Story By: Maja Mishevksa, Sub Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
This former cartel boss nicknamed ‘Big Nose’ has been arrested on suspicion of being involved in at least 900 murders including U.S. Consulate workers and their families.
Luis Gerardo, known by the aliases El Tio (The Uncle) and El Narizon (The Big Nose), was arrested on Saturday in the city of Cuernavaca, in the central Mexican state of Morelos with prosecutors linking him with over 900 murders.
Gerardo is wanted in the United States on suspicion of being involved in the murder of U.S. Consulate worker Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton, 25, and her husband, sheriff Arthur Redelfs, 30, as well as the husband of another U.S. Consulate employee Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, 37.
Gerardo, who was the leader of the Los Aztecas armed wing of the Juarez Cartel, is believed to have masterminded the murders which Los Aztecas gang member Arturo Gallegos Castrellon, 35, was later found guilty of.
Enriquez Catton and her husband were killed when an armed gang fired shots at their car as they left a birthday party in March 2010. Salcido was killed when cartel members shot at his car at a separate location on the same day, also wounding his two young children. They had attended the same birthday party.
The suspect is believed to have been one of the leaders of Los Aztecas after they broke away from the Juarez Cartel and began working in trafficking drugs, including heroin, to the United States.
He is also accused of ordering attacks on five rehabilitation centres in the city of Ciudad Juarez, in the state of Chihuahua, as well as the murder of women and children at the border between the United States and Mexico.
The former gang leader is also accused of masterminding the murder of at least 15 students aged between 15 and 19 in Ciudad Juarez in 2010, with the authorities believing the youngsters were killed by Loz Aztecas because they belonged to a gang linked with Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.
There is an extradition order for the suspect in the United States. It is unclear if the process to extradite him has begun.
The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
