The leader of a faction of the Gulf Cartel has been arrested. José Alberto Garcia Vilano, also known by the names La Kena It is Cyclone 19He was at the head of the violent criminal group Los Ciclones.
Illegal activities of Los Ciclones
Vilano's group is reportedly accused of kidnapping four American citizens in March 2023, leaving two of them dead. Information about Vilano's whereabouts led to his arrest at a mall in the city Monterrey. Unconfirmed videos circulating on social media appear to show Vilano and his associates being led through the mall by armed police officers.
The four Americans were kidnapped in the border town of Matamoros, a city directly opposite the Texas city of Brownsville in the United States. Matamoros has been at the center of a war between factions of the Gulf Cartel fighting for control of the socalled plazas the drug trafficking routes leading north into the United States.
Fatal fate of the four Americans
Apparently the four Americans crossed the border and entered the turbulent city to undergo cosmetic surgery. A video shows the group being loaded into a pickup truck by heavily armed men. One of the abductees is manipulated into the vehicle while the others are apparently unconscious and are dragged into the truck.
His terrible nightmare lasted four days. Two of them Zindell Brown and Shaeed Woodard were killed, as was a 33yearold Mexican woman who was unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although the motive for the attack has not yet been confirmed, Mexican authorities have reportedly launched an investigation to determine whether the group was mistaken for members of a rival cartel.
Millionaire reward for Vilano
As of 2022, the government of the state of Tamaulipas, where Matamoros is located, has set a reward of 2,500,000 pesos (equivalent to US$145,000; £115,000) for any information leading to the capture of Vilano. Despite several attempts, he was only now captured, but was already on the wanted list of the US DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration).