Tijuana: CTNG message to Los Arellanos

Comminucation of  La Perla for Los Arellanos

For months the rumor has been heard that 'El Piloto', a son of Ramon Arellano Felix, had returned or become active in Tijuana, these rumors had yet to be substantiated in direct communications from other groups, until now.  Jose Soto El Tigre Gastelum, El JP, and Arturo 'El Gross' Herrera, are the ones behind CTNG.  Mencho has not shown up in Tijuana yet. Elements of CJNG may be providing product to those above, in exchange for being allowed access into Tijuana. 

The message, in the same hard printed, black and red lettering, was found on the pedestrian bridge, Insurgentes Boulevard, which some will remember, was where El Inge ordered Teo and Muletas killed, when the ambush failed, there was a running gunfight up and down the boulevard, resulting in 15 dead.  This was in April 2008, the catylst for the grim months that followed, and a historic moment in cartel politics, leading us into the current situation. 

The narco message, in a sense demands to be partners in the plaza of Tijuana, claiming to have finished, or be finishing with Los Aquiles, and the extortonists and kidnappers in his employ.  It also exposes, or illuminates the upper level players, believed to be working with CAF, apparently headed by El Piloto.  

The first mentioned in Manuel Lopez Nunez ' Dos Balas', (Dos Balas), a long time trafficker, in his 50's, who was one of Inge's people, before he was captured in October 2008.  Balas, had longstanding ties with CAF, and was considered one of the major people under Inge.  DEA in San Diego released a list of the most wanted traffickers, including Balas, Inge, El Tigre, among others. His son, Balitas was kidnapped in 2006, by Los Pallios, a cell of CAF enforcers, who kidnapped CAF operators and their families, living in San Diego.  Balitas was lured by a women, he partied with in downtown San Diego, and kidnapped.  His dad paid a million dollar ransom for his release, shortly after the call was made.

Dos Balas was released in 2013, and was said to have shifted sides with Sinaloa, and Los Aquiles, his name appeared in 2013, in Playas De Tijuana, on another banner, announcing a new Tijuana cartel. Others on the list include Esteban Niedes, the target of an failed hit, last year, at a junkyard in Tijuana.  Niedes has given interviews and asked for his lawyers to tell the authorities he has no CAF ties, and is a legitamite businessman.  Chencho Beltran is also mentioned, who has long been considered a CAF loyalist, although little is known.  

Dos Balas, after his arrest in 2008

Arturo Cosme Espinosa, may be related to Carlos Cosme, former owner of Yonke Shaggy, where last year, was attacked by Sinaloa gunmen, twice.  Carlos Cosme was indicted in 2010, a former municipale, who led a cell of sicarios in Tijuana, from Chula Vista, San Diego.  He is serving 10 years in an FCI in Arizona.  Another figure, who has been hidden, and now exposed by this message is Enrique Guerrero Jorquera.  Jorquera, was considered the financial and intra cartel ambassador to Fernando Sanchez Arellano, taking over for Jose Briseno, 'El Cholo', after his murder in 2007.  Jorquera is a former municipal, and a naturalized US citizen, who was mentioned in Wikileaks, for the following incident.  

Juan Lorenzo Gallardo 'El Chan' 2013

Jorquera, was apparently dining with Humberto Loya Castro, (Chapo's 'lawyer', who gave info to the DEA, with his blessing), Castro was a known government cooperator.  This was in 2008, at a restaraunt in Tijuana.  Jorquera apparently, via nextel, spoke with a CAF sicario, known as El Monstro, under Melvin Gutierrez, 'El Camacho', and the two discussed killing a DEA agent with a sniper rifle, to push back the Americans from the city.  Inge said if DEA agents were killed, they would remove them from Tijuana.  They knew where the DEA agents lived, and what they looked like.A 'government source', likely Castro passed this along to the DEA.  Jorquera was arrested in 2010, at a horse race in Rosarito, and was quietly released years later.

Edgar Ruiz, 'El Chore' is also mentioned, a long known CAF cell leader, as well as Juan Lorenzo Vargas, 'El Chan', a former municipal, who worked under Inge, and was arrested in 2014, then released shortly therafter.  His name also appeared on the September 2013 banner, with Dos Balas. He was said to operate an enforcement cell in 2011.  Carlos Jhared Rodriguez was not  mentioned in the banner, a CAF operator who was shot in 2014, at Verde Y Crema in Tijuana.  

I didn't believe the Piloto rumors, as rumors of Arellano children returning to take the reins in Tijuana, have long been heard, there was an 'El Franky', rumored to Benjamin's son, mentioned in 2011.  He was said to have ties to Sinaloa groups.  Apparently, they are at least somewhat true, as evidenced by the banner, even if there is no Piloto, these CAF members are real, and in contention for Tijuana.  I don't believe they control the plaza, but they be able to provide contacts, esp. in local law enforcement.  

Whether this narco message is a real bid for diplomacy, or a calculated expose of the CAF ranks, under Piloto, I don't know....There are probably better ways to work out agreements then narco messages, left on bridges.  The coming fight may be CTNG vs. Los Pilotos, and the Arellano dynasty continues to live on, one way or another, whether real or imagined. 

Sources: AFN Tijuana