The massive leak of army documents accessed by EL PAÍS reveals the power of drug traffickers in Mexico City. The military warns of the presence of criminal groups in the capital’s 16 city halls, a dozen gangs, supported in part by the big cartels, who kidnap, sell drugs locally and take them out of town, extort money and do business with people, the same Crimes observed in the country’s most violent states, centered on three communities. The files reveal two major mafias, the Unión Tepito and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The second, one of the most powerful in the country, seeks to seize power from the city’s historic rough neighborhood cartel through alliances with their enemies such as the Anti-Union Force.
The mayoral offices with the most murders linked to organized crime are Gustavo A. Madero, Cuauhtémoc and Iztapalapa, the most populous in the capital, whose crime rates have increased in recent years, according to the documents. Despite efforts by the capital’s government, led by Claudia Sheinbaum, to deploy more police and national guard troops to this area of the Southeast, 1,784 homicides were recorded in 2020; In 2021 there were 2,129 and by August of this year 1,545.
A June file of this year entitled “Criminal Panorama” and another in August of the same name, sent to senior Defense Ministry (Sedena) officials, contain a report on the criminal map in the city and who the main capos are .
According to an army document, the main drug lords in Mexico City.
Union Tepito: The Chori
The city’s historic criminal group, based in the rough neighborhood of Tepito, is the most powerful. Army documents indicate it is one of the strongest cartels in the country. Its presence is concentrated in the capital and center of the country, not like the two largest, the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartel, with an expansion throughout the national territory, but it has for decades established itself as the third major due to its commercial and economic capacities Group established fire
It has around 300 hired assassins and is present in the most economically powerful mayoral offices, in the party centers and in the financial center of Mexico City: Azcapotzalco, Benito Juárez, Cuauhtémoc, Gustavo A. Madero, Miguel Hidalgo, Iztacalco, Coyoacán and Venustiano Carranza.
Their current leader is Eduardo Ramírez Tiburcio, aka El Chori. And the army relates it to murders, kidnappings, extortion, drug trafficking, trespassing and human trafficking. Its leadership consists of close people and relatives of the cartel’s previous leaders Roberto Moyado Esparza, El Betito, and David García Ramírez, El Pistache, who were arrested in 2018. There is another strongman in the organization, Alberto Fuentes Castro, aka El Elvis or El Visco, who is responsible for the extortion and kidnapping of merchants and businessmen in downtown of the capital.
enemies: Anti-Union Force, Jalisco Cartel, Round 88, Los Rodolfos
allies: Los Malcriados 3AD, by Lenin Jonathan Canchola, aka El Lenin; and the group of El Güero Fresa.
Anti-Union Force: El Cejas and El Uriel
This group, which emerged as a spin-off from the largest Unión Tepito, has allied itself with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which supplies them with guns and drugs to fight for criminal control of the historic gang, both in the mayor’s offices , which it controls, and in other municipalities in the state of Mexico bordering the capital, such as Nezahualcóyotl and Ecatepec. According to army records, the gang consists of about 150 members.
Its leaders are Eusebio Hernández Vázquez, aka El Cejas, and Uriel Flores Conchas, El Uriel – brother of former leader Sergio Flores Conchas, El Tortas, arrested in 2019 – who are being described as “killings, kidnappings, floor-collecting” and drug trafficking ” in the mayoral offices of Azcapotzalco, Benito Juárez, Cuauhtémoc, Gustavo A. Madero, Miguel Hidalgo, Iztacalco, Coyoacán and Venustiano Carranza, the same offices where those of the Union operate. The document mentions one Mando, alleged assassin cell leader, who is the group’s connection to the Jalisco Cartel.
enemies: Union Tepito (and allies)
allies: Jalisco Cartel, Los Maestrin
New Generation Jalisco Cartel: El Calaca
The powerful cartel, created by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes aka El Mencho and present in almost every state in the country, made its grand entrance in the capital on June 26, 2020 when it tried to assassinate the police chief Omar García Harfuch. In a major attack at 6:30 a.m. in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city, nearly twenty men fired more than 400 shots at the truck Harfuch was traveling in, shooting dead two of his companions and a woman I was passing through the area to run. The policeman was shot in the arm and the cartel became the main enemy of the capital’s government, led by Claudia Sheinbaum.
Army papers name Omar Ramsés, aka El Calaca, as their leader in the capital. They accuse him of expanding the group’s dominance in the city using the same strategy that has made them strong in the rest of the country: arming the larger group’s enemies. The document mentions that El Calaca’s goal is to “limit the power of the Tepito Union” and invade the Mexican state communities of Nezahualcóyotl and Ecatepec that it controls. In the capital, it supplies arms and drugs from Guadalajara (Jalisco) to the Anti-Union Force to gain the upper hand in Iztapalapa, Tláhuac and Xochimilco. Their stronghold in the city is Gustavo A. Madero’s Mayor’s Office and it is estimated that there are 50 members of the organization in the capital.
enemies: Union Tepito, El Güero Strawberry,
allies: Anti-Union Force, Los Rodolfos
Tláhuac Cartel: Wife of El Ojos
In the south of the capital, the wife of the former Tláhuac cartel boss – Felipe Jesús Pérez, who was executed by the army in 2017 – has taken control of the criminal power her husband left behind over a network of motorcycle taxis to get the drug transport . María de los Ángeles Ramírez Arvizu is the only woman in the city’s senior drug trafficking ranks, and the army document shows that she “orders killings, kidnappings and extortions” and controls drug trafficking in the area east of the mayor’s office. Arvizu has a group of about 250 members that has also expanded its presence to Nezahualcóyotl and Valle de Chalco in the state of Mexico, which borders Mexico City to the southeast.
enemies: The Rodolfos, The Strawberry Güero, The Maceros
allies: Los Tanzanios, run by brothers Nicolás Enrique and José Manuel García González, aka Chacal.
other groups
Drug lords and groups and their presence in Mexico City, according to an army document.
Los Rodolfos, with presence in Xochimilco, Tlalpan, Coyoacán, Milpa Alta and Iztapalapa. They are led by César Rodríguez Morales, aka El Negro. The crimes attributed to them are: homicides, arms trafficking, drug dealing, extortion, home confiscation and property confiscation. The Jalisco cartel supplies them with drugs and weapons.
Los Molina, led by Juan Carlos Molina Plascencia, commits crimes including murder, drug trafficking, housing revenue, extortion, fraud and kidnapping in Xochimilco, Tláhuac, Coyoacán and Iztapalapa.
Ronda 88, led by Fabian Oswaldo Solís Vieyra, engages in drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping and killing, as well as theft and sale of auto parts (for vehicles) in Cuauhtémoc, Venustiano Carranza, Azcapotzalco, Benito Juárez and Miguel Hidalgo. The document links them to corrupt officials at the Department of Citizen Security “who give them protection,” though they don’t name names.
The criminal group Güero Fresa, led by Rafael Contreras Galindo, aka El Fantasma. They are present in Iztapalapa and Tláhuac. They are linked to homicides, extortion of dealers and public transport, expropriation of real estate, sale and distribution of drugs in these areas. On April 7, the group placed a tarpaulin on a footbridge in Iztapalapa and threatened reprisals to Morena Mayor Clara Marina Brugada if “previous agreements” were not fulfilled.
Los Canchola or Los Malcriados 3AD led by Lenin Jhonatan Canchola, aka El Lenin. They are responsible for murders, kidnappings, foreclosures, extortion and drug trafficking at the offices of Cuajimalpa Mayors Álvaro Obregón and Magdalena Contreras.
Los Maestrín, managed by Francisco de Jesús López (son of El Maestrín). In Cuajimalpa, Álvaro Obregón and Magdalena Contreras they carry out murders, kidnappings, confiscations, extortion and drug trafficking.
Los Maceros, led by Jesús Eduardo Mejía Herrero, aka El Macero, charged with manslaughter, drug trafficking, extortion and money laundering. They are present in Tlalpan and Xochimilco. According to the document, the group “controls the importation of drugs from Morelos to Mexico City.”
The Tanzanians, led by Nicolás Enrique García González, with drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion activities, and to a lesser extent armed robbery, home robbery, vehicle theft and public transportation. They are linked to the previous authorities of the Iztapalapa Mayor’s Office because, according to the report, on the 15th at the request of the authorities “.
The men of El Balta, Juan Baltazar, who engage in drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion in Azcapotzalco, Venustiano Carranza, Iztacalco, Coyoacán, Iztapalapa and Xochimilco. They are linked to authorities in the capital’s government: “police, judges and public ministries”, although they do not give names.
Drug routes in the capital
The Sedena document creates a map of the main corridors of drug trafficking in the capital.
Drug trafficking routes in Mexico City, according to a Sedena document.
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