Old Video of Hitmen Working for Ivan's Lieutenant El Gabito Makes Rounds On Social Media

"HEARST" and "Ivan" for Borderland Beat 

Update 4/28/2022: Multiple made allegations about this story were incorrect. El Sol de Sinaloa has released a new article on the video that states: 

When questioned on the subject, the Secretary of Public Security of Sinaloa, Cristóbal Castañeda Camarillo, stated that it is an old video and also that the incident did not occur in Sinaloa.

"It (the video) is old, the uniforms are no longer of that style, there is no report that it was in that place," he commented briefly when approached by the media this morning.

Castañeda Camarillo also did not acknowledge that the event occurred in La Noria, Mazatlán, as has been said in social networks, but warned that it would be SEDENA, the institution itself, that would report the precise details of the event.

Footage of Sinaloa Cartel (Cártel de Sinaloa, CDS) hitmen holding a group of armed men at gunpoint and forcing them to hand over their equipment and uniforms has been shared on social media. The hitmen are alleged to work for one of Ivan Archivaldo Guzmán’s top lieutenants.

The Video 

A video posted online yesterday, April 26, 2022, allegedly depicts the moments right after a group of CDS hitmen forced a group of armed men to lie on the ground, with their hands flat in surrender. Update 4/28/2022: There are currently allegations that the men seen in the video are not soldiers but instead members of a rival cartel group.

Currently, social media accounts are alleging this incident took place near the small town of La Noria, Sinaloa and that the camp seen in the background of the video belonged to the the armed men. 

Some claim the CDS hitmen were coming down from an excursion on the mountain and when they spotted the armed men, they decided to rob them of their uniforms, equipment and even vehicles although there is no official confirmation of this claim. These items are highly valued by cartel hitmen because when wearing and using such items, they can impersonate a SEDENA soldier and all the authority that might afford them - in a limited capacity and only under certain conditions, that is.

Video Source: Jorge A. Medellín

The hitmen are then seen gloating at having just subdued the armed men and mugging for the camera. At one point one of the hitmen puts his foot on the back of a surrendered soldier.

During the video, one of the hitmen can be heard saying “pura gente de Gabito”, or “we are Gabito people”. He is referring to one of Ivan Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar’s top lieutenants, Óscar Martínez Larios, alias “El Gabito”, a man thought to be close and trusted within the Chapitos organization. 

There are currently no further details on the events surrounding the video as of the writing of this story.

The following is the criminal history of Óscar Martínez Larios, aliases “El Gabito” and “El 80”.

The small town of El Rosario, which lies south of the city of Mazatlán, is what Gabito considers to be his home, according to the Luis R Conriquez narcocorrido. 

Gabito has two brothers. One named José Luis Martínez Larios, aliases “El Monstruo” and “El 51” who died. Another brother, known as "El 81" and “El Kasco” (sometimes spelled El Casco or Kasko) is believed to control Rosario and Concordia on behalf of El Gabito.

El Kasco seems to work as Gabito’s second-in-command and right hand man. 

El Gabito used to be known for his work underneath Los Chapitos in their quest to take over the port city of Mazatlán, Sinaloa in 2016. The city had been controlled by the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO), specifically Los Mazatlecos, since their split from the Sinaloa Cartel, although truces had allowed CDS members to operate in the city.

In the early days, Gabito was believed to control the small towns in the mountains south of Mazatlan, like Escuinapan, El Rosario, Concordia, and Villa Union. During these tumultuous times for the Sinaloa Cartel, following the re-arrest of El Chapo at the very beginning of 2016, Los Chapitos sought to challenge BLO control of the area.

In February 2016, violence increased in the El Rosario area with shootings like one in Corral de Piedra which left four people dead. In June 2016, narco banners were placed throughout Mazatlán which threatened Ivan Archivaldo, El Gabito and an associate of Gabito named Saúl Ernesto Loya, aliases "El Sierra" and “El Loya”. 

In September 2016, six bodies were left in Mazatlán and Borderland Beat articles at the time noted how  Mazatlán was heating up. 

In October 2016, audio recordings of El Gabito and his men speaking with the director and deputy of the municipal police for the town of El Rosario were leaked. The three calls were posted to Youtube and many news agencies covered these calls. The content of the call is the followings, as translated by Sol Prendido.

Link to audio of phone call 2

Link to audio of phone call 3

Strangely, the Youtube channel removed the video of the first call, which notably featured an alleged photo of the elusive, almost unphotographed El Gabito. 

The image of Gabito that was featured in a Riodoce article covering the calls was also taken down, likely because the newspaper was forced to comply with Mexico’s laws on not showing the faces of those suspected of crimes. Thankfully, there are archived versions of a 2016 Reforma article and multiple archived versions of Blog del Narco’s coverage of the Riodoce article which have preserved the photo of a man alleged to be El Gabito. 

Later that month, an American citizen who was living in Mazatlán named O’Neil Patrick McGean went missing. McGean had been living in Sinaloa for ten years and was known in the area for owning the restaurant Café Playa Sur, as well as managing Old Mazatlán Condos in the central part of the city. Authorities were quick to point out that McGean was not known to be involved in drugs nor any criminal activities. 

The newspaper El Sol de Mazatlán reported that after he went missing bank cards owned by McGean were used at ATMs across the city, indicating that he was likely abducted in an “express kidnapping” scheme. More than a week after he went missing, his remains were found in the Azteca neighborhood of Mazatlán. 

McGean was evidently a particularly beloved figure and regardless of which group was involved, his death caused a general outrage against the cartel scene of Mazatlán. The Borderland Beat comments on the story were peppered with stories of his kindness from people who knew him and expressing how much McGean loved Mexico.

Violence continued to increase, however, and nine were killed at a shootout on December 5, 2016 in the Francisco Villa neighborhood of Mazatlán. Over time El Gabito’s group gained territory and eventually he transitioned into being the Mazatlán plaza boss at an unspecified point in time. 

Due to the logistics of drug trafficking, the plaza bosses entrusted to control busy port cities are often well established and trusted individuals within an organization. This is because valuable shipments of chemical precursors and South American products will likely be coming in via boats, so maintaining control of the local military and law enforcement, as well as preventing rivals from gaining a foothold is key to keeping the trafficking operation running smoothly. 

Because El Gabito led Chapitos forces in Mazatlán through such a bloody and dangerous time, it is likely that he gained more trust within the organization. 

In 2020, Baja California social media was abuzz with reports that Ivan had sent El Gabito to the city of Mexicali in order to kill off the forces of the El Mayo associated group Los Rusos. This was the first prominent instance in which we might have seen El Gabito not in the role of a plaza boss, but in more of an enforcer or reactive role, with Gabito being sent to take out rival groups.

Strangely enough, Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) figure Edgar Alejandro Herrera Pardo, alias “Cabo 8” or “El Caimán” (The Alligator) was said to be involved in aiding or even joining up with El Gabito at the time. For an overview of Cabo 8’s history, please see this previous story.  

This effort was evidently not successful in his task of eliminating Los Rusos because in 2022, Rusos are known to be entirely controlling Mexicali and have in fact grown out to contest surrounding areas. They hold this in addition to their territories held within Sinaloa state. There are some that believe that El Gabito was never really tasked to take out Rusos and that he remained within Sinaloa in 2020, chalking up the allegations as simply rumors based on the belief that the Rusos dispute is primarily with El Niní. 

Currently the plaza boss of Mazatlán is believed to be a man known by the alias “El 40”, who is also associate with Los Chapitos, and El Gabito is thought to be within Sinaloa state, working closely directly for Ivan Archivaldo.

Updated 4/28/2022: Title and feature image have been changed to reflect corrections in the story. 

SEDENA Video Sources: Jorge A. Medellín, El Blog de los Gauchos, CampoMarteMX

Leaked Phone Calls Sources: Phone Call 2, Phone Call 3 

El Gabito History Sources: Soy Neutral Tijuana, Riodoce Article 1, Article 2, Article 3, Mexico News Daily Article 1, Article 2, Entreveredas, El Norte, La Jornada, Marquesina