"Compa Playa" the capo originally from Playa Vicente who started a war in Oaxaca and Veracruz

Chivis Martinez  Borderland Beat  La Silla Rota 

The fame of El "Compa Playa" was  told about in the narcocorrido "With the scent of Ferragamo"  

                                                    "Compa Playa" [Playa/Beach]

"Compa Playa"

Itiel Palacios García is the name of the alleged murderer of deputy Juan Carlos Molina Palacios, shot in November 2019. His nickname: “Compa Playa”, is linked to the origins of this kingpin,  the state of Veracruz. [deputy below right] Ministerial sources confirmed that Itiel Palacios was born in 1982, in the small community of “Primavera”, belonging to Vicente Beach, Veracruz, a municipality that, for years, has been the subject of bloody disputes between organized crime groups.

"El Playa" began his criminal record outside of Veracruz, allegedly forged in the ranks of the Sinaloa Cartel. His beginnings started in Guerrero, an entity linked to his parents, who gave him a second nickname: "El Indito de Guerrero."

Palacios García was arrested on September 3 in León, Guanajuato. The statement from the Attorney General of that state referred to him as the leader of a criminal group, with a presence in the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Veracruz, which extended throughout Puebla, Mexico City and Tamaulipas.

The power that the 38-year-old man wielded, earned him a spot on the list of the "Narco Junior" , which included the Guzmán brothers, sons of Chapo Guzmán; El Menchito, heir to Nemesio Oseguera, “El Mencho”; and "El mini Lic.", son of Damaso López Núñez.

The fame of El “Compa Playa” was told in the narcocorrido “Con olor a Ferragamo” , composed by the group 'Revolver Cannabis', in December 2016. “With the scent of Ferragamo (Italian men's fragrance), there is no woman who can resist."

“The smoke of Mexico City is the air I breathe; I have many offices, with the iPhone I organize. My people from Guatemala, the gauchos from Argentina, I make money with all of them and the business keeps going up ”, you hear in some of those verses. 

Palacios García's nickname was publicly referred to on February 14, 2020, by the governor of Veracruz, Cuitláhuac García Jiménez. The announcement was issued two days after the governments of Veracruz and Oaxaca signed a collaboration agreement on security matters, which was based in the municipality of Tuxtepec, Oaxaca.

At the agreement ceremony, for Veracruz: The governor, Cuitláhuac García, the state attorney general, Verónica Hernández Giadáns and the prosecutor specialized in ministerial investigations, Marcela Aguilera Landeta. 

For Oaxaca, the governor Alejandro Murat, the attorney general, Rubén Vasconcelos and the prosecutor specializing in Transcendental Crimes, Arturo de Villanueva. 

Cuitláhuac García accused "El Compa Playa" as the main generator of violence in the border area of ​​Veracruz and Oaxaca, he also asserts that he was responsible for at least 10 disappearances in Playa Vicente, committed in just 24 hours, between the 26th and 27th of January 2020. [see image below]

"It was detected that the criminal group that operates in the region, headed by Itiel" N ", alias" Compa Playa ", who has a warrant against him, could be allegedly involved (in the disappearances)," said García Jiménez.

                                                  Disappearances attributed to Compa Playa

Said arrest warrant was presented by a judge for the intentional homicide of Juan Carlos Molina Palacios, a former PRI member and leader of the National Peasant Confederation (CNC), who murdered on one of his ranches, in the municipality of Medellín de Bravo, Veracruz.

However, García Jiménez's message about the violence that “El indito de Guerrero” generated between Veracruz and Oaxaca had an origin: 

A bloody fight between the brothers Leonardo Hernández, alias “El Brujo”, and José Hernández, “El Chepe” or "La Chepina", for control of the region known as the Bermuda Triangle.

According to ministerial sources, "El Chepe", with operations in Tuxtepec, allied with Itiel Palacios to overthrow his younger brother, "El Brujo", who dominated Playa Vicente. 

THE ORIGIN OF THE FIGHT:

The origin of the fight for the "Bermuda Triangle", in which El "Compa Playa" participated, began with the murder of Ariel Hernández, alias "El Flaco" or "Antonio Ruiz Cano", brother of "El Brujo" and "El Chepe".

The crime was committed on August 24, 2016, in Tuxtepec, Oaxaca and, from then on exchanges of attacks between "El brujo" and "El Chepe" began to be recorded.

According to figures from the National Public Security System (SNSP), from the murder of "El Flaco" to December 31, 2016, murders in Tuxtepec increased by 477 percent in the city; 43 people were killed in six months.

The clashes on the public thoroughfare and executions in establishments did not cease until September 2017 - according to official statistics - with a mark of 71 intentional homicides in the first nine months.

After the death of "El Flaco", José Hernández, "La Chepina", requested the support of  "Compa Playa", to fight "El Brujo".

On January 23, 2017, elements of the Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA) secured a CESSNA 210 type plane in Tuxtepec, with registration number N4553 (superimposed), where seven people were also detained and 268 kilos of cocaine, two long weapons were recovered,  and seven magazines for different weapons.

CJNG TAKES CONTROL

Leonardo Hernández, “El Brujo”, was assassinated on April 27, 2018, during a cockfight in a palenque in Playa Vicente. To date, his crime has not been solved however, it caused a new distribution of territories, in which the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación  (CJNG), assumed control of Playa Vicente and surroundings, and not the alliance of “El Chepe ”And“ Compa Playa".

On February 29, 2020, elements of the SSP Civil Force killed Reinaldo “N” known as “El Pelón de Abasolo Del Valle” or “El Quemado”, who was named alleged head of the CJNG in Playa Vicente.

"El Pelón" would have assumed control of Playa Vicente after the death of Leonardo Hernández, alias "El Brujo". And although the Veracruz government announced a search for the “Piña” brothers, they have been fugitives from justice for more than eight months.

Meanwhile, José Hernández “El Chepe” was detained on February 29, 2020, in Palenque, Chiapas and with this the criminal organization that operated with illegal funds from the “Compa Playa” was deactivated.

"El Compa Playa" is the leader of an independent organization, that is, without being a franchise of any cartel identified in the country.

Another extract from that corrido also alludes to the origin of the Itiel Palacios family. "I bring Warrior blood because my father has given it to me. Where will you be, my old man? I need your scolding ”.

The port of Guerrero is mentioned by authorities as key to "El Playa", as it is the distribution point to other entities. In Guerrero, he was linked to the current municipal president of Petatlán, Esteban Cárdenas

On September 29, 2014, Itiel Palacios was mentioned as the leader of a criminal cell in the state of Puebla, after the arrest of Adrián Peral Bustamante, then in charge of the delegate of the defunct PGR Normando Bustos Bertheau, who was a regional prosecutor of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, in the administration of the current attorney general, Verónica Hernández.

The Compa Playa was referred to in journalistic leaks as “a character who during his stay in Puebla was guarded by people from various police corporations, had the concession for the distribution of drugs throughout the area of ​​clubs in San Andrés Cholula, Puebla and others. municipalities, it was also to whom José Luis Aldama, and the now detained Adrián Peral, were accountable ”.