Notable Figures: Gente Nueva in Chihuahua

"HEARST" for Borderland Beat

Notable Figures articles try to focus on contemporary cartel operators that have had major relevance within the last five years. Of note, Ciudad Juárez is being treated as a separate entity and has not been covered due to its complexity and the difference in how it operates.

Parral, Valle de Allende, Santa Bárbara, Valle de Zaragoza and Matamoros

These municipalities have been historically controlled by Gente Nueva. They get many of their reinforcements and support from the neighboring state of Durango.

Parral has a highway that connects with Chihuahua city. The Mexican Federal Highway 16 goes through Chihuahua city and connects to Ojinaga, a town just across the US-Mexico border from Presidio, Texas. Controlling the municipalities that connect to Chihuahua city (such as the Parral corridor) are crucial for smuggling activities. (Source) ZETA weekly reports that many of the conflicts in this area center around the sale of stolen gasoline or 'huachicol'. (Source)

Gente Nueva del 300
OTHER NAMES: Gente Nueva De Parral

A Sinaloa Cartel Gente Nueva group who's home base is the municipality of Parral. 

Leader of Gente Nueva del 300

ALIAS: El 300

NAME: Antonio Leonel Camacho Mendoza

OTHER ALIASES: El Bin Laden, Osama Bin Laden, El TH

STATUS: Active 

PROFILE: He operates on behalf of Ruperto Salgeuiros, alias El 37. (Source, Source)

El 300 holds both US and Mexican citizenship and he grew up in the state of Sinaloa. El 300 was arrested in November 2010 in Juárez city along with his brother El Dorado. El 300 was kept in Chihuahua on state-level charges and was later released. (Source) El 300's group has reportedly clashed with two other Sinaloa Cartel leaders, El Rojo and El Placas. (Source, Source)

The State Attorney General's Office has named El 300 as responsible for the  four officers of the San Francisco de Conchos Municipal Police who were killed in July 2019. (Source) El 300 has been known to sign narco banner messages with an image of Osama Bin Laden. In April 2020, he famously distributed COVID-19 food baskets to people in southern Chihuahua during the early months of the pandemic. At the time, El 300 hung a banner warning the military in the area not to interfere with his food basket distribution. (Source)

The Attorney General has connected him to the killing of Commander Luis Raul Tarango Avila and the kidnapping of Aarón Ponce de León for the purpose of intimidating authorities to allow his group to act with impunity in the area, in the same May 7 2021 event. Diario newspaper reports some FGE agents dispute the official version of events. Those agents say the May 2021 killings derived from a meeting between FGE agents and members of organized crime and drunkenness on the part of one of the “malandros” or thugs, caused the killing. (Source, Source)

Second-in-Command, Right Hand Man of El 300

ALIAS: El Dorado

NAME: Édgar Camacho Mendoza

OTHER ALIASES:

STATUS: Active

PROFILE: He is the brother of El 300. He grew up in the state of Sinaloa. El Dorado was arrested in November 2010 in Juárez city along with his brother. El Doradowas transferred to Mexico City to face organized crime charges but he was later released. Many of the crimes attributed to El 300 are attributed to El Dorado as well, as they lead Gente Nueva del 300 closely together. (Source)

Lieutenant of El 300 - Former
ALIAS: El Nika

NAME: Nicandrio 'M' (Possibly Nicandrio Mendoza)

OTHER ALIASES: N/A

STATUS: Active as of March 2021

PROFILE: El Nika is an alleged relative of "El 300", possibly making his name Nicandrio Mendoza. In 2021, his photo appeared on 10 billboards placed by security authorities for his alleged participation in criminal events as part of Gente Nueva. Part of the investigations against El Nika is that he was involved in the disappearance of four nurses from Parral, who have not been heard from since 2018. So far three people have been arrested for direct and indirect participation in the disappearance of the four nurses, on the alleged orders of El Nika. (Source)

Lieutenant of El 300 - Former 

ALIAS: El Cabezón (The Stubborn)

NAME: César Ulises Ramírez Jiménez

OTHER ALIASES: El 309, El Cabezas, El Arlekin

STATUS: Inactive, arrested November 2020

PROFILE: The governor of Chihuahua alleges El Cabezón was behind the September 2018 killing of the president of Coparmex in Parral. This led to an arrest warrant being put out on him on January 2019, and a second arrest warrant for his possible connection to a June 2018 homicide. Cabezón was arrested on November 14, 2020. (Source)

Leader of Los Salgueiros - Current

Boss of Parral, Valle de Allende, Santa Bárbara, Valle de Zaragoza and Matamoros

ALIAS: El 37
NAME: Ruperto Salgueiro Nevárez

OTHER ALIASES: N/A

STATUS: Active 

PROFILE: He is the current leader of Los Salgueiros and boss of Parral and many municipalities surrounding it. He is also the brother of El Flaco. (Source) The PGR identified El 37 as one of the eight leaders of Gente Nueva in 2019. (Source)

El 300 operates Gente Nueva del 300 on his behalf. (Source, Source) El Chueco, operating in south western Chihuahua, near the Sonora border is also allegedly reporting to him.

Los Salgueiros Leader - Former
ALIAS: El Flaco
NAME: Noel Salgueiro Nevárez
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Inactive.

PROFILE: He is consider the leader and founder of la Gente Nueva, or the New People. He was arrested in 2011. A SEDENA official said, that Salgueiro Nevarez had within the Sinaloa Cartel a similar level of command as Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, "Nacho Coronel." (Source)

Valle de Zaragoza 

Although this area is now part of the group of regions believed to be controlled by El 300, prior to April 2021 it was controlled by a Sinaloa cartel member who reportedly had issues with El 300.  

Plaza Boss of Valle de Zaragoza - Former
ALIAS: El Rojo (The Red)
NAME: Rogelio Adán Vega Rodríguez
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Inactive, killed April 14 2021. 

PROFILE: El Rojo was believed to be the head of the Valle Zaragoza region on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel. He is believed to have been supported primarily by the Salazars family. He reportedly had issues with another Sinaloa Cartel regional boss, El 300, who is supported by the Salgueiros family. On April 14 2021, El Rojo was found dead alongside four other members of his cell. News outlets reported that both La Linea’s Jimenez group and El 300 were considered as suspects. (Source, Source, Source) By May 2021 it was reported that Valle Zaragoza area was now under the control of El 300. (Source)

  

Gente Nueva del Tigre

OTHER NAMES: Los Tigres
A criminal group that operates for the Sinaloa cartel - Los Chapitos side in Chihuahua which was formed by a former police officer who went by the alias El Tigre who was working for El Cabo's family.

Nonoava, Cusihuiriachi, San Francisco de Borja, Carichí, Cuauhtémoc

As of June 2019, Nonoava municipality was considered the center of operations for Gente Nueva del Tigre. This differs from their historic stronghold of Cuauhtémoc municipality, which has strong ties to the Gambao Sosa family Del Tigre derives from. Within the last year there has been an uptick in violence. The intelligence areas of the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) reportedly attributes this swell in homicides to an alliance between Gente Nueva del Tigre and El Chueco. (Source)

Leader of Cuauhtémoc - Former
ALIAS: El Cabo (The Corporal)
NAME: Raul Gamboa Sosa
OTHER ALIASES:
STATUS: Inactive, killed 

PROFILE: El Cabo was originally a part of La Linea and he reported to El Ochenta. There was a conflict between El Ochenta and El Cabo that made El Cabo leave La Linea.  After leaving, El Cabo was looking for an alliance with the CJNG and trying to take the plaza of Chihuahua from the hands of La Linea. (Source) El Cabo started a war against the people of La Linea until they managed to practically drive them out of the area of Cuauhtémoc and its surroundings. With support from El Jaguar, Raul Gamboa took over the plaza of Cuauhtemoc and began to work on his own with the help of his brothers, other family members and preventive police officers, among them El Tigre. (Source)

Allegedly El Ochenta’s bodyguard Juan Luis Uribe Range was beheaded by Cabo’s people and his head was left in an ice cooler, then in retribution El Cabo was killed March 27 2017 by Ochenta’s people. Ochenta then began to try to take control of Cuauhtémoc following Cabo’s death. (Source)

No photos of him alive available but there are post mortem photos (graphic).

Leader of Gente del Tigre - Current
ALIAS: El Tigre Blanco (The White Tiger)
NAME: Edgar Alfredo Gamboa Sosa (Esgar in some publications)
OTHER ALIASES: El 11
STATUS: N/A

PROFILE: While working under his brother El Cabo, he helped lead Cuauhtémoc after they left La Linea. Then after the death of El Cabo, El 11 and his brother El Muletas took charge of the criminal organization for a short time. (Source)

Plaza Boss of Cuahtemoc, Carichi, and Chihuahua (municipality) - Former
ALIAS: El Tigre (The Tiger)
NAME: Julio Cesar Escarcega Murillo
OTHER ALIASES: El 109
STATUS: Inactive, arrested October 2017

PROFILE: El Tigre was El Cabo’s right hand man at the time of Cabo's death. El Tigre is the creator and original leader of Gente Nueva del Tigre. El H2 of La Linea’s Los H’s led many confrontations against El Tigre. The leadership was given to him by the El Cabo's brothers, Edgar Alfredo El 11 and Luis Enrique El Mulatas who helped in the confrontations in search of recovering the lost territories of El Cabo. (Source) El Tigre was arrested on October 29, 2017 in Cuauhtémoc. (Source)

Lieutenant of El 11 - Former
ALIAS: El Muletas
NAME: Luis Enrique Gamboa Sosa
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Inactive, arrested in Novermber 2018

PROFILE: While working under his brother El Cabo, he helped lead Cuauhtémoc after they left La Linea. Then after the death of El Cabo, El Muletas and his brother El 11 took charge of the criminal organization for a short time. (Source) El Muletas was arrested in November 2018. (Source)

Urique and Bocoyna

Criminal groups in these area are involved in illegal logging and in the harvest and trade of wood. Bocoyna, for example, has over 200 sawmills, many of them in the town of San Juanito. These sawmill process both legal and illegal wood from the surrounding area and provide employment to the town.

According to a 2020 report, about half of these sawmills belong to and/or cooperate with La Línea. The other half pays extortion fees (known as piso) to operate in the area. (Source - pg.20)

Urique, south of Bocoyna, is a remote town in western Chihuahua next to the Copper Canyon. A popular tourist destination, Urique is home to the El Chepe train. In addition, there are numerous gold, silver, and zinc mining operations in the area that both the Sinaloa Cartel and Línea compete for. These two cartels rob mines, extort mining companies, and even kidnap workers. These activities are also documented in the municipality of Bocoyna. (Source)

ALIAS: El Chueco (The Crooked)
NAME: José Noriel Portillo Gill
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Active

PROFILE: El Chueco reportedly has Chapo Calin, El Servandito and El Tavo working under him. (Source) Some reports say that Chueco, in turn, reports to Ruperto Salgueiro Nevárez alias El 37, the leader of Los Salgueiros. (Source) The Chihuahua state governor has attributed the death of a North Carolina school teacher named Patrick Braxton-Andrew in November 2018. (Source) Allegedly one of his direct reports is someone with the alias "El Tavo" who operates in Creel, in Bocoyna municipality. (Source)

Batopilas and Morelos

Batopilas and Morelos are in the heart of Mexico’s Golden Triangle, home to a large marijuana and opium poppy production area. Drugs in these two municipalities are transported north to the US by two routes: one runs through Janos and the other through Ojinaga.(Source, Source) 

Batopilas and Morelos Plaza Boss

ALIAS: El Servandito
NAME: Servando Meza Osorio
OTHER ALIASES: El Servando, El 21 
STATUS: Active

PROFILE: He was born on October 22, 1988. Servandito gained control of his current criminal organization after the death of Juan Meza Osorio, alias "El Palancas" in January 2015. He is believed to have divided his organization into two groups, one group led by El Melo operating in Batopilas, one group led by Tony Tormenta operating in Samachique, Guacochi. (Source)

Samachique, Guachochi notably is not in Servandito’s territory but rather lies in Chapo Calin’s territory which has led to some bloody confrontations between the two groups despite both being a part of the Sinaloa Cartel. (Source) Recently it has been reported that both Chapo Calin and Servandito report to El Chueco who in turn reports to El 37. (Source)

Batopilas Plaza Boss

ALIAS: El Melo
NAME: Juan Manuel Olivas Garcia
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Inactive, killed 

PROFILE: He reports to El Servandito and is in charge of Batopilas municipality. He reported leads a large group of hitmen. The State Attorney General's Office has identified several members of the group headed by "El Melo" as: Salomé Osorio Gill, Héctor Germán Meza Cárdenas, alias "El Palanquitas"; Refugio Guadalupe Cárdenas Gil, Adriel Ismael Cervantes Méndez and Fernando Morales Félix. (Source)

Samachique Plaza Boss/Operator

ALIAS: Tony Tormenta 
NAME: Lorenzo Antonio Morales Pérez
OTHER ALIASES:
STATUS: Active

PROFILE: Tony Tormenta maintains his area of operation in the Samachique area which is in Guachochi municipality. He reports to El Servandito. (Source)

Tony Tormenta was seriously injured after participating in an armed confrontation in around January 2020. (Source, Source) The State Attorney General identified within the group of Tony Tormenta are people identified only by their first name or aliases: Israel, Luciano, alias "El Norawa", "El Gordo", "El Malandro", "La Bala", "El Chango", "El Bola", Sergio, alias "El Pelón" and "El Baleado". (Source)

Tony Tormenta's Right Hand Man

ALIAS: Unknown

NAME: Armando Morales Pérez

OTHER ALIASES: 

STATUS: Inactive, killed January 2020

PROFILE: The brother of Tony Tormenta, he helped lead Tony’s Gente Nueva group who operated in the general Guachochi area. In January 2020, The State Investigation Agency found out Armando had died when they were informed by sectional authorities of the location of a lifeless man in the community of Humira. Agents traveled to the reported location and inside a house, a deceased male was found inside a coffin. (Source, Source)

The agents interviewed the victim's wife, who identified him as Armando Morales Perez, 42 years old, who had wounds caused by a firearm projectile. The wife said that a man, whose identity is unknown, informed her of her husband's whereabouts at the junction of Samachique and Batopilas. When she went to the indicated location, she found her husband with gunshot wounds and took him to the Misión Tarahumara hospital, where it was confirmed that he no longer had vital signs. Later, she took him to her home to watch over him and give him a Christian burial, the wife said. (Source, Source)

Guachochi 

Guachochi is in the heart of Mexico’s Golden Triangle, home to a large marijuana and opium poppy production area. Drugs in this municipality are transported north to the US by two routes: one runs through Janos and the other through Ojinaga. Illegal logging has also been reported in Guachochi, which is rich in conifers and oaks. (Source, Source)  

Plaza Boss of Guachochi Municipality for Los Salgueiros - Current ALIAS: El Chapo Calin (The Shorty Calin)

NAME: Melquiades Díaz Meza

OTHER ALIASES: N/A

STATUS: Active as of 2020

PROFILE: Chapo Calín was born on April 14, 1974 . Before becoming the leader of the group in Guachochi, he lived in Juárez city. He was recruited there, in Juárez, by the Los Salgueiro family. By March 2016, state authorities began to identify him as a leader in the Guachochi area for organized crime. In 2018, Chapo Calin is believed to have directly reported to Ruperto Salgueiro Nevárez alias El 37. (Source)

Although "El Chapo Calin" controls the entire Guachochi region for "El 37," in Guachochi city specifically Calin shared leadership of the organization with Manuel Rafael Payan Balderrama, alias "El Gabacho". Chapo Calin reportedly keeps a permanent presence of sicarios in Yoquivo, Batopilas municipality. (Source) 

Working alongside Chapo Calin is his brother, Carlos Diaz Meza alias “El 5”, who acts as a head of sicarios. (Source) In 2020, it was reported that Chapo Calin now coordinates illegal logging in his municipality on behalf of José Noriel Portillo Gil alias “El Chueco”, who may in turn report to El 37. (Source)

Second-in-Command, Right Hand Man of Leader - Former

ALIAS: El 5

NAME: Carlos Díaz Meza

OTHER ALIASES: N/A

STATUS: Inactive, killed Jan 2018

PROFILE: He reportedly led a group of dozens of sicarios on behalf of his brother in 2018. (Source) In January 2018 it was reported that El 5 was killed in his home in Guachochi, some speculated at the time El Servandito was behind the hit. (Source)

Plaza Boss of Guachochi City for Los Salgueiros - Former

ALIAS: El Gabacho

NAME: Manuel Rafael Payan Balderrama

OTHER ALIASES: N/A

STATUS: Inactive, killed February 2018

PROFILE: He was the plaza boss for Guachochi City, sharing leadership of it with El Chapo Calin, who was in charge of the whole municipality. "El Gabacho" was mainly in charge of cocaine distribution in some sectors and was heir to Ignacio Bernal, alias "El 14," the former criminal leader of Guachochi who was executed in 2014. Gabacho was reportedly killed by state police in February 2018. (Source)

Camargo, Delicias, and Meoquil

Criminal groups in these two areas are involved in illegal logging and in the harvest and trade of wood. In 2018, Borderland Beat covered a story on how drug cartels force furniture companies in the area to buy their illegal wood. In these reported cases, cartel members sold the wood at affordable prices. Many of these companies also paid extortion fees (known as piso) to the Sinaloa Cartel or La Linea. (Source, Source)

Plaza Boss of Oil Theft in Camargo, Delicias, and Meoquil

ALIAS: El Placas 
NAME: Juan Carlos Pérez Rodríguez
OTHER ALIASES: N/A
STATUS: Active

PROFILE: He is said to be a relative of Enrique López Acosta, alias "El Cumbias" or "Kike", a former criminal boss operating out of Rosales. (Source, Source)  In April 2020 there were confrontations between Gente Nueva El 300’s group and El Palancas despite them both being CDS. The confrontations happened in Jiménez, Camargo and Delicias. The fights were reportedly over the theft of gasoline (huachicol). (Source)

A Delicias businessman named Carlos Cuevas Abundis, who has been photographed with Governor Javier Corral Jurado and who was alleged to have murdered his bodyguards, was later accused of having ties to El Placas. (Source)

Why different shades of the same color?

The different shades of green and blue are meant to illustrate the different groups within the larger cartel alignment. So at a glance, the general cartel alignment can be seen in an area but upon closer inspection the divisions within that alignment become more clear. 

In La Linea, the color differences are largely due to the Bournes brothers having become La Linea after the Yecora dispute, Los H's having a level of independence in how they operate and NCJD being a group bonded by Carillo Fuentes familial ties. 

In CDS, it was especially important to highlight the difference as there are many instances where there is fighting between the groups. As an example, Los Chapos Calin versus El Servandito's group, Gente Nueva del 300 versus El Rojo, and Gente Nueva del 300 versus El Placas. 

Link To Full Sized Map

Other Notable Figures Articles: 

Notable Figures: La Linea Part I: Chihuahua 

Notable Figures: La Linea Part II: Sonora & Background

Notable Figures: Los Paredes

Notable Figures: Los Salazares

Thank you to MX for region descriptions and to Obsidian.