A Beginner's Guide to Southern Sonora

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A beginner’s guide for anyone who hasn’t been keeping up with the war between the Caborca Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel in southern Sonora. 

To see the previous part of this story, A Beginner’s Guide to Mexicali, SLRC, & the Gulf of California, click here. 

The Region 

There is a region in southern Sonora which acts as a chokehold point for drug smuggling routes heading north, to the US-Mexico border. 

The location of these smuggling routes was gathered through Army (SEDENA) intelligence and recently leaked by the hacker collective Guacamaya. The map Guacamaya leaked can be seen below. 

The Borderland Beat version, highlighting the routes in Sonora, can be seen below. 

The region is contested between the Caborca Cartel and the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. 

The Caborca Cartel is allegedly led by Rodrigo Páez Quintero, alias “El R”, and Adelmo Núñez Molina, alias “Lemo Nuñez”.

According to recent interrogation videos, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman, the son of El Chapo, has chosen two of his top lieutenants to spearhead his campaign to take Obregon and Guaymas. 

One of these lieutenants is Óscar Noel Medina González, alias “El Panu”.  New information about his full name comes from EJE Central. 

Along with Panu is another high ranking Chapitos lieutenant: Óscar Gabriel Martínez Larios, alias “El Gabito” (Source). The new photo for Gabito comes courtesy of Sonora Informativo. 

José Luis Yocupicio Castillo, alias “El Luisito”, is alleged to be one of the top Salazar leaders within their organization (Source). He is alleged to be the man that regional Salazar plaza bosses in Puerto Penasco , Caborca, SLRC, and Guaymas report under. 

A Note on Sources

There was a map leaked by Guacamaya which shows the major cartel figures who are warring over Guaymas, according to Army intelligence. 

However, there is a very major and notable omission in the SEDENA map, as it fails to mention the most prominent group in the area, Caborca Cartel’s subgroup La Plaza - a group which leaves multiple signed narco banners in Guaymas every month, with one of their most recent ones featured in this story which proves they are still active in the area. 

The information on the SEDENA map seems to be outdated, but has been included in order to create a holistic picture of the cartel landscape. 

In October 2022, there were banners posted in Guaymas in which the leaders of La Plaza and their Caborca Cartel bosses were named. A banner naming many of the same people appeared in this same region in December 2021, in a story covered in full here and a similar banner calling out Salazar leadership was posted in retaliation later that month.

Huatabampo, Navojoa, & Alamos

The Chapitos Faction in Huatabampo, Navajoa, & Alamos

Huatabampo, Navojoa, and Alamos used to be controlled by CDS Chapitos - Salazar figure Jesús Francisco Sarrazín Lohr, alias “El Pirata”, however, at the end of November 2022, Pirata died due to in a car accident while drag racing. Videos of his funeral were widely shared on social media. 

It isn’t very clear who Pirata’s successor will be. Older reports, from back in 2020, alleged that one of Pirata’s direct reports was Adair Salazar, alias “El Judas”, was acting as plaza boss of Navojoa and Alamos. Its worth noting that El Judas is the son of Alfredo Salazar Ramírez, alias "El Muñeco". 

Guaymas/Empalme

The Caborca Cartel in Guaymas/Empalme

The most well known group in Guaymas is Caborca Cartel’s La Plaza. The group is led by Francisco Javier Espinoza Camacho, alias “El Picipi”. El Picipi’s head of hitmen and possible second-in-command is Antonio Castro Valenzuela, alias “El Castro”. 

In recent days, two La Plaza lieutenants - one known by the alias “El Huracán” and the other known by the alias “El Lobo” - have been making interrogation videos of captured CDS hitmen. Their identities have yet to be determined. 

La Plaza allegedly reports under Caborca Cartel capos like Jose Gil Caro Quintero, alias “El Pelo Chino”, and the brothers Roy Antonio Soto Quintero, alias “Tony Navidad” and Juan Pablo Quintero Navidad, alias “El 25”. 

El 25 is currently serving time in a federal penitentiary. In October 2022, it was reported that authorities were investigating whether El 25 was still giving out orders and managing his cartel group from inside prison. If you want to read more about these figures, please see this previous story or this previous story. 

The outdated SEDENA map leaked by Guacamaya names a number of cartel figures from the group Los Alfas. The leader of this group is alleged to be Alfredo Olivas Valenzuela, aliases “El Chapo Alfredo” and "El Alfa 1".

The map also lists out 

Francisco Javier Meraz, alias “El Antena”

Fernando Salmerón Peréz, alias “El Nando” and “El Ladrillero”, however he's believed to mainly operate in Obregón now

Miguel Enrique Aragón Camacho, alias “El Telcel” (who was rumored to have died back in 2018) 

Other sources allege that los Alfas operate in regions more south of Guaymas, such as Bacum. 

The Chapitos Faction in Guaymas/Empalme

The recent banner naming out Salazar operators points to Jesús Adahír Salazar del Villar, alias “El Azteca" and Luis Alfonso Encinas Bejarano, aliases "El Narizón” and “Venadito". Both are covered more in depth in this previous article. 

The outdated SEDENA map alleges that the Salazar lieutenants in Guaymas who report under El Luisito are Pedro César Mendoza Rivas, alias “El Pedrin”, and Oswaldo Velázquez Durán, alias “El Gussi”.

El Gussi is believed to be about 37 years old in the year 2022. He was previously arrested in Empalme in December 2013. At the time of his arrest he was described as the head of hitmen for a CDS group and a number of homicides were allegedly carried out on his orders. (Source, Source, Source) 

We know El Gussi has remained active in the region up until 2019 because he was named in a narco banner placed in Obregon in 2019, which was covered in old Facebook posts and Valor articles. (Source, Source) 

The photo for El Gussi that is used on that banner can be found in a higher resolution in this old 2014 article from InfoNogales.  

Recently, hitmen who work under a man known as “El Durán'' participated in the Comando X hit on El Ruso. One of El Gussi’s last names is Durán, so it's possible that “El Durán'' is one of his aliases. That being said, it's much more common for aliases to derive from the paternal last name of a person, rather than the maternal last name. He’s associated with the deceased Fernando Delgadillo Hermosillo , alias El Milko. (Source) 

Obregón

The Chapitos Faction in Obregón

As mentioned earlier, a recent interrogation revealed that Ivan Archivaldo Guzman assigned two of his top lieutenants to take the city of Obregon for him. 

The two lieutenants are Óscar Noel Medina González, alias “El Panu”, and Óscar Gabriel  Martínez Larios, alias “El Gabito”. They reportedly stay within the state of Sinaloa and give orders from afar to their hitmen.

According to the interrogation, one of their leaders on the ground in Sonora is Germán Romero. He is the stepson of the old CDS figure Jonathan Salas Avilés, alias “El Fantasma”, who has two possible identities.

The Caborca Cartel in Obregón

According to Sonora Informativo, a group of Caborca Cartel - Los Alfas members operate within Obregon. This group is led by Fernando Salmerón Peréz, aliases “El Nando”, “El Wacho”, and “El Ladrillero”. 

One of Nando’s high ranking men is his nephew Carlos Salmerón Pérez, alias “El 20”. Their head of hitmen is reportedly Omar Alejandro Sayuela Torres, alias “El Mou”. 

Sources: Hyperlinked within article