The second highest-ranking figure in the Beltran-Leyva drug cartel is now sitting behind bars, as the culmination of a coordinated series of raids on an upscale Mexico City neighborhood came to a head yesterday.
Monte Alejandro Rubido, the head of Mexico’s Policía Federal, said suspect Arnoldo Villa Sanchez was arrested along with another man believed to be his bodyguard. Federales arresting Villa Sanchez found two guns and several packages of synthetic drugs nearby. Police believe Villa Sanchez had coordinated a shipment of about 265 kilograms (584 pounds) of cocaine found earlier during raids in Mexico City.
“The center of his operations was in Mexico City,” Rubido explained, “with presence also in the states of Mexico, Chiapas, Guerrero, Puebla and Tlaxcala.” According to several reports, Villa Sanchez preferred to stay in high-rise, high-end hotels, in expensive areas of the city.
Arnoldo Villa Sanchez answered only to cartel leader Hector Beltran Leyva.
A U.S. Treasury Department chart from 2013 detailing the Beltran Leyva financial network listed Villa Sanchez — also known as Erick Rene Calderon Sanchez — as Hector Beltran Leyva’s “head of security.” The Treasury Department designated Villa Sanchez under the ‘kingpin’ act, and noted “Villa Sanchez has carried out numerous acts of violence on behalf of his cartel bosses.”
Even by cartel standards , the Beltran-Leyva Gang holds a reputation for being bloodthirsty and extraordinarily dangerous. Last month, the remains of 7 men were found shot to pieces along the Mexican border, near the town of Lukeville, Ariz. Former DEA top brass Anthony Coulson believes the grisly scene may have signaled the beginning of the Beltran-Leyva Gang’s desire to carve a swath through the Sonora corridor, the last remaining pipeline of the Sinaloa cartel.
Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza, one of the highest ranking members of the Sinaloa cartel, was killed in December 2013 during a shootout with Mexican Marines at Puerto Peñasco. The head of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was captured earlier this year, on Feb 22nd.
So the Lukeville massacre that occurred just one month later was ostensibly the result of a powergrab by the Beltran-Leyva Gang. However, as of today Hector Beltran Leyva might be standing on shaky legs, with the ground crumbling beneath his feet. The gang may have already suffered a mortal wound back in 2009, when kingpin, founder, and brother of the current leader Arturo Beltran Leyva was killed in a shootout. At the time, he was considered one of Mexico’s most wanted men, with a price tag on his head worth over two million dollars. The BBC once called Arturo Beltran Leyva “the boss of bosses”.
Now, the struggle for dominance between the Sinaloa and Beltran-Leyva gangs may be a moot point. The United States Department of State is offering a reward of five million dollars for information leading to the conviction or capture of Hector Beltran Leyva.