Mexico City Airport Shootout Reveals Links to Vast Criminal Underworld

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Cartel Chronicles

A recent shootout at the largest airport in Mexico is tied to numerous layers of the country’s criminal underworld. The target of the assassination attempt, a wealthy restaurateur, has since gone missing.

The shootout took place on October 15 at the entrance of the Mexico City International Airport when a team of gunmen on motorcycles tried to kill 54-year-old Eduardo Beaven Magaña. His bodyguards managed to fight off the attack by killing one of the gunmen, a 17-year-old known as “El Donovan,” while a second got away. However, in the days after, it was revealed that at least three automobiles and two motorcycles were used in various roles in the attack. The hitmen had been following the businessman for more than a month, authorities revealed.

After the shooting, Beavan, who owns ritzy restaurants in Mexico City, Tulum, and Cancun, went into hiding. Prior to the attack, he was traveling to the state of Quintana Roo. One of the theories being looked at by authorities involves members of the Romanian Mafia, who have established themselves in the Cancun area.

Since the attack, authorities in Mexico City arrested members of the Union de Tepito organization (also presumed to be involved) including a man identified as Geovany “Yanik” Martinez or “El Aleman,” a 30-year-old cell leader who collected $2 million pesos for the murder (approximately $98,000 USD). During subsequent statements, El Aleman told authorities that he was involved in kidnapping and extortion for La Union.

Intelligence obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed that Martinez is one of the top criminal allies of Francisco Javier “El Paco Pacas” Medina, a weapons smuggler linked to La Familia Michoacana. In social media videos, El Donovan can be seen with Paco Pacas shooting weapons in an open field.

This month, authorities set out a failed attempt to capture Paco Pacas in the cities of Numaran and Arcelia, Michoacan, and in the beach resort town of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco. Authorities are also trying to arrest two other figures known as “El Chivo” and “La Brit” who are brothers of El Aleman. The group allegedly partied with members of La Familia Michoacana and with the influencer Manelyk “Mane” Gonzalez, a reality show star, intelligence information shared by federal authorities with Breitbart Texas revealed. Mane, who is currently filming a reality show in the U.S., allegedly had a relationship with David “El Pistache” Ramirez Garcia, the former top leader of La Union de Tepito, who was arrested in 2018.

In the aftermath of the shootout, Mexico City’s Head of Government, Claudia Sheinbaum, claimed the attack at the airport was not linked to extortion or a robbery targeting Beaven, but to “another issue directly involving the [victim].” Sheinbaum also claimed the case was not a threat to restaurant owners in the city.

Breitbart Texas spoke with a woman in Mexico City who is known on social media as “Mex Karlita” after she posted that she would miss “El Donovan” days after the shooting. She claimed to know him from riding motorcycles.

The woman asked to not publish her real name, fearing for her safety since she has already received several threats over her post–which she took down after 10 minutes. A social media user took a screenshot of the post and sent it to local journalists and the Mexico City Police. During the short interview with Breitbart Texas, the woman claimed to be a nurse and that the post has even caused her problems at work. She claimed to not know about El Donovan’s occupation prior to his death.

According to information from Mexico City’s Police, the gunmen had prepared another attack days prior in the ritzy Polanco neighborhood. In yet another attack, on September 11, gunmen got into a shootout with rivals in the beach resort town of Tulu, Quintana Roo. The shootout took place in the Rosa Negra restaurant, which belongs to Beavan. State authorities in Quintana Roo opened an investigation at the time but have refused to disclose any information on the case and will not confirm if that shootout is related to the case in Mexico City.

Mexican authorities have sent hundreds of soldiers and federal forces to Tulum in recent days over the rising violence in the tourist hotspot.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities.  The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “L.P. Contreras” from Mexico City. 

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