Sinaloa Cartel's El Cano Arrested in Nuevo Leon

"HEARST", "Itzli" and "Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

Alan Ervey Juárez Castillo, alias “El Cano”, the reported leader of a Sinaloa Cartel cell  was arrested by state authorities while he was in the middle of eating a meal with his family in the city of Monterrey, in the state of Nuevo León. 

Arrest

On the afternoon of Tuesday, January 18,  2022, agents from the State Investigative Agency (Agencia Estatal de Investigaciones, AEI) swarmed a restaurant. The establishment, called Pollo Loco, is located on the Ruiz Cortines Avenue in Guadalupe, which is the eastern side of Monterrey city.

The agents were targeting Alan Ervey Juárez Castillo, alias “El Cano”, the suspected leader of a Sinaloa Cartel cell that operated in the region. They came with an outstanding arrest warrant in hand. The warrant was granted based on El Cano’s suspected involvement in charges of kidnapping and aggravated homicide.  

Although the photograph shared by the Attorney General's Office, is said to correspond Alan Ervey Juárez Castillo arrested yesterday, does not seem to match the physical characteristics of the person who was identified as Alan Ervey Juárez Castillo and was arrested and interned in the Topo Chico prison in 2017, a police source affirmed that his fingerprints were matched, and they correspond to the aforementioned subject who had current arrest warrants for aggravated kidnapping and aggravated homicide.

Aftermath

Following his arrest, El Cano provided authorities with information about a safe house which was being used by cartel members under his command. Dozens of members of law enforcement were sent to raid the safehouse location he reported, which was located on Palmillas Street, in the Palmas neighborhood in the town of Apodaca. 

When they arrived, at around 8:20 PM, suspects began escaping the house and jumping onto neighboring rooftops in order to get away. Shootout reportedly broke out as they fled,  resulting two dead alleged cartel members and one injured AEI agent. 

Video Source: Periódico Síntesis

An online video, as seen above, depicting the moment of some of these shootouts circulated online. The footage captured a children’s party taking place nearby in which a woman, dressed as Spiderman, hears officers on loudspeaker warning residents to take shelter and get the guests to safety. 

Additional law enforcement operations took place in Fuentes de Anáhuac, in San Nicolás de los Garza, and Parajes Santa Rosa, in Apodaca, which are all part of the greater Monterrey area. 

The total of the safehouse raid and the additional operations resulted in the arrests of: Gerardo, 34 years old; Abraham Emmanuel, 27 years old; Jesus Abel, 20 years old; Edgar Yoani, 33 years old; Mario, 28 years old; Felipe De Jesus, 20 years old and Haziel Rodriguez, 20 years old.  An unspecified amount of drugs and firearms were found in the possession of the men arrested. 

History

The criminal career of El Cano, who was born on October 11, 1986, is poorly documented, although there are details beginning to surface now that he has been arrested. It is alleged that he started as a member of the Gulf Cartel (Cartel del Golfo, CDG) and/or Los Zetas, the implication being sometime before 2010 and due to his age at the time it can be reasoned that he was a low ranking member.

El Cano was arrested and imprisoned in 2017 for his drug trafficking ties in the now defunct prison of Topo Chico, in Monterrey, Nuevo León, although at some point thereafter he managed to escape.

It is unclear if he rejoined the Gulf Cartel or possibly the Northeast Cartel (Cartel del Noreste, CDN) following his release from Topo Chico prison. Social media reports indicate that he ended up as part of an independent cartel at some point and it is possible that he never joined with a national group following his prison escape.

During the summer of 2021, rumors began surfacing regarding the Sinaloa Cartel (Cartel de Sinaloa, CDS) expansion into the state of Nuevo León. This was confirmed with the emergence of a video in September of that year in which CDS forces send greetings to the Independent Cartel of Nuevo León and it’s leader, “El Rodó”, as previously reported by Borderland Beat.

El Cano entered the national spotlight on December 17, 2021, when the bodies of three males were found in General Zuazua municipality, to the north of Monterrey, with a threatening message against “chapulines” (literally "grasshopper", this is a slang term for an individual that jumps from group to group), signed by “Comandante Cano”. For further detail, please see this previous story.

The message was noteworthy for “Puro Sinaloa” (literally Pure Sinalao) being written on it, indicating that El Cano was affiliated with the Sinaloa Cartel by this time. It appears that it was at this point that El Cano became a priority target for arrest by Nuevo León authorities.

Following his arrest, reports describe El Cano as a cell leader of a CDS group operating in the municipalities of Monterrey, Escobedo, San Nicolás, Apodaca, Santa Catarina and Zuazua, Nuevo León. 

Based upon what we know about two prominent Monterrey current cartel leaders, El Cano and El Rodó, it can be reasonably inferred that CDS expansion into Nuevo León is currently based upon affiliating with already established local groups that were previously operating independently. With the arrest of El Cano it is likely that CDS support will shift to other groups in the Monterrey metropolitan area unless an underling of El Cano is able to keep Cano’s group together and maintain the alliance with the Sinaloa Cartel. 

Sources: Milenio, El Financiero, Aristegui Noticias, Then 24, 24-Horas, Infobae, Debate Article 1, Article 2, Diario Puntual, Notigram, El Universal, El Horizonte, Heraldo de Mexico

Photo Credit: GHOSTDEVIIL, La Voz de Pueblo, Clave 20 Monterrey