“El Paisa”, the unknown leader of the Sinaloa cartel that disputes the command of the organization

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat TY BB Follower from Infobae and Reforma

 

In an article postedyesterday regarding the U.S. targeting Sinaloa Cartel, it names two persons; Germán Magaña Pasos "El Paisa", Sergio Garduño "El Coma", both are referenced in this article.

During the trial of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera in the United States, one of his defenders' strategies was to point out in the Court that his client was only an “employee” of the Sinaloa cartel, that the real ringleader was Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

Since the last arrest of “El Chapo” in 2014, there are different theories about who occupies the main positions of Sinaloa, after a war between the fraction of Mayo Zambada and the children of Guzmán Loera against that of the Dámaso group López Núñez “El Licenciado”, who is currently imprisoned in the US.

A name that has since gone unnoticed is that of Germán Magaña Pasos "El Paisa", a boss who is responsible for shipping tons of cocaine to the United States. His job is to assemble groups of armed men and reorganize the organization's cells in Mexico.

“Based on information from the United States, Magaña is undoubtedly an important figure in the organization, but other leaders such as Ismael Zambada García aka 'El Mayo', are still active and probably continue to direct many operations of the cartel, ”says an analysis about Magaña by the Insight Crime organization, specializing in security issues.

"Magaña's preference for managing operations behind the scenes can be a strategy to divert attention from Mexican authorities,” warns the analysis published in 2014.

Magaña remains until now a practically unknown character, of which there is no record of photos and the information about his operations is very little.

Reports of a US Court sent to Mexican authorities in 2009 indicate that it was Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada who gave him the task of assuming most of his operations in the north of the country.

The newspaper Reforma announced that Mexican justice received a request for extradition from the United States, but Magaña is not yet on the list of the most wanted drug traffickers in Mexico.

Documents from the Federal Court of the Western District of Texas indicate that infiltrated elements of the drug agency ( DEA) reported that this man sent trucks with at least 3 tons of cocaine to Ciudad Juarez.

Magaña, who speaks German,  does not deal directly with border traffickers, but does so through its emissaries, such as Sergio Garduño "El Coma", who commanded since 2007 two squadrons of gunmen fighting against the Juarez Cartel, according to reports. The powerful capo dealt directly with Ismael Zambada García in drug trafficking, money laundering and arms trafficking activities on behalf of the Sinaloa cartel, according to Manuel Fierro, former partner of “El Chapo” and today a DEA collaborator.

According to the record of the Federal Court of the Western District of Texas, in El Paso, the two gangs of gunmen serving Magaña in Ciudad Juarez were led by Rodrigo Fierro and Arturo Lozano. The second was charged with fighting the Barrio Azteca gang, the armed arm of the Juarez Cartel, but his work was full of mistakes, so he was pushed aside.

The DEA agent Juan Briano gave the Texan court a photograph of Magaña Pasos, which until now has not been disclosed by the United States or Mexico, but at that time the fight against his group began, because in April 2012 the court ordered the capture of more than 20 suspected members of the Sinaloa Cartel, including “El Paisa”, also identified with the false name of Germán Olivares. [Note: [I located the photo supposedly given by a DEA agent to the court, but I recognized it as being former Jefe de Plaza Reynosa, “Comandante Panochitas” of CDG, I could find no images of Paisa]

Fierro was arrested in October 2008 in Texas, after working for 11 years as a police officer in Ciudad Juarez and serving Magaña.

Additional information from Reforma

“El Paisa”

“Magaña Pasos worked directly with Ismael Zambada García in drug trafficking, money laundering and arms trafficking activities on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel,” said Jesús Manuel Fierro Méndez, former police officer, accomplice of the Sinaloa Cartel and today a DEA collaborator.

According to the criminal file EP-12-CR-849-FM, of the Federal Court of the Western District of Texas, in El Paso, the two legions of hitmen at the service of Magaña Pasos in Ciudad Juárez were commanded by Jesús Rodrigo Fierro Ramírez and Arturo Lozano Méndez.

The latter's group, a former Municipal Police agent, was entrusted with the task of "sweeping" the Barrio Azteca gang, executors of the Juarez Cartel, but apparently their work did not do satisfactorily and resulted in another his subordinates convinced Magaña Steps of his incompetence.

“In early 2008, in the midst of the increasing violence in Ciudad Juárez between the Sinaloa and Juárez Cartel, Magaña Pasos withdrew the organization of Garduño Escobedo from Ciudad Juárez, before this David Sánchez Hernández met with Magaña Pasos and spoke badly the way Garduño Escobedo handled the fight for power against the Juarez Cartel, ”he adds.

"I think this conversation between David Sánchez Hernández and Magaña Pasos contributed to the transfer of Garduño Escobedo's organization to different places in Mexico, since David Sánchez Hernández went to Mexico City," said Fierro Méndez in the United States.

Magaña Pasos had the authority to change all of his commands in Chihuahua and to close the streets of Juarez so that his cargoes with drugs would pass under police surveillance. That says Fierro Méndez, who was an agent until he was arrested.

Coma

Garduño, who was known as "Coma," short for "Comandante," was a station commander for the Chihuahua state police, the indictment states.

The indictment states that Garduño allegedly supervised cartel security operations and Juárez warehouses storing thousands of pounds of cocaine destined for the United States,

"Prior to the cartel war, Garduño paid the tax on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel granting them permission from the Juárez Cartel to move drugs through the Juárez plaza," the document states.

The indictment mentioned that Garduño's cocaine packages used the logo of Memin Pinguin, a Mexican comic book character of a black boy that has been criticized as being a racial stereotype.