Four members of the Tijuana Cartel were sentenced to more than 200 years in prison for different crimes in Baja California.
The accused were identified as Fabian Pérez Ozuna; José Raúl González Hernández; José Martínez Jr. and/or José Martínez Junior; as well as Julio César Alducín Munguía. These individuals are related to members of the criminal organization, also known as the Arellano Felix family.
According to the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), the four individuals were found guilty of the crimes of organized crime in the hypothesis of crimes against health and kidnapping; illegal deprivation of liberty in the form of kidnapping; stockpiling of firearms and possession of cartridges, both for exclusive use and aggravated homicide.
The members of the Arellano Felix Cartel were arrested in a building in the Camino Verde neighborhood, in Tijuana, Baja California, in January 2007. They had kidnapped seven people and were able to secure weapons and drugs.
In the case of Fabian Pérez and José Raul González, they were sentenced to 223 years and eight months in prison and fined 64,780 pesos after the reinstatement of proceedings ordered by the corresponding authority for the crimes of organized crime in the hypothesis of crimes against health and kidnapping; illegal deprivation of freedom in the form of kidnapping; stockpiling firearms and possession of cartridges, both for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy, and Air Force; and aggravated homicide.
Meanwhile, José Martínez and Julio César Alducín were sentenced to 203 years and eight months in prison and fined 64,780 pesos for the same crimes, except for aggravated homicide.
According to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, the four are already being held in different prisons in the country: “Julio César “A” is being held in the Federal Center for Social Readaptation, number 1 “Altiplano”; José “G,” in number 14 “CPS-Durango”; Fabián “P,” in number 4 “Noroeste,” in Tepic, Nayarit; and finally, José “M,” in number 15 “CPS-Chiapas.”
Tijuana Cartel lieutenant pleaded guilty in the u.s.
On July 14, the US Department of Justice reported that Juan Francisco Sillas Rocha, alias El Sillas, a lieutenant of the Tijuana Cartel, pleaded guilty before a North Dakota judge.
This important member of the Arellano Felix family, who since 2006 became a very powerful lieutenant of the organization after Fernando Sanchez Arellano, alias El Ingeniero, assumed power of the organization following the arrest of his uncle Javier Arellano Felix.
Sillas Rocha is also known as El Rueda and was arrested on November 5, 2011 by elements of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) after a small confrontation on Insurgentes Boulevard in Tijuana. Despite his arrest, the U.S. Department of Justice mentioned that Juan Francisco Sillas continued his criminal activity.
El Rueda, originally from the municipality of Culiacán, Sinaloa, was considered by Mexican authorities as “one of the most violent subjects; responsible for countless murders,” all of which, according to the Sedena, was under the direct command of El Ingeniero, who ordered him to maintain since 2008 an intense struggle with Teodoro García Simental, alias El Teo, of the Sinaloa Cartel, for the control of criminal activities in Tijuana.
El Sillas is attributed to the kidnapping of three women, relatives of Ismael El Mayo Zambada, one of the most powerful leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, which occurred on September 25, 2010, in Tijuana. This, according to authorities, was in retaliation for the kidnapping and disappearance of his sister Lizeth Sillas Rocha, perpetrated on July 30 of the same year in Nogales, Sonora.
Sillas Rocha pleaded guilty in the US to three crimes: “conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance; continuation of a criminal enterprise; and conspiracy to commit murder in furtherance of a continuing criminal enterprise.