Four slaying suspects caught in Mexico

By Sandra Dibble
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. June 17, 2009

Four suspected drug gang members said to be responsible for kidnappings and at least three slayings in the Rosarito Beach area were captured yesterday by Mexican soldiers who raided a safe house and rescued a 66-year-old kidnap victim.

The suspects worked for a criminal group that is led by Teodoro Garcia Simental, often known as El Teo, according to a military news release. They were identified as Ramiro Ramirez, 24, Orlando Santolalla, 23, Rodrigo Ramirez, 26, and Ramiro Lopez, 25.

The detentions mark the latest in a series of recent blows against Garcia's group, which has a reputation for brutality and is suspected of conducting numerous kidnappings for ransom. Two of the suspects allegedly worked directly for a lieutenant in the organization, a former Rosarito Beach police officer named Angel Jacome Gamboa who was arrested in March.

The soldiers also seized 20 high-caliber weapons, 14,662 rounds of ammunition and three vehicles.

Interviewed at the military base, the kidnap victim said he was working in a restaurant parking lot in Rosarito Beach when he was abducted May 24. The kidnappers beat him, bound him, cut off a finger on his left hand, and threatened his family, he said.

The victim, a retiree living on a fixed income, said the kidnappers demanded money from his family but he did not know how much.

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