Borderland Beat

by Alex Marentes

  "Calderón wanted agreements with all the cartels; the Zetas, Gulf cartel, Juarez Cartel, with Mayo Zambada, El Chapo and myself," Barbie said in the letter.

  "I could have done what they wanted me to do, these public officials that I mentioned, are also part of the criminal structure of this country," La barbie said in the letter.

  La Barbie said that the federal police had orders to kill him. He said that in fact when he was captured, he was moved from one location to another and when he was alone, the federal police officer that was escorting him told him to run so he could justify shooting him and say that he had resisted arrest.

  On November 2010, the Mexican government agreed to extradite La Barbie to the US and was subsequently sentenced by the US government to 50 years in prison.

  Today, Mexican drug cartels are splintered and spread out on a wider range as a result of infighting and a power vacuum left by arrested or killed drug lords.

  Tony Tormenta

  In 2006, when Mexican President Felipe Calderon took office, he had promised to fight back against the drug cartels. His first two years in office showed strong successes against the cartels, with large drug seizures and the capture of several organizations’ leaders. One of the government’s main target was the Gulf cartel, based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, was one of the most powerful cartels in Mexico.

  By late 2008, a two-year-long campaign by the Calderon government against the Gulf Cartel or Cartel del Golfo (CDG), it had left it crippled. The cartel’s enforcement arm, Los Zetas, splintered off in spring 2008 and took control of much of what used to be Gulf territory. However, the government’s success was a double-edged sword. The decline of the Gulf cartel left a large power vacuum, encouraging other organizations and factions within those organizations, particularly Los Zetas to fight to increase their influence.

  Both groups engaged in widespread violence across several border cities of Tamaulipas state, turning several border towns into "ghost towns."

  Borderland Beat continued to cover these conflicts and we continued getting execution videos, graphic pictures and news from anonymous sources. We started to get some information about events happening in the gulf. It was becoming very difficult to confirm a lot of the information as it was raw and not found in main stream media. One specific event that was unfolding in 2010 was related to “Tony Tormenta.”

  Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén, commonly known as Tony Tormenta (Tony the Storm) was a Mexican cartel boss who was one of the leaders of the Gulf Cartel (Cartel del Golfo or CDG), a drug trafficking organization based in Tamaulipas. He led the CDG along with Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez.

  Tony Tormenta was considered one of the most-wanted men by the Mexican government. Born in

  Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Tony Tormenta had been a car washer at a local police station with his brother Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, the former leader of the CDG. By the late 1980s, Tony entered the drug trade, and later became the top cartel boss of Matamoros. Tony controlled all the drug trafficking shipments in Matamoros. Tony along with his brother Osiel formed the Zeta squad made up of military forces that had deserted the army.

  Tony Tormenta was so powerful and bloodthirsty like his brother Osiel. He had the freedom of engaging in shootings and killings in and out of the state of Tamaulipas without being stopped by authorities. He was often seen in public places like Reynosa, Ciudad Victoria, Matamoros and other cities in Tamaulipas surrounded by state and municipal police officers, whose commanders remain loyal to his criminal organization, one of the oldest in the country that was formed over 50 years ago.

  The US had an interest to capture Tony Tormenta primarily over an incident that happened back in 1998.

  FBI agents acting on a tip raided Cardenas’s home in Houston, according to the recently released records. They saw Cardenas leave the house, but, citing lack of resources, chose to execute a search warrant on the residence rather than follow him. The search yielded “cash, numerous vehicles, cocaine, marijuana, firearms and one 1996 Sea Doo Bombardier with expired Florida registration …”

  According to the reports in the FBI files, investigators didn’t know much about Cardenas or the organization with which he was working. Agents circulated information about him and his vehicle, but by then he had escaped. In a memo filed in December 1999, an FBI agent said Harris County prosecutors had indicted Cardenas on drug charges and wrote that the bureau would be closing its file.

  Only a month earlier, the Cardenas name began to ring out along the Texas-Mexico border when Osiel and his sicarios forced a pair of U.S. agents off the road in Matamoros and threatened to kill them. The agents talked their way out and rescued the informant who had been showing them around the Gulf Cartel stronghold.

  Osiel Cardenas was eventually arrested in Mexico in 2004 and extradited to the U.S. in 2007. In 2010, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

  On September 17, 2010 I posted information that Tony Tormenta had been captured, this was confided to me by very reliable sources and confirmed by the main stream media in Mexico and the US.

  “Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen, "Tony Tormenta", the main leader of the Gulf Cartel was arrested this afternoon amid heavy fighting that left many dead in Matamoros. This information was confirmed by reliable military sources in addition to the main stream media. La Reforma, and El Norte used unnamed law enforcement sources and witnesses to report on the outcome of the military operation.

  In the firefight it is believed that "El Tyson" or "M3"

  was also detained, he is the third in command of the Gulf Cartel who are currently waging a war against "Los Zetas" for control of the northeastern Mexican Border States. Lost Zetas are the former armed wing of the Gulf cartel.

  The military operation was carried out by elements of the Mexican Naval Marines against sicarios of the Gulf cartel resulted in at least three separate shootouts in different parts of Matamoros this afternoon, as reported by the Daily Texan Brownsville Herald.

  The newspaper reported that the first shootout took place in the district of Expo Fiesta Sur, where a commando of the Gulf Cartel attempted to raid a Zeta safe house.

  This forced the marines to advance on the operation to arrest Tony Tormenta that had been scheduled for later in the afternoon.

  A convoy of the marines came upon a heavily armed commando of the Gulf Cartel adjacent to the facilities of the Matamoros Municipal Police station.

  According to witnesses this confrontation that would be reinforced by naval helicopters resulted in many casualties of sicarios and possibly military personnel.

  The confrontation then turned in to a pursuit through the streets of the border town culminating in the exclusive neighborhood of Las Arboladas near the region of Playa Lauro Villar, very near to one of the international bridges in the area.

  The confrontation in Las Arboladas was particularly violent, with a high number of casualties that included soldiers and sicarios of the Gulf Cartel.

  "Eyewitnesses reported seeing dozens of bodies of both armed gunmen and Mexican soldiers," reported the Brownsville Herald.

  The "M3" had arrived to reinforce and to strengthen the criminal organization with an undetermined number of armed sicarios named "Los Escorpiones". The marines also required and received reinforcement from additional military forces.

  It was in Las Arbolada that Cardenas Guillen was arrested and was immediately transported to the facilities of the PGR in Mexico City.

  M3 is said to have also been arrested but his current whereabouts are unknown.

  "El Universal" had hinted that Tony Tormenta had been killed in a shootout, but that version is not panning out. "Military forces engaged armed gunmen, killing one of them, in a confrontation after the military attempted to stop them. They have ruled that the dead victim, still unidentified, could be that of Tony Tormenta, brother of Osiel Cardenas Guillen," according to the news from El Universal.”

  A few days later I received information from anonymous sources that Tony Tormenta had b
een set free after he paid thousands of dollars in cash to high level members of the military. I was not able to confirm this, but I was getting this information from numerous sources. One thing was clear, Tony had eluded capture, despite the heavy presence of military and helicopters during the confrontation. I had to post a retraction on September 22, 2010.

  “Last Friday I reported on the capture of Tony Tormenta based on official reports and anonymous information from reputable sources. I quickly jumped on the story wanting to bring our readers up to date information on a very important event. Well, it turns out, the information was incorrect. Tony Tormenta was at the scene of the conflict but managed to escape.

  The information about the conflict remains sketchy at best. There are reports of sicarios that were allegedly captured at the scene but we have not seen anyone presented to the media (a press conference where arrested cartel bosses or sicarios are shown/presented to the media) or more detailed information coming out.

  We apologize for the misinformation and any inconvenience this might have caused. We strive to bring you up to date and reliable information to the best of our ability. But I must agree that sometimes it is hard to do because the information coming out from Mexico at times is very hard to confirm.”

  I knew that the US played a huge role in providing intelligence information to Mexican authorities on Tony Tormenta and I knew they were right behind his tail. I am not certain if the US had knowledge on exactly what happed when the military allegedly captured Tony and managed to escape. But not long after, Tony would be killed in a shootout with the military as reported by me on November 6, 2010.

  Blog del Narco published two pictures, one of Tony Tormenta and the other of "El Tyson" or "M3" that showed them killed in the battle.

  “A total of 660 members of the Navy of Mexico participated in the operation yesterday which resulted in the death of Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén, alias "Tony Tormenta", a high-ranking kingpin of the Gulf Drug Cartel.

  The Secretary of the Navy said in a statement that a total of 660 military marines were deployed in the operation,

  and of these, 150 were in the first circle of action, supported by three helicopters and 17 armored vehicles.

  Cartel gunmen used moving vehicles and sharpshooters positioned on rooftops to try to rescue Cardenas during the operation by Mexican Marines in the northeastern border city of Matamoros.

  In the gunfight four gunmen were killed that allegedly belonged to the inner circle of protection to "Tony Tormenta." Also killed were three marines while four others were wounded, said the Navy said in a statement.

  A source explained that Mexican authorities had been following the trail of "Tony Tormenta" for the last six months and on Friday they received his location in a downtown neighborhood of Matamoros, a city bordering the United States, but when the first group of marines arrived, they were met with automatic gunfire and grenades.

  This conflict unleashed a fierce gun battle which lasted for more than two hours, until the capo "Tony Tormenta", a

  native of Matamoros and at the age 48, finally fell.

  Friday's daylong gunfights throughout Matamoros between cartel hit men and Mexican soldiers and marines plunged the city into chaos and panic, witnesses said, as armed men plowed through streets on the backs of pickup trucks.

  Residents rushed in helter-skelter traffic to get home; many remained trapped in their offices. Cellphone service went down, further stoking fears as bursts of high-caliber weaponry could be heard for hours.

  The international bridges into Texas were closed for a time.

  Most of the fighting barely made a ripple in national news here in Mexico because local reporters in Tamaulipas, out of fear or corruption, have been trained to ignore cartel activities. Only when a journalist for a Matamoros newspaper was killed in the gun battle did the news begin to trickle out.”

  The next day authorities found three banners (narcomantas) hanging on a bridge in the city of Nuevo Laredo by "UNIDAD ZTAS" or United Zetas.

  The following content was written in each of the narcobanners:

  “Once again it shows the fate of the traitors in the Gulf cartel (Las Golfas), who do not fit in anywhere, not even in hell, there they will find Los Zetas who went before us, to kill again. For all the traitors of the Gulf cartel bring out the school of the informant of Osiel, let's see where they go hide because they have nowhere to go, they are walking around in circles around the same frying pan ...

  Sincerely Unidad ZTAS”

  On November 10, 2010 Borderland Beat contributor RiseMakaveli posted some facts about Tony Tormenta in an article titled "Tony Tormenta : Story Behind His Death" As I had stated earlier, RiseMakaveli, or as he is known “Maka,” was known to be a boot on the ground and had personal knowledge of Los Zetas and CDG. This is what he wrote:

  “As you all know, Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen or Tony Tormenta, as many knew him by, was killed last Friday in a shootout against the Mexican military forces.

  Over the last few months, a lot information has been flying around about the events leading to his ultimate death, I will try to share them with you guys here in this article. None of the information is being cemented as “facts”, it’s just simple information that's been received by several sources. I feel like I have to put this HUGE disclaimer before releasing this information due to the fact that in a recent article I wrote, I nearly got crucified for having an open mind. Anyways.

  What I ask of you today before reading this is to keep an open mind, and remember, this was all information which was passed on to me by people who are somehow affiliated to the war. I do not paint this to be facts, I will only share with you my thoughts on this.

  Ok, so here’s the deal. Couple of months back I’m sure some of you guys heard about the huge shootout that broke out in Matamoros, where a picture flooded the internet claiming that it was possibly Tony. I quickly laughed at the idea and told you guys to ignore it. Well, what a lot of people don't know, even though he was not killed, he was actually captured. Now this is part of the story which I do back up and can almost swear by it.

  Story is that Tony was involved in a shootout with Zetas and the military got involved, a huge chase and shootout eventually broke out. Story behind that, Tony was cornered and captured. Upon being captured there was an agreement with the "Commandante", Tony was to pay 3,000,000 dollars to be released.

  Apparently, he was treated like shit and even smacked around by the marines, well none the less, story continue with Metro riding down to Matamoros to pay the ransom for Tormenta. It all sounded too Hollywood to be honest, I didn’t really take much to it. It became a lot more noticeable after I was told this by more than three people, all stating the same story but adding a piece to it.

  Apparently, word got out and the “Commandante” was charged and sent to Mexico D.F. for releasing

  Tormenta. I don’t know if some of you guys remember reading it all over the place, newspapers printing “Confirmed by Credible Military Sources”, meaning high ranking officers. Well, anyways, this guys will not just jump up on a speculation and print shit out like that, if that was published, it was published because it had a strong character backing up the claim. This was the first piece of the puzzle, story I heard weeks ago.

  Well just yesterday I was told what appears to be the second part of the story. Apparently, after Tormenta was released, the man kidnapped 10 soldiers and called up the “Commandante” at the time (this is before he was prosecuted) and asked for a ransom. The Officer of course, did not give two cents, so Tormenta killed the soldiers and threw their bodies on the side of the road (I can’t remember what road). Anyways, story continues. Apparently after the bodies were found, the Marines retaliated, they found out who his wife and family are and kidnap his wife and son.

  Tony Tormenta is somehow contacted and alerted that they have his family, he completely disregards it by stating it is his sister and nephew, I guess to see if they would let them go or something, I don't k
now. Apparently, the Marines dismembered his son and badly beat up his wife, let her go only to go back and describe how they had murdered her son to Tormenta. At that moment, it clicked, weeks ago I had heard from a friend that Cardena's Sister had been kidnapped, that's when it kind of started to itch, you know. That certain situation where everything just seems to click.

  ‘It’s just a story and really, it’s the first time I’ve heard it and nothing absolutely to back it up,’ is what I thought. As the day went on I start reading my favorite website, borderlandbeat.com and I start reading my comrades coverage, when all of a sudden I remember, the story, and I think, “why not, let’s just do a little research”

  This is where it gets interesting.

  Supposed Marines Kidnap Two In Tamaulipas.

  Karla Elizabeth Cárdenas states a convoy of Marines broke into her house on Sunday and took her mother and brother.

  That is an extract from this post in Spanish

  I will not translate all of it, but it basically describes how Karla Elizabeth states that an alleged convoy of Marines broke into her house on Sunday. This article was published on the 29th of September, stating it happened on Sunday 26th. So far it fits, right, first shootout where tony was supposedly captured and released happened on the 18th of September I believe. So far it fits with the story right, but I mean, it could be anybody, just because her last name is Cardenas, does not mean she's related, right?

  Until I found this other article.

  ‘Tormenta's Body is returned to Wife and Daughter.’

  Authorities informed that the body of Tormenta was turned over to his wife Hermelinda Rivera and daughter Carla Elizabeth Cárdenas Rivera.

  Ok, well the name is spelled with a C instead of with a K like on the first link, but I'm pretty sure it's the same person.

  I published this information to give you guys an opportunity to realize that the stuff that we see on TV is not all true, and that a lot of times information we think to be true, is really just a part of a bigger puzzle. It's not as simple as we all would like to think. Some of you guys where asking how Tormenta was still hanging around in Matamoros after how hot it was, would this be a good excuse? His son murdered and wife beat and probably raped.