An unforeseen consequence of the arrest of La Droga was the unveiling of a vast network of corruption in the Tamaulipas government, involving various local state and federal officials who allegedly provided information and favors to the criminal organization.
As previously reported on Borderland Beat, Óscar Antonio López Sandoval alias “La Droga” or “Ciclón 89”, one of the leaders of the Cartel del Golfo (CDG) Matamoros - Los Espartanos faction was arrested on August 29, 2021. He was considered to be one of if not the only successor of Evaristo Cruz Sanchez, alias “El Vaquero”, the former Los Ciclones turned Los Espartanos leader who was arrested in April 2021.
La Silla Rota revealed new details on the location of La Droga’s arrest, alleging that members of the Special Operations Group (GOPES) arrested him at night as he was on a beach near Matamoros, Tamaulipas. La Droga was allegedly on a fishing trip on Baghdad beach alongside his close friend and the second-in-command of his CDG cell, Lorenzo Antonio Torres Anguiano.
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| La Droga on Baghdad beach after his arrest. |
Lorenzo Antonio Torres Anguiano allegedly brought along his girlfriend Olivia Ambriz Aguilar to join in their relaxing fishing vacation. Lorenzo Torres and Olivia Ambriz were both arrested by GOPES alongside La Droga.
The detainees were flown out to Reynosa from Matamoros, as roadblocks were expected to be erected by Matamoros Gulf Cartel members who opposed the arrest and would seek to free the detainees. This expectation was later proved true, as CDG roadblocks were erected.
From Reynosa, they were taken to Victoria city and held in the prosecutor’s office where they were guarded by at least 35 government vehicle teams from various agencies such as armored units of the Prosecutor's Office (FGR), State Police and Army (SEDENA) units.
Now, as it turns out, Lorenzo’s girlfriend Olivia Ambriz Aguilar’s full time job was as a ministerial agent working for the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s office. She in fact had been working as a ministerial agent at the state prosecutor’s office for well over 15 years prior to being caught on the beach with Lorenzo, making it likely that she was already working for the Attorney General when she first met Lorenzo and was won over by his charms.
Noroeste reports that after being in custody for 24 hours, La Droga finally became compliant and began answering authorities questions about who within the Attorney General's Office and the government of Tamaulipas he had working for him. He allegedly named government officials who were informants for him and named important liaisons he used to contact and bribe said officials.
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| Eutimio Chávez Ruelas, Escorpión 24 or Ciclon 24 |
Two days after the arrest of La Droga, the Special Operations Group (GOPES) arrested Eutimio Chavez Ruelas, alias "El Escorpión 24". He was arrested based on suspicion of his possible involvement in bribing federal and state law enforcement as well as prosecutors on behalf of the Gulf cartel faction of La Droga.
Escorpion 24 was found to be in possession of 28 bags of marijuana and a 9mm firearm at the time of his arrest and transported to the General Investigation Unit number 1 of the Matamoros Prosecutor's Office.
In order to keep Escorpión in custody beyond just the time allotted for firearm possession, location order paperwork was being drawn up and pending before the Tamaulipas Prosecutor's Office which would allow him to be held in custody for longer.
According to Noroeste, when Escorpión was arrested he offered $500,000 dollars in exchange for being released from custody. Noroeste also writes that Escorpión said he knew Prosecutor Julieta Castillo Alemán, implying that arresting him was not going to go over well.
Allegedly, the Regional Coordinator of the Accusatory and Penal System, named Raymundo Salvador Cisneros Vega, who works under Prosecutor Julieta Castillo Alemán took an interest in the detention of Escorpión. Noroeste reports that Raymundo Cisneros Vega gave instructions for Escorpión to only be at the disposal of the authorities until the binding hearing for the weapons possession charges, warning prosecutors that Escorpión will have to leave within 48 hours despite the fact that he knew the location order was already pending in the prosecutor’s office.
One of the State level law enforcement agents who is being investigated for being a Gulf Cartel mole in the police is Accredited State Police (Policía Estatal Acreditable, PEA) officer Juan Pablo Hernández Torres.
Officer Hernández Torres was allegedly one of the law enforcement agents that Escorpión acted as a liaison to on behalf of the Gulf Cartel. Escorpión reportedly paid Officer Hernández Torres to leak information about upcoming operations, the movement of state or federal authorities in the area, and possible searches of suspicious vehicles in Matamoros.
Reportedly Officer Hernández Torres has received at least $330,000 pesos (roughly $16,563 USD) from Escorpión, presumably as payment in exchange for the information he passed along to the Gulf Cartel.
Another person being looked at for their possible collusion with Escorpión is the aforementioned Julieta Castillo Alemán who Escorpión said he knew. Julieta currently works as a prosecutor with the state Attorney General’s office.
Some sources have implied that these moves, which appear to on the surface be a cleansing of corruption from the Tamaulipas government, may in fact be the result of one Gulf Cartel faction trying to eliminate another Gulf Cartel faction in Matamoros.
As some context, the Gulf Cartel Matamoros is believed to be divided into two factions: Los Ciclones and Los Espartanos. Los Ciclones are loyalists to the Gulf Cartel’s founding family Cárdenas Guillen whereas Los Espartanos are non-Cárdenas Guillen family loyalists who seek to end the family’s dominance within the organization.
The distinction between these two Matamoros Gulf Cartel groups is often not made in mainstream news sources. And Los Espartanos are often former Los Ciclones members. This leads to famous Los Espartano leaders such as El Vaquero and El Contador being described in mainstream news sources as members of Los Ciclones despite their marked opposition to Los Ciclones.
Further complicating this is the fact that El Contador himself is a Cárdenas family member, however he has allegedly felt ousted by other members of his family due to his time spent in prison hence his opposition to the overall Cárdenas family dominance. However there is no current public evidence of a Los Ciclones push behind the scenes of this government crackdown on Los Espartanos.
This happened a while back. New news on this guy is he took over whatever prison he is in.
ReplyDeletePower struggle in Matamoros who knows who will be the next new governor?
ReplyDeleteWow the rattle snake rattled on everyone that is curupted holding office. Talk about cullusion with the cartel, no wonder murders happen every day.
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