Juarez gang leader said to be involved in 80 percent of city's homicides captured

Juarez gang leader said to be involved in 80 percent of city's homicides captured

2010-11-29 22:50:22 GMT+7 (ICT)

JUAREZ, MEXICO (BNO NEW) — A Juarez gang leader, who is allegedly involved in around 80 percent of the homicides in the city and linked to the Juarez cartel, was captured on Saturday, officials confirmed on Monday.

Arturo Gallegos Castrellon, 32, known as "el Farmero," is considered the leader of the "Los Aztecas" gang group, which is based in Juarez, Chihuahua, where drug-plagued violence has overthrown the city. He is linked with the killings of two U.S. consulate members on March 14, as well as the massacre of 14 people in a local neighborhood in January, and the killing of five federal police officers.

Federal Police Regional Security chief Luis Cardenas Palomino said that Gallegos confessed to being responsible for 80 percent of the homicides committed in Juarez since August 2009, although an exact number was not immediately disclosed.

"Eighty percent is the amount [Gallegos Castrellon] considers," Palomino said during a press conference. "He is in charge of the Los Aztecas organization in Juarez. He leads each one the group's seven divisions, that is, every homicide committed went through his orders."

According to the available statistics from the state's Attorney General's office in its northern region, however, Gallegos Castrellon would be connected to the deaths of 3,039 people.

Gallegos Castrellon admitted that he had received information which revealed that the 14 people killed during the massacre in January were part of an Alcoholics Anonymous group but despite them not being the group's target, he ordered the executions to be carried out.

Along with Gallegos, who according to Mexican authorities served prison time in the United States in 1996, Carlos Rodriguez Ramirez, 41, "el 67" and Gisela Ornelas Nuñez, 32, "la Maestra," who would traffic drugs into the bordering city of El Paso, Texas, and transport drugs and arms into Juarez, were also arrested.

During their arrest, police officers seized two assault rifles, 228 cartridges, 90 grams of marijuana, and 4 vehicles.

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