Notable Figures: Cárteles Unidos Part I - Los Viagras and La Nueva Familia Michoacana

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Cárteles Unidos

The 2017 formation of United Cartels (Cárteles Unidos, CU) is detailed in the article The Security Strategy in Michoacán, which was published by Nexos and written by Eduardo Guerrero, a partner at Lantia Intelligence. 

The article reports the Sinaloa Cartel (Cártel de Sinaloa, CDS) formed Cárteles Unidos, which is an alliance of local cartel organizations and supposed self-defense groups, with the express purpose of utilizing them to confronting their rival, the Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG). In exchange for fighting their rivals on their behalf, the CU would be promoted and financed by CDS families such as the Zambadas and the Coronels. The degree to which the Sinaloa Cartel is still actively involved in the CU in 2021 is unclear although there are persistent social media rumors of CDS funding certain elements of the CU. 

Developing the List of Groups and Subgroups

The list of CU groups derives from the article The Security Strategy in Michoacán where Eduardo Guerrero details that Lantia Intelligence registered, as of the first quarter of 2021, four major groups which fall under the Cárteles Unidos umbrella in the state of  Michoacán, which are:

1) La Nueva Familia Michoacana (LNFM)

1a. Los Viagras

1b. Los Blancos de Troya

1c. Cártel del Camaleón

1d. Guardia Michoacana

2) Cártel del Abuelo

2a. Los Reyes

3) Cártel de la Virgen 

4) The families associated with Los Tena and Los Pulido

For Notable Figures purposes we will expand on Lantia’s list. La Silla Rota reports that according to the Attorney General's Office (FGR) there are two groups of Knights Templars (CT) operating in Michoacán currently: one group centered around El Tena and one group centered around El Gallito called "Guardia Michoacana", a part of the CU. Los Tenas group also appears to be a part of the CU. (Source, Source)

Los Pulidos group that Lantia Intelligence refers to is based out of Huahua in Aquila municipality. But of note, in addition to fighting the CJNG, Los Pulidos has also been known to fight against other CU groups such as CT Los Tenas, allegedly killing Tena’s brother El Chuy Playa. They now appear to be protected and/or merged with a group led by Germán Ramírez Sánchez, alias “El Toro”. (Source, Source, Source)  

Other groups such as the LFM group associated with José Pineda González “Don José” and Medardo Hernández Vera “El Mantecas”, as well as the LFM group associated with El Pez appear to be in an alliance with the CU but whether they belong within the CU is unclear. (Source) The Don José La Familia Michoacana (LFM) group appears to still have a presence in Michoacán; however, El Pez group appears to largely hold power in areas outside of the state of Michoacán, in places like the State of Mexico. (Source, Source, Source) So for now only the Don José group will be added to the Michoacán CU category. 

Another CU group not mentioned in Lantia’s report that is known to be active in Michoacán is Los Revueltas, a group led by El Chirrius (Source). This group notably was said to have issues with Adalberto Fructuoso Comparán Rodríguez alias “El Fruto”, who frustratingly is described by almost every publication ambiguously as “the leader of the Carteles Unidos” with no further specificity to group or subgroup. (Source, Source)

This leaves us with the work in progress list below. Only the last three groups have been given a specific shade of green due to their history fighting against other groups within the CU and therefore there is a need to distinguish them.

"Carteles Unidos Part I" will only cover "La Nueva Familia Michoacana" and "Los Viagras". Other groups will be covered in articles to follow. 

1. GROUP: La Nueva Familia Michoacana (LNFM)
OTHER NAMES: N/A

DESCRIPTION: For many cartel figures, publications will vary wildly as to whether they belong to LFM or LNFM. Take for example the cartel leadership figure Don José. La Opinión, La Voz de Puebla, Julio Astillero will say Don José. is a part of LNFM. Meanwhile El Universal,  La Silla Rota and Noventa Grados will say Don José is LFM. [*1] 

POSITION: Leader of LNFM (Source)

ALIAS: El Zarco

NAME: Salvador Navarro Peñaloza and / or Luis Navarro Peñaloza

OTHER ALIASES: El 01, El Sarco (Source)

STATUS: Active as of May 2020 

PROFILE: He is described in multiple publications as the leader of LNFM. (Source, Source, Source) While some only describe him as the LNFM leader of Tierrre Caliente area within Guerrero state. (Source) El Zarco was a Knights Templar member prior to joining LNFM. La Voz describes him as the current leader of the LNFM in Michoacán, Guerrero and the State of Mexico.

He allegedly agreed to create an alliance between his group La Nueva Familia Michoacana, the group La Familia Michoacana de Arcelia, and the La Familia Michoacana group led by Don José. All three organizations reportedly began to support Cartel del Abuelo. (Source) La Familia Michoacana de Arcelia is based in Guerrero and the State of Mexico. It is led by Johnny Hurtado Olascoaga, alias “El Pez” and José Alfredo Hurtado Olascoaga, alias “El Fresa”. (Source, Source) La Familia Michoacana group led by José González Pineda alias “Don José” has a presence in both Guerrero and Michoacán. (Source) 

In August 2019, El Zarco along with El Borrego posed with their group of sicarios and challenged the CJNG, saying they were the real men of Michoacan. (Source, Source) The CJNG responded with two videos of their own, in one they announced they had arrived with a 50 truck convoy in Cochoapa El Grande, Guerrero where LNFM is also present. In another video they threaten El Zarco and El Médico, saying they are coming for him and he better not hide from them. (Source, Source) 

In January 2020, the group Los Tequileros led by La Mula announced their alliance with the CJNG and threatened El Zarco and El Médico. (Source) In May 2020, the CJNG executed three cartel members (either LFM or LNFM) and desecrated their bodies on video while threatening El Zarco and El Médico. (Source) 

 

POSITION: Plaza Boss of Tiquicheo, Lieutenant

ALIAS: El Chacal (The Jackal) 

NAME: Rigoberto Reyes Tinoco

OTHER ALIASES: Comandante Huerta

STATUS: Inactive, killed April 2020 

PROFILE: El Chacal was described as a plaza boss and lieutenant of LNFM. On April 27 2020, El Chacal was killed by military elements after an alleged shootout in El Llano (San Miguel Canario) in Tiquicheo municipality. (Source, Source) The CJNG’s new allies in the Tiquicheo area called “La Gente del Chaparro” claimed responsibility for the death of El Chacal on video, which could be baseless claims or could suggest the military elements responsible for his death were working on their behalf. (Source, Source, Source) 

 

1a.) SUBGROUP: Los Viagras

OTHER NAMES: Los Sierra

LOCATIONS: Zamora, Jacona, Tangancicuaro and Sahuayo region according to Gente del Balasas in 2018 

DESCRIPTION: According to Lantia Intelligence and Mexico Daily News, Los Viagras is a group that is currently believed to be a subgroup or armed wing under La Nueva Familia Michoacana, which is part of the Carteles Unidos (CU) alliance. They are the most currently visible CU group, so some publications are quick to misattribute any CU related crime to Los Viagras. 

Los Viagras were first formed in Pinzándaro, Buenavista Tomatlán. (Source) They are a familial based group which centers around the Sierra Santana brothers, although a few publications claim some of the Sierra Santana sisters are involved as well. Two to three of the brothers are believed to be the godsons of José de Jesús Méndez Vargas alias “El Chango Méndez”, the leader of La Familia Michoacana at the time. According to Nicolas Sierra Santana, the group name “Los Viagras” derives from a joke made by one of the brothers about another how his brother Carlos used to comb his hair with spikes facing upwards that he fixed with an excessive amount of gel. (Source) 

They reportedly began working under the Knights Templars but later left the organization and joined the autodefensa movement that was largely centered around eliminating the Knights Templars. There are accusations that the Sierra Santana brothers never stopped being a criminal enterprise, involved in either drug trafficking or extortion, and that they simply took on the ruse of being an autodefensa during this time period. (Source)

While under the guise of the self defense movement, they worked under the leadership of Estanislao Beltrán alias "Papá Pitufo" or "Papa Smurf". In 2014, when the government gave legitimacy and authority to the autodefensa groups by creating Fuerza Rural (Rural Defense Forces). The group led by Papá Pitufo including the Sierra Santana brothers joined the Fuerza Rural. (Source, Source, Source)

In 2014, Michoacán security commissioner Alfredo Castillo Cervantes asked the Sierra Santana brothers for help with tracking down and capturing Knights Templar leader Servando Gómez Martínez, alias "El Tuta". The brothers reportedly agreed and they created the special unit G250 in order to hunt down La Tuta. (Source)  La Tuta later famously warned on video that "The Viagras are worse offenders than me, they don't even support their mother and have no loyalty or honor." At the very end of 2014, the government tried to disarm and dissolve the Fuerza Rural and other autodefensa groups however Los Viagras refused to be disarmed, ending their brief collaboration with the Michoacan government. 

By 2015, Milenio newspaper wrote that an intelligence report from the national security cabinet stated that Los Viagras were currently dedicated to drug trafficking working under or in an alliance with Cartel H3 (there was an iniative where areas in Michoacán were divided between groups called H1, H2, H3). It also detailed that they have maintained ties with La Familia, Los Caballeros Templarios and now the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). 

The CJNG reportedly came to this alliance with the Sierra Santana brothers through Yordín Oseguera Villa alias “El H”, who is the son of Nora Elia Villa Patricio and Adrián Mendoza Oseguera. Adrián Mendoza Oseguera is the brother of El Mencho, leader of the CJNG, making Mencho his uncle. In 2014, at 14 years old, El H reportedly was hired as a hitman by Nicolás Sierra Santana and told to monitor Pinzándaro. At 15 years old in 2015, El H brokered an introduction between the Los Viagras group and the CJNG which would later lead to an alliance and business agreement. (Source, Source, Source) 

At some point in 2017, the CJNG and Los Viagras had a falling out. Some versions allege the Sierra Santana brothers felt threatened by how much government protection Mencho was able to have while operating in Michoacán. Other versions claim Mencho was behind the killing of Carlos Sierra Santana. (Source, Source) Regardless of the cause, Los Viagras and the CJNG have been in a fierce battle ever since. 

POSITION: Second in Command Los Viagras - Former

ALIAS: La Sopa (The Soup)

NAME: José Carlos Sierra Santana

OTHER ALIASES: El Greñas (Source) 

STATUS: Inactive, killed March 2017  

PROFILE: La Sopa was one of the Sierra Santana brothers. Notivideo and Noventa Grados described El Sapo’s position as being the second in command in Los Viagras, under El Gordo who they say was the leader, in their 2017 article. Contramuro and Noventa Grados described his position as “the leader of the group known as La Nueva Familia Michoacana, the criminal arm of Los Viagras” in a 2017 article. Of note, this contradicts Lantia Intelligence’s description of Los Viagras as being a subgroup of LNFM and acting as an armed wing on its behalf. State authorities have confirmed that in March 2017, La Sopa was killed in a shootout with a rival cartel group, near Peña Colorada, which is close to El Aguaje, Aguililla municipality, Michoacán. (Source, Source, Source)

POSITION: Leader - Current (Source, Source)  

ALIAS: El Tronado 

NAME: Rodolfo Sierra Santana[*2] (Please see note about photo used at bottom) 

OTHER ALIASES: La Teresa (Source), El Rodo, El Barbón (Source)  

STATUS: Active 

PROFILE: El Tronado is one of the Sierra Santana brothers. Previously the oldest brother, Nicolás Sierra Santana “El Gordo” was believed to have been the boss of Los Viagras and La Sopa was believed to have been his second-in-command, at least up until his death in 2017. However most current reporting alleges Rodolfo “El Tronado” is the leader of Los Viagras whereas El Gordo takes more of a spokesperson role under him. (Source, Source, Source) 

El Tronado was said to have been captured by authorities in November 2018 by multiple publications. (Source, Source) However it later emerged that the only Sierra brother Daniel “El Chaco” was arrested in that operation. (Source) La Jornada newspaper reports that El Tronado was injured in the explosion resulting from bomb construction that also killed La Güera China in July 2021. 

POSITION: Lieutenant, Spokesperson

ALIAS: El Gordo (The Fat One)

NAME: Nicolás Sierra Santana

OTHER ALIASES: El Coruco (Source) 

STATUS: Active 

PROFILE: El Gordo is one of the Sierra Santana brothers. In 2015, Milenio described him as someone who “operated as secretary or spokesperson for the organization”.  In 2018, Excelsior described him as “the top leader of the criminal group known as Los Viagras”.  In 2014, at 14 years old, Mencho’s nephew Yordín Oseguera Villa reportedly was hired as a hitman by Nicolás Sierra Santana and told to monitor Pinzándaro. This later led to the temporary alliance between the CJNG and the Viagras, which dissolved in 2017. (Source)

He famously gave an interview to the Daily Beast in 2017 where he boasted that he commands about a thousand Viagras foot soldiers and that his men maintain a sophisticated surveillance system that includes monitoring police and military radio frequencies. He’s quoted as saying “The authorities know where I am, but they’re afraid to come after me because of the scandal I could make by talking [about the government’s links to organized crime].” He showed off his chrome-plated 9 mm pistol and claimed he could stabilize the state in under two months if the government allowed him to. (Source)  

POSITION: Lieutenant, Leader of Sangre Nueva Guerrerense

ALIAS: El Ingeniero (The Engineer)

NAME: Gabino Sierra Santana

OTHER ALIASES: El Teto

STATUS: Active  

PROFILE:  El Ingeniero is one of the Sierra Santana brothers. He was described as the leader of the criminal cell identified as Sangre Nueva Guerrerense by Contramuro in 2019.  He was later reportedly arrested in March 2018, causing a wave of road cartel blockades across the state according to Aristegui Noticias, PrensaLibre, La Razon and Mexico News Daily. He allegedly escaped after. (Source) Then he was reportedly arrested again in July 2019, leading to another series of roadblocks. (Source, Source) He is believed to have been released from prison in April 2020, as part of a federal initiative to reintegrate prisoners back into society which was compounded by concerns over the rapid infection potential in prisons during the COVID19 pandemic.

 

POSITION: “Operator”, unspecified (Source) 

ALIAS: El Panchito (The Fried Peanut)

NAME: Francisco Sierra Santana

OTHER ALIASES: El Chaco 

STATUS: Active 

PROFILE: El Panchito is one of the Sierra Santana brothers. He is said to be an operator within Los Viagras but he tends to keep a low profile. He is the least well known of all the Sierra Santana brothers and as such, few details are available on him. (Source, Source)   

 

POSITION:

ALIAS: El Negro (The Black)

NAME: Mariano Sierra Santana

OTHER ALIASES: 

STATUS: Active 

PROFILE: El Negro is one of the Sierra Santana brothers and a member of Los Viargas. El Negro is described as one of the founding members of Los Viagras. In 2015, El Negro was arrested alongside Adrian  Reyes alias "El Tigre", a leader of Guardia Guerrerense (or Guerreros Unidos?). The two men were found in possession of nine firearms, according to Mexico's interior ministry. (Source) El Negro was reportedly working under Reyes's protection in Guerrero after having to flee Michoacan due to a dispute with Luis  Torres alias "El Americano". (Source) He was reportedly imprisoned in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero in 2015. (Source) Some report he is another Sierra Santana brother who was freed in April 2020 by the federal initiative. 

POSITION: Regional Operator 

ALIAS: El Chaco

NAME: Daniel Sierra Santana

OTHER ALIASES: El Chako, El Dany (Source)  

STATUS: Active 

PROFILE: El Chaco is one of the Sierra Santana brothers and Gente del Balasas describes him as the youngest of the brothers. In addition to belonging to Los Viagras, some publications say he belongs to Guerreros Unidos as well. (Source)  

El Universal described El Chaco as a regional operator  in Zamora for Los Viagras in a 2018 article. He was arrested alongside El Harry in 2018 after they shot at a group of ministerial agents who were participating in investigative tasks in the town of Santa Ana, Buenavista according to the State Attorney General’s Office. (Source, Source, Source)  El Chaco was released from prison in April 2020, as part of a federal initiative to reintegrate prisoners back into society which was compounded by concerns over the rapid infection potential in prisons during the COVID19 pandemic. A social media user claimed El Chaco was injured in the August 2020 confrontation in Zamora between Los Viagras and members of the National Guard. (Source)

POSITION: Regional Head of Hitmen (Source) 

Financial Operator (Source) 

ALIAS: El Harry

NAME: José Roberto Padilla González

OTHER ALIASES: El H1 (Source) 

STATUS:

PROFILE: El Harry’s position with Los Viagras is described differently across news publications. In a 2018 article, El Universal described El Harry as a regional operator  in Zamora for Los Viagras, adding that he is one of the 12 regional lieutenants of Los Viagras. Gente del Balasas describes El Harry as the regional head of hitmen. Noventa Grados writes he is a financial operator.   

He was arrested alongside El Chaco in 2018 after they shot at a group of ministerial agents who were participating in investigative tasks in the town of Santa Ana, Buenavista according to the State Attorney General’s Office. (Source) 

 

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Footnotes 

* Some states in Mexico have well established news publications that have a record of credibility and a history of reliably covering cartel news. For example Chihuahua has El Diario de Chihuahua, Diario, and El Heraldo. Baja California has Zeta Tijuana and Sinaloa has Riodoce, as just some of many more examples. Some states however lack news publications like these. For example Sonora, Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas seem to have less news outlets that cover cartel news in detail. For Michoacán, La Voz de Michoacán and the local edition of El Sol newspapers are quite credible when it comes to reporting the barebones facts of criminal events however they rarely venture into ascribing cartel affiliations or naming cartel figures. Outlets that are willing to do this, such as Noventa Grados, Infobae and Contro Muro have stories that are sometimes based on social media user reports and subsequently, their track record on credibility is not consistent. As such, please take all of the above information with a grain of salt as many of these sources had to be used. 

[*1] Even more confusingly, La Silla Rota will one year later repeatedly refer to him as a current, active Knights Templar member (and not in reference to his background in CT) despite reporting him as a member of LFM the year before. This would be a plausible switch as there was a great migration when many LFM members became CT back around 2010. However, the switch in La Silla Rota's reporting occurred between 2019 to 2020 (in 2019 saying he was LFM and in 2020 saying he was CT) with no acknowledgement that this switch in affiliation even occurred.

[*2] Previously on Borderland Beat, there were claims that the man seen in the 2013 La Tuta video was José Carlos Sierra Santana. However based on the photos available of José Carlos Sierra Santana taken while he was alive that have been published by Cuarto Poder, Almomento, Notivideo, Contramuro, the man in the video appears to not match. The photo of him alive also seems to be taken from the leaked Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado (PJGE) intelligence report published by Contramuro in 2017, which lends the photo further credibility and brings into question the Borderland Beat video identification. Post mortem photos of José Carlos also appear to depict someone other than the man featured in the video but do appear to match the aforementioned photo. Based on this, there may have been a misidentification and the man featured in the La Tuta video is not José Carlos. Sources like Valor Por Tamaulipas and even the Borderland Beat twitter account have featured charts which claim the man in the La Tuta video is in fact Rodolfo Sierra Santana. Until further evidence emerges, the man seen in the video is being used as Rodolfo’s image.

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Upcoming Notable Figures:

Notable Figures: CJNG in Michoacán

Notable Figures: Cárteles Unidos Part II, III, IV

Previous Notable Figures:

Notable Figures: La Linea Part I: Chihuahua (Updated: July 22, 2021) 

Notable Figures: La Linea Part II: Sonora & Background

Notable Figures: Los Paredes

Notable Figures: Gente Nueva in Chihuahua

Notable Figures: Caborca Cartel 

7/26/2021 7:00AM CST: Revised wording around H3 to be more clear on the intended meaning. 

8/4/2021 6:00AM CST: Removed El Yogurt and La Guera China from post, will likely be placed under a different Michoacán section later on. Clarification that El Gallito's Templars group is the same as Guardia Michoacana.