Thread: Gang leader blamed in Ciudad Juarez violence arrested

Gang leader blamed in Ciudad Juarez violence arrested

Arturo Gallegos Castrellon is described as the main leader of the Aztecas street gang. Mexican authorities say he confessed to numerous killings, including that of a U.S. consular official that was previously blamed on a different Aztecas leader.

By Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times
November 28, 2010|5:26 p.m.

Reporting from Mexico City — Mexican authorities said Sunday they had arrested the main leader of the Aztecas, a Ciudad Juarez street gang blamed for much of the violence in the troubled border city.

Federal police officials in Mexico City said Arturo Gallegos Castrellon, 32, was arrested in Juarez on Saturday. They said he confessed to taking part in several high-profile slayings, including the fatal shootings of a U.S. consular staffer and two other people in March and the ambush of a teen party in January that killed 15 people.

Authorities said Gallegos told them he was responsible for 80% of the killings in the border city since August 2009. Since early 2008, more than 6,500 people have died in drug-related violence there, according to unofficial tallies.

Among Gallegos' suspected victims were five Mexican federal police officers, the public safety secretariat said in a statement.

It was impossible to verify the suspect's alleged confessions. It is not uncommon for Mexican police to report that arrestees have admitted to numerous crimes.

The Aztecas, who are allied with the Juarez drug-trafficking cartel and claim members on both sides of the U.S.- Mexico border, are believed responsible for much of the violence that has turned Ciudad Juarez into Mexico's deadliest city.

Police said Gallegos ordered the March 13 shootings that killed two U.S. citizens — consular staffer Lesley A. Enriquez and her husband, Arthur H. Redelfs — and the husband of a Mexican employee of the consulate. The statement said Gallegos also played a role in the January attack in the Villas del Salvarcar neighborhood that left 15 dead, but it did not provide details.

Mexican authorities had previously said that a different Aztecas leader, Jesus Ernesto Chavez, ordered the attacks that killed Enriquez and her husband. Chavez was arrested in July.

On Sunday, authorities said Gallegos was responsible for killings, extortion and drug dealing throughout Ciudad Juarez.

The Aztecas and other street gangs have served as foot soldiers in a 3-year-old war between the Juarez-based cartel and a trafficking group based in the northwestern state of Sinaloa.

Similar turf battles have raged across Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched a military-led offensive against cartels soon after taking office in December 2006. Drug-related violence has escalated each year since. About 30,000 people have been killed.

In Ciudad Juarez, the Calderon government has sought to improve social services and job opportunities to counter social ills that, officials say, draw young people into violent gangs. But a drive begun this year to build parks, schools and hospitals and offer job training has not slowed the pace of killings.

Officials said Gallegos was arrested on drug-trafficking charges in the United States in 1996, but did not elaborate.

ken.ellingwood@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 6756.story

Arrested alleged leader of the Aztecs in Ciudad Juárez

translated by google from El Blog Del Narco
http://www.blogdelnarco.com/


The Federal Police arrested Arturo Gallegos Castrellón, alias "the Farmero", which is responsible for the deaths of 14 young people in villas Salvarcar and execution of five federal agents, among other cases.

The Federal Police arrested Arturo Gallegos Castrellón, alias "the Farmero", the alleged leader of the band The Aztecs and one of the leading killers operating in Ciudad Juarez, which is responsible for the deaths of 14 young people in villas Salvarcar and five federal agents, among other cases.

The head of the Regional Security Division of the Federal Police, Luis Cardenas, said in a press conference that "the Farmero" who was arrested with two others, says it has ordered 80 percent of all homicides in that city from 2009.

The arrest of this person is carried out within the framework of the national strategy to combat crime and by following the lines of research aimed at breaking the criminal group of Los Aztecas.

"It was learned that Gallegos was the alleged leader Castrellón and operated in the vicinity of Forest Walks division," said Cárdenas Palomino.

With that person were arrested Carlos RodrÃ*guez RamÃ*rez, alias "67", who apparently is responsible for the transfer of drug between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, and Gisela Ornelas Nunez, alias "Master", who was transporting drugs and weapons in the same city.

These people were assured that:
• Two long guns
• Two handguns
• 228 rounds of different calibers.
• 90 grams of dry grass and the characteristics of marijuana
• Two vehicles and two pickup trucks, one of them armored.

Arturo Gallegos Castrellón is connected to different criminal events among which are:

1 .- The murder of two employees of the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez, which occurred on 14 March this
2 .- The killing of 14 youth in the colony Salvarcar Villas of the January 31, 2010
3 .- The murder of five federal police in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua.

On the issue of youth homicide, Gallegos said Castrellón received information that they were persons of a group AA, "but when they realized it was a mistake, also ordered to undertake the execution."

That individual also confessed that he instructed the death of the wife of another offender arrested, Jesus Ernesto Chávez Castillo, and he allegedly disclosed information about the criminal group of Los Aztecas.

The detainees were seized two rifles, two handguns, 228 rounds of ammunition, 90 grams of marijuana and four vehicles among which an armored van.

All those apprehended were available to the Federal Public Ministry Office of Special Investigations on Organized Crime which will continue the investigation.