1 year , 133 dead in the war between Los 28, Los Pepillos and Los Montoya

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Zetatijuana article

[ Subject Matter: Los Pepillos, Los 28, Los Montoya, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa Cartel
Recommendation: Some prior knowledge of these crews would be useful. Use main board search engine]

During the narco war between "Los 28", "Los Pepillos" and "Los Montoya", the month of May was the most violent in La Paz with 21 assassinations, next is April with 16 and July with 10.

Reporter: Zeta Investigations and Cortesia
On Friday the 31st of July, it was one year since the division among criminal groups of the Sinaloa Cartel for control of the narco trafficking plaza of La Paz.

Since then, the South Californian capital has changed since the execution of Esteban Espinoza Velazquez "El Pantera", bodyguard of the Capo Damaso Lopez Serrano "El Mini Lic", into a battle field, where the body count has been 133 in one year.

Death began to haunt La Paz, the once peaceful City as its name implies, where competing groups started kidnappings and executions, as well as incinerating bodies, dismembering, and burying their rivals in clandestine graves.




The criminal groups who, according to the Group for Public Security in Baja California Sur, started to fight for control of the narco trafficking plaza in the South Californian Capital were as follows:

• The brothers Jorge Alberto, Felipe Eduardo and Carlos Alberto Guajardo Garcia "Los 28", a criminal cell working for the Capo Damaso Lopez Serrano "El Mini Lic".
• Rolando Gonzalez Moreno "El Compadron", and his cell of criminals working for Capo Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Garcia.

The two criminal groups undertook the war when the Capo Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, was captured and imprisoned in the CEFERESO no 1 "Altiplano" in February of 2014, from which he escaped using a tunnel this past 11th of July, with evident help of the Mexican Government.

Jorge Alberto Guajardo Garcia

This dispute among the groups was for the North Zone of La Paz, whose violence with the passage of time spread to the South Zone, where day by day, these three cells participate in a fight to the death.

Apart from "Los 28" and "El Compadron", who incidentally was succeeded by Luis Antonio Montoya Beltran "Don Carlos" or "The Artist", after having been captured by the Mexican Army, the other group that participates in this fight, according to the latest crime map prepared by Federal and Military sources, is Jose Fernando Torres Montenegro or Jose Ojeda Torres "El Pepillo".

According to a member of the Inter-Institutional Group, " the criminal groups that originally started the narco war, have suffered during the year, what led them to divide and fight with their former allies, over part of the territories where they kept some sort of control or dominion"



.The war among these criminal groups lowered the tone, its bad luck that the number of dead is 133, distributed in the following manner.

53 dead from the 31st of July to 31st of December 2014
72 dead from the start of January  to the 31st of July of 2015

inclusive of the wave of violence with an expansion into Los Cabos, where they have registered 8 assassinations by organized criminals.

Day by day, and according to a member of the Group for Coordination of Public Security in Baja California Sur, the fighting could transmit to the towns of the North of the State, where there are less Security Forces currently stationed.

The last report of the Executive Secretary of the System of National Public Security, said that during the first three months of the year, Baja California Sur saw a rise in the homicide rate of 336%.

El Pepillo                               Don Carlos

According to the statistics presented for January to June past, the number of crimes committed in the first quarter of the year 2014 was 19, and in 2015 the corresponding number was 83 assassinations, where there are included some homicides not linked with organized crime.

However, despite this war between drug traffickers, BCS does not appear in first place in registered crimes in the country, like Guerrero with 1173 homicides in the first half of 2015, followed by Mexico State with 943 and Chihuahua with 622, and Jalisco with 513 and Sinaloa with 491 cases.

The numbers

Despite the fictitious calm, and the arrest of no less than 40 Sicarios, the struggle for control of the Plaza between the three groups has not ceased.

The homicide rate has not fallen during January to July of this year. Until today, and according to the count of homicides drawn up by ZETA, the most violent month during the first 7 months of the year was May, with 21 crimes, followed by April with 16 and July closed with 10 homicides.

Contradictorily, the month of March was the most tranquil with only 3 homicides, followed by February with 6 and January and June with 8.

Raul Castillo de la Rosa "El Cochi

According to a member of the Group for Coordination of Public Security in BCS, "the trend with the murders will obviously see a hike, because while there were 8 crimes in June, in July there were 10, and we assume that August and September would register an increase", he warmed.

For a member of the Inter-Institutional Group, the bloodthirsty war at this time between "Los Pepillos" and "Los 28", old allies and cells of Capo Damaso Lopez Serrano "El Mini Lic".

"The first were defending their territory, while being assaulted by the latter, who, taking advantage of an old covenant, were slowly moving in until they had control of some Colonias such as October 8th, Agua Escondida, Olas Atlas, Mezquitito, Riconada and towns such as El Centenario and Todos Santos".


Also as we closed the interview he said, " the fighting is strongest in the last few days in the village of  El Centenario, after the execution of the ex Plaza boss Silvestre Carlon Navarette, where four of the ten homicides for the month of June were registered.

Below is a list of the dead from the narco war in the month of July

• Angel de Jesus Barriga Castro
• Sivestre Carlon Navarrete "El Silvestre"
• Rosario Cervantes Soto "El Chayo"
• Edwin Ornelas Flores "El Tomate"
• Jose Ricardo Gonzalez Perea "El Richi"
• Eduardo Hirales Aviles "El Mendez"
• Luis Genaro Cayetano Espinoza "El Sica"
• Jose David Zazueta Flores "El Pepe"
• Martin Agundez Villalobos "El Martincillo"
• Jose Alberto Chavez Espinoza "El R-15" or "El Peto"

The results

Alejandro Carrasco Torres "El Oso"

Even though the Attorney General of the State of Baja California Sur, Adonai Carreon Estrada, spoke of the war between narco traffickers in La Paz because, "its the competence of the PGR", recognise that the violence started on the 21st of July 2014 when three people were executed on the La Paz - Los Planes highway.

The dead were Esteban Espinoza Valezquez "El Pantera", bodyguard of "El Mini Lic", Alberto Montero Lizarraga "El Mago" or "El Mandrake", Jose Enrique Urquiza Portillo "El Moreno" or "El Ferrari".

The success of this hit started to register a series of homicides without precedent, particularly in La Paz, where the competence of the PGJE is only and exclusively "To investigate crimes, and to pursue and detain those responsible", said Carreon.


And the narco trafficking? yes I questioned it.

"We also investigated it, but only until where it is within the faculty of the law, because when we treat them like criminal organisations, that is to say, where three or more persons participate in this to the same end, it is passed to the hands of the SEIDO.

The 15 rifles allegedly utilized in criminal acts of the ex bodyguard of the Capo Damaso Lopez Serrano, according to ballistic studies of the PGJE appear linked to the following crimes:

• Gerardo Geraldo Mendez "El Gera", killed on the 17th of August 2014
• Jose Federico Gaxiola Osuna "El Pikas", killed on the 10th of September 2014
• Jose Heliodoro Lopez Gonzalez " El Helio", killed on 6th of October 2014
• Jose Ramon Sanchez Quiroz "El Pelon", Rosendo Jesus Acevedo Amador "El Chendo" and Guadalupe Lopez Barraza "La Melody", killed on the 1st of September 2014
• Juan Carlos Morales Vargas "El Chapo", Jose Angel Gonzalez Portillo "El 27" and Jose Luis Ponce Ruiz "El Ponce", killed on 2nd of November 2014.

From that date until June past, the PGJE opened 92 investigations and resolved 65 of the 133 killings linked with organized crime, some of which were passed onto SEIDO, that is to say a handover rate to SEIDO of 50%.
In this narco war for La Paz the PGJE has decommissioned:

• 19 Rifles of either AR-15 or AK47
• 14 Pistols between 9mm and .45 acp calibre
• 395 cartridges for rifles and pistols
• 6 fragmentation grenades
• 2 bulletproof jackets
• 13 magazines
• 50 vehicles made up of cars, pick ups and vans
• 245,470 pesos

(Otis: it will take them about 10 minutes to get that many guns and weapons back into their arsenals, and a few hours of drug dealing to get that money back)

During this year, the State Attorney has captured 41 Sicarios, of which 18 were put at the disposition of SEIDO and are related in 92 of the 113 homicides.

To conclude, the Prosecutor Adonai Carreon considered that " the point of critical mass", had already passed, in virtue of that the Security Forces have managed to deplete the warring groups, and with the capture of Sicarios and the decommissioning of arms and vehicles, reducing criminal operations and lowering the violence.

Not withstanding, this doesn't assure confidence, so they continue reinforcing Security and installing road blocks to that criminal groups cannot move around easily in La Paz.

The criminal groups fighting

Cartel: Sinaloa
Capo: Damaso Lopez Serrano "El Mini Lic"
Cell Boss: Jorge Alberto, Felipe Eduardo and Carlos Alberto Guajardo Garcia, "Los 28"

Cartel: Sinaloa
Capo: Damaso Lopez Serrano "El Mini Lic"
 Cell Boss: Jose Fernando Torres Montenegro alias Jose Francisco Ojeda Torres "El Pepillo"

Cartel: Sinaloa
Capo: Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada
Cell Boss: Luis Antonio Montoya Beltran "Don Carlos" or "El Artista" or "El Montoya"

The Sicario Heads captured

Victor Barraza Martinez "El Vidal" or "El Victor"
Juan Antonio Martinez Rosas "El Furby"
Gustavo Lozoya Portillo "El Guero"
Juan Alberto Meza Gonzalez "El Diablo"
Ariel Bautista Lopez "El Chapo"
Jovanny Nunez Espino "El Loco"
Abel Nahum Quintero Manjarrez "El Grande"
Hector Gregorio Garcia Garcia "El 26"

Original article in Spanish at Zetatijuana