CJNG's El Tom Only Got A Year in Prison for Homicide, Prosecutor Investigating His Suspicious Release

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CJNG's El Tom on left, the death of El Columbiano which set off a war between El Tom and El Cholo, right. 

Cartel Jalisco New Generation member Tomás 'N' received a so-called "oral trial" and a suspiciously early prison release in 2017. Both are now being investigated by the Jalisco Prosecutor's Office in order to determine how and who in the justice system the cartel was able to corrupt into their favor.

As previously covered by Sol earlier this week, Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) regional leader Tomás “N” was arrested on charges related to a homicide on July 31, 2021.

He was arrested in the Jardines de Santa María neighborhood of Guadalajara, Jalisco. Proceso describes El Tom’s role within the CJNG’s Jalisco operations as being “responsible for several safe houses in the Cerro del Cuatro, Polanco, Polanquillo and 5 de Mayo area”. Gerardo Octavio Solís Gómez, Jalisco’s Attorney General, said that “He was in charge of maintaining control and keeping areas of rival groups at bay.”

New Investigation into His Release

Now the Attorney General Solís has opened an internal investigation to find out why after El Tom was arrested and put on trial for homicide charges, he was released in 2018 after remaining in prison only one year. 

He told the press that El Tom “was in prison for just over a year. The preliminary information that we have is that he underwent an oral trial and as a result we consider that there may have been some irregularities on the part of a public servant, so there is an investigation in this regard.”

Attorney General Jesús Eduardo Almaguer Ramírez announcing the arrest of El Tom at a press conference in 2017. 

El Tom was first arrested on November 8, 2017, when he was caught red handed carrying three bodies into a vehicle alongside four other accomplices. The five men were promptly arrested on homicide related charges and then attorney general, Jesús Eduardo Almaguer Ramírez, publicly announced El Tom’s capture. 

El Tom's photo from his 2017 arrest. 

The War Between El Tom and Nueva Plaza's El Cholo 

Almaguer Ramírez detailed to the press that the group led by 'El Tom' was in dispute with Carlos Enrique Sanchez Martinez alias 'El Cholo', from Nueva Plaza (now famously deceased) and with 'El Marro'. The war between El Cholo’s gropup and El Tom’s group was sparked when on March 3, 2017 when an important financial operator for the CJNG who went by the alias "El Colombiano" was gunned down in a shopping center in Puerto Vallarta. Police informants indicated that El Cholo’s group was behind the hit, which fragmented the group. 

El Colombiano after being killed in a parking lot in Puerto Vallarta, 2017. 

El Tom subsequently took over control of all the previously held drug dealing locations the group had held together. According to Milenio, El Tom was said to have an iron fist and did not allow anyone to work as an independent seller in his domain, which he enforced not through the normal procedure, which would be threats or injuries, but through executions only. 

El Tom had the bodies from the executions wrapped in plastic bags and blankets dumped in public locations in parts of Tlaquepaque and Guadalajara. Almost all had threatening messages written on cardboard accompanying them.

El Cartoon posing in front of his BMW i8. 

In response to his territory take over, on August 27, 2017 El Cholo allegedly ordered a hit on CJNG member Marcos Hernandez or Alejandro Ruano, alias "El Cartoon". El Cartoon was killed while traveling in a red luxury BMW i8 in Periférico. 

Crime scene of El Cartoon's death in 2017. 

Almaguer Ramírez said El Tom was linked to at least 10 investigation files for different crimes and at least 44 homicides were currently attributed to him. Tom was suspected in crimes of homicide, organized crime and kidnapping. El Tom then faced an oral, or rather spoken/verbal trial, as mentioned earlier by current attorney general Solís Gómez.

Following His Prison Release

As a part of El Tom’s efforts to evade being recaptured by police following his 2018 prison release, he apparently changed his name, although it is not clear if he simply had documents doctored or signed any legal documents with the new name. 

El Tom, however, did not attempt to evade recapture by avoiding crime. He is suspected of being involved in a double homicide that occurred in December 2019, which is notably after the time of his prison release. 

Just a few days ago, the Public Ministry presented their preliminary case against El Tom for the 2019 double homicide before a judge. The judge reviewed the evidence presented by the prosecution. 

Based on the evidence, the judge determined that he will initiate a trial for El Tom on the charges and granted that El Tom will be held in preventative detention for up to a year in order to allow time for the trial to occur.

El Tom's 2021 released mugshots.

Sources: Proceso Article 1, Article 2, Informador Article 1, Article 2, El Sol de México, La Prensa, Partidero, NTR Guadalajara