Report: Chapo issues retaliation orders from prison for La Tuna attack

Lucio R Borderland Beat by C.E. Martinez

The Hunt for "El Guano" Chapo's brother

10 days ago, on Saturday June 11th, reports began coming out of Sinaloa of a heavily armed commando of at least 150 men, stormed the town of La Tuna, Badiraguato, Sinaloa, and two adjacent towns.

Reports indicated that the home of Consuelo Loera Guzman, the mother of Sinaloa Cartel capo Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera (El Chapo) was ransacked and robbed. 

The reason for the attack is said to be, in part, a search for the brother of El Chapo, Aureliano Guzmán Loera, aka El Guano.

The larger motive goes back years, precisely to January 21, 2008.  On that date, Alfredo Beltrán Leyva aka “El Mochomo”, and three of his guards, were arrested  in Culiacán, Sinaloa.  With Mochomo, were two suitcases with 1 Million USD, fragmentation Grenades, assault weapons, 4 dozen bullet proof vests,  which bore FEDA, which stands for Special Forces of Arturo.  Arturo was the leader of BLO (Beltrán Leyva Organization) and Mochomo’s brother.

The arrest transpired because of information from an anonymous call to authorities.  The caller reported that Mochomo was expected at the address for an exchange of money owed to their Colombian partners.

Hundreds of federal special forces surrounded the residence in preparation for the arrest.

Arturo was infuriated over the arrest.  For starters all the top brass at the federal police agency were on his payroll, yet no one gave a heads up to the pending arrest.

Less than five months later Edgar Millan, commander of Mexico’s federal police and spokesman for the event of the arrest, was gunned down.

Mochomo was rumored to be well liked among the narcos he worked with, and more of a peaceful personality than that of his brother, or El Chapo, the man who was his boss.  Mochomo was Chapo’s trusted lieutenant and childhood friend.

There are two theories by which the Chapo-BLO fued initiated.  Both involve the Mochomo arrest.  In reality, both theories could be true., and not inconsistent with both having happened.

One theory is that subsequent to Mochomo’s arrest, Arturo went to Chapo asking for assistance to free Alfredo.  Chapo, as the story goes, rejected the request, saying there was nothing in place to effectuate Mochomo’s freedom.  Supposedly, what pissed Arturo even further, and cast a suspicion on Chapo, was when Chapo said “Mochomo will have to be sacrificed.”

Which is not in conflict with the widely accepted theory.  That is that it was El Chapo who betrayed and sacrificed his childhood “brother”.

El Chapo's son leaves prison

Why?

In exchange for the release of Chapo’s son Archivaldo.

Archivaldo Guzman aka “El Chapito”, at this time in 2008, had been incarcerated for almost 3 years.  He was in Altiplano No.1, the same prison his father would grab global attention to, when he escaped the prison, through one of his infamous tunnels.

Chapito’s legal team had not been successful in gaining the freedom for Chapo’s son.  The story says that it was Chapo that gave up Alfredo to the feds in exchange for Chapito’s freedom.

Chapito, who had been in prison for three years,  was freed less than 3 months after Mochomo’s arrest.  The official record cites “no evidence” in the case. 

The brutal, bloody war between BLO and Chapo began.

On December 16, 2009, Arturo Beltran Leyva, the “Boss of Bosses”, (at left) one of the most wanted drug traffickers in Mexico and the U.S.was killed in a shootout with the Mexican Navy that lasted 90 minutes.  Hundreds of elements of the navy some rappelling off of two helicopters participated in the capture attempt.  Much of the event captured on video.

Mochomo’s imprisonment and extradition

After spending 6 years in prison, in October, 2014, a Mexican federal court rejected Mochomo’s final attempt to ward off extradition to the United States. His amparo was denied, and on December 3, 2014, he was extradited to the United States.

Mochomo

Something odd, is the fact that until the U.S. became interested in the extradition of Mochomo, it had not included him in any previous indictments, either solely, or in conjunction with his brother and others of the BLO, or Sinaloa for that matter.  His brother and others had a long standing indictments filed, but Mochomo’s  name is not seen.  Anywhere.

Not until the extradition was filed, only then was a grand jury asked to hear the case.  They came back with an indictment on May 16, 2011. A filing of “Other Crimes and Evidence for trial was filed by the U.S. in 2015. (copy of document in a previous  post, link here)

In the indictment of February 2008 for BLO, Mochomo’s name does not appear.  He is not on the Kingpin list either, although his brother Arturo is. 

And the twins who betrayed Chapo, Margarito and Pedro Flores,  Mochomo is not on the list of persons they gave up to the U.S. in exchange for a deal. And although they had not previously gave information about Mochomo, Pedro was on the ample list of imprisoned bad guys ready to testify against Mochomo at his trial.

After his extradition and his trial was approaching, there were months where there were "deal talks" with the U.S.  Mochomo did not want a deal.  Then as his February, 2016 trial came, he surprised everyone by waving his right to a jury trial, and pleaded guilty to trafficking meth and cocaine. 

Without a deal.  

He did want to make one thing clear, although he was charged for being a leader; he contends he never was one.

His sentencing will be on July 11, 2016.

New conflicts old accounts

Last year in April the body of a man identified as Ernesto Guzmán Hidalgo, was discovered in mountainous zone of Badiraguato, Sinaloa.

Ernesto forefront, Patricia's father

Ernesto was 70 years old, and is the father of Patricia Guzmán Núñez, who married "El Mochomo".Reports are that Ernesto is the half-brother of  El Chapo, which would make Patricia his first cousin.  She along with Mochomo are the parents of the person who is attributed of leading the attack in La Tuna, Alfredo Beltrán Guzmán aka Mochomito or Tito.

Esrnesto was,  reportedly, working for Chapo’s brother,  Aureliano Guzmán Loera, aka El Guano.  RioDoce, a newspaper of Sinaloa, reports that it was Aureliano who the invaders of La Tuna were seeking. The respected newspaper says it was Aureliano who approved the hit on Ernesto.  This approval was based on the word of one of his men “El 02” that Ernesto was about to betray Aureliano.  Later it was found to be a false accusation and El 02 was killed.

RioDoce also reports that El Chapo has ordered an army of 200 plus to go to the area to fight to gain back control of La Tuna, Arroyo Seco, and La Palma.  Residents of these communities have fled in terror. 

El Mochomito son of Alfredo

According to sources consulted by Ríodoce, at the time of the assault nearly 80 the attacking force on Saturday, were dressed in black, wearing bulletproof vests and black caps with the insigna "DEA" and "Interpol", went to the home of the mother of Joaquin Guzman, in search of El Guano. Another 50 gunmen broke into an adobe house, which is next to the road leading to San José de El Barranco, looking for Angel Guzmán, one of the main operators of Aureliano.

According to witnesses, Angel Guzman lived opposite one of the two grocery stores in the village, and would have heard to the arrival of the gunmen.

He quickly went into attack mode, and killed one of his attackers.  He then barricaded himself inside his home. His attackers set fire to his house, when he appeared in the doorway, an AK7 in each hand shooting right to left at his attackers, until he was  shot and killed, but not before he killed one more, and injured another.

A few meters away, Consuelo Perez Loera Guzman, 87, was inside when the gunmen burst into her home search of her son Aureliano.

It was nearly 10 am when the assault occurred, when Consuelo heard the commotion, she went out to investigate..

Housekeepers reported that Consuelo only stared at them as the gunmen searched every corner of the home, in search of  El Guano but finding nothing, only taking the off road vehicles at the home.

The village La Tuna has always been shielded, and to enter the community without permission is risking ones life.

So the 150 men who came, came under the shroud of the night darkness, having to walk across hills and gaps to reach their target; most of them did so thru  the northern part of town, or the  "Chihuahua side."

After the weekend violence in La Tuna, according to sources of RioDoce,  El Chapo learned what was happening and ordered to "execute the invaders" of his mother’s home.

From Tuesday to Wednesday, planes landed near the Nogalito, a few kilometers north of La Tuna; They came carrying 200 gunmen to face Beltran Leyva.

Since then and to date they have been reported several clashes in that area, but so far it is not known if there are more dead or wounded, and only know that the Navy and the Mexican Army arrived since Wednesday 15^th  at night settling in La Tuna and La Palma.

The Governor of Sinaloa down played the conflict, saying two died, and the conflict was between "families".

First indictment may 2011

Not on Kingpin list 2008

This indictment dated a month after Mochomo's arrest does not mention him