Mexican border state authorities arrested a regional commander for the Sinaloa Cartel in Nuevo Leon. The cartel figure is believed responsible for kidnappings and executions in the area after the cartel began a turf war in late 2021.
This week, state authorities arrested Alan Ervey “ El Cano” Juarez Castillo in the Monterrey metropolitan area. According to law enforcement sources in Nuevo Leon, El Cano is believed to be the leader of Sinaloa Cartel strike teams targeting incumbent drug distributors. After the arrest, El Cano’s gunmen clashed with authorities in several parts of the city, leading to seven more collars. Authorities killed two unidentified gunmen in the process.
El Cano has a long history of criminal activity in Nuevo Leon. In 2017, he spent time at the Topo Chico state prison and has an outstanding warrant on murder and kidnapping charges.
Sinaloa Cartel operators are using heavy weaponry and large teams of gunmen. While the Sinaloa Cartel kept a presence in Nuevo Leon for years, their operators usually avoided prominent tactics to curtail attention. Late last year, they began deploying strike teams. The cartel managed to keep a low profile for months by focusing on kidnapping and the stealth disposal of victims. This method differs from the street shootings favored by rivals like the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas, the Gulf Cartel, and Los Billy’s.
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 “J.C Sanchez” from Tamaulipas and Jose Luis Lara from Michoacan.