Sonora: El Duranguillo Will Stand Trial & El Chapo Manjarrez Was Arrested, Possibly Involved in Hit on El Neri

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El Durango’s brother, El Duranguillo, had a court hearing in which a judge determined that he will have to stand trial on charges related to the shootout in Altar, Sonora, that occurred recently. 

El Chapo Manjarrez, an active duty Guaymas Municipal police officer, was arrested in the city of Hermosillo, just a day after La Plaza leader El Neri was gunned down in Hermosillo. Chapo Manjarrez has previously been accused of carrying out a hit for La Plaza’s rivals, Los Salazars. 

Hermosillo - El Chapo Manjarrez

At approximately 8:00 am on Saturday, July 9, 2022, the emergency line was contacted because of drunken rowdiness by a group of men within the Ley 57 neighborhood in the city of Hermosillo. Officers were dispatched to go check on the disruption. 

When officers arrived at the reported location, which was on 6 de Abril Street, between Reforma and Monteverde Streets, they found the group in question, who were gathered in the street, drinking and playing music loudly. 

The officers noticed that the eight men appeared to be carrying firearms. The officers asked for them to submit to a search and the men complied. The officers found in their possession a number of firearms, which were seized from them. A 9mm pistol was found on one of the men and a .40 cal handgun was found on the ground nearby. All eight men were arrested and taken to the police station. 

At the police station, it became clear one of the men arrested was an actively-serving National Guard soldier, named Edgar Javier Verdugo Morales, and another was an actively-serving Guaymas municipal police officer. 

Moreover, the municipal police officer was somewhat infamous for his overt association with Sinaloa Cartel subgroup Los Salazar. The detained Guaymas police officer is named Jesús Eduardo Manjarrez Covarrubias, alias “El Chapo Manjarrez”. 

Back in 2020, Andres Cano Ahuir, the Police Chief of Guaymas, laid off 35 Guaymas municipal police officers for not passing the anti-corruption tests (called confidence control tests). 

On the surface, this may appear to be a good move, in favor of cleaning up a corrupt police department. However, it was locally rumored that Andres Cano Ahuir was Sinaloa Cartel Los Salazar affiliated and this move was in fact, an effort to cleanse the police department of officers who were loyal to the Caborca Cartel subgroup  La Plaza. This allegation is merely a rumor though and not confirmed. 

Some of the thirty five officers who lost their job due to the anti-corruption test were unhappy with their dismissal and they chose to join together to legally contest the action. One of these men, Officer Remberto Gastélum Barrios, was killed just hours after the group made their official legal filing. Officer Remberto Gastélum was shot 30 times as he was watering the plants in his garden. 

Later someone leaked an audio recording in which Chief Andres Humberto Cano Ahuir had a conversation with the aforementioned police officer Jesús Eduardo Manjarrez Covarrubias, alias “El Chapo Manjarrez”, in which they seemingly conspire to kill Officer Remberto. In the audio, they say the following, as translated by Sol Prendido: 

Video Source: Notimxm

CANO AHUIR: Who the fuck do we have to hit so that these sons of bitches start trembling?! Who do we have to fuck up, abduct, kill? Whatever has to be done so that they start trembling and chaos ensues within that fucking organization. 

CHAPO MANJARREZ: El Peña is one of those individuals. 

CANO AHUIR: Do we also fuck up Remberto?

CHAPO MANJARREZ: Yes, him also.

CANO AHUIR: Ok, it’s done. Let’s do it sir.

And here is where things get really interesting. Readers might remember that just the day before this pack of alleged CDS hitmen were arrested, a prominent Caborca Cartel - La Plaza leader named José Neri Ramírez Salaice, alias “El Neri”, was gunned down in the street of Hermosillo. 

It seems that police might be taking into consideration Chapo Manjarrez’s history and his alleged association with Los Salazars, because the newspaper El Universal wrote that police officers had found “eight armed people in the street, which could be related to the case of El Nery.”

Social media group Sonora Informativo has also linked the arrest of Manjarrez and the other 7 hitmen with the murder of El Neri.

They posted that "El Chapo Manjarrez and the other detainees are also involved in the execution of José Neri Ramírez Salaices when leaving an initial hearing before a Federal Court in Hermosillo yesterday.” There has been no official statement which links the homicide of El Neri to Chapo Manjarrez. 

Altar - El Duranguillo Will Stand Trial

On Sunday, July 10, 2022, the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) announced through a press release that Francisco Torres Carranza, alias “El Duranguillo”, a leadership figure within Gente Nueva de Altar, was successfully indicted and will stand trial along with three other hitmen that were arrested with him.

 

El Duranguillo was arrested on July 2, 2022, in Altar, Sonora, in a shootout with soldiers from the Army (SEDENA) that was covered in detail in this previous story.  

The three others, who were indicated alongside El Duranguillo, are named Juan Carlos Sánchez Chávez, Jesús Artemio Espinosa Martínez and Ausencio Aboytes González. The four men are facing charges of 

1. Organized crime

2. Stockpiling of firearms for exclusive use of the military

3. Possession of ammo for exclusive use of the military

4. Assaulting a public servant

5. Aggravated homicide with malice aforethought (the soldier who died in the shooting)

6. Attempted homicide

7. Bribery

That last charge, of bribery, refers to an allegation that after El Duranguillo was captured, the detainees offered the soldiers $10 million pesos (around $48,000 USD)in exchange for letting them go free. 

This allegation was mentioned by President Obrador during a morning press conference, in which he said “The person in charge of the operation asked for support because they [the detainees] were offering that if they released the gang leader, nothing would happen to them. They were offering the group of soldiers 10 million pesos. The reinforcements arrived and there was a confrontation, an Army officer lost his life, but the criminals were arrested.” 

The slide shown below was also shown during this press conference. 

Francisco Sergio Méndez, an FGR spokesperson, has stated that they have reached out to US authorities to see if they have any open investigations in Duranguillo.

 

El Chapo Manjarrez Sources: El Imparcial, El Universal, Opinión Sonora, Radar Sonora, Diario del Yaqui, Marquesina, Medios Obson, Sonora Informativo, Calvarie Locus, La Voz del Pueblo, Magisterio En Linea, Expreso, Tribuna

El Duranguillo Sources: FGR Official Press Release, Milenio, El Economista, Excelsior, Proyecto Puente, MVS Noticias, 24 Morelos, MVS Noticias, Angulo 7, Excelsior