BLO Member Who Nearly Killed Paraguayan Football Star Is Given 36 Additional Years in Prison

"Morogris" and "Itzli" for Borderland Beat

Jose Jorge Balderas Garza (AKA El JJ), former member of the Beltrán Leyva Organization (BLO), was handed an additional 36 year sentence for organized crime involvement, drug trafficking, and for safeguarding efforts to conceal money laundering operations.

El JJ is best known for the January 2010 incident that ended the association football career of Club America star Salvador Cabañas. During an altercation in a Mexico City bar, El JJ shot Cabañas on the head and nearly killed him.

Cabañas was the lead striker of Club America and one of the top players of the Mexican league and the Paraguayan national football team. Following the assault, Cabañas was unable to attend the 2010 FIFA World Cup and retired from top competition. He had a few stints in minor divisions but he was never able to fully get back into form.

El JJ, on the other hand, was a BLO member based in the State of Mexico under Edgar Valdez Villarreal ("La Barbie"). He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2019.

Background

El JJ was born in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, and was part of the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO). El JJ grew up in the United States, where he became a legal resident. Eventually was arrested for possession of marijuana imprisoned for eight months, then deported to Mexico in 2001.

That year he met Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villarreal in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, who invited him to collaborate with him. In 2002 La Barbie sent him to Mexico City where he began to distribute 40 to 44 pound quantities of cocaine.  Later, La Barbie put him in direct contact with Marcos Arturo "El Barbas" Beltrán Levya, who game him trusted assignments for the organization.

At some point he became the financial operator of La Barbie.  In 2007 he was named responsible for the sale and distribution of cocaine in Mexcio City and the municipalities of Atizapán, Naucalpan, Tlalnepantla y Cuautitlán Izcalli in the State of Mexico.

During his criminal career, he used ten alternate names to hide his identity, and also went by the following aliases: El JJ, El Modelo, El Jey Jey and El Batman. To disguise his organized crime activities, El JJ posed as a legitimate business owner of a transportation firm.

Football Star Incident

He received national attention on 25 January 2010 when he shot Club America football star Salvador Cabañas in the head following an altercation at the "Bar Bar" establishment in Mexico City. Witnesses said that El JJ and Cabañas got in an argument after El JJ questioned Cabanas's performance in Club America.

But the incident turned into a near-fatal one when El JJ and Cabañas across paths again inside the bar's restroom. A restroom attendant said that El JJ pointed a gun on Cabañas's head, but Cabañas taunted him to shoot for nearly 10 minutes. El JJ then shot Cabañas on his forehead.

Cabañas was nearly killed and was bed-ridden for several months. He suffered severe memory loss and had to learn how to walk again. Doctors said they were unable to retrieve Cabañas bullet because removing it could bring life-threatening injuries to him. They explained that since Cabañas was shot from close-range, the bullet did not pick up enough speed to perforate his skull on the way out.

"I am alive because the bullet stayed in my head", Cabañas said. Though he returned to play football in a second-tier division, his football career was short-lived.

Manhunt and arrest

La Barbie helped El JJ hide for about three months throughout the Mexico City metro area. In late 2010, El JJ returned to his criminal activities, establishing his center of operations in the municipality of Huixquilucan, Mexico, where he coordinated the sale and distribution of 132 to 155 pounds of cocaine a month. He used the drug profits to pay his underlings, buy weapons and equipment, and purchase more drugs.

By his own words, El JJ tried to associate himself with the leader of the BLO spin-off group La Mano, Óscar Osvaldo "El Compayito" García Montoya, following the November 2010 arrest of BLO leader Carlos "El Charro" Montemayor Gonzalez. However, El Compayito did not accept the offer; after a verbal altercation, both of them became rivals.

However, after a year on the run, El JJ was arrested by the Mexican Federal Police on January 2011.

Mexican actress Silvia Irabién, winner of the reality show Big Brother Mexico, declared at the Attorney General's Offices in Mexico City that she knew El JJ, but by his alternate name Jorge Díaz Treviño,. She confirmed that they were in a romantic relationship and that they had a daughter.

A day later, a written banner (narcomanta) signed by La Barbie was placed in a Mexico City avenue. La Barbie appreciated his friendship with El JJ and threatened the kill the actress if she did not remain silent. Irabién never testified against the BLO again.

Aftermath

In February 2019, El JJ was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of organized crime involvement. He is currently serving his sentence at the Federal Social Readaptation No. 1 ("Altiplano"), a maximum-security prison in the State of Mexico.

In an interview years following the attack, Cabañas said was financially broke, had separated from his wife, and was working at a bakery in Paruaguay to earn a living. He said he no longer had access to his bank accounts and that his wife took his money and left him.

"I regret all my life for being at that nightclub. Even more because I was with my former wife who I loved so much and she did what she did", Cabañas said.

Sources: Animal Politico; Excelsior; La Prensa; Borderland Beat archives

Acknowledgements: Thank you for "HEARST" for providing the images for this report