Gente Nueva del Tigre Blame La Línea For Recent Triple Homicide, Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua

"HEARST" and "Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

Sinaloa Cartel’s Gente Nueva del Tigre hung a sign which distances themselves from the triple homicide of military officers that happened earlier that day in Cuauhtémoc city, Chihuahua. 

The Narcomanta

On October 11, 2021, a narcomanta (narco message blanket) was placed on a wall near the corner of Allende and 18a streets, in the downtown area of the city of Cuauhtémoc. Reports were made by citizens passing by the location to the emergency phone line. Officers went to the alleged location and at 7:52 pm at night they removed a white tarp with professionally printed black and red text. The tarp was taken to the Forensic Services for analysis. 

Very few photos with the text not blurred are available. The message was reported, in part, by the publications Xhepl, Por La Libre, Reporte Chihuahua. The portion of the text available read as follows, as translated by Sol Prendido:

This goes for the authorities, in general.

We don’t mess with innocent civilians. We distance ourselves from what happened. With the active personnel that we have we have no need to go around doing dumb shit. 

Sincerely, 

Gente Nueva del Tigre 

According to news publication La Opción, They also mention the criminal group La Línea in parts of the message which are not available and blame them for the recent attack. 

What are they referring to?

La Opción reporters spoke to sources within the police who revealed that the message is related to the execution of three men that were found earlier that day, on October 11, 2021. 

During the incident, the bodies of three lifeless men with gunshot wounds were found aboard a vehicle on Francisco Alarcón and Álvaro Obregón streets in the Tierra y Libertad neighborhood of Cuauhtémoc. Of note, this location is near the facilities of the 2nd Infantry Battalion. 

The bodies were located inside a white Chevrolet Malibu midsize sedan. All bodies showed evidence of gunshot wounds. Several bullet casings were located on scene, apparently of .223 and 9 millimeters caliber. Investigation personnel from the District Attorney's Office were called to the scene to process the evidence. 

The police department has said that one of the victims has already been identified as Raúl Eduardo Gallegos García, 25 years old, who was the owner of the vehicle and was a military officer.

Following the discovery of the three dead men in the Chevrolet Malibu, the Mayor Elías Humberto Pérez Mendoza told reporters at El Sol de Parral that he has tried on several occasions to "send" messages to the criminal groups that operate in the city, so that violence and insecurity will decrease

The mayor said "We are betting that crime rates will move away from a high number of incidents. We have tried to send messages to those who lead these groups. [Saying] that Cuauhtémoc is a place where people aspire to work, study and safely coexist. And all these events hurt the development of our community."

The Context Behind the Narcomanta 

The aforementioned narcomanta was signed by the Sinaloa Cartel group known as Gente Nueva del Tigre. This Chihuahua state based group is thought to be led by Edgar Gamboa Sosa, alias “El 11” or “El Tigre Blanco”. 

Back in May 14, 2021, the District Attorney for the Zona Occidente (western zone of the state) named three key figures who they placed as priority targets for arrest within Gente Nueva del Tigre: the aforementioned leader El 11, two of El 11’s top lieutenants: Víctor Hugo Vázquez, alias “El Chilango”, and Jesús Omar Cortés Gutiérrez, alias “La Changa”. 

The State Attorney General’s office has made efforts to capture these targets and on August 27, 2021, an intense shooting and chase almost brought La Changa down, however he just managed to escape. Finally, on September 23, 2021, La Changa was successfully arrested and he has since been presented before a judge and his preventive detention until trial was approved. For further details, please see this previous story. 

Of note, one of the crimes that La Changa has an open investigation for is the September 7, 2021 massacre of 9 men in Cuauhtémoc, which was covered in detail here. This is interesting as it was largely reported that the 9 male victims of this incident were members of Gente Nueva del Tigre, allegedly killed by La Línea members. However this crime is evidently being investigated as if Gente Nueva perpetrated it, rather than was a victim of it. 

Alleged photo of the crime scene of the September 9, 2021 massacre. 

This suggests two possibilities. Either the media reporting which suggested the victims were Gente Nueva members and the attackers were La Línea members were inaccurate. 

Or La Changa is having a La Línea perpetrated crime pinned on him despite him being a member of Gente Nueva. Some BB commenters have suggested that the fervor which drives the Western Zone’s District Attorney’s office to go after these Gente Nueva leaders is their connection with La Línea group “Los Linces”.

Los Linces is thought to be the most elite armed wing within La Línea. They are thought to be the most military/law enforcement adjacent (if not entangled) of all of La Línea’s armed wings. For some good vintage Borderland Beat content, check out Bugg’s 2009 article on Los Linces. 

It should be remembered that at one point during the August 27, 2021 attempt to capture La Changa, DA Jesús Manuel Carrasco Chacón jumped out of his badly damaged vehicle, only to get into another police vehicle, which then continued to pursue the fleeing La Changa. 

This all is part of the larger context behind why Gente Nueva del Tigre might be making a personal appeal to Cuauhtémoc law enforcement with this most recent narcomanta.

 

Sources: La Opción, El Puntero, Entrelíneas, El Heraldo de Chihuahua, Xhepl, Por La Libre, Reporte Chihuahua 

Background Sources: Debate, El Heraldo de Chihuahua, Diario de Chihuahua, El Sol de Parral, Radiza Digital

Further Reading: 

September Massacre of 9 Men in Cuauhtémoc

The Two Attempts to Capture Gente Nueva Lieutenant La Changa

2009 Los Linces Article by Buggs

Notable Figures: La Línea Part I: Chihuahua