THE BORDER REPORT
TIJUANA, BAJA CALIFORNIA – Sometimes, in this never-ending drug war, people die in battle, or because they turned, or just ... because.
Other times, their bodies turn up, their tongues cut out, because a bet went bad and people talk too damned much. That's what happened in Tijuana last Monday when the bodies of eleven men and a woman were found outside an elementary school, a source knowledgeable with the murders relates this morning in a contribution to BorderReporter.com.
Here's what my guy on the ground in Tijuana reports:
I Wouldn't Bet On It
Two well known AFO associates took a break from the life of the
sicario Sunday to play motorcycle wars with each other just south of Tijuana. Raydel Lopez Uriate, El Muletas, and Manuel Zambrano Flores, El Jimmy.
They made a bet, $200,000, on a motor-cross expo in Rosarito, Sunday night. EL Muletas got the better part of El Jimmy during the race.
So El Muletas sends his bill collector over for the money but El Jimmy has a different idea, why not just kill the bill collector. El Muletas hears this, and picks up the phone to call his boss, Fernando Sanchez Arellano, El Ingeniero, Benjamin Arellano Felix’s favorite nephew. The phone conversation went something like: “Hey boss, this motherfucker El Jimmy, he owes me money from a bet we made, and when I sent some guys to collect, he killed them. What the fuck, boss."
Meanwhile, El Jimmy picks up his phone to call his boss El Ingeniero, "Hey boss, this motherfucker, Muletas, says I owe him money, but that is horseshit, and besides, he sent his best gunman to come and collect, what does that tell you about his intentions? What the fuck, boss?"
Either way it went down, there was the outcome, El Ingeniero damn near explodes and EL Muletas and EL Jimmy both are lucky they're not soaking in a barrel of sulfuric acid right now.
Meantime, El Ingeniero was not pleased; both these clowns had just drawn an enormous amount of attention to the plaza over something ridiculous – a
pinche bet – and both men would be punished severely.
Sanchez had other problems going on too. Both of these men had not disciplined their crew very well either; there were reports of their crew members flashing their game all around town, letting the world know they belonged to the AFO, that they should be let into bars, clubs, and restaurants only reserved for the privilege, and this was bringing unwanted attention onto El Ingeniero's family legacy.
Each lieutenant was told to bring his men, men specified by Sanchez, the same men who were at the motorcycle race, the men who were talking too much around town. El Muletas and EL Jimmy had to sacrifice their own to the AFO Board of Directors, Monday morning. Everyone got the message.
Twelve bodies were found Monday morning, the message was left right there in case no one understood:
“This is what happenes to those that work for EL Ingeniero, and talk too much."
