Attempted Hit on Sinaloa Cartel's El Tolín Leads To His Arrest at a Hospital in Rosarito, Baja California

"HEARST" for Borderland Beat 

Sinaloa Cartel’s El Tolín, a leadership figure for the group in Rosarito, Mexicali and Tijuana, was attacked by hitmen and later arrested by authorities in Baja California. 

The Attempted Hit on Tolín

On Saturday, July 2, 2022,  Luis Héctor (or Luis Édgar) Herrera, alias “El Tolín”, went to the Bar-Bas barbershop, located in Plaza Reforma within the city of Rosarito, which is located in the state of Baja California.

Tolín was accompanied to the barbershop by a bodyguard as well as his three children according to Punto Norte.

At approximately 11:40 am, they exited the barbershop. As they walked across the parking lot, a white pickup truck with at least 4 hitmen inside opened fire on them, according to witnesses who spoke to Zeta Tijuana. The youngest of the three children, who is five years old, was wounded by the gunfire. 

Tolín and the bodyguard tried to rush the children into his vehicle, an armored white Dodge Ram pickup truck which was parked close by. As they tried to shuffle the children inside, the bodyguard was killed by the gunfire and crumpled to the ground. Tolín managed to close the vehicle doors and drive away from the parking lot, leaving the dead bodyguard lying splayed out on the pavement with his firearm nearby. 

Video of the sound of the gunfire unleashed on El Tolín. Video Source: Rosarito en la Noticia, thank you to an anonymous commenter for the link. 

The uninvolved vehicles that were parked nearby show significant damage from a large number of bullet holes. Over 300 shell casings would later be found in the parking lot. 

The Rosarito General Hospital Trip & Arrest

Tolín drove to Rosarito General Hospital, located on Haros Aguilar Street, and carried his injured son inside for medical treatment. At 11:55 am the hospital reported that a five year old child had arrived with gunshot injuries to the chest and the leg. 

As part of standard procedure when such a report is made, municipal police officers were dispatched to the hospital. The officers arrived and questioned Tolín about how his son had received the gunshot injuries. Tolín refused to answer and re-entered his armored truck, which had his other two children inside, and drove away from the hospital. 

Officers called in for backup and further down Haros Aguilar street, in front of city hall, patrol cars blocked the street so that Tolín’s vehicle could not pass. With his vehicle now boxed in, police officers approached the white pickup truck, which had dark tinted windows and was still bearing the bullet holes. 

The officers approached the vehicle with their firearms raised. Without having to fire a single shot, they opened the driver’s side front and rear doors. The two children were removed from the vehicle.

Then Tolín was arrested. Two weapons were found to be in his possession, both 9mm firearms.

Video Source: DavidWolf

Video Source: Calvarie_Locus

The Rosarito Municipal Police headquarters, which is located a few blocks from the place where the arrest occurred, was heavily guarded, since another attack or an attempt to free El Tolín was anticipated. From there, Tolín was quickly transferred to the facilities of the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) in Tijuana following his arrest. 

Minutes after the arrest occurred, Deputy Director José Antonio Campa Arredondo was informed by staff members of the arrest. Campa Arredondo announced the arrest shortly after during a scheduled Zero Impunity press conference that was held in Mexicali.

“Everything seems to indicate that the individual [Tolín] suffered an armed attack, where his son was apparently injured. In an act of desperation, he  went to the Rosarito General Hospital to have his son treated, and it was there that he made a threatening move - that is where the individual was arrested," said Antonio Campa.

Tolín’s arrest was later confirmed by the Secretary of Citizen Security, Gilberto Landeros Briceño.

What do we know about El Tolín? 

The detainee is believed to be 38-years old and named Luis Héctor (or Luis Édgar) Herrera, aliases “El Tolín” and “El Tolín Infante”.

In his narco-corrido, titled Tolín Infante, which is sung by the musical group Los Tucanes de Tijuana, it is alleged that "He was born in Al Capone's land, or rather in Chicago, but he grew up in California. His parents are Mexican, he is nicknamed Tolin Infante, for Culiacán backed". 

The group Los Tucanes de Tijuana claim Tolín had a childhood of poverty in which his family had no food and he had to sleep inside trucks at night, which led to him having no friends. They allege Tolín entered the cartel "business" due to this poverty. In the corrido, there is also the typical self-aggrandizing litany about how now he has “a lot of money”, a fleet of vehicles, many friends and although "he is a calm family man" he also likes action and casinos.

According to this 2011 article by AFN Tijuana, Tolín spent his early criminal career working as part of a gang in a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. He later moved to Mexico and began operating within the city of Tijuana.

On November 4, 2011, when Tolín was 28 years old, he was arrested alongside Antonio Leal Beltrán in the early morning hours by officers of the State Preventive Police (PEP). The pair were captured when a PEP routine patrol heading down De las Aguas Avenue, in the Villas del Sol subdivision of Tijuana, noticed two armed men inside a green Honda Civic. 

The two men were asked by the officers to step out of their vehicle and submit to a search. The officers found that Tolín was carrying a 5.7×28mm firearm and that Antonio Leal Beltrán was carrying a 9mm firearm; both were carrying corresponding ammo as well as 2,500 dollars in cash. At the time of this 2011 arrest, authorities announced that his official registered residence was a property in El Monte, California. 

Which CDS subgroup was he a part of currently?

Specifying which Sinaloa Cartel subgroup El Tolín is currently a part of is a bit tricky. On September 20, 2021, Zeta Tijuana wrote about the Sinaloa Cartel “which currently has greater presence and control in Rosarito, three cells serve the brothers Rene and Alfonso Arzate:

Brothers and former police officers Mario Alberto and Karlo Omar Herrera.  

 

Luis Héctor and/or Luis Edgar Herrera ‘Tolín Infante’.  

 

‘El 40’ and ‘El 42’.”

But on January 3, 2022, Zeta Tijuana wrote about the capture of Los Rusos leader Felipe Eduardo Barajas Lozano, alias “El Omega”, and added that:

“After his capture, according to intelligence reports from the Security Table the following remain as cell leaders in the area occupied by Los Rusos:  

Alfonso Peralta/Alfonso Amaya ‘El P-1’ and/or ‘Ponchito de la Lima’;  

 

Héctor Infante ‘El Tolín’;  

Maximiliano Aispuro Álvarez ‘El Max’;  

 

and another individual known as ‘El 80’ or ‘83’.”

 

So what is the explanation for Tolín at one time being described as a La Rana/Aquiles operator later being described as a Los Rusos operator?

Both La Rana/Aquiles and Los Rusos are believed to be Sinaloa Cartel groups that fall strongly on the El Mayo aligned side of the CDS spectrum, however La Rana/Aquiles are primarily based out of Tijuana and Los Rusos are primarily based out of Mexicali. 

Later in the January 3rd Zeta article, In what may be an explanation for the change, they write of Los Rusos: 

“The criminal organization chart also includes Hector ‘Tolin’ Infante, because the Chicago native has substantially increased his presence in Mexicali. According to intelligence reports, his most recent public crime took place on December 3, when he fired a gun during a concert by the group Codiciado at the Palenque del FEX. 

Initially it was said that the person responsible was a bodyguard, but the images and information from the authorities confirmed that the alleged perpetrator was El Tolín Infante, who already boasts photographs and corridos with regional Mexican music personalities.”

 

So it seems that after September 2021, Tolin shifted an aspect of his operation from Tijuana over to Mexicali and this caused him to become more ingratiated with Los Rusos, who were a natural ally since Tolin has fallen on the El Mayo side of CDS in recent history. 

Update 7/5/2022: It is locally rumored that El Tolín works under Juan Carlos Felix Gastélum , alias “El Chavó Felix”, who is the overall leader of both Mexicali and Puerto Penasco.

These rumors allege that El Tolín had been warned multiple times by Chavó Felix to stay within Mexicali, where it was safe and not to travel to Rosarito, however Tolín ignored these warnings. 

Although their cartel rival CJNG is present in Rosarito, it is locally rumored that Los Chapitos were actually the ones behind the hit on Tolín. 

Because Tolín chose to travel to Rosarito, against the alleged advice of his superiors, it is unknown if Mayo-associated cartel forces will retaliate against Chapitos for the attempted hit. 

Additional higher quality images, seen below, have emerged online from sources like AFN Tijuana and NarcoGuerraMX.

Update 7/10/2022: There is an El Max who works for Aquiles/Rana and a different El Max who works for Rusos. 

The Rusos "El Max" is named Maximiliano Aispuro Álvarez. 

The Aquiles/ La Rana "El Max" is Edwin Antonio Rubio Lopez. 

Article has been revised to reflect this.

Sources: Zeta Tijuana, La Silla Rota, AFN Tijuana Article 1, Article 2, La Voz de Frontera, El Imparcial, Punto Norte Article 1, Article 2