Rusos vs Salazars War: Los Garibays Leave Hitman Mutilated in SLRC, Sonora

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A hitman was found dead, with his genitals mutilated at the baseball fields of a small town outside of San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora. A Los Garibays narco sign left on his body claims he was killed for a “abuser” and “family killer”. The sign makes it clear that they were also the ones behind the recent homicide of five people that occurred a few months before in the nearby Mexcali Valley area. 

Warning: Graphic photos below this point. 

Hitman Found Dead At Baseball Fields

At approximately 2:30 am, in the early morning hours of Thursday March 31, 2022, police officers confirmed to their dispatcher that a dead body had been placed on the grounds of a baseball stadium in the town of Islitas, which is just outside of the city of San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora. 

The deceased male who they found was wearing black plaid shorts and a black striped polo shirt. A white narco-message sign was left lying across his body. 

The narcomessage sign read as follows, as translated by Itzli: 

Here they remove the

little balls and abusers, the

family killers like what

we did in the town of

Durango (illegible) these

women for (illegible) yours!

PIA: “Samuel Ibarra Peralta

The male had been beheaded and mutilated, with his genitals removed and placed on top of his body. An additional section of dismembered flesh was placed on top of the narco sign. The deceased’s head does not appear to have been located. According to police reports, the deceased had suffered gunshot wounds in addition to the other injuries. 

He was preliminarily identified as Juan Gabriel Felix Roman, 46 years old. El Imparcial reports that allegedly Juan Gabriel worked as a cartel hitman. According to Tribuna de San Luis, family members of Juan Gabriel arrived at the crime scene after hearing of the discovery of a body and were able to confirm his identity. 

The family members told police officers that just the day before, on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, a group of armed men had surrounded their home, which is located in the nearby town of Lagunitas, and forced Juan Gabriel into their vehicle. The family members said that his abductors had promised them that they would return him later.

The man referenced in the sign, Samuel Ibarra Peralta, alias “El Pía”, is a prominent member of Los Garibays, a regional cartel group who is currently working with Sinaloa Cartel’s Los Salazars, who are Los Chapitos aligned. Los Salazars are currently at war with another Sinaloa Cartel group called Los Rusos.

A Favorite Body Disposal Site 

The baseball field in Islita seems to be a favorite body dumping ground of a cartel group. Just the year prior, on March 29, 2021, four men were found dead at the same location. The four were said to have been abducted just prior to their death. Three were taken from locations in the Mexicali Valley area and one was kidnapped from Lagunitas, much like Juan Gabriel. 

Their bodies were believed to have been placed there by a group of hitmen who were later spotted traveling in a caravan of three vehicles. 

This group of hitmen is also suspected of being involved in an incident that occurred earlier that same night near the Welton Canal. During this incident, a local citizen heard gunshots and then a large splashing sound, as if a heavy object had been tossed into the water below, at approximately 11:00 pm. 

The Durango Attack

The narco sign left on the body references a January 2022 incident that occurred in the town of Durango, located in Mexicali Valley, Baja California. 

At approximately 9:21 pm on the night of January 1, 2022, the emergency phone line received a call from a 17 year-old girl who told dispatchers that she had just come home and found her mother suffering a gunshot wound inside. She gave them her location, a home located on Benito Juarez Street, near the intersection with Ignacio Zaragoza Street and police officers were sent to the location.

Just a few minutes later, at 9:24 pm, an man suffering two gunshot wounds to his abdomen was transported to hospital clinic #5 for immediate medical care. As he was being treated, the man identified himself as Rodrigo Rodriguez Hinojosa, 43 years old. 

Rodriguez Hinojosa said he was shot while he was going to visit the home of some acquaintances who lived in a home on Ignacio Zaragoza Street, which happened to be just a few meters away from the home on Benito Juarez. 

As he was approaching the home of his acquaintances, Rodriguez Hinojosa heard gunshots coming from inside the residence. He said that armed men inside spotted him standing out front and a few of them came out the front, pointing their guns at him, demanding he get down on the ground. 

He says the men then demanded he tell them the whereabouts of a certain drug but he replied that he didn’t know where it was located. Then, as the armed men were preparing to leave, Rodriguez Hinojosa says they shot him twice in the abdomen, “for no apparent reason.” 

Crime scene photo taken inside the Ignacio Zaragoza Street home.

More officers were sent to the area and they discovered that inside the Ignacio Zaragoza Street house, three people -two men and one women- were lying dead, all having suffered gunshot wounds. They were said to all be between 40 -60 years old and of stocky build. 

One woman was found inside the home still alive, but she was suffering a gunshot head wound and had to be rushed to the General Hospital of Mexicali. She died from her injuries a few hours later.  She was 35 years old at the time of her death and had a tattoo of a red rose on her forearm. According to Zeta Tijuana, the house appeared to have been functioning as a “picadero”, or a drug den, which is a place where addicts hang out while using. 

In a house just a few meters away, the 17 year old girl and her 50 year old mother were found. The mother, identified as Beatríz Martínez Gómez, no longer showed vital signs by the time officers arrived. In total, five people were killed - three women, two men. 

Mexicali Municipal Police Director Pedro Ariel Mendívil García

Zeta writes that it is presumed that the two incidents are related to each other. The director of the Mexicali Municipal Police, Pedro Ariel Mendívil García stated that “The preliminary information we have is that it is a matter of robbery between drug dealers." Some social media users claim that the people who were killed were members of Los Rusos and allege that El Pia’s hitmen sexually assaulted the women before killing them. 

So why does this Durango homicide matter? The narco message sign that was left at the baseball fields appears to be from El Pia, and he is defending the actions of his hitmen, saying the people they killed in Durango were killed for being “abusers” and “family killers”, just like the dead man they were leaving in the fields now.

March 2022 SLRC Sources: Calvarie Locus, Tribuna de San Luis, El Imparcial, Tribuna, Opinion Sonora, Expresion Sonora, La Voz Del Pueblo San Luis, Tintazos de Expresión, San Luis en Guerra 653 

Islita Baseball Field Sources: Tribuna de San Luis Article 1, Article 2, El Imparcial Article 1, Article 2, Zeta Tijuana

January 2022 Mexicali Valley Sources: La Voz de la Frontera Article 1, Article 2