Bournes Brothers Possibly Tied to the Execution of Five in Rosario, Sonora

"HEARST" for Borderland Beat 

Five men, with hands tied behind their back and gunshot wounds, were found dead in Tesopaco Rosario, Sonora.

Some claim two narco brothers, who work for Cartel de Juarez and who haven't been heard from in over a year, were behind the executions.

The Five Bodies in Rosario During the early morning hours of Sunday, August 14, 2022, motorists heading down a remote mountain road that connects Paredones Ranch and El Nogal spotted a pile of dead bodies in the brush nearby. They called the emergency phone line to report what they had seen and officers were sent to check on the report.

When officers arrived at the location, they found five deceased men as described at kilometer 14 of the dirt road leading to the town of El Nogal (also called Curúpaco), which lies within the municipality of Rosario Tesopaco, which lies right near Sonora’s border with the state of Chihuahua. The following video, which contains graphic content, reportedly depicts the five remains.

State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) investigators were called to the scene. They found shell casings near the remains, which they documented and collected as evidence.  According to Tribuna newspaper, all five of the deceased showed signs of gunshot wounds. Due to the remote location of the remains, the bodies were not removed from the scene and transported for autopsy until the night of Monday, August 15. 

Potential family members of the deceased were asked to identify the remains and these family members confirmed that the victims were: 

Eladio Roberto, 22 years old

Cutberto, 49 years old

Bey Cutberto, 21 years old

Héctor Alexander, 20 years old

A 17 year old male, whose name was not released due to him being a minor

The Cartel Context of the Region 

Two weeks before these remains were found, there was a gun battle in Rosario Tesopaco between two unknown groups. The shootout left several vehicles and homes riddled with bullet holes. Determining what cartel was likely involved in that shooting and this recent set of executions is not as simple as it may seem because Rosario happens to sit at the nexus point of at least three major regional cartel powers, and their subgroups. 

Surrounding the region is: 

Sinaloa Cartel’s subgroups Los Paredes and Los Salazar

Caborca Cartel’s subgroups Los Olivas and La Plaza

Cartel de Juarez group Los Hs and their ally the Bournes brothers. 

It's worth noting that Rosario municipality sits in the middle of a number of different recent conflicts in the cartel world. To the west, in Guaymas and Empalme, there is regular violence between the Caborca Cartel subgroup La Plaza against law enforcement, who they allege are currently on the payroll of Sinaloa Cartel’s Los Salazars, a group that steadily tries to encroach into the territory.

To the south lies municipalities like Navojoa and Huatabampo, Salazar strongholds. Just recently a large-scale arrest operation, involving multiple Marines helicopters, was seen on a property in Huatabampo. It was heavily rumored that the target of the operation was Salazar’s leader El Pirata, however no announcement of his arrest came after. 

And then to the east of Rosario lies one of the largest manhunts in recent history, as federal forces comb the remote mountains near Urique, Chihuahua, searching for the priest killer El Chueco. Their sweeps of the area have extended to as far as Rosario and in fact 6 of the 17 Chueco associates that have been caught to date were arrested in Rosario municipality.

Despite all this, one social media site has ventured an allegation about who was behind the killing of the five men. An off-brand version of Sonora Informativo writes: 

"This violence is being caused by the #LaLinea cartel and specifically its leaders, the famed brothers Ever Jose Gonzalez Bournes aka ‘Pepe Aguila’ and Victor Noe Gonzalez Bournes aka ‘El Topo’ or ‘El 500’. 

Both operate from El Zapote, Moris, Chihuahua - a place they have taken over and claim to be the owners of. Inhabitants of these towns have identified 

Jose Cucharas

El Colorado

El Tapahuecos 

El Fay 

as the ones in charge of doing the dirty jobs that the Bournes brothers order.

These hitmen are in charge of kidnapping and robbing cattle ranchers - many of whom (in spite of handing over their assets, belongings and vehicles) are often murdered. An example of this happened just yesterday afternoon when five bodies were found in a gap 15 km from Rosario Tesopaco.

It is said that the victims were inhabitants of different mountain communities and that all of them were not involved in crime. 

These acts are totally reprehensible. They take advantage of the fact that there is no surveillance in these areas. The military only goes on patrols. It is said that they [the Bournes brothers] have an agreement with them [the military stationed there]. And that is why they are not stopped."

Their allegations were later picked up by Valor por Tamaluipas and repeated in their own version of the article.

Who are they talking about? Víctor Noé, González Bournes, alias “El 500" and his brother Ever José González Bournes, alias "El Águila", are the leaders of a group that falls under the larger Cartel de Juarez umbrella. 

Their group has been known previously for robbing mines, kidnappings and extortions. Their alliance with El Tolteca, El Missa and G3, three prevalent figures at the time for their fight against CDS, gained them a certain amount of attention however Tolteca's group appears to have faded away in recent times. For more information on the Bournes' brothers group and the men they were in an alliance with, please see this story. 

Within the last five years, the Bournes have contested (and at some points controlled) the Sonoran municipalities of Hermosillo. In 2020, however, El Aguila and El 500 were run out of the region in a more permanent way by the Sinaloa Cartel. 

The last thing we really heard of the Bournes brother was news in 2020 that the brothers had moved their forces to the Chihuahua municipalities of Moris, Ocampo and Temosachic where they were regrouping and reshuffling.

Moris, Ocampo and Temosachic are territories controlled by Los Hs, another CDJ subgroup (not the BLO group) and the Bournes' close allies. Los H are led by César Manjarrez Alonso, alias "El H2" and are covered in more detail here. 

For a while, we heard heard nothing more about them. Through most of 2021 and all of 2022, there hasn't been any news involving the Bournes brothers. 

It's possible they have been just as active as before but they now operate in a region where they are not contested to the same degree they were in Hermosillo, so news of their escapades is largely suppressed. 

It's also possible that news about them learned because they were outshined by much larger scale conflicts, like those in San Luis Rio Colorado and in Guaymas. 

Sources: FGE Press Release, El Universal, Radar Sonora, Latin US. Proyecto Puente, Michelle Rivera, Valor, Off-brand Sonora Informativo, Reforma, Heraldo de Mexico, Uniradio Informa, El Sol de Mexico, Tribuna, Vanguardia, El Imparcial