El Grande is Arrested
On September 12, 2010, El Grande was arrested in a raid by Mexican Marines in the central state of Puebla. Villarreal was charged with multiple murders and other crimes.
While in prison, El Grande told people that the arrest of Alfredo Beltran was the result of a deal that was made by El Chapo Guzman with the federal government in exchange for the release of his son Yvan Archivaldo. That is why he refused to send people to help with the rescue of El Mochomo. While making his claim loud and clear within the halls in the prison of Puente Grande, this made El Grande to be hated by all the convicts in the prison. Without thinking of the consequences, he started to plot against El Chapo Guzman. If at any place El Chapo Guzman was popular, it was in the prison of Puente Grande.
Soon many of the prisoners were attempting to kill El Grande but no one was able to touch a hair of his. At most, they would spit at his face, curse at him, and at other times, threw excrement at him when he walked the narrow corridor between the cells.
El Grande would laugh and make fun of the prisoners in the cells that were trying to degrade him. The prisoners would kick the bars of their cells in frustration that they could not put their hand on El Grande. They wanted more than anything to reclaim the honor of El Chapo.
On a certain occasion, a prisoner that they named "El Manita" managed to pull in El Grande by his shirt when he went by his cell, while the guards that were supposed to be escorting him were not paying attention. While talking about some of the officials of the PGR, El Manita grabbed him, pulled him in against the cell bars and started chocking him. El Manita used the bars as leverage and was able to get a good hold on the giant against the cell. El Grande attempted to free himself, trying to get air and trying to scream for help. His escorts quickly intervened to save the life of El Grande who was being chocked to death. The guards opened the cell of El Manitas and sprayed his face with chemical gas directly to his face. They sounded the code red that is sounded when someone tries to escape and a group of other guards started beating up El Manitas. His body was dragged away on the corridor. Two days later, it was learned that El Manitas had died. His family claimed the body and were told that Jose Manuel Hernandez, El Manitas had died of a heart attack.
El Grande warned all the other prisoners that the same would happen to them if they tried to attack him again. It was rumored the El Grande had a good relationship with the Mexican president. From then on the protocol of the prisoners changed. Every time El Grande walked the corridor between the cells, the prisoners had to move away from the bars, lay down face down and put their hands-on top of their head.
Up until the first of 2011, some of the supervisor of the guards, warned the prisoners that if they attacked El Grande, they would be killed.
The Fall of the Boss of Bosses
Borderland Beat continued to track the attacks from Arturo Beltran Leyva "Jefe de Jefes" and had been continuing up until the month of December 2009. Arturo continued to execute any adversary foe without blinking an eye. He seemed to be out of control. The arrest of his little brother, El Mochomo and the betrayal from El Chapo blinded him to focus on only revenge.
With the discovery of two more bodies in September 2009 in Guerrero attributed to BLO, the trail of deaths had not stopped.
* On December 10, 2009 four bodies were found in the center of Chilpancingo. Two were completely dismembered, with a message attributing the deaths to the "jefe de jefes". The term “El Jefe de Jefes” has been tied to the leader of the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO), Arturo Beltran Leyva.
* On December 7, 2009 in the community of La Calera, Petatlan state police found the body of a man of approximately 48 of age, who had been killed with a gunshot to the head. Unlike other cases, the death was "for talking to adversaries," it was written in cardboard and left with the body.
* On December 5th two bodies were found in the road that leads to the village of Villa Lucerna of Chilpancingo. The bodies bore signs of torture, a black bag on their head and a message that accused them of being "kidnappers, thieves and extortionists".
* On December 2, 2009 police discovered a handcuffed body in the street Las Plazuelas in Acapulco. the body had a narco sign as is customary and the person had been shot (preferred method of execution of the cartel) The message warned people that this would happen to all the kidnappers. On the same day and in the same road that leads Tuncingo, police discovered another body with the same message and also with a gunshot wound to the head.
In early December of 2009 DEA and FBI agents received information about Arturo Beltran Leyva's whereabouts in the city of Puebla, southeast of Mexico City, and shared it with Mexican naval officials. But Beltran Leyva and his bodyguards escaped a navy raid in Puebla.
The following day, Mexican forces raided a Christmas party in the picturesque southern Mexico City suburb of Tepoztlan in search for cartel members.
That night a narco party was being held by Artuto Beltran who had with him his main bosses, Edgar Valdés Villarreal "La Barbie" and Sergio Villarreal "El Grande." Arturo Beltran was in a festive mood and was welcoming guest that were arriving.
Arturo was behind a coffee table, on one side he had his gold-plated AK-47 and on the other side was Osmayda Nalleli Casarrubias, the woman who he relied to look after his health. La Barbie was on one of side dressed in a navy-blue suit while "El Grande" was on the other side wearing a denim, gray plaid shirt, baseball cap and an AK-47 hanging over his shoulder.
The musicians Los Cadets of Linares, Torrente and Ramón Ayala and his Bravos del Norte, were all lined up in a hall to wait for their turn to play in front of Arturo.
In the living room there were four armchairs, one for Arturo and the rest for the girls that were brought in from Acapulco. The first seven Acapulqueñas, of the 24 that would be at the party, arrived around 9:00 p.m. and were kindly received by Arturo each with a kiss. Arturo welcomed the girls and fondling some of the girls while asking them to take off their clothes. Most of the girls started dancing in their underwear.
Arturo started throwing money at the girls, all $100 dollar bills, while about twenty naked women were scrambling on the floor to grab the bills, as if they were picking up candy from a broken pinata. Ramón Ayala continued playing music while the women took off their clothes and were dancing with fist full of bills.
That night there was a grill in the garden with a table next to it, where Atanasio Reyes Vizcarra, the head chef of Arturo, who charged $2,000 to prepare meals for special events such as the one of that night.
Arturo whispered at La Barbie about his concern that he heard Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán was moving in to Puebla. Arturo told La Barbie that El Chapo and Mayo Zambada were moving in and they had already bought most of the police and military in Puebla. La Barbie reassured Arturo, “let them try to enter Cuernavaca, I will take care of them myself.
"They were eating taquitos of beef and, drinking beer, whiskey and tequila," said Antonio Ruiz González "El Tony", one of the kitchen helpers.
While the party was in full swing there was a loud knock on the door. Who is it?" Asked the gunmen guarding the front door of the residence. "We came to the party," said one of the newcomers.
As they opened the door the group that was dancing to norteña music asked, "are we expecting anyone else?"
"No, no, we got everybody!" Shouted someone from inside.
With those words, a shooting broke out targeting the visitors outside the front door, who were actually members of the Marine special forces of Mexico dressed in civilian clothes.
"Flee, patron! flee!" The gunmen shouted.
Suddenly El Barbie grabbed Arturo and said, “let's go, let's go boss, they are here!” He moved fast toward the rear exit of the house with Arturo and immediately they began to hear gunfire coming from the front of the house.
"La Barbie" and "El Grande" took Arturo Beltrán outside from the back of the house. His golden golden AK-47 on the couch was the only thing he managed to take.
"La Barbie" and "El Grande" took Beltrán to the rear parking lot outside where there was a black Suburban, a gray Pick Up and a gray Cherokee.
Also outside was a white GLI Bora and a silver Dodge loaded with sicarios that were there to engage the military forces to allow Arturo to escape.
They chose the gray truck and took off.
The sound of fully automatic gunfire put a sudden silence to the music of Ramon Ayala, who was playing his music for those who were attending the narcoposada (narco party). Suddenly numerous gunmen appeared from inside the house located on Paseo de los Naranjos, to confront the soldiers who retreated against the walls of the residence to engage the drug traffickers.
Amid the gunfire, a gray Toyota truck suddenly sped off away from the building.
According to unofficial sources, the goal of the operation had been to capture Edgar Valdes Villarreal, "La Barbie," Chief sicario of the criminal organization. Initially, they did not know that Arturo was also present at the party.
They arrested dozens of attendees and entertainers, including Latin Grammy-winning accordionist and singer Ramon Ayala.
According to statements from neighbors of the subdivision, located in the town of Ahuatepec, in the north part of Cuernavaca, the confrontation between the armed forces and the drug traffickers resulted in three deaths; two gunmen and an innocent woman that was caught in the cross fire who was identified as Patricia Terroba.
According to unofficial reports the woman is said to have resided near where the offenders had organized the party. The victim was considered collateral damage by the government.
A version of the incident had the Beltran Leyva brothers fleeing aboard a gray truck bearing the plates of 102WPH, which was later located at the corner of Teopanzolco and Rio Mayo, a highway that led to the Mexico-Cuernavaca or Cuernavaca-Acapulco. The vehicle was found with the doors open and blood stains in the interior, this was according to statements from the State Police.
According to locals, the confrontation between soldiers and drug traffickers lasted for about two hours, and detonations of grenades could be heard.
Before the armed confrontation, the clamor of the party was heard along the streets played by Ramon Ayala and his band Los Bravos del Norte.
Ramon Ayala 'El Rey del Acordeón" and members of Cadetes de Linares along with the Grupo Torrente had been detained and transported to the federal police headquarters in Mexico City. Eleven suspected members of the Beltran Leyva cartel were also detained.
Ayala's attorney said the musicians were hired to play at the party but didn't know their clients were suspected members of the Beltran Levya Cartel. Mexican norteno bands often sing about drug trafficking, violence and many have been rumored to perform at drug traffickers' weddings or other narco parties, but few have been caught.
Days later, residents in nearby Cuernavaca reported the presence of heavily armed men in their neighborhood. DEA officials said U.S. and Mexican agents received information that the Beltran Leyva group had fled to a Cuernavaca high-rise building.
Inside the building, a meal was being prepared in apartment number 201, one of the five residential towers called Altitude, located in the Lomas de la Selva, in Cuernavaca, Morelos, where el capo Arturo Beltran Leyva was residing.
The protection system of Arturo Beltran Leyva cartel included informants within the military, ministerial and municipal police forces along with watchmen designated under the key names of Zafiros and Halcones who moved around in vehicles or taxis throughout the city.
His inner circle of security that escorted him was composed of the most hardened sicarios who always guarded him. He was in company of five of his most trusted men, including Edgar Valdez Villarreal, La Barbie, the leader of his sicarios.
Inside the safety of his bunker of the building, Beltran received constant reports of gunmen who formed part the three levels of security guarding the condominium and movements out in the streets.
Arturo Beltran had already been told that his system of intelligence had observed suspicious movements outside his apartment, but he relied on his people to take care of matters, thinking that everything would be resolved and under control as usual.
Meanwhile the Arturo Beltran was having a conversation with Valdez Villarreal and other members of his entourage. They were fine tuning the details to receive a special guest who had agreed to have dinner with Beltran. It was General Leopoldo Díaz Pérez, head of the Military Zone 24, headquartered in Morelos.
According to statements from suspects that had been arrested on December 11th in the narco party (posada) in Tepoztlan, in Morelos, also attending the meeting were supposed to be a Major and Captain from the same military unit.
There was testimony from a person that would be eventually arrested that was only identified as "El Cocinero," who might be the actual chef. El Cocinero said that Valdez Villarreal was also supposed to be present but at the end he was not to be found. There was speculation that when the operation began to take place, he fled as he observed military commandos surrounding the building. There has been a lot of talk that La Barbie provided information to the Mexican military command of the exact location of Arturo Beltran and he attempted to became an informant to try to save himself from apprehension. This has not been confirmed, but was more of a rumor that was circulating on several media sources.
From noon until shortly before 5 pm on Wednesday 16, more than 200 commandos of the Navy/Marines of Mexico started to do surveillance of the facility and quietly started to evacuate the occupants of the apartments Elbus. The goal was clear: to corner Arturo Beltran Leyva, one of the most wanted drug lords in the last decade - and five of his bodyguards who accompanied him.
Mexican forces moved residents, including teens at a party, to a gym in the complex. All this movement occurred between 1 am through 4 pm and before the actual entry into the facility of Altitude, all in order to capture Beltran.
Soon thereafter, the military enter the high rise and the assault began.
Helicopters circled low.
Mexican Navy/Marines that stormed the upscale apartment complex provoked a ferocious gun battle that lasted for at least two hours. Witnesses said the raid began when marines rappelled down ropes onto the roofs of some of the apartment buildings at dusk. The Marines continued with their operation equipped with heavy artillery, tanks and armored vehicles, including helicopters hovering overhead.
When the security levels or "belts" of protection of Arturo Beltrán Leyva had been clearly defeated, and when the Marines felt they had the situation under their control, the members of the Special Forces were greeted with gunfire. Cartel gunmen hurled grenades that killed one marine and wounded two others.
This generated a heavy gunfight with high caliber weaponry. From their armored vehicles, the Marines triggered 7.62 caliber machine guns and assault rifles AR-15s, while another elite military commando from the helicopter rappelled down on top of the condominium where Arturo Beltran was located.
According to the versions that was disseminated by the Secretary of the Navy, they did not have it easy. Beltran Leyva's group of sicarios responded with dozens of fragmentation grenades and bursts of firepower from fully automatic AK-47 and AR-15 through the windows of department 201, located on the second floor of the 15-story luxurious building.
Other sicarios who were part of the security belt of protection of Arturo began firing at the Marines who were on the ground floor, but According to official reports, the counter did not work as a burst of gunfire took them out immediately.
"What an experience," one resident told Mexican television. "Explosions! Grenades! Machine guns! I would never have imagined something like this happening in Mexico City, and much less Cuernavaca."
As the hours pass (five in total) since taking the building, the sicarios were running out of grenades. No longer capable of an offensive, three of the five sicarios who were defending Beltran were shot dead in middle of the floor of the apartment. According to the official version, an
other sicario shot himself with one gunshot.
The same version says that one more desperate sicario decided to commit suicide by jumping out the window, but when he was freefalling a bullet penetrated his back. His body lying on his back was photographed on the garden of an apartment downstairs.
Arturo made one last call, to the main leader of his security escort, Edgar Valdez Villarreal, El Barbie. Arturo was requesting reinforcements, but La Barbie told him it was impossible to intervene. According to La Barbie, he told Arturo to surrender but that Arturo told him he was going to fight it out.
According to the press release of the Marines, it was about nine o'clock at night when Arturo Beltran, no longer having the protection of his gunmen, opened the door of his apartment. Apparently, he intended to flee through the elevator. Once outside, he engaged the Marines in a gunfight who were just outside by the door, but was shot down by the firepower of a group of Marines that were moving up the stairs.
The body of the one who was named El Jefe de Jefes, who had managed to live for two decades in the shadows of first, Amado Carrillo, and then of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, had collapsed against the door with several expanding bullets shattering his chest, abdomen and head. Arturo was dead, killed in a gunfight with military forces.
Reporters were briefly allowed inside the apartment where Arturo's body still lay; his skull and one arm were mangled by bullet wounds, and in one hand he clutched a large gold-colored medallion. It was there that the body of Arturo Beltran Leyva was captured by various digital photographs and video. It was also the same spot where his body was staged in a humiliating display to the press.
The images of the body of Arturo Beltran made international news and angered some people who saw the display of his body as disrespectful. It was the method in which the military decided to show dismay for the capo, in how his body was presented for the world to see. Many times, the cartels pull down the pants of men left on the street after being executed, a sign of disrespect. Just like Arturo had done during some of his executions he conducted, the Mexican authorities had done the same to him; pulled down his pants and placed the contents from his pocket over his body. Mexican and US bills soaked in blood were seen blanketing his body in a display of trophy of some kind.
Borderland Beat Page 25
