'Comandante Tornado': What Crimes Did The CJNG Leader Commit And How Many Years Will He Spend In Prison?

 "Char" for Borderland Beat 

This article was translated and reposted from El Financiero 

WRITTEN BY: JUAN CARLOS HUERTA 

JUNE 28, 2024

Cesar Cazarin Molina, also known as 'el comandante Tornado', 'el Tornado', 'el señor de los Vientos', 'el Tanque', or 'El Matazetas', faces several trials related to his high-ranking militancy in the Jalisco Cartel - New Generation (CJNG).

He is identified as a close associate of Nemesio Ocegueda Cervantes, 'El Mencho', founder of the criminal organization. He also faces proceedings in defense of his assets, which the federal justice system intends to secure, and which are believed to be worth around 20 million pesos.

He was sentenced to 60 years in prison for crimes such as kidnapping, carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a firearm and possession of cartridges for the exclusive use of the Armed Forces. Along with him, some of his companions received sentences:

• Domingo Medina Díaz, alias 'El Mingo', or 'El Brother', is considered his right-hand man, and his first bodyguard.
• José Antonio Godínez Antonio 'El Gudy'.
• Héctor Jesús De La Cruz Juan 'El Teto'.
• Wilfrido Vázquez Gutiérrez 'El Will'.
• Jesús Arcadio Sánchez Aizpuro, known as 'R'.
• José Fidel Martínez Soto, alias 'El Chapo' or 'El Poni'.
• José Morales Ramírez 'El Pepe' or 'El Peña'.

The facts for which they were accused occurred in October 2012, in the Miguel de la Madrid neighborhood, in Zapopan, where a person was kidnapped.

Comandante Tornado' was released from prison on at least two occasions until his final apprehension in 2015. By then he was held in Cefereso 9 Norte, in Ciudad Juarez Chihuahua, along with three of his alleged accomplices, who were arrested in the Hacienda La Candelaria neighborhood, municipality of Tlajomulco Jalisco, while they were drunk and playing soccer.

The so-called 'Lord of the Winds' went through several courts where he continued to disturb the order, for example in the extinct CEFERESO 2 of Puente Grande Jalisco, he kept under threat not only the security and custody personnel of that place, but also the former director, Jeztael Elena Martinez Cisneros, who refused to be bribed. His subordinates always supported him: 'El Mingo', 'El Rayas', and 'El Sopi', who exercised control over inmates and custody personnel.

The high-security prison in Jalisco was then ordered closed and the so-called 'Matazetas', his accomplices, and 380 highly dangerous inmates were transferred in a surprise operation deployed by agents of the National Guard and the Secretariat of the Navy, aboard two Boeing 727 airplanes, two Black Hawk helicopters, 15 buses and dozens of pickup trucks and armored cars to the Federal Center for Social Readaptation (Cefereso) 17 in Buenavista Michoacán, where he also did his business and even planned to escape.

In February 2022, he was separated from his subordinates and was moved to another prison, then his accomplices threatened the director of security, Alejandro Martínez Cisneros, and the general director of the penitentiary, which was also closed months later.

Comandante 'Tornado' fears for his assets

At the moment, there are ongoing proceedings for forfeiture of ownership in the only court of the matter in Mexico City, against real estate assets considered property of Cesar Cazarin; this is the case of two residences located in the La Rioja subdivision, in addition to another in the Cortijo de San Agustin subdivision, both in Tlajomulco de Zuniga, Jalisco, valued at around 25 million pesos. A legal fight against the seizures decreed by the federal justice system is being maintained.

On March 21, 2010, members of the Ninth Military Region captured Cazarin and his team in a drug lab in Cocula Jalisco, but months later he was released. On July 10, 2013, he was arrested in the Bugambilias subdivision, under his identity as Víctor Hugo Delgado Rentería, nicknamed 'El Tornado', 'El Comandante Tormenta', or 'El Frijol', then he was imprisoned in the Federal Center for Social Readaptation Number One, Altiplano, in Almoloya de Juárez, State of Mexico, but he was released again.

Source: EL FINANCIERO

Categories: CJNG, Jalisco, matazetas