Armando 'El Gordo' Villareal detained

Last year, on July 22, Operation Green Light (Luz Verde) indicted 43 members and affilates of the Arellano Felix Cartel, (CAF) operating in San Diego, San Diego native Armando Villareal was among the primary defendants, wanted on RICO charges ranging from drug trafficking to murder. He allegedly disasspared from Tijuana around that time, and was said to be in Jalisco, Guadalajara, to escape the multi agency Federal task force that swept up many of his crew members. Almost exactly a year later, Villareal has been apprehended in Hermosillo, Sonora, where authorities say he coordinated shipments of drugs from Sinaloa and Jalisco.

Initial reports link him to the Arellano Felix group, under the direction and authority of Fernando Sanchez Arellano, El Ingeniero, but a recent Zeta profile on the trafficker revealed that he had broken away from Sanchez Arellano's group, and now worked as an independent trafficker, handling shipments from the Sinaloa Cartel, as well as the Arellano Felix. His location suggests that this may have been true, but nothing is certain at this point.

Some sources claim 'El Gordo' is the cousin of Arturo 'El Nalgon' Villareal, known as 6-1, who was arrested with Javier Francisco Arellano Felix in August of 2006, off the coast of Baja, California, on the Dock Holiday, a 43 ft. yacht. Arturo Villareal is seving 30 years, in the United States. Other sources claim they are brothers. A United States Justice Department offical confirmed that Villareal is a US citizen. Whether that means he will be extradited to face charges stemming from last years indictment, is not known, and likely not for some time, if the case of La Barbie is any indication. The two are from the Imperial Beach area of San Diego, El Gordo began his work with CAF when he was 16, operating under 6-1, and later under El Ingeniero when the conflict with El Teo began in 2008.

El Gordo was said to be present at the shooutout at Insurgentes in April of 2008, when Fernando Sanchez is said to have ordered the El Teo faction eliminated. Villareal was also present during the brutal struggle fro Tijuana, and his name turned up in narco messsages left with decpaitated and dismembered corpses. There were said to be internal issues between Fernando Sanchez and Armando Villareal, and it was reported more then once that he had been 'left on his own', for kidnapping, and engaging El Teo, during an alleged truce between the two factions.

Gordo appeared on the 'new list' of traffickers from CAF in January 2009, alongside Fernando Sanchez, El Teo, El Muletas, and La Perra. As of July 2011, over half have been arrested. With the arrest of Armando Villareal, authorities may be closer to Ingeniero, the elusive, and reportedly, absent boss of CAF, or Fernando Sanchez Organization, as stated in the aforementioned indictment.


Sources: AFN Tijuana, Blog Del Narco, San Diego Six Online, Zeta Magzine