Sinaloa Cartel: "The Kings of Meth" (Crystal)

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat El Heraldo de Chihuahua

Translated by "Cruz" for Borderland Beat

The Arzola Campos brothers, Manuel, Francisco and Gerardo, the first two, killed in the last few days and the third was recently sentenced 20 years in prison. They were known as the "the kings of meth" because they practically controlled all of the sales of this drug in the state's capital, with 100+ "puchadores"(dealers) at their service.

Originating from the state of Durango and allies of the Sinaloa cartel, the Arzola Campos brothers were sent to the entity so that they could introduce methamphetamine on a large scale, a designer drug for which several criminal organizations have opted for since it is less expensive.

They are also called "kings of the blue crystal", because this drug has been cataloged by colors for less than 5 years ago, according to the criminal group that distributed it. The Arzola brothers extended their business in cocaine retail sales for the Sinaloa cartel and under its protection, they dabbled in the theft of fuel to Petróleos Mexicanos, with the "milking" of ducts that cross through the city and the theft of vehicles with by violent means.

Data from US intelligence and investigations by the State Attorney General's Office identified the Arzola Campos brothers as having been born in Durango, their ages between 28 and 40 years old, sons of Jesus Jose Arzola Ibarra and Maria del Refugio Campos Alvarado.

The eldest, nicknamed "Don Meny", was the leader of the group in which his brothers also formed part of the main structure of command. He also controlled the capital of the state with his left and right-hand men. In the north was Josue Otero and in the south Hector Murillo el Cochiloco, both murdered at a palenque on Saturday, February 3rd close to the exit to Cuauhtemoc.

His group belongs to the Sinaloa Cartel and the people in charge are linked with leaders in the mountain area of the entity. Amongst them are "Los Salazar", who control Chinipas and territories of Sonora; and the Salgueiro family which operates in the region known as "the golden triangle" of drugs, between Chihuahua, Sinaloa, and Durango.

The relationship between Don Meny and Noel el Flaco Salgueiro, captured in 2011 and with a broad kinship in criminal business, although both are from Durango he is not from that region, rather he established himself in Chihuahua when the former started to distribute the drug for the Sinaloa Cartel.

It is not known who from the Sinaloa Cartel, belonging to Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, currently imprisoned in the US, sent Manuel Arzola from Durango to Chihuahua to establish business ties with Salgueiro and later to take charge of the distribution of still poor production of methamphetamine. A business which he took charge of with the help of his brothers.

Another group belonging to the Sinaloa cartel with which they presumably had ties with was Francisco Arvizu Marquez, the Jaguar. He operated in the Madera region close to the Sonora state line. They maintain a battle against La Linea, which is formed by Jose Luis Gonzalez Montes, alias The Mute or 32 and Carlos Arturo Quintana, alias 80, both have been involved in multiple crimes and clashes.

Due to the relationship with el Jaguar and Los Salazar groups, the oldest Arzola brothers were mentioned in a narco banner which was placed on a pedestrian bridge in La Cantera as the ones being responsible for giving information to the army and the Attorney General's Office for the capture of el 80. This was never confirmed by the authorities but the arrest was registered on May 17th, 2018 and the banner with threats made towards Don Meny and Quico were found in the early morning on May 21st, insulting them for having flooded the city with meth.

Although there are no official figures that have identified them, during this year "the people of Don Meny" have suffered more than 50 casualties of street-level dealers that they had in different neighborhoods, north and southern periphery, downtown, high marginalization hoods where meth consumption predominates, even with those losses, it is still estimated that they have more than 100 retail dealers. They are supplied with this synthetic drug under the control of the same criminal cell.

One of the brothers is still active

Some sources state that there are a total of 7 Arzola Campos siblings but that only 4 are linked to illegal activities and the rest remain in Durango. Authorities to this day still do not have all of them identified.

The man known as Don Meny Arzola, leader of the group and main link to other organizations at the service of the Sinaloa cartel, was victimized Monday afternoons close to 4:00 PM. When a white Silverado pulled up beside him in the parking lot of a Sams club and Suburbia off of ringway De la Juventud, an armed subject got down and shot him. The target was able to react, which led to a shootout for a few seconds. Between the place of attack and until the entrance of the store where he tried to take refuge which left more than twenty casings of two different calibers.

The aggressor fled towards Sams presumably with a wound to the shoulder, authorities were unable to locate him which led to an unsuccessful search of the area.

On Thursday, July 6th another one of the brothers, Gerardo Arzola Campos, alias Jerry, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was accused of a homicide that was registered on May 17th, 2017 against Carlos Mariscal Piña, whose homicide has been linked to the criminal activity of "Don Menys people".

Jerry was arrested on the same day of the attack, his victim laid out in a Voyager truck at the intersection of Independence and Teofilo Borunda Avenues. He was arrested by agents that pursued and they were about to catch up to him on Guatemala and Francisco Villa streets in the Panamericana neighborhood. He was driving a vehicle identified as "suspicious" and belonging to organized crime. At the time, he was with Pedro Lira Puentes, sentenced 25 years in prison, and Alberto Herrera Arzate, whom like Arzola the judge of oral trial sentenced to 20 years this past Thursday.

Lira was accused of being the material author of the crime, as far as Jerry and Alberto, they were considered co-authors. In his detention, less than an hour after the murder, Arzola asked the agents who arrested him to allow him a phone call to a "commander/captain friend", which the agents refused, who he threatened with death, according to the arrest report on Wednesday, July 17th of last year. All three have a history of other crimes and are part of the group of Manuel Arzola in the capital, so other new allegations of homicide are not ruled out, additional to the ones they are charged and for which they were sentenced.

One day after the sentencing of Jerry and 4 days after the murder of Don Meny, on Friday at 6 PM Francisco "Quico" Arzola was murdered, close to the intersection of the Republic of Jamaica and Laguna de Mexicanos in San Felipe V Etapa in the state's capital.

Quico was subject to criminal proceedings while free because on May 15th of this year he was arrested with meth and fake identifications, which was why he was consigned to the Federal Public Ministry and later placed at the disposal of a judge, who linked him to a process for crimes against health and allowed him to remain free, having to appear regularly to sign at the federal courts.

Presumably Arzola provided information for the arrest of Carlos Arturo Quintana "80" in order to maintain his freedom, this has not been confirmed by the authorities, that acted with stealth in Namiquipa on May 17th of this year in order to capture this capo, allied with La Linea and the Juarez cartel, business rivals to "Don Meny's people" and other cells of the Sinaloa cartel.

On May 21st, when he had obtained his freedom despite the arrest days ago, was when he was threatened via a narco banner. Less than two months later he was victimized in San Felipe, when alongside his son he was getting out of his white Dodge Ram, in one of the 2 homes that he had in the city, according to preliminary investigations reports made by the State Attorney General's Office.

The death of the two older brothers and the sentence of 20 years dictated against another of them leaves the business to the current and free, but with a capacity very diminished by the fall of other leaders, Heber Arzola Campos, who supposedly has under his command some neighborhoods of the Southern part of the city, those that are in the limits of Chihuahua and Aquiles Serdán

Of this last one of the Arzola, at least of those that are known to date, it is also presumed that he was in charge of the relationship with other cells of the Sinaloa cartel that operates in Parral and the southern region, but more details are unknown.