CDG Matamoros Part 7: Shadows of El Contador

 "Itzli" for Borderland Beat. 

2020: As the war within the Matamoros faction came to a close, the cartel moved forward under "El Vaquero". Yet the shadow of "El Contador" loomed in the background up until his return.

Continued from Part 6: The War Within

El Vaquero

It appeared that, by the beginning of 2020, the war that Mario Alberto “El Betillo” Cárdenas Medina and Raúl “El Loco” García Martínez, code name “Escorpión 2” had waged to take over the leadership left to Evaristo “El Vaquero” Cruz Sánchez, code name “Ciclón 46”, was coming to an end as “Escorpión 2” faded from view. 

While "El Vaquero" was the visible leader, it was directly alleged that José Alfredo “El Contador” Cárdenas Martínez continued to control the Matamoros faction from his prison cell in Durango, giving orders to his girlfriend Balquis García, his cousin Dora Cárdenas, and her husband/cartel accountant Héctor René “Chapita” Chapa Villarreal, who is most known for an audio clip of him organizing a cartel sponsored protest in September 2020, in addition to “El Vaquero”. 

With “El Vaquero” in the spotlight, the Procuraduría General de Justicia (Attorney General’s Office) of the state of Tamaulipas began offering a 2 million peso reward for information leading to his arrest in February 2020. 

As the world became gripped with the outbreak of COVID-19 virus, the Matamoros faction handed out food boxes to poor communities. A message appeared on the boxes from “Señor 46 Vaquero”, a reference to his nickname and only the number of his code name, with “Ciclón” being notably absent.  

Death of El Fili

Filiberto “El Fili” Munguía Bravo, appearing in Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5, was frequently rumored to play a role in the conflicts within the Matamoros faction from early 2015 until he allegedly died in February 2017. Because it was not well known that he had faked his death, it was particularly surprising when news spread April 19, 2020 that “El Fili” had been killed in a cartel clash on a dirt road in Matamoros.

By July 2019, less than a month after the arrest of “El Betillo”, also known as “Beto Cárdenas”, there was online speculation that Carlos Fabian "El Cuate" Martínez Pérez, who had been closely associated with “El Fili” over the years, might be supporting “El Betillo”. If true, this would be a particularly noteworthy turn of events as “El Cuate” was alleged to be a key part of the rise of “El Contador” at the expense of “El Betillo”, as covered in Part 4.

As for “El Fili”, it was claimed that he was the leader of Los Ciclones at the time of his actual death and comments on an article reporting his fate add to claims that both he and “El Cuate” were “traitors” that had been supporting “El Betillo”. Thus we are left with a situation that is not readily explained due to a lack of information, but it appears that the duo had turned on their former ally, "El Contador". 

It is possible that as “Escorpión 2” faded away, “El Fili” continued the fight against “El Vaquero” in the Matamoros area, thus extending the timeline of the conflict. Another possibility is that the conflict had largely ended months prior to this, yet “El Vaquero” and his allies sought revenge against individuals that had sided with “El Betillo”. In this scenario, it took time for “El Fili” to be located and/or an opportunity emerged in which he could be killed. 

The End of Los Ciclones?

It would seem that the death of “El Fili” marked the end of Los Ciclones as a subgroup within the Matamoros faction. Over the years many of their members had been killed or arrested, while some rose to important positions within the cartel as a whole. Furthermore, Los Ciclones were formed as an armed wing within the CDG, a role that Los Escorpiones filled following their reactivation in 2017.

There was also the matter of the so-called war between Los Ciclones and Los Escorpiones. As previously mentioned in Part 6, the conflict was not cleanly divided into these two groups, yet the perceived association of Los Ciclones with the forces of “El Betillo” and “Escorpión 2” appeared to hasten their decline and, as previously mentioned, members of Los Ciclones such as “El Vaquero” abandoned the Ciclón part of their code names while continuing to use the number part.

While media sources continue to report Los Ciclones as if they are a still active group to this day, instances in which cartel members make reference to Los Ciclones or use Ciclón code names were already coming to an end and a case can be made that when “El Fili” was killed, Los Ciclones ceased to exist.

Los Galos

One of the lesser documented groups within the Matamoros faction came to light around the same timeframe that Los Ciclones were fading away: Los Galos. Beyond passing references to their existence, anything written about them is generally based on rumors and speculation due to an overall lack of documentation.

The most definitive piece of information about Los Galos is that they were associated with Óscar Antonio “La Droga” López Sandoval, formerly a high ranking member of Los Ciclones with the code name “Ciclón 89” who operated in Nuevo Progreso, Río Bravo, and Reynosa. Based upon circumstantial evidence, it would appear that Los Galos operated in that same area and may have been led, or at the very least supervised, by “La Droga”.

Documentation of members of Los Galos is hard to find. Galo 5 has been identified by picture and the alias “Wuero Motas”. Galo 9 has a “corrido” song with an image and the aliases “Paco” and “c482”, which likely stands for a former code name of “Ciclón 482”. It is possible that Galo 9 is Francisco “Paquito” Martínez Ramírez, discussed in Part 3, who also uses the nickname “Paco”. Furthermore, there has been a fairly consistent line of rumors that Roberto Saavedra “El Chiricuas” Santana Delgado, discussed in Part 5, defected to the Matamoros faction and went on to become a member of Los Galos.

Taking the latter two into account, it would appear that some, if not all of the members of Los Galos were former members of Los Metros working for the Matamoros faction. Their role within the cartel is harder to determine, but it is quite possible that they served as a group of operators and traffickers operating in territory that had been seized from Los Metros.

El Primito

As discussed in Part 5, in the waning days of Luis Alberto "El Pelochas" Blanco Flores as leader of Los Metros, Luis Miguel “El Flaco Sierra” González Mercado waged a brief campaign in Río Bravo against the Matamoros faction and was said to be backed by a then underreported individual known as “El Primito”.

Following the August 2018 arrest of “El Pelochas”, it appears that “El Primito” became leader of Los Metros with little to no opposition and maintained discreet control of this CDG faction. For a year, it was believed that the true identity of “El Primito” was Bartolo “El Primo” Rodarte Castillo, who had been arrested in Cadereyta Jiménez, Nuevo León in May 2015. This line of thought was so pervasive that even the Cártel del Noreste (CDN, Northeast Cartel) would use his picture in messages against Los Metros.

The revelation that “El Primito” was actually César Morfín Morfín would emerge online in August 2019, as well as conflicting information as to the timing of his arrival in Tamaulipas, which apparently occurred sometime in 2007-2009.

A rarely reported history of “El Primito” claims that he was sent from Jalisco to the border by orders of Los Flores, a drug trafficking family that would eventually become part of the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), to help cross drugs in the city of Río Bravo on their behalf by paying fees to the CDG. Upon Los Zetas splitting from the CDG in 2010, “El Primito” was said to have provided money, weapons, and people to support the CDG and gained respect within Los Metros. In time the status of "El Primito" grew to the point that he worked directly under Juan Manuel “El Toro” Loisa Salinas and eventually he became head of plaza in Camargo before assuming leadership of Los Metros.

Continued Conflicts with Los Metros

As discussed in Part 6, it was alleged in August 2019 that Carlos Roel “Chuy 7”, Collazo Rodríguez, leader of the Zetas Vieja Escuela (ZVE) in San Fernando, was aligned with Los Metros. A month later, it was further claimed that “El Primito” was financing “Chuy 7” in a war being waged in San Fernando and Méndez, though the opposing side was not specified. While it is possible that he was fighting the CDN or fellow members of ZVE, the fact that “Escorpión 2” is mentioned in a list of supporters makes it most likely that it is referring to conflict with “El Vaquero”.  

In April 2020 a video was posted online in which an armed confrontation was taking place and it was said to be between the forces of “El Vaquero” and Los Metros. Notably, the video was tagged San Fernando, Barrancon, and Carboneras, all areas previously said to be under the control of “Chuy 7”. It is unclear if the alliance between “El Primito” and “Chuy 7” was still in effect at this time, which leads to two main possibilities: the mentioning of Los Metros was actually a reference to “Chuy 7” or “El Vaquero” was providing support to drive out Los Metros, assuming “Chuy 7” had left his alliance with Los Metros and turned to the Matamoros faction.

Throughout 2020, Los Metros were increasingly on the defensive as the Matamoros faction continued to consolidate power in Río Bravo and make incursions in Reynosa. 

The Return of El Contador

On October 30, 2020 rumors spread online that “El Contador” was released from prison following judges declaring in June that his arrest was illegal. In the absence of major media coverage the situation was unclear until two weeks later, when El Mañana de Reynosa confirmed that “El Contador” had been released on October 29 after a judge in Ciudad Victoria declined to indict him on the charges that he had been arrested for.

It appears that “El Vaquero” immediately stepped aside and “El Contador” returned to lead the Matamoros faction as there were no signs of opposition at that time.

El Gordo Villarreal

In many ways, Yahaira “Yaya” Cárdenas is the most overlooked of the children of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén. The oldest of the siblings, it is rumored that she was born to a school teacher that Osiel had a relationship with, making her a half-sister to her more well known sisters Marlene and Grecia. It would appear that Yahaira would have stayed in the shadows if not for her husband, René “El Gordo” Villarreal.

The existence of “El Gordo Villarreal” appears to have first come out in December 2018. Furthermore, it should be noted that he is sometimes referred to as “Comandante Escorpión”, although it is unclear if he was an actual member of Los Escorpiones. By the beginning of January 2019 it was claimed that “El Gordo Villarreal” and Yahaira quickly moved from Matamoros to San Pedro, a wealthy suburb of Monterrey, Nuevo León, for unclear reasons. 

Even so, “El Gordo Villarreal” continued to operate as a drug trafficker for the Matamoros faction and 600 kilograms of cocaine seized by the military in Matamoros in early March 2019 allegedly belonged to him. With the release of “El Contador” from prison, it was claimed that “El Gordo Villarreal” said he would return to Matamoros and take revenge against those who drove him away.

Continued in Part 8: The Drums of War