Since his arrest, Tijuana Cartel lieutenant “El Ruedas” has handed over a treasure trove of information about the group’s operations and relationship with the Sinaloa Cartel.
A high-ranking Tijuana Cartel lieutenant was arrested last week, sparking commentary that the trafficking organization is on the ropes. Not so fast; experts have said this since 2002, but the group has proved resilient.
The arrest of Armando Villareal Heredia, alias “El Gordo,” is a blow to the weakened Tijuana Cartel that could increase the likelihood of conflict with the Sinaloa Cartel in the region.
The guilty plea of a major Tijuana Cartel operative is an important achievement for U.S. law enforcement, but the real victory could lie in the information he provides against his former boss, Benjamin Arellano Felix.
Tijuana is facing a new trend in kidnapping. Unlike the wave of indiscriminate abductions for ransom that hit this Mexican city in 2008, this time the kidnappings seem more of a way of doing business.
In Tijuana, a dusty, sprawling border city that separates Mexico from one of the world’s most lucrative drug markets, a question hangs in the air: Who controls this trafficking corridor?
Mexican border city Tijuana saw a grisly weekend of eight murders, raising fears that the city is returning to the days of decapitated bodies hanging from bridges. The continued unrest, though, is probably not a harbinger of fresh violence to come but rather the result of spasms in the reorganization of the various cartels with a presence in this key trafficking location.
Perhaps the most startling thing about the latest Trans-Border Institute's (TBI) report on violence in Mexico is not just that it is backed up by Mexican government statistics, but that these numbers are worse than what the TBI published in its previous reports using data compiled by Mexican media outlets.
Fernando Sanchez Arellano, alias "El Ingeniero" or "Fernandito," is the enigmatic head of the Tijuana Cartel, a.k.a. the Fernando Sanchez Organization. Sanchez Arellano is the son of Enedina, who is the sister of the founding members of the Arellano Felix Organization, the original Tijuana Cartel. Almost all of the original crew are either dead or in jail. Sanchez Arellano is approaching 40 years old, but little is known about him and no recent pictures of him have been released by authorities.
Acting on an anonymous tip, the Mexican Army cracked down on a safe house used by the Arellano Félix crime syndicate, also known as the Tijuana Cartel, arresting four cartel agents in the operation, reports the Mexican magazine El Proceso. Among those arrested was Julio César Magaña, a cousin of Armando Villarreal Heredia, alias El Gordo, who is considered to be a top leader of the Tijuana cartel. In addition to the arrests, officials have recovered 502 kilograms of marijuana, twelve M-14s, a machine gun, a Barrett M82 rifle capable of firing through light armor, smoke grenades, helmets and several bullet-proof vests. The discovery comes at a relatively peaceful time for Tijuana, with the government increasingly flaunting the city as a success story in its efforts to stem drug-related violence.
