Borderland Beat

by Alex Marentes

  There is a story that circulated around mid-2009, that Chief Leyzaola had an encounter with the druglords El Teo and Raydel López Uriarte, El Muletas.

  The two drug traffickers were traveling in the heart of the city escorted by a commando and managed to surround Leyzaola. According to the version of a former state official, El Muletas challenged Leyzaola to get out of his vehicle while tapping on his window. "Let's see, get out! Hurry up, bastard, here I am for whatever you want! Let's see if it's true you want to kill me!" El Muletas had shouted.

  According to the version from this former official, Leyzaola did nothing. His escorts left him alone in front of the drug traffickers, who eventually left in the open as they had arrived.

  At the time the plaza was controlled by El Mayo Zambada of the Sinaloa cartel. But there was some kind of truce between the criminal groups to keep the violence at a minimum.

  However, when Leyzaola was chief of police in Tijuana, the amount of executions linked to drug cartels did not decrease much but reached historical figures: in 2008 there were 882 executions, in 2009 there were 655 and in 2010 there were 812.

  On October 20, 2009, several journalists claim to have seen Leyzaola hit the dead body of a sicario that had been killed after a confrontation with the police. The journalists, who remained anonymous, maintained that the Leyzaola approached the body, cursed at it, kicked it, then left.

  After Leyzaola left Tijuana, the Mayor of Ciudad Juarez, Héctor Murguía, named Leyzaola as his secretary of Public Security.

  Leyzaola got the green light through the governor of Chihuahua, César Duarte; by the Secretary of Defense, General Guillermo Galván, and by the very own President Felipe Calderón. Everyone saw in Leyzaola the best option to "manage" the cartel violence in Juarez, the same way he had done in Tijuana.

  On his first day on the job in Juarez, the cartels left a body on the streets with a message to Leyzaola saying “this is what awaits you here.” Leyzaola was threatened and told that every day he was in office a police officer will be killed every day until he resigned. A previous chief had resigned under similar circumstances, but not Leyzaola, he took the fight to the streets. He targeted the Juarez cartel, La Linea and the street gang of Los Aztecas aggressively reducing violence in Juarez. On the other hand, this allowed the Sinaloa cartel to prosper in Juarez, as they had also done in Tijuana.

  Julián Leyzaola made some strong statements after learning about the arrest of the four gunmen who executed José Manuel Rivas in 2011, the police coordinator of the Municipal Police station Benito Juárez.

  The chief said he was extremely angry about what happened, "let them threaten me those dogs sons of bitches" (Que me amenacen a mí esos perros hijos de la chingada), he said while challenging the members of the Sinaloa Cartel.

  Leyzaola decided to work out of the station Benito Juárez, after police officers said that they were afraid to work in this particular police station.

  Leyzaola said there was no doubt in his mind that his police agency had bad cops working for organize crime, "That makes us vulnerable to any attack, we cannot have corrupt people in the Police and soon I will fire them."

  Leyzaola fired around 800 police officers in Ciudad Juarez and made an attempt to clean up the department.

  After he retired from police work, Julián Leyzaola would eventually be shot three times by a hitman in Ciudad Juarez and left paralyzed.

  This really piqued my interest in learning of the extent of corruption from the municipal police departments in Mexico. Most had no choice, it was either "plata o plomo," silver or lead. You are with us or against us.

  Cartels were known to instill fear in the local police department by threatening families, not to mention the amount of money spent in bribes was a lot more lucrative than their salary. The bribe and corruption activities among the local police is a staple of the Mexican police norm, it has always been like this. Everyone knows this, even the US tourists.

  The border between El Paso (population: 600,000) and Juárez (population: 1.5 million) is the most menacing spot along America's southern underbelly.

  On one side is one of the safest cities of its size in the United States, with only 15 murders so far in 2008. On the other is a slaughterhouse ruled by cartel bosses where the death toll the same year is more than 1,300 and counting.

  "I don't think the average American has any idea of what's going on immediately south of our border," says Kevin Kozak, acting special agent in charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's office of investigations in El Paso. "It's almost beyond belief."

  "The majority of the people detained and the bodies found are not from Ciudad Juarez. It is an intense battle between these two groups (Juarez and Sinaloa cartels). The level of violence has reached new levels. Retaliation between the groups has become more violent and terrorizing," said Reyes Ferriz, who is the Mayor of Ciudad Juarez but lives in El Paso.

  Dismemberments and beheadings have become a common method of retaliation. A government source told about a case where a relative of a drug cartel member was tied to two trucks and stretched until his arms where ripped apart.

  The dead are mostly unknown obscured figures in the underground world of the drug trade but are also innocents caught in the crossfire, make up a long procession of clients for busy coroner and daily material for the media sources and blogs (we can hardly keep up). But the mayor downplayed the effect on the general population.

  "The important thing for the population is that the large majority of these cases are criminals. We haven't had many cases in which the general population has been involved," Reyes Ferriz said.

  The city's tourism economy is sinking and the recession has cut deeply into border trade, but the death industry here is robust and flourishing. Hell, the police even ran out of crime scene tape. The government can hardly keep up with the rising boom in the business of death and murder, the only thing where production is going up.

  Regardless of the political take on the problem and what is necessary to find peace and tranquility in the streets of Juarez, the people of Juarez live a daily life of misery and despair. It is honorable to see that the mayor has a positive outlook in the Juarez' mayhem to the point that he sees light at the end of the tunnel, because the only thing that the town has seen lately is a bullet at the end of a gun barrel.

  Juárez looks a lot like a failed state, with no government entity capable of imposing order and a profusion of powerful organizations that kill and plunder at will.

  The Juárez Cartel controlled one of the primary transportation routes for billions of dollars’ worth of illegal drug shipments annually entering the United States from Mexico. Since 2007, the Juárez Cartel had been locked in a vicious battle with its former partner, the Sinaloa Cartel, for control of Ciudad Juárez. Both sides recruited cross-border third generation street gangs to wage their fight.

  The Juárez Cartel recruited Barrio Azteca while the Sinaloa Cartel recruited a rival gang called the Artist Assassins (Double A’s) and Los Mexicles.

  Barrio Azteca is one of the most violent prison gangs in the United States. The gang is highly structured and has an estimated membership of 2,000. Most members are Mexican nationals or Mexican American males. Barrio Azteca is most active in the southwestern region, primarily in federal, state, and local corrections facilities in Texas and outside prison in southwestern Texas and southeastern New Mexico.

  The gang’s main source of income is derived from smuggling heroin, powdered cocaine, and marijuana from Mexico into the United States for distribution both inside and outside prisons.

  Gang members often transport illicit drugs across the U.S.–Mexico border for DTOs. Barrio Azteca members are also involved in alien smuggling, arson, assault, auto theft, burglary, extortion, intimidation, kidnapping, robbery, and weapons violations.

  The Barrio Azteca was founded in 1986 by gangsters Benito “Benny” Acosta, Alberto “Indio” Estrada, Benjamín “T-Top” Olivarez, Manuel "Tolon" Cardoza, Manuel �
�El Grande” Fernandez, Raúl “Rabillo” Fierro and José “Gitano” Ledesma.

  The gang succeeded in attracting thousands of violent offenders who hated the Mexikanemi and Texas Syndicate. The Barrio Azteca’s primary goal was to dominate the prison system and gain control of its lucrative drug trade.

  Members of this ruthless prison gang are all Hispanic and most from El Paso, west Texas and northern Mexico. The gang has grown to become one of the nation’s most dangerous prison gangs and is currently on the FBI and DEA’s #1 threat list.

  Following their emergence into the prison gang scene, both the Texas Syndicate and Mexican Mafia refused to recognize the Aztecas and declared war on the gang. The outnumbered Aztecas struggle to battle their numerous enemies but somehow managed to prevail by murdering several members of the Texas Syndicate in prisons and jails all over the state of Texas.

  Barrio Azteca earned the respect of the Texas Syndicate and Mexican Mafia and a peace treaty was signed on July of 1997. The Aztecas have multiplied and now outnumber the Texas Syndicate. The highly organized prison gang currently operates in both state and federal prisons all over the United States and Mexico.

  Symbols: 915, EPT, 21, BA, Azteca theme tattoos

  Territory: El Paso TX, Ciudad Juarez, Midland TX, Odessa TX, Las Cruces New Mexico, and small chapters across the United States and northern Mexican state of Chihuahua.

  Alliances: Juarez Cartel

  Members: 2,000

  Ethnicity: Hispanic

  La Gente Nueva was believed to be the enforcers for the Sinaloa cartel while La Línea was known to be the armed wing of the Juárez Cartel.

  The House of Death and Special Agent 913

  Lalo use to patrol the federal highways in Guadalajara. He was eventually fired from the police department and decided to join the narco trafficking world. Lalo would say that the only other job any former policemen can get is that of a drug trafficker. Lalo joined the Juarez cartel and started participating in executions. He told of the main executioner, a Chihuahua state police commander by the name of Miguel Loya Gallegos or “Comandante Loya” who was the night commander assigned to Ciudad Juarez and was a leader of La Linea. Lalo read something somewhere that the DEA was looking for informants in Mexico, so he went to the border point of entry and becomes an informant for US Customs. Lalo become special agent 913. Lalo briefed the US agents regularly and many times included members of the DEA, the FBI and ATF.

  In 2003, Lalo was caught at a border patrol checkpoint in Las Cruces trying to smuggle 100 pounds of marijuana. Lalo explained that he did not have time to tell US authorities that he was working a case for information, but the DEA did not buy the story and they drop him as an informant. ICE kept using him, saying he was too valuable.

  A Mexican attorney by the name of Fernando Reyes was looking for a way to cross a load of weed across the border. Lalo could make it happen for him, he knew all the contacts. Lalo brought Fernando to this little house in the city of Juarez. Fernando doesn't know it yet, but he has walked in to a trap. In the house are also two officers from the state police of Chihuahua.

  Fernando is unaware, but they are there to kill him. Suddenly one of the police officers comes out from one of the rooms and puts the gun to his face. Fernando pleads for his life, he knows he is in trouble. They decide not using the gun, it’s too loud, they can't take any chances.

  This house is located in a middle-class neighborhood and people will call the police if they hear gunshots. Fernando screams in panic. They tape his mouth shut in attempts to stifle the loud screams. Fernando fights back, kicking and swinging his arm, so they take him down to the floor. But it's not easy, Fernando is fighting for his life. Lalo helps to restrain Fernando while one of the officers wraps an extension cord around the neck of Fernando. Fernando knows his death is certain but continues to fight, he does not want to die like this.

  The chord snaps.

  One of the cops grabs a plastic bag and places it over Fernando's head. Fernando continues to kick and fight, but is futile, he finally lays motionless as his life is snuffed from him. Lalo crosses the street and finds Santillan at the little convenience store on the corner. Heriberto Santillan-Tabares, known to U.S. intelligence as “El Ingeniero,” is one of the top bosses in the Juarez cartel. He has thinning dark hair and a mustache.

  The officers split $2,000 for killing a suspected drug trafficker known as “Fernando.”

  The killing was ordered by Santillan, a childhood friend of the victim and a top lieutenant in the powerful Juarez cartel organization.

  Fernando is dead and they have his dope. Santillan congratulates Lalo, he tells him that Vicente Carrillo Fuentes will be happy.

  The next day Lalo crosses in to El Paso and tells his handler from the Immigration Customs Enforcement what happened. Lalo is an undercover informant for the US immigration enforcement unit. Immigration listens to the recording from Lalo, they write a report and these reports make their way up to Washington DC. Lalo’s handler from the US Customs Enforcement tells him he did a good job and sends him on his way, to gather further intel. Lalo participates in 11 more executions in that little house dubbed the House of Death.

  Throughout the fall and winter of 2003, the killing at the House of Death continued. The cartel comes up with a code word for the executions that occur there: carne asadas, or barbecues. Lalo is often called to open the house for a carne asada, and when the killing is done, he is responsible for disposing of the bodies, most are buried in the back yard.

  In November, two drug mules, “Paisa” and “El Chapo”, lose 70 kilos on the Free Bridge (puente libre) in Juarez. The load belonged to Comandante Loya of the state Chihuahua police, Santillan's nephew. So, Lalo takes the two mules to the House of Death. Santillan shows up with Comandante Loya and another killer named “Crooked Fingers.” Lalo tells Paisa and El Chapo, "You have to take business with us seriously." The Comandante tells them to lift their shirts over their faces so they don't see the boss, who is going to arrive shortly. He begins wrapping tape over their heads, but they can still breathe. One of the men starts moaning, so the Comandante shoots him in the head, at which point the other tries to break free. The Comandante shoots him in the head too.

  On and on it goes.

  One arrived DOA in a black plastic bag. Two police officers carry him in. He is so heavy they have to drop him in the kitchen; he doesn't fit under the staircase. Another is brought in with a rope around his neck. There was a third, the cops say, but he crawled under a truck, and so they shot him there and left him in the street.

  Each time Lalo is asked to open the house for a carne asada, he will later say, he tells his handlers at ICE.

  Everything fell apart on the House of Death when three people were tortured and eventually murdered at the house. One of them gave an address of a house, that happened to be the home of a DEA agent operating in Juarez. The Santillanes crew went to the house, but the occupants, a mother with children was afraid to open the door. She called her husband, and the entire family decided to flee. They were being watched. While driving away they were pulled over by Mexican state police officers in marked police cars. It was comandante Loya's police crew. It was certain that they intended to take them to the house of death.

  The driver made a phone call to get some help from one of his colleagues. Both were DEA agents and presented consular ID's to the officers at the scene.

  Lalo was able to confirm from his US contacts that they were DEA agents, after making a phone call. They did not want to bring attention by killing two DEA agents, so they let them go.

  After the proverbial shit hit the fan and DEA agents’ lives were put in grave danger and the out-of-control case sped faster off the cliff, one senior agent had enough. “We had five to six DEA staff members in danger as well as their families,” said Sandalio ‘Sandy’ Gonzalez the retired special agent in charge for the El Paso DEA office.

  Eventually, the covers/identities of several DEA agents living in Mexico were b
lown by people that had been executed in the house. The US government evacuated the agents and their families from Juarez, Mexico, several arrest of cartel bosses were made and the Mexican government excavated several bodies from the back yard of the house of horror.

  Comandante Loya and some of the other killers went into hiding. The DEA informed ICE that there were 80 AFI agents from Mexico City on their way to Juarez to help capture Loya and his criminal associates. They would take the police station by force if necessary. Comandante Loya escaped arrest, however, several state police officers were arrested or detained.

  Mexican state police Commander Loya mysteriously disappeared. Some people think comandante Loya is probably dead.

  Days later an attempt was made on Lalo's life at an El Paso Whataburger.

  Lalo arranged to pick up some money at an El Paso Whataburger. Lalo said that the money drop was tied to some work he was still doing for ICE, but federal agents say that's not correct. They suggest the money stemmed from the proceeds of some property Lalo had recently sold in Juárez. While others speculate that it was money owed from the Juarez cartel.

  Whatever the case, the ever-wary Lalo sent a friend to the Whataburger to collect the money. Lalo's fill-in was sitting in his car in the restaurant parking lot when a gunman appeared out of nowhere and pumped four bullets into his chest before disappearing.

  Lalo's friend, who also happened to be an FBI informant, died instantly.

  After that, ICE took Lalo and his family into protective custody. Lalo was put into an undisclosed prison. His family was housed somewhere in the US.

  Why send a former U.S. snitch who earned more than $250,000 from Uncle Sam to certain death?