Three Sicarios are Forgiven for 211 Executions

Four men of the group "La Línea" who were arrested in August, and who authorities from the task force Operativo Conjunto Chihuahua say confessed to at least 211 executions in Chihuahua, were order held only for the crimes of paticipating in organized crime and possession of firearm restricted exclusively to the Army. The federal court did not formally charged them for the actual murders.

The federal judge had been appointed to hear the order of apprehension for murder against these sicarios (assassins for hire) but declined due to jurisdictional powers.

They are:

1.) Cristian Enrique Franco Franco age 22 -
responsible for 16 homicides.
2.) Edgar Flores Martínez aka " El Pumba" age 30 -
responsible for 87 homicides.
3.) Omar Castro Rivera aka "Ali" or "El Colas" age 28 -
responsible for 93 homicides.
4.) Héctor Armando Alcibar Wong aka " El Coreano age 21-
responsible for 15 homicides.

The men told authorities that most of their murder victims were involved in drug-dealing, extortion, and other crimes in Ciudad Juarez.

Authorities said that the three men confessed to the killing of five motorcyclists on January 25th in Ciudad Juarez. The five dead were reportedly killed because they were members of the “AA” or Assassin Artists, a rival gang to the Juarez cartel.

These thugs also confessed that on June 11 they had entered a room at “Las Palmas” motel in Juarez and had opened fire on some of the occupants, killing five and wounding a sixth. Five of the six victims at the motel were “SIEDO” (Mexican equivalent to DEA) agents and the other an “AFI” agent, all involved in undercover operations.

The defendants were arrested in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, on 26 August aboard a white Jeep that was traveling at a high rate of speed, and whose description fit several murders. At the time of their arrest, the suspects confessed of committing 211 murders in that region and inside the vehicle autorities located three long rifles along with 22 rounds of ammunition caliber 7.63.

It was learned from the police investigation that these people were part of the criminal organization called "La Línea."

According to the federal agency of organization crime, these sicarios were led by Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, alias "The Viceroy", who appointed Juan Pablo Ledesma, aka, "The JL" or "El dos letras" , as his representative and were ordered to conduct executions of other rival criminal organizations including "Los Aztecas."

It was reported that the federal judge refused to hold the detainees on murder charges even after the detainees confessed to the crimes. Upon review, the court felt that the crimes of executing people multiple times was considering an offense that falls on the responsibility of the state Attorney General's office in Chihuahua and not federal jurisdiction.

Enrique Torres, a spokesman for the Operativo Conjunto Chihuahua (Joint Operational Chihuahua), said in an interview that the jurisdiction of the authorities are very clearly defined, activities attributed to organized crime are the jurisdiction of the federal government, while those of a more common crime like homicides are the jurisdiction of local government.

He explained that there is no legal impediment that parallels the crimes that the Federation will charge, and are in the process of developing a process to address murders committed under these circumastances..

"Federal authorities can assist in investigations, but the prosecution falls on the local District Attorney's Office, for homicides are within the scope of their jurisdiction," he said.

We just hope that the serious crimes committed by these killers are not overlooked over a quarrel of jurisdiction. As it is too many criminals from organized crime get a free pass every day while perpetrating mayhem on the streets of Juarez.

Categories: cartel, ciudad juarez, juarez cartel, la linea, los aztecas, organized crime, war on drugs