“I decapitated enemies”: the brutal confession of a hit man who worked for “El Chapo” Guzmán

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat Infobae

“Guerrero, today you lost a brother, but you won a family, 20 brothers and I who are now a part of you. From this betrayal, a brotherhood is born, and so it will last. Think of it as a ritual that unites us forever,” said Osiel Cárdenas Guillén.

“I killed, cut off heads. I had a lot of work in 2008, sometimes several jobs a day” (sic) .

It is the sordid story of a hitman, whose name was not revealed, but who for years was part of the gunmen of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, leader of a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel and who today is imprisoned for life in a maximum security jail in the United States.

According to the testimony of this subject, published by blogs specializing in the subject of drug trafficking, the murder "was so simple that it began only with a call to my cell phone, but so ruthless that it culminated commonly in a beheading" in the streets of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua.

He located his armament and his equipment at his safe house, where he was given an image in the form of a photograph of his objective: a police chief who did not want to pay, or a politician who hindered the criminal aspirations of another.

The job was to wait for the order to attack, sometimes waiting for days. The victim became a target and could be found anywhere: his house, office, restaurant, leaving a mall, or in the backseat of a police patrol. Rarely do killers work to find their target.

At that time, an average hitman could earn up to $ 15,000 for each murder, but now everything is devalued, he said.

“Today, any neighbor's son takes a gun and is already a hitman. They operate without any care, they kill women and children,” said the criminal, who said he was a professional since his first job” at age 17.

El Mellado

Galdino Mellado Cruz “El Mellado”, was a founding member of “Los Zetas” and today is confined in the Chiconautla prison and who the government reported “dead” in 2014. He entered prison under the name Juan Luis Vallejos de la Sancha, to keep a low profile.

From there, he told journalist Ricardo Raphael some of the most horrendous passages he lived inside the organization, such as the occasion when the boss Osiel Cárdenas Guillén forced a brother to kill another for treason, in the middle of a blood orgy.

Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, known as “El Patron or“ El Mata Amigos ”, earned that nickname after killing Salvador Gómez Herrera in 1998, his friend and then head of the Gulf Cartel after the capture of Juan García Ábrego (left) in January 1996. As head of the organization he printed an unprecedented stamp of cruelty and "Los Zetas" the greatest exponents.

Osiel

"El Mellado" told about the occasion when Cárdenas Guillén discovered a "snitch" from among the ranks of "Los Zetas". It was Ciro Justo Hernández, who had changed his name and had not reported that he was Oscar Guerrero's brother.

The member of Los Zetas recalled that Arturo Guzmán Decena, Jorge Eduardo Costilla "El Coss", Alejandro Lucio Morales Betancourt, Heriberto Lazcano "El Lazca", Jaime González Durán "El Hummer", Mateo Díaz López, Jesús Enrique Rejón, Óscar Guerrero Silva , Omar Lorméndez Pitalúa, Ciro Justo Hernández and Galdino Mellado Cruz; They were in a meeting. All trained and swearing loyalty.

It was then that Osiel asked Justo Hernández to leave the formation. Ciro had changed his identity and had hidden that he was Oscar's brother. "El Coss" accused Ciro of being a snitch: he said he talked about more and because of him, the police were investigating the wife of "El Patron" and "the DEA knows things that should not be known."

He operated for several years at the border, in Baja California, Sinaloa and Sonora. And before the drug war escalated, he moved to Juarez where the boss Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán sent his men to fight for drug transfer routes to the United States.

After 20 years in the business, he couldn't take it anymore and withdrew.

"I have changed my life," he said while holding a Bible in his hands. He said regretfully, but the past weighs on his conscience.

“Many times you see how people look, with their heads permeated with bullet impacts. Those are etched permanently in the mind,” he concluded.

It is not the first time that a repentant hitman reveals the atrocities he committed in the past.

Osiel thundered:  “Here he who shits, cleans it! That is the rule and all of you are going to clean it, if you really want to stay with me. That includes you, Oscar. It is your decision: do you stay with your brother or do you come with us?” He shouted, in a narrative that was embodied in Raphael's "Son of War."

It was then that they moved to a safe house that was 20 minutes from where they were. Upon arriving, they saw that another group of men had already gave Ciro a good beating, to the degree of knocking out some teeth.

But the worst was yet to come.

Osiel asked Oscar if he was with him or his brother. When Oscar saw that there was no turning back, he decided to stay next to "The Patron".

 

Hummer

“'La Lazca' knelt by the chair where Cyrus was and with a hammer he slaughtered his bare toes until they became small fragments of busted flesh. Then 'The Hummer' approached and put a tremendous kick to the chest. Ciro flew back with the chair. Betancourt took charge of lifting him so that others could continue,” Galdino said.

Ciro begged for his brother's help, but Oscar did not intervene. “The screams inflamed the mood of the group; several began to enjoy the torture.  'The Hummer' took out a saw knife and, crossing his upper lip, tore off a piece of his cheek.”

Osiel ordered: "Make sure he suffers a chingo."

20 subjects with the adrenaline began to skin him alive. Later, "The Hummer" castrated him and Decena tied a firecracker to the penis, to tear it off. In the end, Cárdenas Guillen gave Oscar a nine-millimeter Colt-type weapon that he always carried and ordered him to give him the coup de grace.

When it was over, "El Patron" brought them together and hugged Oscar Guerrero tightly telling him that he was sorry for his loss.

 

Osiel

“Guerrero, today you lost a brother, but you won a family, 20 brothers and I who are now part of you. From this betrayal a brotherhood is born, and so it will last. Think of it as a ritual that unites us forever,” said Osiel Cárdenas Guillén.

After recounting the bloody passage, the former Zeta assured Rapahel: “It is not easy to describe the emotions generated by getting involved in such a thing; you feel fear, but it is not an unpleasant fear because it is loaded with adrenaline. You want to see more, more blood, more punches; you want to hear more screams and give it to you too, to give the güey a chilazo. It is not sexual arousal, because I am not fucking, but you do get excited and you don't want it to stop. ”