CARRILLO MURDERED, SAYS PGR;
ALIVE IN CHILE, SAY OTHERS;
PUBLIC SLAYINGS CONTINUE
by Jeff Barnet, Managing Editor, Ana Vinas and Ana Maria Ruiz-Brown, Staff Writers-Translators
The violent aftermath of the death of Juárez drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes continued throughout the month of November. A man with connections to the Mexican Congress and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) was executed in a downtown sushi bar Nov. 15, very near the Max-Fim and Geronimo's Grill restaurants where nine people were killed in two August shootings. Police say witnesses described the gunman as looking similar to a suspect wanted for both the Max-Fim and Ricardo Prado Reynal shootings.
The bodies of a few victims of torture were discovered on city streets, but the most dramatic killing was that of three men believed to have been the doctors who operated on Amado Carrillo July 4. The bodies of three men sealed in cement- and dirt-packed oil barrels were discovered off the Mexico City-Acapulco Highway in the southern state of Guerrero, Nov. 2. Investigators determined that the three had been brutally tortured before their executions. The discovery of the three men--still not positively identified yet, though forensic experts were fairly confident that one of them was Dr. Jaime Godoy Singh--was made only four days after the Mexican federal police (PGR) announced that it would conduct a complete investigation into Carrillo's failed operation and determine the cause of his death.
Wild rumors were floated during this time, including 1) Carrillo was alive in Chile, and 2) the corpse found in the Mexico City hospital room July 4 was not Carrillo but that of an ex-police officer and Carrillo double. PGR agents, however, concluded their nine-day investigation by announcing on Nov. 7, shortly after the discovery of the three bodies in Guerrero, that the surgeons had purposely killed Amado Carrillo by administering what they knew was a fatal dose of the analgesic Dormicum.
A lawyer who formerly represented one of the doctors said that none of the doctors knew anything about their patient except for his name. Godoy Singh said he did not know Carrillo when questioned shortly after the incident.Godoy Singh and two other doctors on the July 4 surgery team disappeared on October 17. On October 29, the PGR launched its investigation into the doctors' alleged murder of the Juárez cartel chief.
Rumors and legends concerning Amado Carrillo abounded throughout the month, including an undocumented report that he had tried to make a deal with the Mexican government before his death. The rumors prompted city councilor Gerardo Soto to state that Juárez needs to "break free" of "this drug lord legend." More directly, a battle-scarred Juárez bouncer told El Paso Times reporter Sonny Lopez that the drug cartel "turf war" was nothing more than a "media invention."
Nevertheless, as the public executions and dead bodies continued to dominate the headlines in Juárez newspapers, the city has become "tense," according to a Times story. Investigators and politicians alike mentioned that they are working on strategies to fight the cartel violence. However, no specifics have been offered.
Our chronology of drug war related events in the aftermath of the death of Amado Carrillo, alias "The Lord of the Skies," is now in its fourth month. Following is a selection of daily reports on violence believed to be related to the Juárez cocaine cartel and the continued fallout on the alleged murder of its former leader. Newspaper reports continue to mention that the profits of the cartel are somewhere around $25 billion per year.
Chronology of the Narco-Guerra in Juárez, Part 4
Mon., Nov. 24: Sushi Bar Victim Connected to Congress, PRI
Chihuahua state assistant attorney general Jorge Lopez Molinar will meet with former state legislator and director of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) Miguel Lucero Palma to discuss documents that allowed José Loya Lopez, killed Nov. 15 at a downtown Juárez sushi bar, to take a powerful position with the Mexican Congress.
According to police and attorney general records, the documents were allegedly endorsed by Lucero Palma, a relative of the slain Loya Lopez. Investigators are following a paper trail that could link the documents to official corruption, said Lopez Molinar. Investigators have also determined that the man who killed Loya Lopez fits the description not only of one of the suspected gunmen in the August 3 Max-Fim slaying but also of one of the hit men hired to kill lawyer Ricardo Prado Reynal August 22. Police agents say they expect results from their investigations, but that it's common for progress to be slow in homicide cases.
Source: El Paso Times
Mon., Nov. 24: Police Believe Unidentified Man Was Kidnapped Before Death
Juárez police agents believe that a man found shot to death on a city street Nov. 23 might have been kidnapped from the downtown restaurant Play Bar, Fri., Nov. 21, during the day. The man was shot once at the back of his head, apparently the victim of an execution. In addition, his hands had been bound with adhesive tape and his body wrapped in a cable cord. Police have not been able to determine his identity, but believe he is between 30 and 35 years old. According to the Diario de Juárez, the man was the 40th victim of drug-related violence since the death of Juárez drug merchant Amado Carrillo Fuentes July 4.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Sat., Nov. 22: Juárez Adds New Police Officers
Eighty-four new municipal police officers received their licenses during a graduation ceremony at the Municipal Presidency building Nov. 21. Police Director, José Luis Reygadas, said that the new recruits went through a rigorous selection process, which included anti-drug and psychological tests. The municipal police in Juárez now number 1,350 officers.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Tues., Nov. 18: Victim's Companion Missing
Police authorities fear for the safety of the female companion of José
Loya López, assassinated last Sat., Nov. 15. Police agents have
a artist's sketch of the woman in order to locate her as soon as possible.
Security guards reported a car in flames last night at the industrial park
"Los Fuentes." The auto has been identified as the Chrysler Concorde
used as the getaway car in the Nov. 15 Sushi Bar shooting.
Source: El Norte de Ciudad Juárez
Tues., Nov. 18: Attorney General Admits Violence Could Be Drug-Related
Responding to questions from Mexican investigative reporters, Chihuahua state attorney general Arturo Chávez Chávez stated Nov. 17 that "The recent executions in Ciudad Juárez could be related to the drug lord's [Amado Carrillo] death."
However, the attorney general refused to comment on two cases that are as yet unsolved. Questioned about the link between the October discovery of the warehouse of armoured cars and the Juárez cartel (please see October 1997 FNS feature, "Investigations Into Cartel Continue"), he commented that police do not have enough evidence yet. Concerning the unsolved October 31 homicide case of banker Fernando Castro Felix, Chávez said investigators hope to get the cooperation of the Serfin Bank to find out what he was working on previous to the murder. The Department of Public Prosecution recognizes that the bank has the right to confidentiality, however they know the bank wants this case solved as well. The only facts police have established are that Fernando Castro Felix left the Serfin bank on Thursday, Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. and was killed between 3 and 5 a.m. on Fri., Oct. 31. He was found in the trunk of his own car. Apparently he was kidnapped and tortured previous to his death.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Tues., Nov. 18: City Councilor Says "Vulgar" Turf War Violence Is Not Random
Despite the high number of drug-related assassinations that have occurred in Ciudad Juárez in the past three months, city councilor Gerardo Soto says tourists should not be scared away. "Most people, tourists and other visitors included, have nothing to worry about. Maybe it's because we're accustomed to having these people [drug traffickers] among us, but they are attacking each other in this vulgar turf war and not everyday people," he said.
The councilor, quoted in the El Paso Times, continued: "Somehow this drug lord legend has flourished and has become part of our community, but we need to break free of it because this is our community."
Francisco Molina Ruiz, former Mexican drug policy chief and current senator from the state of Chihuahua, is working with officials on strategies for combatting drug-related violence. He would not release any specifics of the plan, but says he is convinced the problem can be handled. He did state that all of the cartel's numerous assassinations are being studied closely. "These drug traffickers prepare all their actions carefully. They aren't randomly killing people to exact fear or gain some control. They aren't dumb people," Molina Ruiz said.
El Paso Times reporter Sonny Lopez solicited another opinion on the drug-related violence from a Juárez bouncer named "Gori" (short for "Gorilla") who has endured a "series of bullet and knife wounds." Gori said, "There's always been drug dealers, prostitutes, and dead bodies here and in El Paso. It's just a media invention." He continued: "It will go away and something new will come up. It's nothing that hasn't been happening for years. It's just now they're doing it in front of everyone."
Source: El Paso Times
Mon, Nov. 17: Police Believe Lopez's Killer May Be Connected to Max-Fim Shootings
According to reports in the El Norte de Ciudad Juárez and the El Paso Times, the gunman who murdered José Gustavo Loya Lopez, 33, of Juárez, may have one of the three assassins who killed six people at the Max-Fim restaurant August 3. Witnesses of the Nov. 15 Kensui Teppan Sushi Bar murder described the gunman to state judicial police, who say the description matches one of the suspects in the Max-Fim shootings.
Police say the gunman's style was similar in both shootings: in each case, the suspected gunman walked into the restaurant, went into the bathroom, and when he came out started firing.
Family members of the owner of the Kensui Teppan Sushi Bar said the restaurant would be closed for one month while police conduct their investigation.
Source: El Paso Times
Mon., Nov. 17: Assassination Victim Carried Government Credentials
On Saturday, November 15, José Gustavo Loya López was gunned down at the Kinsui Teppan Sushi Bar in Juárez by an assassin using a .38-caliber revolver. Loya López was owner of an automobile security company named "Blindajes Nacionales" and a real estate company named "Criger." According to Federal Police (PGR), Loya López carried documentation which identified him as an assessor coordinator of the Union Congress. He also carried Federal Government credentials.
Source: El Norte de Ciudad Juárez
Sun., Nov. 16: Juárez Man Assassinated In Sushi Bar
A man identified as José Gustavo Loya López, 33, was shot to death while dining at a downtown Juárez restaurant, the Kinsui Teppan Sushi Bar, at 6 p.m. on Sat., Nov. 15. According to a report in the El Paso Times, Loya was shot three times by a gunman with a .38-caliber revolver. The gunman had entered the restaurant by the front door, went into the bathroom, and then came out firing. Loya died instantly; he was found slumped over in his chair by police. Loya had been dining with two others, a man and a woman. According to the Times, he was the tenth victim to be gunned down in a Juárez restaurant since Carrillo's death July 4.
Witnesses say the gunman fled the restaurant, then fired two times into the air before escaping in a waiting gray Chrysler Concorde.
The Kinsui Teppan Sushi Bar is located near the intersection of Triunfo de la República and Lopez Mateós--near the Max-Fim and Geronimo's Grill restaurants, where nine people were slain in AK-47 attacks on August 3 and August 31, respectively.
Source: El Paso Times
Sun., Nov. 16: Officials Close to Finding IDs of Mutilated Bodies: El Paso Times
Federal prosecutors in Mexico City announced Sat., Nov. 15 that they are close to making positive identification of the three badly decomposed bodies found in cement- and dirt-packed oil barrels off the Mexico City-Acapulco highway in southern Guerrero state, Nov. 2. Witnesses have maintained from the beginning that the three bodies are the doctors who performed the plastic surgery that resulted in the death of Juárez drug lord Amado Carrillo: Jaime Godoy Singh, Ricardo Reyes, and Carlos Avila Meljem.
Forensic experts are having diffuculty making final identification, however, they believe that one body is that of Godoy Singh. Their identification is based on fingerprints made after rehydrating body tissue (the bodies had been burned before being packed in the barrels) and a DNA analysis based on blood samples provided by one of the suspected victim's relatives.
The Special Prosecutor's Office for Drug Crimes has already established the causes of death. Two of the men were strangled with cables, and the third was shot in the head. Researchers also believe they have identified the "sequence of events" in the torture-killings. According to prelimnary test results, the victims' killers prolonged their torture as long as they could.
An Associated Press report in the El Paso Times asked these questions: "Why did the three doctors allegedly kill Carrillo wih a powerful analgesic [Dormicum] after the drug lord underwent plastic surgery July 4? And who, in turn, killed the doctors?"
Source: El Paso Times
Wed., Nov. 12: Family Reports That One of Carrillo's Doctors Is Still Alive
According to a report in the Diario de Juárez, Carlos Humberto Avila Meljem, one of the doctors who operated on Amado Carrillo July 4, is still alive. According to his family, Meljem called them after the bodies pf Jaime Godoy and two other doctors were found Nov. 2.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Mon, Nov. 10: Carrillo Organization Still Intact in U.S., says FBI
A spokesman for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that Amado Carrillo's criminal organization is still operating in the United States, even after the arrest of nearly 90 of its members in several different U.S. cities in August, including El Paso, Texas, where nine were arrested, most of them members of the to the Pedro Guerrero family. According to FBI, the Guerrero family, five members of which were arrested and identified as members of the Amado Carrillo organization, owned small houses on El Paso's west side where they would store large quantities of drugs from Ciudad Juárez. Agents seized five million dollars along with several properties in El Paso.
The FBI charged that lawyer Russell Aboud was involved with some of the members from the organization. He is now being investigated. His house was searched by FBI agents who were looking for any type of documentation which would connect him with criminal organizations. Aboud was initially the lawyer for most of the nine arrested in El Paso; however, he abandoned most of them at his own will, except for Pedro Guerrero, father and leader. The U.S. District Attorney In El Paso has asked Aboud to drop this case also, because of the investigation and another charge that the lawyer received money from another drug dealer named Mendoza.
Authorities stated that the Guerrero family moved drugs to the New York market, previously dominated by Colombian cártels. The Guerreros, who are charged with drug possession and distribution, conspiracy, and money laundering, lived in luxurious homes on the east side of El Paso. The family lived in both Juárez and El Paso and also has ties with the Dominican Republic where they have relatives.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Sun., Nov. 9: Rumor: Carrillo Tried To Make Deal With Government Before His Death
According to a report in the Mexico City newsweekly Proceso, and reprinted in the El Norte de Ciudad Juárez, former Juárez Cartel leader Amado Carrillo allegedly offered a deal to the Mexican federal government before his death. The magazine's sources were anonymous. The anonymous sources claimed Carrillo requested these conditions from the Mexican Government: 1) Freedom from arrest; 2) No government harassment of his family; 3) The right to keep 50 of his real estate properties.
In return, say the anonymous sources, Carrillo offered that he would 1) Collaborate with the government to fight other narcotrafficking organizations; 2) Behave as a business man; 3) Not sell drugs in México, but only in the U.S. and Europe; 4) Bring dollars to México to help its economy; 5) Neither act violently, nor revolt.
Source: El Norte de Ciudad Juárez
Sat., Nov. 8: Mexican Authorities Inquire into Attempted Assassination
Mexican authorities are investigating the attempted murder of veterinarian Raymundo Hijar Pérez. Hijar Pérez was hit by several gun shots from another vehicle, while stopped in his Suburban at a Juárez intersection Fri., Nov. 7. According to the El Paso Times, the veterinarian treated sentry dogs which were the property of the security company owned by Córdova Gil, who was assassinated November 4 in Juárez.
Source: El Paso Times
Fri., Nov. 7: PGR Announces That Surgeons Killed Amado Carrillo
Mariano Herrán Salvatti, special anti-drug prosecutor in the Mexican Attorney General's Office, announced that Amado Carrillo's death was caused intentionally. According to the PGR, the doctors Jaime Godoy Singh, Ricardo Reyes Rincón, and Carlos Humberto Avila Meljem intentionally administered to the patient a contraindicated treatment called Dormicum. The PGR began its investigation into the doctors' role in Amado Carrillo's death on October 29. The three doctors named by the PGR disappeared on October 17.
The doctors' tortured bodies were believed to have been found inside oil drums located off the México City-Acapulco highway Nov. 2. Forensic experts have yet to make positive identification of any of the bodies.
Source: El Norte de Ciudad Juárez
Thurs., Nov. 6: Mexican Authorities Contend Carrillo Was Murdered
Mexican authorities stated Nov. 5 that Amado Carrillo did not die by accident after his plastic surgery, but was murdered instead. The authorities alleged that the team of doctors responsible for Carrillo's care gave Carrillo a deadly dose of the drug Dormicum.
According to the Diario de Juárez, American officials say there are many unanswered questions such as:
Source: Diario de Juárez
Wed., Nov. 5: Amado Carrillo Rumored To Be Alive
According to sources in Chile and reported in the Diario de Juárez, Amado Carrillo Fuentes is alive and under the protection of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) because he is collaborating with the organization to arrest other drug lords. The report went on to assert that Carrillo's dead body, shown to the media in July, was an ex-police officer doubling for Carrillo. This information was distributed on a local TV news report in Santiago de Chile. The Chilean news reporters said the information was obtained from reliable sources; however, the Diario de Juárez said that there was no documentation for the story.
Chilean TV reporters maintain that in the days before his alleged death, Carrillo traveled from Chile to Cuba. After he flew from Cuba, say the reporters, there is no proof he ever landed on Mexican soil. The "reliable sources" informed the reporters that the person inside Carrillo's coffin was a former Mexican police officer by the last names Hérnandez Palacios, who posed as Carrillo's body due to his close physical appearance between the two. Highly trained U.S. intelligence personnel made the arrest after Carrillo's double died during plastic surgery. According to the report Carrillo's arrest was not clean--apparently a couple of his bodyguards died. Because of the double's uncanny look-a-like features, it was difficult for authorities to determine, through the graphics, the drug lord's identity. Furthermore, the double's body was totally disfigured, but inexplicably his mustache was intact, when usually for a facelift it would have been shaved. Also, local reporters noted how unusual it was for a man with Carrillo's kind of money to return to his country, where he was wanted by U.S. and Mexican authorities, when he could have stayed in Chile or gone to Brazil or Europe and bought the finest surgeons available. Also, according to the report in Chile, it seemed very suspicious that the DEA was in such a hurry to identify the body, when the Mexican police took an extra week doing forensic tests.
The U.S.Embassy in Chile denied any truth to the report exposed by the local media on Carrillo's 'faked death' or his alleged collaboration with the DEA.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Wed., Nov. 5: Security Company Owner Assassinated
Abelardo Córdova Gil, security company owner, was assassinated outside his Ciudad Juárez home, Tues, Nov. 4. According to the Mexican federal police (PGR), three men and one woman waited for Córdova Gil outside his house and at the moment he arrived home gunned him down. The victim was shot at least 16 times. Authorities suspect Córdova Gil had connections to narcotrafficking. The El Norte de Ciudad Juárez reported an allegation that the victim might have "disclosed" criminal information to the police. It was the thirty-eighth drug-related murder in Ciudad Juárez since July 4, according to the paper.
Source: El Norte de Ciudad Juárez
Tues., Nov. 4: PGR Anti-Drug Team Defies "Mixed Cell" Anti-Drug Unit
Elements from the "mixed cell" formed by federal, state and local police intercepted two cars with four armed people in Ciudad Juárez. After the mixed cell's agents asked them to be identified, they refused and threatened them with their guns. Finally, after calling for more reinforcements, the men disclosed they were members of a public prosecutors' (PGR) team to combat drugs. Chihuahua state attorney general Arturo Chávez Chávez spoke with a PGR delegate to request that all PGR agents respect the law. Governor Barrio expressed the importance of outside police elements identifying themselves to Juárez authorities.
Source: El Norte de Ciudad Juárez
Mon, Nov. 3: Bodies Found Dead Inside Oil Barrels May Be Carrillo's Surgeons
Three members of Amado Carrillo's plastic surgery medical team--Jaime Godoy, Ricardo Reyes and Carlos Avila Meljem--were believed to the badly decomposed bodies be found inside oil barrels off the Mexico City-Acapulco highway, Sun, Nov. 2. They had been beaten, burned, gagged, handcuffed, and blindfolded and had cables hung from their necks.
Godoy's family reported the three missing October 17.
Rubén Tamayo Viveros, lawyer for one of the surgeons who helped with Carrillo's plastic surgery, stated that the doctors did not have any type of contact with nor knew Amado Carrillo prior to the operation--they just knew they were going to operate on someone with that name, he said. Godoy, who worked on Carrillo's nose, stated in July that he did not know Carrillo. Juan Jorge Mejía Monje, another one of the doctors who operated on Carrillo, has also been missing since October 17.
Tamayo Viveros speculated that Mexican and United States authorities have a common interest to "keep away" the doctors who operated on Carrillo because they could recognize the body to be a fraud.
Source: Diario de Juárez
Sat., Nov. l: Source Alleges That Cartel Uses Pemex Petroleum for Jet Fuel
According to an anonymous source quoted in El Norte de Ciudad Juárez, the Cartel de Juárez and other Mexican drug cartels have been "stealing" refined Pemex (Mexico national oil company) petroleum and converting it to jet fuel for use in their extensive fleet of 727s and DC-9s. The source, an expert in the aeronautics industry, claims that Mexican cartels are pumping refined Pemex petroleum for their own use "all over the country," but especially along the northern border. The airplanes are used to transport drugs from Colombia to the border, according to the source.
The Chief of the federal Department for Economic Development, Jesús Sandoval, said that for security reasons, the refined petroleum, called petróleo diáfano in Mexico, would be taken off the market. Pemex will introduce a new gasóleo that can not be converted into jet fuel, he said.
Source: El Norte de Ciudad Juárez