Gulf Cartel's La Droga & Two Other Ciclones Killed Inside Victoria Prison, Tamaulipas

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Óscar Antonio López Sandoval, alias "La Droga" or "Ciclón 89", was killed inside a Victoria city prison in the state of Tamaulipas, alongside two other Gulf Cartel Los Ciclones members.

The Official Version

At approximately 3 am on Monday, May 16, 2022, the prison in Victoria city sent out an alert to the state Attorney General’s Office (FGE), among others, which said that three inmates had been found dead in a cell. 

The FGE released an official statement about the death, which read as follows: 

The Attorney General's Office of Tamaulipas informs that it became aware of the death of three people who were being held while in a judicial process at the Center for the Execution of Sanctions in Victoria city. 

Agents of the Investigative Police and experts arrived at the scene to carry out the initial investigations, process the area, gather evidence to determine the manner in which the events occurred and determine who was responsible.

The FGE did not release the names of the deceased but newspapers such as Excelsior are reporting that “it is known” that the three dead are: 

Óscar Antonio López Sandoval, alias "La Droga" or "Ciclón 89" 

Gulf Cartel Matamoros faction leadership figure, from the Ciclones subgroup who worked under El Contador

Evaristo Eduardo Núñez Caballero, alias "El Valo"

A lieutenant from Los Ciclones

José Luis Sánchez Guevara, alias "El Pepillo" 

A former Ciclones member, overall leader of the prison

Excelsior further writes that “The three were found in a cell and according to the information gathered, it was found that at the time of their death they were drinking beer and that there were no signs of violence, so it is still unknown what happened and how it happened.” A van from the medical examiner’s office arrived to pick up the bodies for autopsy at 10:00 am and left the prison by 2:00 pm, after evidence collection had been completed. 

Photo of the medical examiner van leaving Tamatán prison on May 16, 2022.

El Pepillo was said to be the cartel leader who controlled Victoria’s Centro de Ejecución de Sanciones (CEDES) which is commonly called Tamatán prison. The prison was previously controlled by Guadalupe Díaz Portilla, alias “La Pesca”, but Valor Por Tamaulipeco reports that La Pesca has a history of willingly handing over the reins to someone of higher rank if they are sent to the prison.

El Pepillo allegedly got along well with La Droga and El Valo, with articles referring to Droga and Valo as Pepillo’s “accomplices” in controlling Tamatán. 

The Unofficial Version

There are unofficial versions, which were reported on media outlets like Infobae and Municipios Puebla, that say their death was not actually lacking “signs of violence”. These versions allege that a riot, which was started by El Valo, broke out hours before their death. 

The riot reportedly started because prison staff had approved the transfer of a number of Gulf Cartel prisoners to federal prisons which are located outside of Tamaulipas. 

These transfer requests were presumably made by government authorities who aimed to lessen the influence and power that certain CDG Tamatán prisoners still held despite being behind bars. By moving them to locations out of state, it would become less easy for these CDG inmates to send orders and maintain control over hitmen working in Tamaulipas. Additionally, a transfer to a prison which was known to be full of rival cartel members could be seen as equivalent to a death sentence.

Photos of Tamatán prison facilities.

The riot was said to be short and the prison staff were able to regain control of the facility without having to request support of federal security forces. El Papillo, La Droga and El Valo were said to have been killed during the riot, although it is unspecified by whom. Four other unnamed inmates were said to have been injured in the brawl. 

Interestingly, outlets such as Valor Por Tamaulipeco are reporting that the riot rumor is a state-government-perpetuated cover story in order to hide the fact that the men were poisoned. Twitter users like Demon G allege that the three men died after consuming a type of “soda” available at Tamatán prison which had meth slipped into it which caused all three to overdose. 

La Droga’s death is just one of a series of hits to Los Ciclones. José Alfredo Cardenas Martinez, alias “El Contador” was arrested in February 2022. There were widespread rumors that someone within the Gulf Cartel had turned Contador in, although it is unclear who has the power within the organization to do that since Contador was alleged to be the leader of the Matamoros faction. 

Photo of El Caontador in custody from February 2022.

For details about who La Droga is and his arrest, see my previous story here and a follow up story here. 

Sources: Excelsior, El Guzman, REYNOSA CODIGO ROJO, Menny Valdez, CODE BLACK MX, Infobae, Municipios Puebla, Reto Diario, Pegaso, Noticias da Bariloche, Palabras Clara, Revista Codigo 21, Valor por Tamaulipeco

Background Sources: Valor Por Tamaulipeco