News
March 17, 2023 | 15:12
Authorities say a 14-year-old boy nicknamed “El Chapito” has been arrested in Mexico in connection with the drug-related slaughter of eight people at a birthday party.
The federal Department of Public Safety announced Thursday the arrests of a teenager and his alleged accomplice in connection with a Jan. 22 massacre in the low-income Mexican suburb of Chimalhuacan.
According to authorities, a man named “El Chapito” and “El Ñoño” rode up on a motorcycle and opened fire on a family celebrating a birthday at their home.
Five adults and two children were also injured in the attack, one of whom was 3 years old and one under 14 years old.
Federal police also arrested seven other accused gang members on drug charges during a 12-hour sting operation last weekend in suburban Mexico City.
“El Chapito’s” real name was not released, but his nickname, which translates to “Little Chapo,” is an apparent nod to notorious drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the former leader of the Sinaloa cartel, who is serving a life sentence. Colorado.
The motive for the January murders has not been revealed, but Mexican drug gangs are known to engage in kidnappings and contract killings. They also target competitors who sell drugs on their turf or people who owe them money.
Investigators arrested “El Chapito” and the others after capturing their gang leader, 28-year-old “El Lenguas” on February 25.
“El Chapito” has been transferred to a special judge in the juvenile comprehensive criminal justice system, while the adult suspects have been booked into the Neza-Bordo Penitentiary and Social Integration Center.
Child killers are not unheard of in Mexico.
In 2010, soldiers arrested a 14-year-old boy nicknamed “El Ponchis” or “Cloak” who claimed he was kidnapped at age 11 and forced to work for a South Pacific cartel. He said that he participated in at least four competitions.
After his arrest, the boy, a US citizen identified as Edgar Jimenez Lugos, told reporters that he had been drugged and threatened to commit crimes.
Lugos was later found guilty of torturing and dismembering the four men and sentenced to three years in prison – the maximum sentence allowed by law because he was a minor at the time of the murders.
After being released from prison in 2013, Lugos was allowed to return to the United States.
With postal wires