In a groundbreaking development, March 2023 saw the name of Black Wallstreet Capital (BWC), a financial company, gaining national attention in Mexico following a raid on its Mexico City premises in the Anzures neighborhood. This scrutiny revealed BWC’s potential involvement in a global drug trafficking network spanning at least four countries.
The NarcoFiles investigation, a collaborative effort between the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP), has unearthed connections between BWC and notorious criminal leaders.
According to evidence presented by Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI), Juan Carlos Minero Alonso, BWC’s director, allegedly played a central role in a cocaine trafficking operation from Veracruz, Mexico, to Barcelona, Spain.
The Drug Trafficking Web
Records from the Public Registry of Commerce show that in May 2021, Minero Alonso co-founded Comercializadora Alvmin with Alonso José Raúl Alverdi Benavides, identified as a key figure in drug production and profit repatriation from the Netherlands to Latin America. Notably, the address registered for Comercializadora Alvmin is the same as BWC’s: 104 Cuvier Street, Anzures, Mexico City.
Alverdi’s connections extend to Jean-Paul Joyos Bohórquez, alias “Sodapuppy,” responsible for overseeing drug shipments to the Netherlands, and Eduard Fernando Giraldo Cardoza, alias ‘Boliqueso,’ a top Colombian drug lord.
The European Connection
In 2021, the Dutch Attorney General’s Office initiated an investigation into ‘Sodapuppy’, uncovering a drug route into Europe via Barcelona, with cocaine concealed in concrete bricks. Magniexport S.A., a Tamaulipas-based company founded in 2009 by Efigenio and Bernardo Castillo Zazueta, was implicated in exporting these drug-laden bricks to Spain.
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The Spanish National Police’s interception of only two out of fifty-five shipments from Magniexport S.A. led to the seizure of substantial quantities of methamphetamines, cocaine, and precursor chemicals, destined for clandestine laboratories in the Netherlands.
Further Links and Arrests
Further implicating BWC in criminal activities, another company sharing its address, Green Gold Industries, was co-founded by Alejandro González Benavides, a relative of Alverdi Benavides and alleged money launderer for ‘Boliqueso’. Alverdi and González Benavides were arrested in March 2022 in Huixquilucan, State of Mexico.
Despite Minero Alonso claiming to have severed ties with his partners months before their arrest, his pursuit of injunctions against arrest warrants and the detection of irregular transactions by BWC by the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) suggest deeper involvement.
Arrests and Controversy
On March 15, 2023, Minero Alonso and four associates were apprehended in a controversial operation by Mexico City’s Attorney General’s Office. Despite these arrests, the investigations did not explicitly focus on their alleged connections to international drug trafficking.
Moreover, due to procedural irregularities, those arrested in March 2022 and 2023 were subsequently released.