Gente Nueva Ring Leader 'El Pariente' Faces Trial in Chihuahua; He Had Local Cops on His Payroll

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat

In addition to the murder, El Pariente also faces kidnapping and robbery charges. (Photo credit: HEARST from Borderland Beat) 

Alejandro F.G., alias "El Pariente" (The Relative), was arrested earlier this month in Chihuahua city. He was one of Chihuahua's most-wanted criminals and a high-ranking member of Gente Nueva, a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.

One of his main duties as gang leader was to maintain control of the crystal meth distribution and sales in Chihuahua city. Most of the drug sale spots were located in the southern part of the city. El Pariente ordered his triggermen, which included local police officers, to kill rivals who tried to sell drugs in his turf.

Since 2019, the State Attorney General's Office had identified him a main generator of violence in Chihuahua. His name surfaced in investigations after authorities discovered that he was ordering kidnappings and killing in an area known as Carrizalillo (southern Chihuahua city).

Investigators say that the case's major breakthrough occurred on February 10, 2021, in Villa Juárez neighborhood, around three in the afternoon, when the Municipal Police agents Mauro Mendoza Bailon ("El Mendoza") and Javier Ponce Valdez went to a home on Miguel Trillo Street and for no apparent reason stormed a home to interrogate a group of young men.

In the statement of four of the victims, who were identified under the pseudonyms "Tommy", "Azul", "Héctor" and "Demon", they said that the police officers forced them to kneel down before beating them.

"They entered without authorization … beat some of us with baseball bats ... and then proceeded to search the home and steal our belongings. When 'Tommy' arrived they forced him to enter the house, beat him and took a briefcase with 2,800 pesos", one of the witnesses said.

According to the State Attorney General's Office, the man with an identity reserved as "Tommy" was questioned by the municipal agents about his boss and denied working for someone else, but when they took away his cell phone they realized that he was a drug dealer. Tommy then admitted that he worked for a drug dealer ring leader nicknamed "El Abuelo" (The Grandfather).

According to the data gathered by the Attorney General's Office, "Tommy" crystal meth drug dealer. When El Pariente was informed that Tommy was selling drugs without his authorization, he asked municipal police officers to take him to an undisclosed location to execute him.

El Pariente was arrested on July 2, 2021 (Photo credit: HEARST from Borderland Beat)

The policemen decided to take Tommy to an abandoned property behind a Pemex gas station, near the exit to Delicias municipality, where they released him and asked him to run away. When Tommy ran away, the police officers shot him over twenty times (three bullets struck him).

Tommy played dead for a few hours and then asked nearby residents for help. He survived and was taken to a local hospital to treat his gunshot wounds. 

The information that Tommy provided to authorities was crucial to building an investigation on El Pariente. His testimonies also uncovered the corrupt doings of municipal police officers in Chihuahua city.

El Mendoza, one of the police officers involved El Pariente, was arrested on April 2021, as covered by Borderland Beat. Although identified in his investigation as a local leader of La Empresa gang, El Mendoza also worked for Gente Nueva.

The investigation showed that more than a dozen officers from different police corporations in Chihuahua city work for La Empresa or other rival gangs, to whom they provide protection, sell drugs for, capture or kill opponents, and collect drug proceeds.

Sources: El Heraldo de Chihuahua; Diario de Juarez; FGE Chihuahua; La Parada Digital; La Opcion; Borderland Beat archives

Note: Municipal police officer Javier Ponce Valdez is also known as "El Pariente". In the investigation his name is spelled as Javier P. V. to conceal is true identity. Mauro Mendoza Bailón is referred to as Mauro M. B.