Daughters of Gulf Cartel's El Pelochas Celebrate New Years Eve With Gunfire

"HEARST" and "Itzli" for Borderland Beat

Videos of the alleged daughters of jailed CDG plaza boss Luis Alberto Blanco Flores, aliases “El Pelochas” and “Metro 28”, shooting guns into the air in celebration at a private New Years Eve party have emerged online.

The Videos

On January 2, 2022, multiple social media accounts uploaded footage recorded from social media postings of an alleged attendee of a Gulf Cartel-associated New Years Eve party. The following videos contain no graphic content.

Video 1 Source: Asesino Zombies on Twitter

Firearm seen in Video 1 is likely a CZ75 / Browning Action handgun as denoted by the unique slide frame and ejection port. In the footage, the handgun is seen becoming jammed via a stovepipe malfunction which was caused by the shooter not firmly gripping a recoil-operated handgun.

Video 2 Source: Asesino Zombies on Twitter

Firearm seen in Video 2 is an AR15-style rifle.

Video 3 Source: Asesino Zombies on Twitter

Firearm seen in Video 3 is the same as the one seen in Video 1.

Video 4 Source: Asesino Zombies on Twitter

Firearm seen in Video 4 is the same as the one seen in Video 2. In the video, the Bolt Carrier Group (BCG) was unable to completely cycle and eject the spent cartridge case due to the lack of stable opposing force on the stock against the recoil.

Of note, AR15-style firearms will often malfunction if not properly braced while firing because it uses a gas-operated buffer system to eject spent ammo.

Multiple Twitter accounts, such as Asesino Zombies as well as Reynosa Código Rojo, have claimed that the women seen in the videos above are the daughters of Luis Alberto Blanco Flores, aliases “El Pelochas” and “Metro 28”. La Opinion claims that the men seen in the videos are the sons of El Pelochas as well. 

The party was alleged to have occurred in the Valle Alto neighborhood within the city of Reynosa in the state of Tamaulipas. Reynosa Código Rojo included the image seen below in their tweet about the footage. 

The image appears to show house #532 on Lago de Yuriria Street. Frustratingly, no Google Street View of the house is available as it lies within the private housing subdivision called “Palma Real Privadas Exclusivas”. If the map is shown by the Twitter account actually does show a property associated with El Pelochas is unclear at this time.

Warning: Graphic photos below this point.

Who is El Pelochas?

Luis Alberto Blanco Flores, aliases “El Pelochas”, “Metro 28”, “M-28”, and “El Suegro Pelochas”, has been profiled often on Borderland Beat, to the point he practically needs no introduction. 

According to Borderland Beat contributor Itzli, “El Pelochas” began his criminal career as a member of Grupo L of the CDG.  By the time that Los Zetas split from the CDG in early 2010 he had risen to work directly under Alberto Castillo Flores, alias “Beto Fabe”, who was the CDG plaza boss of Matamoros at the time.

Meanwhile, Beto Fabe’s brother Arturo Castillo Flores, alias “El Apache”, continued to operate under Los Zetas, which he was more closely associated with. Despite being on opposite sides of the war, “El Apache” was given permission by Beto Fabe to smuggle drugs through Matamoros in secret. 

In May 2010, Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén, alias “Tony Tormenta”, is said to have had Beto Fabe and three others killed as retribution for Beto choosing to allow Apache’s Los Zetas associated cell to operate within the city. The other individuals were rumored to be an individual known as “El Choco” and two family members of Héctor Manuel Sauceda Gamboa, alias “El Karis”.

In June 2010, a month after his brother’s death, El Apache led a retaliatory attack at a Matamoros police station. He, along with his hitmen, allegedly entered the building wearing military uniforms and opened fire, killing 7 municipal police officers who were allegedly working with the CDG.

CDG hitmen arrived at the reported shooting but El Apache and his hitmen managed to escape the area. In the month after the police station attack, El Apache and his wife fled across the border to hide out in Brownsville, Texas along with some of his close associates which included “El Pelochas”.

On July 23, 2010, “El Pelochas” was arrested during a multi-agency operation that was led by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Brownsville, Texas alongside fellow CDG member Jose Ezequiel Galicia Gonzalez, alias "El Niño". 

The next day El Apache was caught in Brownsville as part of the same interagency operation which netted El Pelochas and El Niño. 

A few days after the three men were arrested, the remains of 15 hitmen who were allegedly working under El Apache were dumped on a Matamoros highway. Many of the individuals were marked with the letter Z in reference to Los Zetas. 

Then 12 of Apache’s men were arrested by the Mexican Navy at a motel in San Fernando, Tamaulipas. Within several weeks, all 12 of the detainees were killed while still in custody in state prison.

When El Pelochas’s trial proceedings began, he famously cried upon first seeing his family sitting in court. On September 22, 2010, El Pelochas pled guilty to the charges.

A week later, on September 30, 2010, El Apache’s younger brother Omar Castillo Flores, alias “El Omarcillo” was shot dead along with his bodyguard on the FM 511 highway in Brownsville, Texas. 

Little is known about “El Pelochas” for nearly a year thereafter, although he was apparently deported back to Mexico at some point as he was arrested for illegal entry a second time and subsequently deported on an international flight to Mexico City on June 5, 2011. He was initially charged by the federal Attorney General’s Office for “crimes against health”, the legal term for drug trafficking offenses, but a judge had him released from custody due to a lack of evidence.  

Following his deportation, “El Pelochas”  returned to the state of Tamaulipas and returned to working with the CDG which had fractured between groups loyal to leadership in Matamoros and those loyal to Los Metros of Reynosa. Apparently starting from the bottom under Los Metros, “El Pelochas” eventually was promoted from the position of halcone up to “sicario”, or hitman, and settled into working under René García Cantú, alias “El Diablo”, the plaza boss of Rio Bravo at the time. 

In terms of leadership structure at this time, El Diablo reported to Juan Francisco Carrizales, alias “El 98”, the regional head of the municipalities of Rio Bravo, Nuevo Laredo, and Diaz Ordaz. 

In turn, El 98 reported to Julián Manuel Loiza Salinas, aliases “El Toro”, “Metro 42”, and “M-42”, who was believed to be the overall head of the CDG faction of Los Metros at the time. (Loiza is sometimes spelled Loisa or Loaiza, depending on the publication.)

El Pelochas reportedly participated in many shootouts while working as a sicario, taking part in gun battles with both the authorities and hitmen from Los Zetas, who made repeated attempted incursions into nearby Camargo and Miguel Aleman municipalities, plazas that were under the control of CDG. 

On February 17, 2017, El Pelochas was reportedly a part of the group of loyal sicarios who fought to stop a law enforcement operation that aimed to capture the aforementioned Metros leader El Toro. The resulting battle, which occurred at “Kilometer 9” according to a narcocorrido, left nine sicarios dead. 

El Pelochas was alleged in at least one news article to have been one of the deceased. However, a short time later El Pelochas later re-emerged within the underworld, decidedly alive and well. 

But the Kilometer 9 battle was all for naught, as just over a month later, on April 22, 2017, El Toro was killed by federal forces in the city of Reynosa. This led to a power struggle between two candidates to take Toro’s leadership position, one named Jesús García, alias "El Güero Jessi", versus another named Humberto Loza Méndez, aliases "El Betillo" and “El Betito”.

Within this struggle, El Pelochas chose to side with El Betillo, who was a nephew of El Toro. Another Betillo supporter was Petronilo Moreno Flores, alias "El Panilo”, however, El Panilo eventually began to distance himself from El Betillo in order to actually seek out a CDG leadership position for himself. 

In June 19, 2017, El Pelochas allegedly had "El Güero Jessi" abducted and executed, eliminating one of Betillo’s primary rivals. In January 2017, the Tamaulipas state government announced a $2 million peso reward in exchange for information leading to the capture of El Pelochas, El Betillo, or El Panillo, placing all three on the most-wanted list. 

In January 2018, El Betillo was killed, alongside several bodyguards, by Navy soldiers in a massive shootout in the city of Reynosa. 

It was rumored that El Pelochas’s daughter was killed in the same event due to crossfire. Of note, it was speculated that El Pelochas’s loyalty to Betillo and his campaign for leadership of Metros may have had a somewhat selfish motive as it claimed that El Pelochas was Betillo’s father-in-law. If this were true, then it could be assumed that the woman who died with Betillo was one of El Pelochas’s daughters and Betillo’s wife and that may be the origin of his alias “El Suegro Pelochas” which means “Father-in-law Pelochas”. 

In August 2018, El Pelochas was arrested in  Monterrey in the state of Nuevo Leon. Then in October 2018, El Panilo was arrested in Matamoros, in the state of Tamaulipas. In June 2021, El Pelochas was sentenced to 11.5 years in prison.

Update 1/4/2022: Removed "striker fired" from

description of Video 1. Thank you to commenter AZ Chicano for the revision.

Video Sources: La Opinión, Asesino Zombies, Reynosa Código Rojo

El Pelochas Sources: El Universal, Zeta Tijuana, Justice in Mexico, FreeRepublic, FrumForum, Agora Revista, Tapanco, Borderland Beat Archives, especially: 

BB: Two Zetas executed in Brownsville, Texas

BB: Juan Francisco Carrizales Lara "El 98" captured

BB: El Pelochas, Metro 28

BB: Reward Offered for El Pelochas, Betillo, Panilo

BB: Betillo’s Death

BB: El Pelochas Arrest

BB: El Panilo Arrest 

BB: El Pelochas' Sentenced to 11 ½ Years in Prison