Tijuana: Human Head Left With Threats for CJNG's Cabo 30 and Cabo 50

"HEARST" and "Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat 

A dismembered human head was left alongside a narco message that threatened Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generation’s regional leaders “Cabo 50” and “Cabo 30” in the city of Tijuana in the state of Baja California. 

Warning: Graphic images below this point.

On the night of January 2, 2022, at approximately 7:45 pm, a report was received by the emergency phone line about a suspicious package having been found in the Sánchez Taboada neighborhood of Tijuana. The discovery was made on Orión Street, near where it intersects with Sánchez Taboada Boulevard.

A municipal patrol unit was dispatched to the area and a red bag with a human male head inside was confirmed by officers to have been placed in the area. 

Next to the red paper bag with the head, a white, handwritten narco message had been placed, which read, as translated by Sol Prendido:

This was my fate for being a snitch, setting people up, and having a direct connection with that dumb ass 30 or 50 or El Cornudo. 

Sincerely, 

La Mera Verga 

“La Mera Verga” translates to "The Grand Dick", which is a slang term akin to the English phrase "the top dog". Signing a narcomanta with “La Mera Verga” is purposefully non-identifying. 

Non-identifying monikers are often used in cases such as this when the sender is trying to avoid drawing law enforcement attention, or “heat”. They can also be used in situations in which the message is meant to be understood only by a select group who would recognize who sent the message without it needing to be stated. 

Another commonly used non-identifying moniker is “los dueños” or “the owners”, as seen in the May 27, 2021 narcomanta above, which was signed with only the phrase “los dueños de plaza” or the owners of the plaza.

It is worth noting that this same park, which features the large letters reading “TIJUANA”, was the dumpsite of a narcomessage and human remains just one week earlier, as previously covered on Borderland Beat here. 

In that instance, Sinaloa Cartel’s Cabo 27 left a message on a sign threatening Cartel Arellano Félix’s El Lobo along with a dead hitman they alleged worked for El Lobo. Because the latest message is believed to be aimed at leaders of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generation (CJNG), it appears last week’s message is unrelated to this current message, despite the same location being used.

In the narco message, the referenced “El 30” may refer to Rodolfo López Arellano, alias “Cabo 30” and the referenced “El 50” may refer to Israel Alejandro Vázquez Pérez, alias “Cabo 50”. Both are regional leaders of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generation (CJNG).

The criminal record of Rodolfo López Arellano, aliases “Cabo 30” and “El Solecito”, began with minor offenses, such as damage to property charges in 2004, the illegal possession of a firearm in 2005, and another damage to property charge in 2011. In 2015, he was imprisoned on charges related to the selling of drugs.  

He was first identified as a notable cartel operator by the Baja law enforcement security coordination group in 2018. The security group placed him on the CJNG’s organization chart as reporting to Edgar Alejandro Herrera Pardo, aliases “El Cabo 8” and “El Caimán”.  

Cabo 8 was fighting for control of the Los Pinos district of Tijuana against Sinaloa Cartel’s José Luis Mendoza Uriarte, alias “El Güero Chompas”, at the time. Cabo 30 was believed to be acting as one of the head of hitmen, leading a group of sicarios on behalf of Cabo 8 in Los Pinos.

Some of Cabo 8’s other direct reports at this time included Édgar Pérez Villa, alias "Cabo 89", whose criminal history was previously detailed on Borderland Beat here. 

On March 6, 2018, two men were murdered in a mechanic shop in the Valles neighborhood. A female minor named Carmen Guadalupe came forward and testified in court that she had seen witnessed the murder and that the perpetrators were Cabo 30, along with two other thugs: Luis Ángel Gurrola Carranza, alias "El Mudo" and a man known only by the alias "El Pitza". 

A few months later, on October 12, 2018, witness Carmen Guadalupe, who was only 18 years old at the time, was shot to death. The father of the young Carmen Guadalupe told law enforcement that the 18-year-old girl had no problems with anyone nor any addictions, attributing her death as an act of retribution against her testifying in court. Her father was later proven correct as ballistic analysis proved that the same gun that was used to kill Carmen had been used in other known homicides, two of which were the original murders in the mechanic shop. Cabo 30 is still sometimes called a “woman killer”, such as in this January 2019 narcomanta, in reference to Carmen’s death. 

An arrest warrant for the capture of Cabo 30 has remained active throughout his entire criminal career because of the testimony of Carmen Guadalupe. This is notable because, as Zeta Tijuana pointed out in a November 2021 article, of the 67 priority targets that Baja law enforcement has listed, only 5 of the 67 have active arrest warrants, with Cabo 30 being one of those five. 

In February 2019, a banner was hung on a Tijuana bridge that threatened harm to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador during a time when the President was visiting the city. They were signed by David López Jiménez, alias “El Lobo”, and his new boss Pablo Edwin Huerta Nuño, alias “El Flaquito” from the CAF. 

Soon after, new narcomantas claimed that the banners threatening the President were not actually from El Lobo or El Flaquito, but were in fact a forgery devised by Cabo 8 and Cabo 30, who together sought to bring down federal level heat onto El Lobo as retribution for him leaving the CJNG for the Cártel Arellano Félix.

In May 5, 2019, Cabo 30’s boss Cabo 8 narrowly escaped death when he accompanied Héctor Manuel Morales Guzmán, alias “El Gallero”, on a requested trip to Jalisco that turned out to actually be a trap set to kill Gallero by CJNG higher-ups who were secretly on a campaign of “cleansing” the Baja organization of bad leadership at the time. Whether Cabo 8 was an intended target of this CJNG hit or Cabo 8 was brought along as support is unknown. 

Cabo 8 received a gunshot injury allegedly from the attack on Gallero. Shortly after he finished recovering from the wound, he was forced into hiding due to a potential warrant out for his arrest in Tijuana. 

Cabo 8 in the hospital after the Jalisco shooting. 

Despite laying low in the city of Querétaro, in Querétaro state, on August 4, 2019, Cabo 8 was arrested leaving Cabo 30 without a boss and leading to an organizational restructuring of the CJNG’s Tijuana groups. It is at this point in 2019 that Cabo 30 is believed to have been promoted and begun working directly under El Trapero, leading a group roughly the same size as Cabo 8’s had been.

Cabo 8 in photographed custody on August 4, 2019 

Narcomantas began appearing which threatened CJNG members who had left and warned current members against joining the CAF group under El Lobo, who was actively recruiting his former CJNG comrades. 

Some CJNG members were successfully poached by El Lobo such Gastón Martínez Cárdenas, alias “El Gastón”, José Ángel Flores Hernández, alias “Cabo 62”, Leonardo Fabián Llamas, alias “Cabo 45”, and the aforementioned Cabo 89 however Cabo 30 remained steadfast. Cabo 30 has only ever been reported as belonging to the CJNG throughout his criminal career, which is especially unusual for Tijuana operators who have a higher rate of switching cartel allegiances than other regions in Mexico.

In September 2020, Zeta Tijuana reported that Cabo 30 was primarily fighting against Sinaloa Cartel’s Edwin Antonio Rubio López, alias “El Max”, who was working under Los Uriartes at the time (now under El Aquiles of Los Arzates). Their battles for control spread across the Sánchez Taboada, Los Pinos, and Natura districts. 

Cabo 30 is currently believed to be 33 years old and as of September 2020, Zeta Tijuana reported that Cabo 30’s boss was Alfonso Trapero Ibarra, alias “El Trapero”, who is believed to be one of the two highest-ranking men for the CJNG in the state of Baja California. 

He is believed to be in charge of the CJNG group operating in the Natura district of Tijuana. His two main lieutenants are believed to be Hernán Castro Vázquez, alias “El Cocho” and Miguel Ángel Alfonso Quiroz, aliases “El 01” and “El Chácharas. 

El Cocho is believed to be 32 years old. He has a criminal record with five charges for drug dealing in the year 2014 as well as an arrest on record in 2018. Little is known about El 01, his age is unknown and it is believed that he has no criminal record. 

Note: All ages given are for January 2022. 

Sources: Zeta Tijuana, Uniradio Informa, Punto Norte, Cadena Noticias, Hiptex, Tijuana Sin Censura, Esquina32, Video, TJ Noticias, TJ Comunica

Cabo 30 Sources: Zeta Tijuana Articles from March 2019, January 2019, September 2020, August 2021, March 2021, November 2021