LFM Founder and Chayo's Mentor, Released from Prison

Chivís Martínez for Borderland Beat 

Carlos Alberto Rosales Mendoza (El Tísico), one of the founding members of La Familia Michoacán, was released from prison in  Guadalajara.

Carlos Alberto Rosales Mendoza born  February 12^th  1963, is a former leader and founder of  La Familia Michoacana Cartel (LFM). He was a close friend and associate of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, the former premier leader of The Gulf Cartel. Rosales was arrested by (GAFE) special forces squadron on 24 October 2004.

Rosales, with strong religious proclivities, sharing the same beliefs as Chayo, had been appointed by his best friend Chayo as a religious disciple.  It was Chayo who convinced Rosales to plan and  participate in an outlandish attempt to free Osiel Cardenas from ‘La Palma’ prison. 

At the time of his arrest, he, along with ‘Chayo’ were working on a plan to break Cárdenas out of prison, using "blood and fire", but those plans were aborted when Rosales was arrested in late 2004 in Morelia.  Eventually, Chayo went on to break from the CDG/Zetas alliance.  

When Rosales Mendoza founded the first cells of La Familia Michoacana Cartel in the 1980s, the Milenio Cartel was competing with the organization for the control of the production and distribution of  drugs, mostly meth,  in the state of Michoacán.

The Milenio Cartel, also known as Los Valencia or "Avocados Cartel" because its founders, Armando Valencia Cornelio and his cousins ​​Luis, Ventura,  José Valencia Valencia and Oscar Orlando Nava Valencia, "fruit farmers",  as  they called themselves, they  exerted  absolute power in the state of Michoacán.  CDG was considered one of their greatest enemies.

In 2000, Rosales Mendoza called on Osiel Cardenas  to help destroy the Milenio Cartel.  Osiel sent four top Zetas enforcers to assist in the planning of operations and attacks, causing a deluge of  violence never before seen Mexico.

Zetas, working with LFM is  recognized for implementing new acts of terror while working with LFM,  one such act made headlines around the world.

In September 2006, Zetas planned the tossing five severed heads on to the crowded dance floor of a Uruapan Michoacan nightclub.  A message, or narco-cartulina,  was left behind with the decapitated heads  that read: “La Familia doesn't kill for money, kill women or kill innocents. Only those who deserve to die… will die. Let everyone know that this is divine justice.”  It was signed La Familia.

Shortly after midnight, twenty  LFM gunmen, all dressed in black, had burst into the Sol y Sombra nightclub, shooting guns  in the air, and ordering the terrified people to the floor.  They opened black plastic bags and dumped the 5 heads to the floor as the horrified patrons and employees looked on.

It was the first time that multiple decapitations were used in a public forum to terrorize and send a message.  It was a defining moment in narco warfare, from then on cartels focused on even greater tactics of terror in sending messages.

Michoacán has never been able to attain peace and security since conflicts began in 2000.  The Milenio conflict was a pivotal moment for LFM, transcending it from multiple cells to a powerful cartel in of itself, and ‘El Tísico’, and his friendship with Osiel Cardenas  was credited for the transformation .

He still owns his massive  El Capire Ranch, in La Unión  on the Michoacán coast.  La Unión is situated adjacent to his home town of El Naranjito, on the Grande Costa of Guerrero.  The property was long used as a staging hub, exploiting the waterway for the transport of drugs staged at El Capire.

The operation was guarded by AFI agents that Rosales had a knack of being able to corrupt,  his brother took over the operation subsequent to Rosales’ capture.

 Rosales was released on May 22, but the release was not made public until yesterday.  [end of text]

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Sol y Sombra Nightclub