustration proceeded to shoot the helpless co manager in the thigh and Sandoval fell to the floor in agony.

The managers agony was being watched by head cashier Raul Rendon from inside the vault via closed circuit monitor. However he couldn't do anything but watch. At the first gunshots, he had activated the robbery alarm and the vault door had automatically sealed itself. The door couldn't be opened.

By that time the Mexican Federal Judicial Police and Municipal Police had surrounded the bank and closed the streets around the building. Hidalgo Avenue, Guillermo Prieto St., Zaragoza St. and Independencia St. were shut down and no one could drive through.

The gunmen furious because they were now cornered with no money and no way out, they opted for taking the 60 plus customers and employees hostage.

Seeing that the situation grew worse by the minute, a young Mexican Red Cross worker named Marco Antonio Estrada tried to mediate with the robbers. He proposed letting everyone go and he would remain as their sole hostage. The robbers ignored him. Then all hell broke loose.

The police shot out a window on the corner of Guillermo Prieto St and Hidalgo Avenue and threw in a canister of tear gas. Then they opened fire. The gunmen holed up inside the bank returned fire and a shootout ensued.

The shooting only stopped when the robbers yelled to the police they would kill hostages if they didn't stop shooting at them. Then they called a local radio station and demanded an armored truck to escape in, cash and a helicopter to flee the state. If their demands were not met they would blow up the bank and everyone inside with sticks of dynamite they had tucked in their jeans or they would simply start executing hostages. "Were capable of anything, we're not afraid to die" one of the robbers told the radio station, his words broadcast throught the city and nation.

Minutes later as a show of good faith, the robbers released 3 hostages; manager Sandoval Rendon, the Red Cross Worker Marco Antonio Estrada and an off duty Judicial Policeman Roberto Soto Cruz.

But the three men had a tragic end. Upon walking out of the doors, they were met with a hail of bullets. The police, mistaking them for the gunmen, had opened fire. The bodies of the three hostages lay dead on the sidewalk in front of the bank while other hostages inside lay wounded by the shooting.

Overwhelmed by what was happening, Governor Labastida gave the order to comply with the robbers' demands. The order from the governor came precisely at the same time as a group of townspeople had gathered outside the bank and threatened to rush the building to protect the gunmen from the police!

It was Thursday April 21st at 12:40 pm when the violence finally ceased. By then the authorities and robbers had come to an agreement. They would trade the hostages for 3 Red Cross paramedics, Rosario Angulo, Jose Lopez and Santana Ortega, and they would be allowed to flee. Outside a Servicio Panamericano armored truck awaited the men.

National and International TV cameras were rolling as 5 robbers, wielding their guns and sacks of cash boarded the armored truck. The 6th robber lost himself among the crowd of onlookers and freed hostages.

Then something uncanny happened. The truck didnt start. No problem. The crowd of onlookers and townspeople pushed the truck up the street, four blocks until the truck started. A grateful robber stunned everyone by cracking open a door and tossing a fistful of cash to the jubilant crowd. The robbers abandoned the armored truck in the Vicente Guerrero neighborhood and fled on foot, aided supposedly by people who lived in the impoverished neighborhood.

After the heist, the city and nation asked itself. Who was responsible for the slaying of the hostages? The Chief of police of Los Mochis, Joel Velasco Flores blamed the gunmen. Others blamed the bumbling police.

Even though people mourned the deaths of four people that warm April day, Rosi Padilla's death was the most dramatic.

Nobody knew that April 20th would be the last day of her three month job contract at the Banamex bank.

Nobody also knew that months before, she had worked at the Banco Serfin bank on Leyva St. and had been a witness to a robbery at that bank. Two of the six men robbing the Banamex bank on April 20th had participated in the Serfin hold up and they recognized Rosi from before. That earned her a bullet to the chest.

Weeks later the robbers were arrested. One in a hospital and the rest were apprehended individually at their hideouts in Navojoa, Sonora. In 1990, the drama was brought to the Mexican big screen in "Bancazo en Los Mochis" (Heist in Los Mochis), starring well known Mexican soap opera actor Eduardo Yanez as one of the robbers. A corrido was also made, retelling the events at the bank.

21 years have passed since the violent robbery at Banamex in Los Mochis, but for the people involved, hostages and police alike, its a memory that will never go away for a simple reason. Too many innocent people died that day.

(with information from El Debate de Sinaloa newspaper)