"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat
The capture of Juan Manuel Franco Silva "El Alacrán" revealed a criminal network that the citizens of Comondú were already suffering from, but not the authorities of Baja California Sur.
The criminal cell led by "El Alacrán", at the service of his brother Daniel Franco Silva "El Tiburón", has for years sown fear among the residents of Comondú and Loreto, the criminal group's area of influence.
Some of the criminal activities for which they are being held responsible include extortion of fishermen, extortion of businessmen, kidnapping, drug dealing and disappearances, as well as homicides and intentional injuries against citizens.
"A criminal group in such a small area becomes dangerous precisely because it has total protection, even from commanders certified by Control and Confidence. It is required to execute any criminal action, there are repercussions for the elements that try to act, this is how they remain in impunity," the State Security Roundtable explained to the Zeta news agency employee.
Daniel Franco "El Tiburón" was denounced by fishermen in mid 2020 through social networks, accusing him of being protected by agents of Public Security and the State Attorney General's Office (PGJE) in exchange for payment to officers.
"Intelligence data tells us that this individual fled to Sinaloa to obtain protection by members of the criminal group and police officers, it will surely be something similar when his capture is carried out, they will try to prevent him from being apprehended. We are gathering all the evidence and intelligence data to find his whereabouts, we have already located him in the coastal state", identified elements of the PGJE's Criminal Investigation Department.
Since then, he had already been identified as responsible for the wave of violence in communities such as Puerto San Carlos, Puerto Adolfo López Mateos, Poza Grande, Ciudad Insurgentes, San Juanico and Ciudad Constitución, as well as for charging fishermen and for the murder of fishermen who resisted criminal control.
"Unfortunately for the residents, the governments are waiting to receive a complaint in order to act, this is total impunity, because no citizen in his right mind, would denounce a criminal who came to your door armed, who knows you, because it is a small town and also has this police and judicial protection that we have seen. If this is the situation, let's activate the mechanisms, they are backed by the Federal Criminal Code," said one of the representatives of the Citizen Council for Attention to Victims of Crime to this weekly newspaper.
The first documented incident of impact against government insignia was the attack that occurred in the early morning of Wednesday, December 2, 2020, when two members of the National Guard were abducted while walking along Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada street in the Real neighborhood in Ciudad Constitución.
The agents were leaving a taqueria, they had recently arrived in the city and their main task was to conduct patrols in the fishing communities to reduce crime rates and inhibit the collection of money. They were found with clear traces of torture and a coup de grâce, however, one survived the attack.
The officers were found beaten and shot on a dirt road next to the Cajoncitos riverbank, on the streets Rodolfo Montaño between Márquez de León and Agustín Arreola. Third Master Mario Alberto Mondragón Tirado was found dead, while Corporal Obed Jiménez Toledo showed multiple signs of torture and a gunshot wound to the skull; the latter was immediately transferred to the ISSSTE Hospital, where a security detail was assembled.
"It was the first incident where his name came up in the State Security Roundtable, even that government requested the presence of federal forces to intervene in the federal zone. However, one of the first instructions of the new government was to withdraw that surveillance and those of the highway points", added one of the agents of the Mesa de Seguridad.
AUTHORITIES PROTECTED "EL ALACRÁN"
The capture of Juan Manuel Franco Silva "El Alacrán" was a surprise when the State Criminal Investigation Agency mounted an operation to capture him as he was about to enter one of his safe houses, without firing a single shot.
However, when they were about to process the detainee and later transfer him, an armed criminal cell arrived, four gunmen who immediately "requested the release of the boss"; when the investigative agents refused, they were shot at.
At that moment a confrontation broke out, resulting in an injured hitman, the others involved fled the place, but requested the presence of more criminal forces.
A Ford Lobo pickup truck arrived at the site with two occupants, one of them uniformed with Comondú Municipal Police logos and one in civilian clothes, who requested the release of "the boss", however, when they refused again they were shot at and repelled the aggression.
The officer in uniform identified as José Eduardo Tavera Martínez, enlisted in the Mexican Navy, along with Luciano Juárez Rodríguez, the other armed civilian, was designated as the personal bodyguard of Lieutenant Commander Juan Heladio Clavel Nicolás, director of Public Security and Municipal Police of Comondú, was left dead at the scene.
"Intelligence data and his own statements, point to the fact that the municipal corporation was protecting 'El Alacrán' and his group of hitmen. They worked for him, the director said that his bodyguards went to his (the criminal leader's) rescue without informing him; but he was aware of the confrontation and the operation, and did not send support," an intelligence source from the Security Roundtable confirmed to ZETA.
At the same time, the State Criminal Investigation Agency reported that the Transit director himself went to the crime scene to collect evidence involving his officers:
* Two long guns
* A short weapon
* Spent shell casings
* Items contained in the white van.
"The information that has been handled in the State Security Roundtable, once the statement of the director of Transit of Comondú, the intelligence data, his actions on the day of the events and the omissions have been collected, they expect him to be removed, the change has already been requested," informed the State Investigation Agency.
Inhabitants of Ciudad Constitución had already suffered the criminal violence generated by "El Alacrán" as the second in command of the criminal group operated by "El Tiburón" for the Sinaloa Cartel. On September 25, while attending a report of a fight in the Michelatos Bar, located against the corner of the Comondú City Hall, municipal police officers Gabriel González Hernández, general commander of the Municipal Police; Romualdo Salvador Geraldo Amador, supervising commander; as well as private police officer Alberto Gómez Torres, were beaten by a group of between 15 and 20 hitmen under the command of "El Alacrán".
Thanks to a citizen who documented the aggression on video, the attack on the police officers could be seen, the gunmen hit them with the hilt of their pistols and assault rifles, and after the complaint on social networks, ZETA was able to access surveillance camera recordings, which point to "El Alacrán" and members of his criminal group.
"With total impunity they walked around the most crowded places, cockfights, races or social events, they were seen carrying their firearms, citizens did not dare to report them because they walked around in front of security agents without any fear. That certainly gives you the picture and it is clear: they were protected at a high level", informed the agent of the Security Bureau.
After 9:00 p.m. that Sunday, when the municipal agents responded to the disturbance, to their misfortune they were outnumbered and outgunned. Because of this incident, "El Alacrán" became a target of public security institutions, arrest warrants were issued for outrages to authority. In addition to the fact that two days before, allegedly this hitman and other people kidnapped a municipal judge of Loreto on September 23.
Days after the incident at the Michelatos bar, they captured Victoriano Peraza "El Tocayo", 68 years old, originally from Sinaloa and with a record for aggravated kidnapping in Nogales, Sonora; as well as Abelardo "N", alias "El Becerro", 46 years old, originally from Baja California. Allegedly, these individuals "provided relevant information regarding the safe houses and the right-hand man of 'El Alacrán', who they identify as Daniel Peraza, alias 'El Coyote', a fugitive from justice, as well as 'El Tiburón'," the source said.
"EL ALACRÁN" FELL FOR KIDNAPPING
"El Alacrán" enjoyed total impunity in Comondú and Loreto, with the protection of public government officials and various police forces. In addition, he imposed his own law, if the complaints against him were not favorable, he ordered the kidnapping of Judicial Power officials.
Juan Manuel Franco Silva is related to the abduction of a man on September 22, 2022 in Loreto, according to Criminal Case J56/2022.
"The accused Juan Manuel 'N', nicknamed 'El Alacrán', accompanied by other people arrived at a home in the city of Loreto and through threats, with the use of a firearm, he took the male victim, against his will into a vehicle, whom they transferred to a dirt road in the Loreto-Ciudad Insurgentes road section, beat him in different parts of the body causing him injuries. Later, on September 23, they released the victim," acknowledged the PGJE.
"El Alacrán" is linked to the following cases:
* The kidnapping of a judge in Loreto on September 23.
* The homicide of teacher Alfonso Noé Olvera Tirado, shot to death on the night of March 6, 2021 in Ciudad Insurgentes.
It is now known that, after a traffic incident, hired killers of "El Alacrán" identified as Felipe de Jesús "N" and Omar Humberto "N", went to the teacher's home and attacked him with gunshots, mortally wounding him and leaving his son injured in the patio of his house; the teacher would die moments later in the hospital.
Felipe de Jesús is a brother-in-law of "El Alacrán" and would have maintained operations at his side, but they were captured four days after the attack against the teacher and declared that they were obeying instructions from the aforementioned assassin.
After the capture of Franco Silva, according to what was said by members of the Security Roundtable, repercussions and increased violence are expected due to the capture, "and there will be mobilizations because of that," they warn.
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