Año Nuevo de la Segunda Guerra

Federación de Sinaloa Divide

If you thought that it was all love, unicorns and rainbows within the Sinaloa Federation Narcotics Cartel, you'd be wrong.  

The biggest personal loser for the New Year's Narco War might be Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza (Macho Prieto). His nephew, El Cholo was assassinated in Sinaloa, his brother was gunned down in Nogales and his cousin, El Celasar, was murdered in Sonorita, SON. Then again, he might not care much about the family. Gonzalo has always been a narcissist.

The Sinaloa Federation now has two factions at war with each other. And you can't tell the players without a program.

Faction #1 Leadership

Joaquin Guzman Loera (El Chapo)

Ismael Zambada Garcia (El Mayo)

Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno (El Azul)

Allied with: 

Arellano Felix Organization, which the USGOV declared to be non-existent but just captured San Luis Rey de Colorado (across the US Border from Yuma) two days ago from Faction #2.

Los Caballeros Templarios, which used to be La Familia Michoacan, which MEXGOV declared to be non-existent but they've been marching steadily from Michoacan, through Colima and into Jalisco (headquarters of Faction #2). LCT has four thousand armed men in the field (trained to the spray and pray level), which isn't half bad for an organization that MEXGOV destroyed.

Faction #2 Leadership

Ruben Osegevera Cervantes (El Mencho)

Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza (Macho Prieto)

They don't seem to have many allies, but they are taking some key players from the old Sinaloa Federation including most of the Manuel Torres Felix's (M-1) organization. Torres is in custody, but you will recall that he worked for Macho Prieto so his people are expected to fall into line behind this cartel.

Where are La Gran Fuerzas de Mexico (Mexican Army)? Glad you asked. They seem to be sitting on the sidelines, eating chicharones, and waiting to see who wins. It's not a bad strategy.

Yes the coffin and funeral business in Mexico is thriving.
It's clearly been a growth industry over the past six years.

The Mexican press is covering some of the major shoot outs, but they also miss some big ones. That may be because they don't have enough surviving journalists to cover it all because the war is widespread throughout Western and Northern Mexico. There was a two-hour gunfight between Faction #1 and Faction #2 yesterday in Cuidad Guzman, JAL and not a peep about it in the newspapers - not even in Zeta, and they're generally quite reliable.

Jet Rental and Jenni Rivera

This blog reported the untimely death of singer, Jenni Rivera when the LearJet 25 (tail # N345MC) that she rode in crashed shortly after take off from Monterey, Mexico. 

Nobody knows precisely why the airplane crashed but here are the theories that are bouncing around and I share them here as precisely that -- THEORIES.

1. The 78 year old pilot had a health issue that resulted in pilot error and the airplane crashed.
2. The five passengers, who woke up the (old) pilot at 2:30 am and had him spin up the Lear may have been drinking/partying and may have been a little rowdy. Reports from people who were hanging out with Jenni and didn't get on the airplane suggest that this may be the case. Combine five boozed-up people, goofing around and a sleepy 78 year old man flying the airplane -- and nothing good is going to happen.
3. Some kind of equipment failure is unlikely, but possible. The flight data recorder information hasn't been released yet and we simply have to wait and see.

Christian Esquino, who runs Starwood Management and rents jets among other things, denied involvement with drug smuggling. DEA seized a Hawker and a Gulfstream from Starwood in Texas and Arizona, respectively, in 2012 but Esquino maintains that he's innocent of any involvement with smuggling.

The US Government indicted Esquino in the early 1990s along with 12 other defendants in a major federal drug investigation which claimed that Esquino and friends planned to sell more than 480 kilograms of cocaine. He eventually plead guilty to conspiring to conceal money from the IRS and was sentenced to five years in prison.

In 2004, Esquino pled guilty to committing fraud involving aircraft that he purchased in Mexico. The government alleged that he falsified log books before re-selling the aircraft in the US. He was sentenced to two years in federal prison -- but now maintains that he was innocent. 

Many luminaries rent aircraft from Starwood and Esquino including former Tijuana Mayor Jorge Hank Rohn. Jorge Hank, billionaire, has been a suspect in various narcotics investigations over the years. Some maintain that he is a key player in the Arellano Felix Cartel. Others suggest that these day's he's merely "crazy as a shithouse rat". Jorge Hank planned a run for Governor of Baja California Norte that was cut short when Mexican Army (SEDENA) raided his home, seizing a large cache of automatic weapons. 

Some cynics feel that the raid was politically motivated by others in the PRI to eliminate him from the list of potential candidates. By failing to obtain a search warrant before the race, the Mexican Army was able to expose Jorge Hank without prosecuting him for the contraband that they found in his mansion.

Conclusion

There is nothing that indicates that Rivera's death was linked to narcotics smuggling. She simply rented a jet and Starwood provided her with an inexpensive, but experienced pilot of nearly 80 years. If there is a lesson in this, I leave it to the reader to decide for themselves.

The Arellano Felix Organization's New Paradigm

The Arellano Felix Organization (based in Baja California Norte and headquartered alternately in Tijuana and Ensenada) is now actively working with the Sinaloa Federation to move cocaine across the US Border. Despite my own reporting to you to the contrary, they are currently moving cocaine through the US Ports of Entry by automobile in large volumes. Times change and they are stocking up on cocaine on the US side of the border to satisfy their customer's needs during the Holiday Season, when they typically shut down operations.

This new found rapprochement between the AFO and the Sinaloa Federation has been building steadily as an arrangement of convenience. Oscar Andres Rodriguez Gurrero has been one of the linch pins on the AFO side of the equation who keeps the love flowing to the Sinaloa Federation, senior member of the partnership.

Many high level meetings have been taking place at ------- Restaurant, Tijuana, BC (an AFO hang-out) where it's not usual to see Fernando Sanchez Arellano, Oscar Rodriguez, Julio Cesar Heredia Magana and others having dinner and discussing the day's events with one of Chapo Guzman's sons. Maybe somebody should tell DEA.

Julio Cesar Heredia Magana (El Malchor), is part of Armando Villareal Heredia (El Gordo)'s family. El Gordo began working for AFO in the mid 1990's and moved large quantities of product from Sinaloa to Los Angeles through Tijuana until his arrest in Hermosillo in 2009. A lot of El Gordo relatives are still associated with the AFO. It's a legacy thing.

Arellano Felix - Los Caballeros Templarios Alliance

Arellano Felix Family (back when)

I don't know whether or not the word is out, however, the alliance between the Arellano Felix Organization (AFO) and Los Caballeros Templarios (LCT) does make some sense when you stop and think about it.

Benefits:

• SUPPLY - Cocaine smuggling is on the decline because it simply doesn't make good financial sense anymore and won't until the demand pushes the price through the roof (if it ever does). Meth is the new coke and AFO doesn't have a reliable lab network to call on for supplies to meet the demand in the US and Canada. LCT does have a substantial lab network in Mexico that churns out tons of methamphetamine each month.
• SUMGGLLING and DISTRIBUTION - LCT doesn't have an effective distribution network north of the US Border to deal with the supply that they are able to manufacture. AFO has an excellent network that has been in place for a very long time.
• POLITICAL STROKE - Despite persistent rumors of their demise (including pronouncements by various US Law Enforcement task forces and US Attorneys (Laura), the AFO has a lot of infrastructure and power in Northern Mexico. The LCT does not, but they have stroke in Michoacan and Gurrero where they manufacture meth and tap poppies. In other words, they have the power where they need it if they are the manufacturers. They control the port of Lazlo Cardenas and can bring precursors directly to the labs through that route.
• THE PLAZA PROBLEM - LCT doesn't need to control plazas (nor buy sanction from MEXGOV to run them) in order to brew and ship methamphetamine (and refine opium) for distribution by AFO.

LCT Narco Mata

One other thing to keep in mind is that the AFO has changed due to pressure from the US and Mexican governments, changing leadership and the reality that the Tijuana Plaza is owned and operated by the Sinaloa Federation. AFO (meaning Luis Francisco Sanchez Arellano) made a conscious decision not to go to war with anyone. They cooperate, collaborate and run their dope in peace because it's more profitable and after all, it is a business.

LCT has regional aspirations, but is generally isolated by its members and its political constituency to remain in the Michoacan (Mexican Interior) region. They do not challenge AFO in any measurable way nor are their ambitions likely to expand to cause friction.

The mandate by the People of Michoacan for LCT to provide some sort of social justice to the people living in the hamlets doesn't interfere with anything AFO has going, six hundred miles to the north.