Dismembered Body of "Flacaman" Left as a Warning To Los Chapitos in Sonora

"HEARST" and "Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

A subordinate of a Los Chapitos regional boss was dismembered and tortured, then his remains were left along with a threatening message toward his boss near Santa Clara, Sonora. Because the Santa Clara gulf acts as a key point within the Chapitos drug smuggling route of choice, the threats to one of their important lieutenants may be taken more seriously than most.

Warning: Graphic images below this point. 

The End of El Flacaman

On January 25, 2022, Julio Alonso was abducted by armed men while he was in the southern part of the city of Mexcali, in a neighborhood called Satélite. Several hooded men, carrying firearms and wearing tactical vests, allegedly shot Julio in the leg to incapacitate him and then dragged his body into their vehicle and then sped away from the abduction location. 

Julio Alonso, alias “El Flacaman” (sometimes spelled “El Flakaman”), was 50 years old and owned residences in both the city of Mexicali as well as in the Santa Clara gulf area. El Flacaman had a state level and a federal level criminal record according to the Sonora and Baja California Attorney General’s Offices. 

Four days after he was abducted, on January 29, 2022, police were called to a location where a dead body was reportedly discovered. Officers traveled to an area outside of the city of San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora along Highway 3, in between the small town of La Flor Del Desierto and the El Doctor station. 

About two kilometers (or 1.15 miles) south of Highway 3, heading into the desert, they found the dead body which was reported. It was a man who looked to be about 50 years old, of light complexion and medium build. 

Later, the Attorney General’s office would officially confirm that the deceased man found was Julio Alonso, alias “El Flacaman”, the same man who was abducted on January 25, 2022. 

The official reports say simply that his body showed signs of torture. In photos which are alleged to depict the crime scene, El Flacaman can be seen to have had his right arm amputated and the bones in his left arm broken, allowing his arm to fall at an unnatural curve on top of his chest. 

Various cuts and bruises can be seen across his body. A wood handled knife was left stabbed into his chest. According to Gustavo Valenzuela G, his genitals were mutilated. 

A neon green narco message sign was left nearby. The message reads as follows, as translated by Sol Prendido:

Save yourselves guys. Look at what happened to me. You’re all better off running away from here. "El Cholo", you failed to save me. I was "El Flacaman" and many others will follow in my footsteps.

A Message for Adán Quintero

The Facebook group Sonora Informativo reports the “El Cholo” being referenced in the narco message is the alias of Adán Quintero, who is known more commonly by the alias “El 74”. El 74 is believed to be in charge of the Gulf of Santa Clara region. They allege El Flacaman worked for El 74 in some capacity.

According to a June 2021 Zeta Tijuana article, El 74 has a subordinate named Jesús Aurelio Ibarra Ramiro who is in charge of receiving drugs in the gulf. 

Zeta Tijuana says explicitly in the June article that “Jesús Aurelio Ibarra Ramiro [...] operates for the Guzman brothers in the Gulf of Santa Clara.” 

Zeta does not say outright that El 74 also works for the Guzman brothers, who are better known as Los Chapitos. However they do say Ibarra Ramiro reports directly to El 74, which implies that El 74 is most likely a Chapitos regional boss. 

Jesús Aurelio Ibarra Ramiro is the son of Samuel Ibarra Peralta, alias “El Pía”, who was a key Los Garibays leader who was pushed out of Mexicali when Los Rusos took a stronger hold on the city. He, along with Luis Alfredo Garibay Felix, alias "El Wicho", another Los Garibays leader, reportedly entered into an alliance with Los Salazars in order to fight their mutual enemy: Los Rusos. 

For an overview of the Los Rusos versus Los Garibays conflict, please see this previous Borderland Beat story. 

The Importance of the Region 

According to the aforementioned June 2021 article from Zeta Tijuana, the Gulf of Santa Clara acts as a base of operation for the Sinaloa Cartel group directly associated with Los Chapitos brothers such as Ivan Archivaldo and Alfredo Guzman Salazar, sons of Joaquin Guzman Loera, alias "El Chapo". 

According to the article, one of the Chapitos main drug routes uses boats which are loaded up with drug deliveries at various points along the coastline of the state of Sinaloa. Those boats then travel to the Santa Clara gulf, in the state of Sonora, where they are unloaded. 

From there, the deliveries are smuggled one of two possible ways. 

In the first route, they travel along the dirt road near "El Chinero", passing the military checkpoint on the Mexicali-San Felipe highway and then rejoining the road until they reach the state capital city. 

In the second route, they travel from "El Chinero" to Valle de la Trinidad or Ojos Negros, then on to finally reach Ensenada and then finally they are taken up to Tijuana.

Sources: El Imparcial, Tribuna de San Luis, Reporte 653, El 5 to Poder, Gustavo Valenzuela G, Sonora Informativo, Mayte López Post 1, Post 2, Calvarie Locus, Odisea Informativa, Notiface Prensa Digital De San Luis, La Voz del Pueblo de San Luis Río Colorado, Zeta Tijuana June 2021, Zeta Tijuana October 2021, Zeta December 2021