Tijuana: The war for Sanchez Tadoaba y Zona Norte

The war for Sanchez Tadoaba y Zona Norte

A blurry fog of war surrounds the fighting in Tijuana, bodies are dropped, and left with smoldering gunshots wounds, blood seeping from black trash bags with discarded limbs, arrests are made, stories are written, and changes happen, but not quickly.  A sort of greek chorus of flow charts and exposes the operatives who work and run the city....

A new report by Zeta Tijuana alleges the emergence of a new Sinaloa cell leader, only known as 'Archangel', who is aligned with Raul Miranda Ortiz, 'Alexy', who has been a Sinaloa-Achilles leader for the last few years, responsible for kidnappings and executions in the dozens. Alexy's people wage their war against the people of CTNG.

CTNG: The people of Arturo Giovanna Herrera, aka 'El Gross', who is linked with elements of a CJNG, a former retail of Achilles, he runs along with Juan Jose Vargas 'El Piolin'/ El JP, a cell of former tienderos, now running their own cell, primarily in Sanchez Tadoaba. 

On another front in Zona Norte, the people of 'Archangel' are lining up against former CAF operators, including relatives of Luis Manuel Toscano, former Zona Norte operator, killed last year.  The CAF and Sinaloa side seems to be filled with the lower ranks of a criminal organization, often men with only a few years in the business, and low level drug arrests.  

*'El Pablito', said to be the right hand of Carlos Gonzlez Carino, 'El Karate', arrested in Febuary of his year en route to Mexicali, with crystal and weapons.  

*Luis Roberto Toscando, brother of 'El Mono', who was gunned down, but survived in January 2016.  

*Ladisalo Toscano Rodriguez and Roberto Rodriguez Toscano, brothers of El Mono, arrested with automatic weapons in April of 2015, and since released.  

*Francisco Javier Acosta Ayala, 'El Naco', was arrested in September 2015 with three kilos of marijuana 

*Pablo Huerta Nuno 'El Flacito' arrested for bribing a police offier with $20 in 2012

On the side of Archangel, whom behind a sinister nickname, nothing is known, though likely lays an average looking man with the normal narco retailer fashion sense. 

*Jaime Ricardo Sanchez Martinez, former partner of another cell leader, 'El Chino', who has been involved in the Zona Norte conflict for the last 2 years or so.  He is wanted for the murder of 'El Hacho', Arturo Kayolyan, the Tijuana sports coordinator.  Pedro Stanley Herrera was arrested for the killing, linked to CJNG.  

*Jose Baena Oribe:  The glamorous crime of extorting cab drivers in Los Pinos, and was arrested with 15 doses of marijuana in Zona Norte. 

On the team of 'Alexy', who is the de facto plaza boss, left by the brothers Azarte, in their absence.  

*Jose Luis Martinez Hernandez, 'El Secre', who is responsible for killings and kidnappings, name splashed all over banners for a year or so, is a 24 year old, who was arrested for raping a 13 year old girl, when he was 21.  He claimed she was his girlfriend, similar to former Sinaloa Rosarito plaza boss, a 30 year old crystal addict named 'El Boxer', back in 2010. 

In Eastern Tijuana/Tecate area other branches of Sinaloa, CAF, and 'CJNG' are opposing each other, in what seems an every shifting war, spinning off an increasingly contaminated bloodline of low level criminals, moving up the ranks only through a lack of anyone else, retail narco guys, driven by bloodlust and crystal meth. 

Sinaloa:  Another switch sider, who formerly served the CAF, as his criminal record predates the formal arrival of Los Sinaloenses to the city, Saul Cruz Roldan, who was arrested in 2006 in Tecate, with 39,000 pesos, 575 U.S Dollars, some crystal and a shotgun.

Eziquel Arrieta Jaquez 'El Pelon', arrested last year with 2,000 doses of crystal, 48,000 pesos, and $25 in US dollars, he was released after 22 days.  

Also, Victor Hugo Mejia Lopez 'The Greek', is another Sinaloa faction in this area, who has been arrested in 2013 with guns and drugs, but released.

*Javier Lopez Rios, the hand of 'El Gross', was arrested in 2014 in Tecate, with a little cocaine, some crystal, and a .40 caliber pistol.  His cell goes against the Sinaloa cells in the area.

The people of 'CJNG/CTNG' are all former retailers in Sanchez Tadoaba, which is their stronghold, and only defined territory, who either served under lieutenants under Teodoro Garcia Simental, 'El Teo', or those who came after him. 

*Erick Samuel Gonzalez Deraz 'The Canestan', arrested with 26 grams of crystal. 

*Raymundo Hdialgo Mendoza, caught with some marijuana and a scale in 2012, and 70 balloons of glass in May 2014. 

*Emmanuel Alejandro Estrada Medina 'El Prieto', arrested last year with 116 doses of crystal.

An insight into the violence is that you have many competing crews, with less and less direction from above, crews made up of violent killers and retail drug dealers, used to the street level combat they have survived in order to become low rent bosses and cell leaders.  There is a lack of sophistication. There is no lack of grudges and greed, ammunition and weapons from the United States.   

So, as we apply names to faces, and create charts, and organize the violence, the killings themselves continue in all their near anonymous bloodshed, of corpses and banners, bullet holes and dismemberments.  There is clarity from above, but in the alleys and tienditas there is much less, a hazy bleary world of orders and cash for blood.  Tijuana will surpass 500 killings by the end of this month, and will probably end up around 700 by the time New Year's Eve parties have begun. 

Sources: All credit to ZETA Tijuana, this is a near reprint of their article, and their research.