THE BORDER REPORT

Is a founder of the Juarez Cartel now in talks with the Sinaloa Federation to take over Ciudad Juarez? It's a chisme that's come across my desk recently, and if true, opens the way for some fascinating negotiations for the border city.

Gilberto Greñas Ontiveros was released from Jalisco's Puente Grande prison in 2007 and since that time, hasn't been the least bit shy in making his new-found freedom known to the world. After his release from prison he immediately returned to El Paso and Juarez, successfully suing the city of Juarez for the return of one of his properties. It had been appropriated after his arrest in 1986 and sits between a woman's hospital and the Hotel Lucerna, about five minutes from the border. Inept American law enforcement agencies don't seem to realize he's been walking free for the past three years, of course. This is their latest information on him: "Presently incarcerated in Mexico, allegedly due to be released at an unknown time." Sweet Tapdancing Christ, either update your information or pick up a Mexican paper. With his mop of hair, he looked like what an old FBI source used to call "one of those ranchero fucks" but he also had a penchant for the high end lifestyle in Juarez, keeping a Rolls Royce in the garage of his mansion and a tigress named Viviana. He kept a lion as a pet in prison, the stories go, scaring holy hell out of the cellblock's other occupants. Maybe just one of those tales that persist about some of Mexico's older drug figures, maybe not. (Photo courtesy, DOJ.) Like so many of his successors, Greñas fell because he let his temper grab hold and brought unwanted attention onto himself (he did that by threatening to shoot an El Paso newspaper photographer then kidnapping the guy and beating him for ten hours ... ) I don't know how close Amado Carrillo Fuentes and Greñas were but it doesn't appear he and Vicente Carrillo held much mutual affection. Last year, Ontiveros' son was found murdered, floating in a canal in Juarez. It is said that Los Aztecas murdered the young man because he'd been passing information to the Sinaloa Federation. If that ends up being true, it would explain much behind this latest rumor. I can almost hear the corrido now: La Revancha del Viejo, perhaps? If Greñas is indeed being considered to take over Juarez for the Sinaloans, he'd actually make a great transition. His two ex-wives continue living in the area and he lived most of his life in Chihuahua; this suggests a strong familial connection with the state's authorities. And as a founder of the Juarez Cartel, this is a man who proved himself capable of maintaining the city's drug trafficking infrastructure. Was having a cup of coffee with an old Customs Enforcement source who used to work in El Paso in the nineties and brought up the possibility of Greñas as Juarez's new border dawg. "I like that......he would be a good choice," he says. We will see.

THE BORDER REPORT

Looks like the media jumped to conclusions yesterday when it was announced an Azteca leader had been arrested in connection with the U.S. Consulate killings in early March. But what's interesting is La Polaka gives a highly detailed account of the man's involvement in the murders and in fact, posted the Attorney General's charges against the guy tying him to the murders. Did someone decide to change their mind? Yesterday, the Chihuahua State Police said it had arrested Ricardo Valles de la Rosa, a 45-year-old leader of the Aztecas. They said he was arrested in connection with an earlier murder from last October. Then, Enrique Torres, spokesman for Operation Chihuahua, told the Díario de Juárez:

Effectively, there is the detention of a person related with the case of the Consulate, but we are waiting for a communique to reveal the parameters of the case. For the moment I can only confirm that there has been one detention in the event.

Well, that was yesterday. Citing Díario, the media went after the story whole-heartedly. Everyone from CNN to The Times reported that Valles was the probable killer. Now, The El Paso Times reports today, it wasn't Valles. But adding to the confusion is this very precise accounting from La Polaka. The news Web site reports Valles admitted to the prosecutor's office that he was given orders to follow the white vehicles carrying Lesley Enriquez, her husband Arthur Redelfs and, in the separate SUV, Alberto Salcido. The PGR claimed Valles admitted to this. Now, they're not saying he was the triggerman; they're claiming he was ran recon on the vehicles. He claimed he heard the gunshots. But who did he run recon on? My sense is that the Mexicans may have tried to make Valles seem more important than what he turned out to be. He may be a good lead on the investigation, but he wasn't the triggerman, nor was he the intellectual author of the hits. We shall see what happens next.

THE BORDER REPORT

Cd. Juárez – A cartel figure taken out in a swank El Paso neighborhood late last month was working with U.S. law enforcement, Mexican law enforcement sources I spoke with today in Juárez say.

Jose Daniel Gonzalez Galeana is still somewhat of a mysterious figure but something in his case just smells dirty. The 37-year-old man was gunned down outside the home of an Adriana Solis on Pony Trail Drive in El Paso on May 15. The house sits in the same neighborhood as that of El Paso Police Chief Gregory Allen. A pricey place too, listed at $364,000 in tax records. The average El Paso home goes for $113K.

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THE BORDER REPORT

A border reporter in Ciudád Juárez was murdered this morning, gunned down outside his home. Armando Rodriguez was gunned down in a company car as he was driving one of his three children to school. The gunman fired at point-blank range.

The motive is unknown except that Rodriguez covered the crime beat for his newspaper, El Diario de Juárez, for more than a decade.

The newspaper is staying silent about the murder thus far, but this is what my colleagues in Juárez and some law enforcement sources in Texas report this morning:

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THE BORDER REPORT

The Mexican press is eagerly awaiting news from Wikileaks dissemination of U.S. government dispatches about the drug war. Speaking candidly about his expectations, Javier Moreno, publisher of Spain's El País newspaper, said 2,285 dispatches about Mexico will be included in the Wikileaks file dump, a number that gives me some hope. From the Wikileaks site, their appear to be 2,836 cables to be published. But my expectations are not high; El Imparcial in Hermosillo notes this morning that those 2,285 of the messages (e-mails, presumably), originated in Mexico City, 159 out of Monterrey, 78 from Nogales, 32 from Guadalajara, 27 from Tijuana, 19 from Hermosillo, 19 from Ciudad Juárez, 7 from Matamoros, 5 from Nuevo Laredo and three out of Mérida. State Department messages are notoriously classified; in fact, of all the federal agencies, I consider State to be the most top-heavy when it comes to over-classifying messages. It's why I'll occasionally receive "Law Enforcement Sensitive" memos from DEA, FBI, Border Patrol or ICE, but  almost never from State. Much of the time, State dispatches aren't even obtainable under the Freedom of Information Act. The irony here of course is that while criminal organizations targeted by law enforcement may gain access to information from those LE Sensitive documents, a State Dept. leak may spark an international incident or an outrage by some slighted foreign diplomat and that appears to be a deeper concern for the U.S. government. Then, too, there is the question of quality of information. Some time ago, an old friend used to pass me the State Department's Morning Report. It's one of the most frightening concepts I've ever read. Basically, foreign attachés working in different countries re-write a consortium of newspaper articles into English. I'm talking: "Balacera en Monterrey Deja 3 Muertos" becomes "3 Dead after a Shootout in Monterrey." It was disconcerting to read specifically because it was such a basic, out-dated system with which to gather information. The Morning Report might have made sense in the days pre-Internet, but it's been irrelevant for at least five years. And guess what? Those are classified. Then, too, there is the matter of what's being written. Any agent, case worker or diplomat I've ever met who has something good to share simply doesn't write it down. They know as well as I do that putting details in writing creates a paper trail accessible – some day – by FOIA. I could be wrong, of course. The Wikileaks file dump could have a 1997 memo written by the U.S. Consul General in Hermosillo detailing Amado Carrillo's faked death and details about his becoming a snitch for the Feds. One could hope.