Thursday, February 4, 2010

Mexican Gang Commando Leader Involved In Juárez Student Massacre Killed

Top photo: Family members grieve their loss at a cemetery in Mexico (Notimex)
Bottom photo: Adrian Ramírez Armendáriz aka El 12, killed

The Mexican Attorney General in the State of Chihuahua confirmed the La Línea gang commando leader aka "El Rama/El 12" involved in the Juárez student massacre had been killed, and two accomplices in the multiple homicides have been also arrested

By H. Nelson Goodson
February 4, 2010
Updated: February 6, 2010

Juárez, Mexico - On Tuesday, Patricía González Rodríguez, the Attorney General for the State of Chihuahua confirmed that the alleged gang commando leader Adrián Ramírez Armendáriz, 31, aka "El Rama" "Ramon", or "El 12" involved in early Sunday's Juárez student massacre had been killed in a confrontation with the Mexican federal army. On Monday, Ramírez Armendáriz and an accomplice around 3:00 p.m. were following Daniel Elías Becerra Vicencio an alleged member of the Double A's with intent to execute him. Vicencio was accompanied by Fátima Guadalupe Irigoyen Rodríguez.
When Ramírez Armendáriz cornered Vicencio in the corner of Propocatépetly and Manuel J. Clouthier Streets the confrontation between them erupted in gunfire. Mexican soldiers, including two 2nd Sergeants Elías Cuevas Chávez and Heriberto Godínez Acevedo who were nearby heard the gunfire and responded to the scene. After Ramírez Armendáriz exchanged gunfire with soldiers, he fled running down the street and was fatally shot in the back. His accomplice was arrested, and identified as José Dolores Arroyo Chavarría, 30, "El Chore". Vicencio was shot and was taken to a nearby hospital and is expected to survive. (Source: Narcotraficoenmexico.blogspot.com)
Ramírez Armendáriz was driving a gray stolen Grand AM 2002 auto from the U.S. He was previously detained on April 15, 2007 and charged with a felony in Mexico, but was released. In 2003, he was also charged and convicted for smuggling 50 pounds of marijuana into the U.S. He violated probation and was wanted, but he eluded police by crossing into Mexico. Ramírez Amendáriz had a registered address in El Paso, according to federal authorities. Ramírez Armendáriz was identified through a fingerprint database (Automated Fingerprint Identification System) and is a U.S. Citizen, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in El Paso, Texas.
Ramírez Armendáriz is also suspected of killing three men, a woman and injuring six people at Los Bandoleros nightclub hours before trying to kill Vicencio and Rodríguez on Monday.
Mexican authorities released a photo showing Ramírez Armendáriz with a "EPT" tattoo on his abdomen, but he is not a known Barrio Azteca member in El Paso, said FBI Special Agent Andrea Simmons. The tattoo stands for El Paso, Texas, and has been a noted insignia used by the Barrio Azteca prison gang, according to Simmons.
Other suspects involved in the student massacre have been identified and are being sought by the Mexican federal police, army and local police, said Attorney General González Rodríguez.
The ongoing investigation indicates that those killed at the high school party were believed to have had ties to the Double A gang (Assassin Artists), according to members of La Línea. The Double A's is the arch rival gang of Los Aztecas or La Línea, the suspected gang involved in Sunday's massacre.
González also said that several other people outside the party had been killed before a group of more than 20 gunmen armed with Ak-47's and AR-15's entered the three resident campound where a birthday party was taking place, in the neighborhood of Villas de Salvárcar. The gunmen just rushed in and began indiscriminately shooting at the 60 people attending the party, González Rodríguez said. "Our investigation and information indicates that the teenagers killed were innocent victims," González Rodríguez stated.
"There is no evidence that any of the students killed on Sunday had any connection or were members of the Double A's," said Enrique Torres, spokesperson for the Federal Security Operations in Chihuahua (OCDC, Operación Coordinada de Chihuahua). The Mayor of Juárez, José Reyes Ferriz told reporters, that at least one student might have had illicit activities because authorities found a photo of himself posing with a weapon and ammunition in his cell phone. But, Ferriz confimed he hasn't actually seen the photo.
Police are looking into allegations that one or several adults killed might have been involved in organized crime, but has not been confirmed since the investigation is ongoing, according to Jacinto Seguro, spokesperson for the Juárez Municipal Police.
Authorities have confirmed 15 dead, including adults and teenagers between the ages of 13 to 19 had been killed inside the residential campound, where three homes are located. Fifteen other students were reported injured.
Some of the Juárez victims who died were identified as Eduardo Becerra, 35, Edgar Martin Díaz Macías, 23 , Jaime Rosales Cisneros, 42, Manuel Hernández Villegas, 37, Jesús Enríquez Miramontes, 39, Rodrigo Cadena Dávila, 17, Carlos Lucio Moreno Ávila, 18, Brenda Ivonne Escamilla Pedroza, 17, José Adrian Encina Hernández, 17, Horacio Alberto Soto Camargo, 19, Yomira Aurora Delgado Lara, 13, Jesús Armando Segovia Ortiz, 15,  and José Luis Aguilar Camargo, 19.
Encina Hernández was an honor student and had been recognized by José Reyes Baeza Terrazas, Governor of Chihuahua for his outstanding academic ahievement. Baeza Terrazas visited the crime scene where the gang cold blooded mass killing of teenagers took place.
Chavarría, one of suspects in custody on Monday admitted to police that he is a member of La Línea.  Chavarría confessed to police that José Antonio Acosta Hernández aka "El Diego", "El Blablazo", or "El 10" was the main gang leader of La Línea who ordered Ramírez Armendáriz to kill their rival gang members, the Double A's.
Another co-mastermind in the planning of the student massacre was Israel Arzate Meléndez aka "El 24" or "El Country", according to Chavarría. Meléndez, 24, was arrested on Thursday night at about 8:30 p.m. driving a stolen 2006 Cherokee Laredo jeep from the U.S. He confessed to killing Manuel Hernández Villegas, 37, outside the birthday party where 15 victims were shot and killed, and more than a dozen injured. Meléndez told authorities that they were singling people out, and women and children were ordered to leave, but that Ramírez Armendáriz had ordered to kill anyone, said General Felipe de Jesús Espitia from OCDC.
Chavarría aka "El Chore" has been charged with 1st-degree intentional homicide for shooting at two Mexican military 2nd Sergeants, Elías Cuevas Chávez and Heriberto Godínez Acevedo, and also for shooting at both Daniel Elías Becerra Vicencio and Fátima Guadalupe Irigoyen Rodríguez, said Edgar Caro Ramírez, Mexican District Attorney in Chihuahua. He is also accused in the homicide of Municipal Police Officer César Javier Rangel Medina and two other men killed in the Tec. commercial sector.
Chaverría is expected to be charged with multiple counts of murder in connection with the student massacre and for his part in about seven other homicides. Federal prosecutors are working on the pending cases and he is expected back in court on February 9, for a court hearing.
Chavarría said, that a member of his gang who lives near where the high school party was taking place had called Hernández to let him know that a bunch of Double A's were having a party. Hernández then called Ramírez Armendáriz and another member aka "El 51". The two groups later met at a shoe shine parlor at Juárez Park. Other members with aka's  "El 12", "El 15", "El 16", "El 18", "El 26", "El 27", "El 24", "El 28", "El 30", "El 32", "El 37" and others participated in the massacre, according to Chavarría. He said that he was paid $2,000 pesos, about $154.00 U.S. dollars a week, was given a cell, and the 2002 gray Grand AM that they were driving when Ramírez Armendáriz was killed.
The Double A's work as enforcers for Joaquín aka "El Chapo" Guzmán, the drug lord of the Sinaloa Cartel. The Sinaloa Cartel is feuding with the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes drug cartel over control of Juárez.
Family members began burying the victims this week. Seven of the victims were taken to where they were killed in a funeral procession and then taken to the San Rafael cemetery. Hundreds of students attended the services and marched alongside the funeral caskets. Renato Ascencio León, the Bishop of Juárez gave the mass honoring and remembering the victims.
News investigations and family members deny any allegations that the teenage victims had ties to the Double A's or any other reputed gang. Most of the victims were respected students and sports athletes attending the College of Bachilleras number 9 of the Autonomy University of Chihuahua.
Victim's families have reported of receiving numerous text messages and phone calls with death threats, if they give information to authorities. Silence and non-cooperation with authorities are the key factors for the striving drug cartels in the region, but now that might change with the recent student killings.
Recently, people requesting anonymity have become more willing to offer information, and to cash in on rewards, according to authorities. 
About 2,660 homicides have been contributed to the raging drug cartel war between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Juárez Cartel, and 250 homicides were reported for January 2010, according to Mexican federal athorities.
Mexico's President Felipe Calderón had condemn the student killings. He is expected to visit Juárez in a few days. Calderón has sent more than 2,000 federal troops to the region for restoration of the law, fight corruption and to get rid of the drug cartels plaguing the area.
In numerous cities in the region, signs have been posted throughout the area by person or persons unknown who are just fed up with the continuing crime wave and are calling for unity among the Mexican citizens in getting rid of the reputed gang Los Zetas, by calling them Los Bestias, (Beasts). Los Aztecas and La Línea gangs are also targeted by the "Get rid of the gangs" campaign too. La Línea gang and its members who have no remorse are now being labeled as the "Killers of Mexican Children." Other reputed gangs seemed to be distancing themselves from the previously mentioned gangs fearing that they have awaken a sleeping giant the "Public" conscious to come together and eliminate them permanently.
The City of Juârez is well known as the city of the dead, since the 1990's an estimated 380 women have been murdered and hundreds others have disappeared. Most of the pending cases are unsolved homicides.

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