The Borderland Beat

[Warph]

Shootouts erupt in Nuevo Progresso, Reynosa and Rio Bravo Tamaulipas

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Violence erupted tonight the result of clashes between cells of organized crime in the town of Nuevo Progreso, resulting in a flurry of shootouts and blockades generated in several block of this border town.

The first shooting occurred at 19:00 hours on side streets of the of Nuevo Progreso, the neighboring town of Progreso, Texas. According to unofficial reports, the shootings were continuous at first, but then became more sporadic, the persecutions alerted the inhabitants of this town of 25,000 residents.

Shootouts also ensued in neighboring Rio Bravo and Reynosa municipalities. 

The confrontation between criminal cells has intensified after the arrest last week of "El Comandante Alemán", the leader of the Gulf Cartel in that municipality.

Miguel Angel Alemán Salinas was the presumed successor of Juan Manuel Rodríguez Rodríguez, aka "Juan Perros", who had just been arrested a month prior.
 
Authorities are yet to report numbers of injured or killed in the shootings between criminal groups.

Blockages were reported at the junction of the Reynosa-Rio Bravo highway, access to Reynosa International Airport, access to the Reynosa-Matamoros highway, the Rio Bravo to Reynosa highway and near the Pharr-Reynosa International bridge.

[Warph]

In Video: "Mayor of Chilapa is linked to Los Rojos"

July 21, 2014

A video was posted on Youtube of a man who was kidnapped,(Above) while being detained by men armed with AK-47s,accuses the mayor of Chilapa de Alvarez, Francisco Havier Garcia Gonzalez (Below), of having ties to the leader of "Los Rojos" Zenen Nava Sanchez " El Chaparro".

The person deprived of his freedom is identified with the name of Filiberto Meneses Garcia, he is a halcon in Guerrero municipality of Chilapa. He ssaid  that the director of vehicle maintenance from Chilapa, Fortunato Nava Diaz, aka "El Loco" is the link between the PRI mayor and "El Chaparro".

According to official report,s Meneses Garcia works as driver of the taxi number 235 and last Friday the 18th, in Chilapa, was intercepted by armed people whom took him to the community of Tlanicuilulco, in the municipality of Quechultenango, considered as the bastion of the criminal group "Los Ardillos", who commands the family of the congressional committee chairman of Guerrero, the local Deputy from PRD, Bernardo Ortega Jimenez.

Two days later, relatives of the taxi driver filed a formal complaint with ministerial authorities to report he was missing. This case was added to the other 10 who went missing during the confrontation between criminal bands and state police 2 weeks ago left 14 dead and several people wounded.  (below)

In the video entitled 'El Manotas" Zenen's Alcon, AKA "El Chaparro" boss of the plaza of Chilapa de Alvarez Guerrero". The video is one minute 23 seconds duration. The armed people questioned the victim about the alleged relation of politicians with Zenen Nava" El Chaparro. "El Chaparro speaks to Fortunato, he is who organizes the meetings with El Chaparro to give him the time and place to meet the municipal President, Francisco Javier Gonzalez El Tepache", said the kidnapped man in the video.

His captors question him about the relation of the PRI former counselor Francisco Benitez " El Tigre" with "EL Chaparro structure. "Benitez is whom organized the March for peace in Chilapa, he has the responsibility of charging cuotas (fees, piso) to businesses and tickets for taxi drivers (taxi drivers must pay organized crime to conduct business these are called pasajes or tickets). also he charges fees to the constructor worker, taxis driver, and people that sells knock off CD's", said the kidnapped victim.

They then asked about a politician identified as Rufino Eusebio Juarez, candidate for the candidacy of the municipality of Atlixtac in the mountain region.

"About that", Meneses Garcia said: "He is the one that collects the cuotas of the municipal presidents of the surroundings areas, important people, and politicians of Chilapa. He is also is the Godfather of Geovani AKA " El Chivo" second in command of la plaza of Chilapa, along with his father Jorge AKA " El Aloque" both are natives from the town of Moyotepec."

Tomorrow a group of citizens headed by the former counselor of PRI Francisco Benitez, called for a second march to demand security and the release of the people of people who was deprived of their freedom two weeks ago, among them the son of the politician and leader of taxi drivers and dealers of Chilapa. Benitez' son, Tizoc Francisco Benitez,  was kidnapped on July 7, during the first shootout of the month.

He says the number of missing is large but people are fearsome of reporting kidnappings.

"It's worse when someone has his missing family and remains silent, because that way the government assumes that nothing happens," he explained.

This is the same person in charge of charging cuotas, according to the man in the video.

Is BLO regaining strength in Guerrero?<Chilapa, the new battleground of the Narco

Posted by Itzli "The capture of a leader of the local group La Familia, José María Chávez Magaña, El Pony -on Tuesday the 1st in Pénjamo, Guanajuato–, and of the head of the group Guerreros Unidos, Gonzalo Martín Souza Neves –on Tuesday the 10th in Puebla–, mark a new stage in the dispute of the drug corridor that connects the sierra and the northern zone of Guerrero with the south of the state of México, where it is warned of an upsurge of violence, of which in Chilapa, plaza that connects the mountain with the center of Guerrero, left last week 14 dead and 9 injured.

Federal informants consulted by this newspaper acknowledge that the group directed by Héctor Beltrán Leyva, El H –seated in Acapulco–, allied with the local gangs seek to retake control of the plazas that Arturo Beltrán Leyva once dominated, which now are under the control of what is left of Los Rojos."

Note: from From my own research, it seemed as if C.I.D.A. won the war against La Barredora and reabsorbed its members into their organization. Thereafter, it appeared that C.I.D.A. was reabsorbed within the BLO. This article alludes to this and indicates that they will now seek to take control over areas controlled by Los Rojos. What will be interesting to watch is how the BLO will handle Guerreros Unidos and CJNG affiliated groups.

sources: El Sur, Monitor Expresso, Face Book, Proceso

[Warph]

Possibly 30 Years for Canadian Narco with ties
to Sinaloa Cartel and the Mafia

July 23, 2014

By Chivís Martínez

Canadian Drug Kingpin , Jimmy Cournoyer, with Ties to the Rizutto and Bonanno Crime Families, the Hells Angels and the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel Plead Guilty in 2013 to Narcotics Trafficking Crimes Carrying Sentence of 20 Years to Life and $1 Billion in Forfeiture.

He will discover his fate on August 20th when his sentence will be handed down.

However, U.S. feds are now seeking a 30 year sentence, arguing that a lighter sentence would amount to little incarceration time for Cournoyer, due to the fact he has elected to spend his sentence in Canada. Canada has a very liberal probation system that would drastically cut actual time spent behind bars. 

Pointing out that Cournoyer "had a cadre of high-priced lawyers in Canada and the United States working to intimidate and threaten underlings into not cooperating with authorities. Various lawyers helped monitor several criminal cases related to Jimmy Cournoyer's massive cross-border drug trafficking network, probing for tips about investigations, warning co-conspirators against testifying and even offering 'bribes,' pay-offs and'implied threats of harm to themselves or members of their families," say prosecutors.

Cournoyer feared his 1.2 million dollar Bugatli
would draw attention from law enforcement

French Canadian Jimmy "Cosmo" Cournoyer was living the life Chino Antrax thinks he had.

A Canadian "narco newbie"  at the age of 21, and until his arrest at age 33, he developed a billion dollar marijuana business operating a business with associates such as the Hells Angeles, Sinaloa Cartel,  New York's Bonnano Crime Family while being back by Montreal's Rizzuto mob (Vito Rizzuto below).

Cournoyer was part of an operation with the mafia on both sides the US/Canadian border that involved in a vast cross border trafficking that channeled Canadian ecstasy and weed to New York, then using  the profits in purchasing  Mexican cocaine, which was shipped back to Canada.

U.S. Federal prosecutor Steven Tiscione stated "the illegal narcotics distributed worldwide by members of the criminal enterprise have a retail value of more than $1 billion... conservatively."

U.S. charges the Cournoyer network specialized in growing and distributing potent hydroponic marijuana harvested in British Columbia.. The marijuana was then transported by Hells Angeles, in motor homes and trucks, across Canada.

By 2009, he sent at least 1,000 pounds of hydroponic cannabis a week to New York, most of it to a Bonnano associate.

The biker gang and the Montreal mob then smuggled the marihuana from Quebec into upstate New York, where trucks delivered it to a warehouse in Brooklyn, authorities and sources said.

Cournoyer acquired his $1-billion drug empire by "gaining control over ports and customs checkpoints through a combination of covert operations and outright political corruption" and abusing "sovereign tribal lands" on First Nations' reserves "that are almost impossible to police," prosecutors claim.  They further claim he maintained a 2 million dollar execution fund, used to eliminate known or potential informers.

Cournoyer was apprehended by Mexican police on Feb. 16, 2012 when he landed in Cancun for a planned vacation.

Cournoyer's  Brazilian-Canadian model girlfriend,  Amelia Racine's (below) jailed brother, Mario Racine, was reported to be acting as the kingpin's trusted lieutenant.

U.S. is seeking 800 million dollars in forfeiture.