By Daniel Borunda / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 06/26/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT
A reputed high-ranking Azteca gang member and four other suspected hit men have been arrested in connection with multiple homicides in the Juárez area, Mexican federal and Chihuahua state authorities said Wednesday.
The arrests, which were part of the Joint Operation Chihuahua, are believed to be among the first related to the mob-style violence behind the slayings of more than 500 people in Juárez this year.
The men are accused of belonging to different hit squads involved in homicides in Juárez, Palomas and villages in the Valley of Juárez.
Reputed Azteca gang member Jose Alfredo Palacios Rivera, 49, is accused of being involved in five homicides, including driving the vehicle used in the killing of Juárez police human resources director Silvia Molina Guzman on June 16.
Palacios is also suspected in the death of Laura Elena Ramirez Chavez, who was shot and killed in Molina's neighborhood two days before Molina's death.
The Aztecas, who are affiliated with but operate independently of the Barrio Azteca gang based in El Paso, are one of the largest gangs in Chihuahua state.
In an anonymous videotape, Palacios allegedly admits how he killed Victor Manuel Bolivar Villa at a ranch off the Juárez-Porvenir road, and a witness also claimed Palacios talked about how feathers flew out of a goose-down blanket wrapped around the victim's body as they fired into the body.
The Chihuahua state attorney general said Palacios has a long criminal history in El Paso, including prison time for cocaine and marijuana possession. He had crossed the border and been deported to Mexico several times since 1982.
State authorities also arrested Efren Escudero Hernandez, 34, who allegedly told investigators he belonged to a hit squad operating out of rented Juárez homes, nicknamed the "office."
On May 7, Escudero allegedly took part in the fatal shooting of Jose Epifianio "El Pifis" Carreon Renteria.
Carreon Renteria was slain because he wanted to control the drug trade in Palomas and had killed an associate of Escudero's boss, Humberto del Hierro, also known as "El Bote," officials said.
Several members of the Carreon family have been slain in Palomas in recent months.
Also arrested was Jesus Carrion Curiel, 22, who is accused in a death in Guadalupe Distrito Bravos and providing support to gunmen in shootings that claimed the lives of at least six people in May on Juárez streets.
Edgar Adrian Monreal Agui lera, 24, and Gilberto Chico Quezada, 22, are accused in the fatal shootings of two drug pushers and bar owner Jose Antonio Do minguez Lara, who was killed June 17 in front of La Academia bar, officials said. The pair claimed that if they killed the wrong person they would be killed themselves.
When investigators asked what his occupation was, Monreal allegedly responded "to kill people," Mexican police said.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.
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