The Maldonado Mejía Family: Criminals Behind Spectacular Escapes, Kidnapping Of Migrants And Fuel theft In The Country

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

With more than a decade behind illicit activities such as smuggling and kidnapping of migrants, theft of fuel from Pemex pipelines, and extortion. The Maldonado Mejía clan, originally from Michoacán, is still active and operating in different parts of the country, as demonstrated by the recapture of  José Artemio "El Michoacáno", who escaped from a prison in Hidalgo last December, helped by an armed criminal cell that blew up vehicles to facilitate what was the third escape of a Maldonado Mejía from a penitentiary center.

On the morning of December 1, 2021, some thirty hit men recruited in Michoacán and the State of Mexico, with knowledge in handling vehicles, weapons and explosives, began the operation to rescue José Artemio Maldonado Mejía from the Tula prison, Hidalgo. , leader of the "Pueblos Unidos" cartel.

Along with the well-known "Michoacano", "El R" or "El Rabias", 8 other subjects were rescued, imprisoned for kidnapping or homicide. While a truck with an armored vehicle was used to tear down a perimeter wall, three vehicles were loaded with explosives to distract the attention of the authorities, hinder their passage and facilitate the escape of the inmates.

In that prison in Tula, not only was Maldonado Mejía interned. So were, José Artemio “El Michoacano”, Mariano alias “El Gordo” or “M1”, and José Antonio, “El Pilo”; According to telephone conversations that the brothers had, whose records are in the hands of the national press, while El Michoacano was at liberty, he planned to free his two brothers, and had already taken charge of drawing up plans, collecting weapons and vehicles, and recruiting hit men. But his arrest at the end of November forced him to use these resources for his own escape from prison.

That morning of December 1, Mariano Maldonado Mejía, "El Gordo" or "M1", second in the structure of "Pueblos Unidos", also escaped, and continues to be a fugitive.

Pueblos Unidos is a criminal organization involved in kidnapping and extortion, and that fights with other groups for control of the Pemex pipelines in the Mezquital Valley of Hidalgo, as well as on the border with Querétaro and the State of Mexico.

Until 2015, the date of his capture by federal authorities, Mariano, "El M1", was the leader of the criminal group "Los Emes", named in allusion to his surnames Maldonado Mejía, an organization integrated and led by the brothers Mariano, José Artemio, Lucio, Gerardo, Sara and Reyna.

Before forming their own criminal groups, the Maldonado Mejías had their forte in the kidnapping of migrants. Mariano and his brother Lucio – the latter who was rescued in 2012 while being transferred from a prison in Pachuca to a hospital – migrated to the north of the country, settling in Mexicali, Baja California, where they founded “Los Emes”. The rest of the brothers maintained the operation of the criminal group in Hidalgo, State of Mexico, Mexico City and Puebla.

With the capture of "M1", in 2015, his sister Sara Maldonado restructured Los Emes, refining her kidnapping network and venturing into the real estate sector, until her death in mysterious circumstances.

Another brother, Gerardo Maldonado Mejía, alias “El Shrek”, settled in the Doctores neighborhood in Mexico City, where he housed his brother, “El Michoacano”, after his most recent escape. Both were arrested last Monday.

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