Borderland Beat

by Alex Marentes

  Several of the complaints and warnings of the agents can be confirmed even in documented events. For example, two days after the resignation of Gerardo Garay, on November 3, 2018, García Luna appointed Rodrigo Esparza Cisterna as interim PFP commissioner, whose history is as long as it is murky.

  In 1993, when Rodrigo Esparza was a delegate of the PGR in Sinaloa, the first rumors surfaced over his presumed relationship with Joaquín Guzmán Loera, El Chapo, then a bitter rival of the Arellano Félix brothers, heads of the Tijuana cartel.

  According to an official case dated August 12, 2005, that had been obtained through an information request to the Federal Institute of Access to Information (folio 0001700181305), Esparza was accused of acting against the administration of justice. Despite this background, Rodrigo Esparza is the right arm of García Luna in the PFP.

  In 2010 Zambada did an interview with Julio Scherer Garcia of Proceso Magazine. He criticized the government's effort to take him down, saying it was a little too late, if the goal was to hurt the drug trade.

  "The problem with the narco business is that it involves millions of dollars. How do you dominate that?" Zambada said. "As for the bosses, locked up, dead or extradited, their replacements are already standing by."

  "The government's drug war," he said, "is lost." Why lost? "The narcotics trade and everything that goes along with it," Zambada responded, "are inside the society, as deeply rooted as the corruption."

  A Portrait of Power

  Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada has historically worked closely with the Juárez Cartel and the Carrillo Fuentes family, while maintaining independent ties to Colombian cocaine suppliers. El Mayo is the last powerful boss of the old guard. All the others have either died or are in prison. Zambada headed the Sinaloa Cartel in partnership with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, until 2016 when El Chapo was captured. Zambada has now possibly assumed full command of the Sinaloa Cartel.

  On October 20, 2008, some of his relatives were arrested in Mexico City on drug trafficking charges. Ismael's brother, Jesus "El Rey" Zambada, along with Ismael's son and nephew. His son, Ismael "Mayito" Zambada Jr. has been sought for conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance in the United States. His other son, Vicente Zambada Niebla, was arrested by the Mexican Army on March 18, 2009.

  There are not many pictures that have been made public of Mayo Zambada. It is known that he was plump and chubby, but one day Vicente and Amado Carrillo, who underwent plastic surgery at the Santa Monica clinic in Mexico City, the same hospital where Amado Carrillo died in 1997, suggested that he change his appearance.

  Zambada did.

  Zambada lost weight and thinned out his cheeks, so that his face became stiff and a little elongated by the facelift. When José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos was the man in charge of SIEDO, federal authorities took possession of a photograph during a search warrant in one of his multiple properties. The photograph was of Zambada García who looked a lot younger and slender. The photo was kept in the files related to the Juarez cartel, the organization to which El Mayo belonged.

  The man has been untouchable for decades. Ismael Zambada has shown his power and ability to infiltrate institutions, increasingly more during the six years of Ernesto Zedillo, Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón: more than 35 agents of the Federal Public Ministry assigned to the SIEDO were his employees, and each one received between 350 and 400 thousand dollars a month for filtering information about consigned files and previous investigations in progress against members of his organization.

  In the government of Vicente Fox, the Sinaloa cartel reached the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), where through Arturo González Hernández, El Chaky, several high-ranking Army commanders operating the telecommunication systems were found to be corrupt. They warned the cartel in advance what days and hours the military would be conducting operations.

  In addition, El Mayo Zambada was in control of the Sinaloa police, and senior military officers looked after his physical integrity and his businesses. His impunity and his power were of such magnitude that, in December of 2005, in the ranch El Mezquite, they organized a party (narco posada) that included the popular musical group Illusion. Zambada García arrived at the party. A lot of alcohol flowed, heavy doses of cocaine were distributed and gunshots were fired into the air in celebration.

  This attracted the attention of a sector of the Mexican Army stationed in Sinaloa and they requested a search warrant to enter the ranch. Because, these request for an order takes hours, Zambada García had time to leave protected by municipal police officers and go quietly to his hiding place, a walled fortress whose accesses and sidewalks are permanently guarded by his people.

  In May 2007, the Office for the Control of Foreign Properties of the US Department of the Treasury reported that six companies and 12 people in Mexico were part of the financial network of Ismael El Mayo Zambada.

  The US report indicated that Zambada's ex-wife, Rosario Niebla Cardoza, as well as her four daughters; Maria Teresa, Miriam Patricia, Mónica del Rosario and Modesta Zambada Niebla, play a key role in the dirty businesses of El Mayo, since they fulfill a function key in the ownership and control of companies of the capo.

  After the breakup between the brothers Beltrán Leyva and El Chapo Guzmán, the Sinaloa cartel, perhaps at its moment of splendor, the most powerful criminal enterprise in Latin America, suffered a decline in its power, but it was not dead.

  According to data from the SSP and the PGR, the Beltrán extended their tentacles: they penetrated the SIEDO, the PGR and a large part of the Army's regional commanders, in addition to allying with Los Zetas and the Juarez cartel, whose chief was Vicente Carrillo.

  Zambada García and Joaquín Guzmán remained united along with Ignacio Nacho Coronel and the Cázares Salazar brothers who formed part of that group.

  This clan of drug traffickers suffered big blow when Jesus Zambada Garcia, El Rey, brother of El Mayo was arrested in Mexico City who had a reputation of not being very discreet with his wealth.

  Until 2007, Jesús Zambada was not considered to be a major capo by Mexico intelligence or by the intelligence agencies of the United States, but after his arrest, attorney general Eduardo Medina Mora labeled him as one of the most important heads in the network of money laundering, money belonging to El Mayo Zambada.

  Another fact alluded to the true power of El Rey Zambada. In Culiacán, Sinaloa, a narco manta or narco banner bearing a message was placed near the state congress that discounted the notion that Jesús Zambada García was a minor operator. The banner read:

  "Chapo Guzmán, they killed your son and you are still a friend of the murderers. You have no shame, how Nachito Coronel has changed you, he moves you at his whim and everything because he owns you. Smart is Rey Zambada: you are killing municipal, state and ministerial police, while El Rey is loading ephedrine and cocaine in the airport of Mexico City.”

  In October of 2008, the month in which García Luna was allegedly intercepted in Morelos, the blows against the structure of El Mayo Zambada intensified.

  The ranches La Quinta La Paloma and Los Alpes, located in Acaxochitlán, Hidalgo, were subject of search warrants by federal police. The property of the facilities was tied to El Rey Zambada by SIEDO.

  Mayo Zambada had been hit on September 18, 2018 with a financial blow to his empire with the seizure of 26 million dollars, money that he had kept in a safe house and perfectly organized in boxes of eggs.

  Despite the blows received by the Sinaloa cartel and despite the division it suffered with the separation of the Beltrán brothers, the organization continued flourish in the drug trafficking business. It controlled ports and airports, and maintained allies at high levels of the SSP that, according to the letter sent by the federal police to Congress, "they are committed to comply with the agreements, that had been agreed upon."

  If in doubt, ask García Luna.

  They Killed El Ondeado

  For Manuel Torres Félix , "Manuelon", "El Ondeado" or "El M1", the inso
mnia ended. In the early dawn on Saturday, October 12, 2012, he died during a confrontation with Mexican Army special forces.

  They hunted him down like the wildcat that he was. Spotlighted at night on a road close to Oso Viejo, Quila, he wasn't able to get away this time like he did so many other times when, by blood and fire, he was able to flee only to hide in his dens in the hills.

  Manuel Torres, accompanied by a strong group of bodyguards, met up with federal forces in Valle de San Lorenzo and tried to evade them. But they had him surrounded. For several days, special forces, supported by the 9th Military Zone, had embedded military personnel throughout the area. At dawn that day, a contingent of soldiers came in through Tacuichamona headed towards Oso Viejo, and a similar force came down from Quila, forming an impassable perimeter, even though Torres knew the terrain like the palm of his hand.

  At the moment they got in a battle, Manuel Torres got out of the vehicle he was riding and tried to flee through the hills. But he was hit by a volley of gunfire. He fell on the spot.

  Another version of the incident, that has been denied by the military, was that Manuel Torres stood his ground and with his gunmen they killed 11 soldiers, and even brought down a helicopter.

  After his death, The military found Manuel Torres armed with a .38 Super handgun loaded with seven rounds, plus several loaded magazines. Manuel Torres had in his possession $9,980 dollars and 23,500 pesos (equivalent to $1,232.00 in dollars), plus several baggies of a white powder substance, apparently cocaine. There were several people detained and arrested.

  Sinaloa had never know such a bloodthirsty drug trafficking sicario. He came from a family with criminal backgrounds; his brother Javier Torres was in prison in the United States where was serving a sentence for drug trafficking. Javier Torres had also confronted Mexican military forces where one soldier lost his life. After that incident, his own bosses gave him up to the authorities and he was eventually extradited to the U.S.

  Javier Torres was one of Ismael Zambada Garcia, El Mayo's, top lieutenants. Although Manuel Torres never attained the same standing in the Sinaloa rank structure, he was a key player in the organization after the war broke out with the Sinaloa cartel against the Beltran Leyva brothers. Manuel Torres did not hesitate to confront the new enemies of Zambada and Joaquin Guzman.

  Born in a small town in the state of Sinaloa, Manuel Torres began working for the Sinaloa Cartel in the 1990s and later ascended to the apex of the cartel after his brother Javier Torres Félix was arrested in 2004. He then began to work with Ovidio Guzmán López, the son of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, Mexico's most-wanted man, and oversaw drug trafficking shipments coming in from South America into Mexico under the tutelage of Ismael Zambada García.

  He lived in the hills, in the valleys and rarely came down to the city. He mistrusted even his shadow. He would go two, three nights without sleep, always alert.

  Hundreds of deaths were attributed to commandos led by Manuel Torres, who rightly earned the pseudonym of "El Ondeado" because of his lack of emotional stability.

  He didn't discriminate. It was all about taking care of the plaza for El Chapo, and he acted without any consideration. Police officers from various agencies were targeted, and even some military personnel who dared invade his territory, losses that the Army never reported.

  From the start of the war in 2008, the Torres (brothers) were the target of attacks from their enemies, largely by a group known as "Los Charritos," who were linked to the Araujo family, whose principal pillar of support was Gonzalo, "El Chalo" Araujo.

  On April 4, battles were starting to take place and young Joel Torres Jimenez, son of "El JT," was attacked outside a pool hall located in the Colonia Guadalupe Victoria. He was 19 years old but managed to survive.

  A few weeks later, on April 18, another Torres, this one the son of Manuel, Atanasio Torres Acosta, "El Tachio", was murdered by rival members of the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel. During the ambush attack Manuel Torres' daughter Alondra (aged 4) was injured along with his sister-in-law Sandra Rivas Heredia. This happened right next to the building of the Health Ministry, in the Montebello residential district.

  Police located one of the vehicles apparently used by the gunmen. A red Tsuru (Mexico's version of the Nissan Sentra), where they found AK-47 rifles with a message: "On behalf of your friend [Arturo] and his buddies Los Zetas. So you can remember, Manuel Torres."

  Manuel Torres went crazy with the death of his son, whose wake was held in one of his houses in the valley. That same night and the next day while they were keeping vigil over Atanasio's body, Manuel Torres was taking his revenge on young men that his gunmen were picking up and taking to his home for him to torture. The death of Anastasio marked the beginning of the cartel war in the state of Sinaloa. Manuel Torres became one of the most dangerous drug traffickers in Sinaloa where hundreds of deaths were attributed to his commandos.

  Nothing stopped him. All over the city, headless bodies started to appear, mutilated, with messages alluding to Tachio's murder. No death, no limit, could contain his thirst for vengeance until his death.

  The cartels were at war, but he was fighting his own war in the name of his son and the pain he had suffered.

  At the place where his son was murdered, they started throwing decapitated bodies, one of them that of Barcelo Villagran, who had been the commander of the Ministerial Police and chief of the Centauro Group. They cut off both legs, decapitated him and cut open his back with a knife while he was still alive.

  On the morning of October 16, 2012, three days after the death of Manuel Torres, at least three "narcomantas" (narcobanners) appeared throughout the city of Culiacán denouncing Ismael Zambada García of betraying and setting up Maneul Torres to be killed by the Mexican military.

  Manuel Torres Felix was not even in the files of the PGR, much less in those of the State Department of Justice. In September 2008 under the Operation Sinaloa, the Mexican military located a safe house owned by Manuel Torres, where they confiscated several firearms, narcotics, radio communications equipment, and an armored vehicle.

  The Mexican military also found a photo of Manuel Torres accompanied by Misael Torres Urrea, nicknamed El M2, his nephew and son of Javier Torres Félix. Manuel Torres was placed on the most wanted drug traffickers list under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act by the U.S. government on June 1, 2011, along with Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza (a.k.a. El Macho Prieto), another high-ranking lieutenant of the Sinaloa cartel.

  A narcocorrido of the Movimiento Alterado subgenere, sung by the musical groups Bukanas De Culiacan, El Komander, Los Buitres de Culiacan, Los Buchones de Culiacan, Rogelio Martinez el RM, Los Nuevos Elegantes, Noel Torres, Erik Estrada, Oscar Garcia, and Los 2 Primos and titled Sanguinarios del M1 on YouTube ("The Bloodthirsty of M1") exalts Torres Félix for leaving decapitated and mutilated bodies in the trunk of cars as a message to his rivals. The lyrics of the song dedicated to Torres Félix start with the following:

  With an AK-47 and a bazooka on our heads

  cutting off heads that cross our path

  We're bloodthirsty and crazy – We love to kill

  Bullets fired and extortions carried out, just like the best of us

  Always in a convoy of armored cars, wearing bullet-proof vests and ready to execute people.

  Black Hawks Over Rocky Point

  On December 18, 2013 Mexican special military naval forces surrounded a conglomerate community of condominiums by land and air that overlooked the beach in Las Palomas, in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora.

  Puerto Peñasco or Rocky Point is located in the northern state of Sonora and is a popular vacationing spot among American tourists.

  The objective was very clear, to capture, Gonzalo Izunza Izunza, "El Macho Prieto," dead or alive. Macho Prieto was one of the main operators of the Sinaloa Cartel in the region, along with Luis Fernando Castro Villa "El Checo."

  The information about where the drug trafficker was hiding was not as a result of intelligence work, but of a
betrayal from a top boss, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel he worked for.

  El Macho Prieto was a hindrance to the cartel because he was killing other members from within the same organization to expand his power in the region.

  He was operating against the rules of the cartel.

  This is how military forces “hunted” the drug trafficker in the luxurious area of Puerto Peñasco in that day that resulted in a toll of five dead sicarios, one being the operator of El Mayo Zambada, Macho Prieto, whose body was picked up by a team of sicarios before police could secure the scene.

  What caused the betrayal?

  On December 12, 2010 on the Sonoyta-Puerto Peñasco highway, El Macho Prieto murdered or ordered killed Paulo Osorio Payón, El Pablo. El Pablo was a personal friend of José Manuel Torres Félix, El Ondeado, a criminal boss of the Sinaloan cartel and an operator for El Mayo. Manuel Torres had ordered the execution of Izunza.

  Aware of the hit, El Macho Prieto started massing weapons that he purchased from the United States to face Manuel Torres. However, Manuel Torres was himself killed on October 2012 in a confrontation with forces of the Mexican military.

  With that matter cleared up, El Macho Prieto returned to his base of operations in Puerto Peñasco, where he continued to invade territories of other criminal cells within his own organization and kill his own criminal partners for control of their plazas.

  Considered by his own partners as a violent person, Macho Prieto was accused of more than 80 executions. He came to the attention of the US government, who placed him on the list of the most dangerous capos. El Macho Prieto then began to become a liability and a problem by his own bosses who betrayed him by giving information to the federal authorities about his location.