El Flaquito's Fentanyl Distributor El Bombero Tortured, Killed and Marked with Number "27" at a Motel in Tijuana

"HEARST" for Borderland Beat 

Ricardo Aguilar Jacobo, alias “El Bombero” was found dead after being tortured inside a motel room in Tijuana. It is believed that he was working for the Cártel Arellano Félix (CAF) led by Pablo Edwin Huerta Nuño, alias “El Flaquito” and  David Lopez Jimenez, alias “El Lobo”.

Warning: Graphic images below this point.

The Torture & Execution

According to the police investigation report viewed by Punto Norte, El Bombero “had an appointment with two women at the motel, Wednesday, April 20.” Motel Marbella is located in the Fortín de las Flores neighborhood, which is a part of the La Mesa district in Tijuana.

Bombero reportedly arrived at Motel Mirabel in a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, bearing a California license plate. He parked his vehicle inside the garage for his room and entered the motel room alone. Sometime later two women entered the same motel room that Bombero was inside. 

Then, a subject exited a different motel room and entered the motel room where Bombero and the two women were present. This subject is presumed to be Bombero’s killer. 

At 11:40 pm that night, an emergency line call was placed and officers were dispatched to the Motel Marbella. Bombero was found dead inside the motel room by the officers. He was said to be positioned lying face down and on the skin of his back the number “27” had been written in what appears to be marker. His injuries sugggest that he was tortured by his attacker.

A serious neck injury could be seen and no gunshot wounds were visible so it is presumed that his attacker killed him utilizing a knife, although the medical examiner has not yet concluded their report and determined the cause of death. 

El Bombero's Criminal History 

According to social media accounts that cover cartel news, like Tijuana En Guerra, Ricardo got his alias “El Bombero”, or “The Fireman” because at one point he worked as a firefighter within a heroic company within Tijuana. He allegedly used his firefighter credentials in order to obtain a tourist visa for the US and he was able to easily cross the border because of this visa. El Bombero reportedly was dismissed from his Tijuana fire company after he failed a required drug test. 

Ricardo is also thought to use the alias “El Fendi”, “Ricky” and “Rica”.  

February 3, 2013

El Bombero was allegedly driving in his Ford Explorer SUV in the Módulos de Otay neighborhood of  Tijuana when a taxi blocked his path on the road. The situation escalated when the taxi driver refused to move out of the way. 

According to a witness, El Bombero “turned back and opened fire” on the taxi, intending to shoot the driver however he ended up hitting the taxi’s passenger with his shots. The passenger was a 14-year old boy named Luis Antonio who died from the gunshot injuries. The taxi driver survived the incident. 

Sometime later in February 2013

Agents working for the state Attorney General’s Office were able to identify the man who shot the 14-year old as El Bombero and they arrested him on charges of aggravated homicide. However, a judge mysteriously decided to release El Bombero before he could be brought to trial for the homicide. 

July 5, 2013

An arrest warrant was issued for El Bombero based on the evidence against him as it relates to the homicide of the 14-year old boy. 

January 3, 2014 

El Bombero was arrested on General de Bolaños street in the Tomas Aquino neighborhood after police stopped him, believing him to be a suspicious individual. When asked for his name, El Bombero identified himself as Ricardo Aguilar Jacobo.

Police ran the name through their system and saw that he had an active arrest warrant, so they detained him. Whether he was ever convicted or served time for this homicide is unknown but he was known to be back on the streets of Tijuana by 2016, collecting minor criminal infractions such as weapons possession charges. 

January 13, 2021

A narco banner was placed on a pedestrian bridge on Insurgentes Boulevard near Morelos Park in Tijuana

The banner read as follows, as translated by Sol Prendido: 

This will be the fate of every municipal and state police officer. 

You sons of bitches need to stop stealing our drugs. 

Baquitas is at the order of that crooked fuck El Flaquito. 

We will begin to kill off agents 015, 01, and 016 if you don’t return what you’ve stolen. 

Sincerely, 

Italia and Bombero

The numbers in the banner likely refer to certain police officers such as 015 indicating Officer Miguel Angel Sanchez Martinez. 

This is where we get our first definitive link between El Bombero and a specific cartel. This banner and the subsequent media coverage of it indicates that at this time El Bombero was a subordinate of “El Italia” or The Italian.  Italia was the right hand man and second in command of a Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) group led by Christian (or Cristian) David Navarro Rodríguez, alias "El Búho" or The Owl.

El Búho had been identified as a CJNG leader in control of their territory within the San Antonio de los Buenos district of Tijuana back in a 2018 Zeta article and again in a 2019 Zeta article.  At the time he was said to be fightin Sinaloa Cartel’s Edgar Morán Zavala, alias “El Turbo” for control of the los Buenos district. 

March 16, 2021 

GESI agents arrested El Bombero while he was inside a GMC Yukon SUV on Paseo Ensenada Boulevard, in the district of Playas de Tijuana. He was found to be in possession of 13 packages of methamphetamine.

Following his arrest, El Bombero allegedly confessed to police that he had kidnapped three Americans who were working for CDS operator Víctor Tirado Zataraín. He says he did so on the direct order of El Búho, who saw Tirado Zataraín as a competitor. 

October 2021 

El Búho allegedly hired the group Los Erres to assassinate a municipal police intelligence deputy.  Zeta reports that at the time it was rumored that "Los Erres had become an independent criminal group, dedicated to ‘settling scores’ that rented itself out to the highest bidder, regardless of the cartel.” So it seems that the CJNG group led by El Búho, Italia, and El Bombero had chosen to outsource the hit to Los Erres.

Zeta specifically names Víctor Amador Luna, alias “El Cuate”, as the cell leader who organized the hit after he was hired by El Búho, directing Javier Antonio Guerrero Hernández, alias “El Goyo” to lead three hitmen in the attack on deputy Javier Antonio Rodríguez Rincón.

On October 19, 2021, the hitmen attempted to gun down Rodríguez Rincón however they failed to kill him and the three Los Erres hitmen were arrested. El Bombero and El Italia, along with their boss El Búho were suspected by police of being behind the hit on officer Rodríguez Rincón due to their explicit threats against him in narco banners.

April 20, 2022

El Bombero is found with his throat slashed and the number 27 scrawled onto his back at a room in the Marabella Motel. In the article covering his death, Zeta Tijuana writes that at the time of his death, El Bombero currently “belonged to the cell of Pablo Edwin Huerta Nuño, ‘El Flaquito’, who now works for ‘Los Chapitos’ Iván Archivaldo and Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, as well as Ovidio Guzmán López.”

Social media groups also allege that Bombero was currently working for Flaquito, with La Rodilla del Diablo writing that he was a “Fentanyl distributor to the US, in the service of David Lopez Jimenez, alias 'El Cabo 20' and Edwin Nuño Huerta, alias 'El Flaquito'.” The accounts Noticias Sin Censura Tijuana and Tijuana En Guerra express similar sentiments. 

What does the 27 mean? 

So what does that number the attacker wrote on Bombero’s back mean anyways? One theory is that 27 is indicative of the alias “Cabo 27”, real name Jesús Rafael Yocupicio. Cabo 27 is a known subordinate of the Arzate brothers, Alfonso Arzate González, alias "El Aquiles" and René Arzate García, alias “La Rana”. 

Aquiles and Rana are the leaders of a well established Sinaloa Cartel group that is El Mayo aligned. In the past they have shown that they have no qualms with executing rival cartel members that are also Sinaloa Cartel but are more Los Chapitos aligned.

Just a few months ago, in December 2021, Aquiles left a narco sign threatening El Lobo along with the dead body of a man he alleged to have been working for Lobo. For more details on this sign, please see this previous story.  

27 could also relate to the call sign number of a police officer or the alias of a relatively unknown Tijuana operator.

Sources: Zeta Tijuana, Punto Norte, La Rodilla de Diablo, Noticias Sin Censura Tijuana, Tijuana En Guerra, Informativo Tijuana 

Background Sources: Zeta Article 1, Article 2, El Vigia, Gente de la Tia Juana, Tijuana Press