"El Ruedas" Sicario cell arrested in California

Juan Francisco Sillas-Rocha, aka "El Ruedas"

Three men believed to be involved in a murder-for-hire plot commissioned by the Tijuana drug cartel were arrested this past Thursday in an early morning raid in Palmdale, California, a community located in northern Los Angeles county.

According to California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Jorge Ernesto Sillas-Rocha, 27, and 24-year-old Victor Manuel Magana Gonzalez were taken into custody during the 6:50 a.m. raid at a Palmdale home. The two were accused of conspiracy and murder-for-hire.

Special agents from the California Department of Justice seized two AR- 15 assault weapons, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and about $20,000 in cash.

A third suspect, 34-year-old Daniel Ceballos, was arrested later at a Starbucks Coffee shop nearby, officials said.

"This case sends a message to the border drug cartels trying to do business here: Justice will be swift and certain when you cross into California," Harris said, “I applaud our agents and law enforcement partners for their good work in uncovering and thwarting this murder-for-hire plot."

Juan Francisco Sillas-Rocha, also known as "Ruedas," is also expected to be charged in the case. The 33-year-old is suspected to be a lieutenant in the Arrellano Felix Organization, and is suspected to be responsible for dozens of murders and kidnappings in Mexico.

Investigators said Juan Sillas-Rocha directed the suspects to kill five family members in California in a staged home-invasion robbery. The would-be assassins were to be paid thousands for committing the killings, officials said.

Earlier this month, agents with the Department of Justice received information about a possible murder-for-hire plot targeting victims who reside in California and who have ties to the Arrellano Felix Cartel. The targeted victims were said to have owed the cartel a large sum of money, believed to be the proceeds from drug sales. Agents used sophisticated investigative techniques to track the suspects to Palmdale, northeast of Los Angeles.

According to the Zeta Tijuana newsweekly magazine, Juan Francisco Sillas-Rocha has been under intensive wiretap surveillance by U.S. authorities and his brother, Jorge Ernesto, and a mistress were under continuous physical surveillance as they frequently crossed the border between Mexico and the U.S.

Fernando Sanchez Arrellano, the boss of the Arrellano Felix Cartel, was also implicated in the plot. That investigation is ongoing.

Jorge Ernesto Sillas-Rocha, Gonzalez and Ceballos are being held in the San Diego County Jail. Officials expect a warrant to be issued for Juan Francisco Sillas-Rocha's arrest.

Juan Francisco Sillas-Rocha allegedly commands cells of kidnappers, assassins and drug traffickers for the Tijuana cartel, also known as the CAF (Cartel Arrellano Felix).

El Ruedas’ violent unpredictability and the recent kidnapping of three female relatives of “El Mayo” Zambada, which he is believed to have ordered, is thought to have led to his isolation from Fernando Sanchez Arrellano and to a price on his head from the Sinaloa cartel.

Cartels crumbling in Tijuana
Por: Omar Millán 17 Febrero 2011
San Diego RED

Criminal groups no longer operate effectively, Baja California state police top official says just before his sudden retirement this week.

The drug cartels that once ruled parts of the border region have disintegrated to the point where they are no longer able to operate effectively, declared one of the officials most responsible for fighting them in the last few years.

Julián Leyzaola, deputy director of the state’s Department of Public Safety, said that the combined law enforcement efforts of federal, state and municipal governments have greatly reduced the cartels’ ability to bribe public officials to be able to operate freely.

Leyzaola, a retired lieutenant in the Mexican army, directed Tijuana’s municipal police department in 2008 then led its parent agency, the Department of Public Safety, in 2009 and 2010. This year he began a new post, helping craft the state’s strategy to combat organized crime.

In that period, he led an unprecedented campaign against corruption within police ranks. More than 600 officers suspected of working with traffickers resigned or were fired, including 84 who were arrested. A total of 43 officers were murdered under his watch, as well.

“Criminal groups continue to be fragmented. There isn’t a real organization, one group that controls the area because police activity in Tijuana is no longer allowing it,” he said Wednesday after attending an event to promote a new state center to receive anonymous tips.

Even so, Leyzaola admitted that criminal cells associated with the Michoacán-based cartel known La Familia are trying to gain control of the local market.

La Familia, he said, is fighting the other groups for the right to move drugs, mainly methamphetamine. These groups inherited criminal cells from Teodoro “El Teo” García Simental, who was arrested in January of 2010, and Fernando “El Ingeniero” Sánchez Arellano, the leader of the Arellano Félix cartel, who remains at large.

La Familia has been moving drugs through the border for two years, paying a “fee” to the cartel that controlled the area to be able to do so. As Familia members grew the business, however, they demanded more territory, and now are pushing to own the entire local market, he said.

“I believe that it’s now a fight among La Familia and the other criminal groups,” Leyzaola said.

“They’re doing it in a very low profile. They are not controlling a specific area, they can’t. It’s very difficult to control the Tijuana area; police officers are so well deployed that traffickers don’t have the opportunity to organize and can’t be sure of being able to move around easily and to sell (drugs),” said Leyzaola.

In the last two months, authorities have seized large quantities of synthetic drugs in two secret meth laboratories that presumably belonged to La Familia cartel.

“Initially, La Familia transported drugs,” he said. “Now, they are making them here.”

In this new reality of trafficking, anonymous tips made to either police agencies or the Mexican army have played an important role, Leyzaola added. Many arrests and drug seizures began with an anonymous tip.

Despite the lack of organization among the criminal groups, the deadly violence continues. In fact, experts say that disorganization breeds more violence because agreements among the criminal groups are ignored and cells fight one another for control. A total of 820 people were killed last year in Tijuana alone, 23 less than in 2008, the most violent year in the city’s history.

Sources:
3 Suspected cartel hitmen face charges…….
http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/story/Three-Suspected-Drug-Cartel-Hit-Men-to-Face/azUNMQWDo0WPv61XbIFakg.cspx


Sillas, amparo y corrupcion
http://www.zetatijuana.com/html/Edicion1923/Principal.html


Cartels crumbling in Tijuana
http://www.sandiegored.com/noticias/6152/Cartels-crumbling-in-Tijuana/