La Unión Tepito

La Unión Tepito

Founded	2009
Founded by	Édgar Valdez Villarreal Francisco Javier Hernández Gómez
Named after	Tepito
Founding location	Tepito, Mexico City, Mexico
Years active	2009−present
Territory	Greater Mexico City
Ethnicity	Mexican
Criminal activities	Murder, kidnapping, drug trafficking, money laundering, home invasion, arms trafficking, counterfeiting, extortion
Allies	Los Kilos[1] Los Tanzanios[2] Los Malcriados 3AD[3]
Rivals	Government of Mexico Tláhuac Cartel Fuerza Anti-Unión La Familia Michoacana Jalisco New Generation Cartel[4][5] Sinaloa Cartel

La Unión Tepito is a Mexican criminal organization. It was created in 2009 under the tutelage of Édgar Valdez Villarreal. Its first leader was Francisco Javier Hernández Gómez (Pancho Cayagua), who was murdered in October 2017 in the parking lot of a shopping center in the Indios Verdes area, in the borough of Gustavo A. Madero of Mexico City.^[6][7] La Unión Tepito is dedicated to the sale of narcotics, kidnapping, extortion, and homicide.^[8][9]

Activities

On September 18, 2019, a group of armed men fired at people who were at a food and snack stall in the Doctores neighborhood, Cuauhtémoc mayor's office. Six people died and two more were injured, including two minors.^[10][11] After the investigation carried out by the authorities, three people were arrested as alleged perpetrators of the incident.^[11][12]

In July 2020, after the arrest of "El Betito", one of the leaders of La Unión de Tepito, he allegedly confessed that he laundered money for programs such as Enamorándonos and Acapulco Shore, this information would have been disseminated after his transfer to a maximum federal prison. along with Óscar Flores, "El Lunares" and David García, "El Pistache", other leaders of the criminal group that maintains operations in Mexico City.^[13][14][15] The group has the particularity of having cells made up of only by women.^[16]

On 5 November 2020, the remains of two minors who were dismembered, whose remains were abandoned in boxes moved in a "little devil", were abandoned. The victims, named Yair (12 years old) and Héctor Efraín (14 years old), were last seen outside the neighborhood where they lived, on Tuesday, 27 October. The head of government Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed that arrests had been made in the case of dismembered children in the Historic Center.^[17] The murder was later confirmed to be related to drug dealing, shocking public opinion, especially due to the viciousness seen in the execution.^[18][19] It is also known that La Unión uses minors to perpetrate criminal activities, such as the case of Dyron Alejandro, a 16-year-old minor who, after serving a sentence in a juvenile correctional facility for stealing armed hand was shot to death along with his partner, also a member of the cartel.^[20][21][22]

In early March 2021, the authorities transferred several members of La Unión and the Tláhuac Cartel to different federal prisons around the country, according to experts, due to the inability of the authorities to control the members of these organizations in the same prison.^[23] On 10 March 2021, Alexis Martínez alias "El Alexis", a member of La Unión Tepito and a well-known bank card cloner, was assassinated by a hitman who disguised himself as a food delivery man in Zapopan, Jalisco. The attack also left an unidentified person injured.^[24][25]

On 17 February 2022, the Secretary of Citizen Security of Mexico City, Omar García Harfuch, mentioned in a press release that the authorities confirmed the arrest of 64 members of La Unión Tepito, registering most of the arrests in Cuauhtémoc and Venustiano Carranza. The head of security affirmed that the criminal organization is weakened, operating as a group of cells and not as an organized cartel.^[26][27] Among those detained for the operations carried out by the authorities was Giovanni N alias "El Chicharo", leader of a cell of the group.^[28][29]

Current Leadership

After the arrest of "El Betito", many authorities and journalists believe that the current leader of La Unión Tepito is Eduardo Ramírez Tiburcio (or Lalo Ramírez Tiburcio), alias "El Chori", a powerful low-profile drug lord who is accused of crimes such as drug trafficking, kidnappings, homicide and feminicide, is one of the 5 most wanted criminals in Mexico City and whose reward for his capture and arrest is 5 million Mexican pesos (5 mdp).^[30][31][32]

War against other cartels

Due to being the most dominant drug cartel in Mexico City, in the State of Mexico and in Hidalgo, La Union Tepito has begun to face the threat of other drug cartels seeking to take over the territories currently controlled by the "Chilango Cartel" (as La Union Tepito is popularly known).

At a regional level, their main rivals within Mexico City are the Tláhuac Cartel (who have been enemies of La Union Tepito for more than a decade) and Fuerza Anti-Unión (a notorious splinter group from La Unión Tepito who broke away from them in 2016 after the founder of Fuerza Anti-Unión, Jorge Flores Concha (aka "El Tortas") had one of his brothers murdered at the behest of "El Betito" (the leader of La Unión Tepito at the time of the crime) and the other kidnapped).^[33]

At the national level, their biggest enemies are the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), the Sinaloa Cartel and La Familia Michoacana, three of the most powerful cartels in Mexico and which seek to take over the territories controlled by La Unión Tepito, since for years they have faced difficulties in establishing their criminal empires in the Mexican capital and in the states surrounding the capital due to the almost monopolistic dominance of the group led by El Chori (the current leader of La Union Tepito) within CDMX and its surroundings (such as the State of Mexico and Hidalgo).^{[4][5][34][35]}

References

1. "Éstas fueron las células criminales de la CDMX que apoyaron a 'El Betito' como líder de La Unión Tepito". Infobae (in Mexican Spanish). 24 April 2024. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
2. "Detienen a siete presuntos integrantes de Los Tanzanios, entre ellos un menor de edad". Proceso (in Mexican Spanish). 18 January 2024. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
3. "Ejecutan orden de aprehensión contra 'El Tuto', integrante de 'Los Malcriados 3AD', socios de la Unión Tepito". Infobae (in Mexican Spanish). 24 May 2024. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
4. "La batalla secreta entre el Cartel Jalisco y Unión Tepito por el control de Ciudad de México, según los papeles de Sedena". El País (in Mexican Spanish). 7 October 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
5. "Narco en la CDMX: la batalla entre la Unión Tepito y el CJNG por la Miguel Hidalgo". Infobae (in Mexican Spanish). 16 September 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
6. "¿Quién era Pancho Cayagua de la Unión Tepito?". La Silla Rota. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
7. "Ejecutan en la GAM a "Pancho Cayagua", presunto fundador de La Unión de Tepito". Proceso. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
8. "¿Cómo se fundó La Unión Tepito?". Heraldo de México. February 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
9. "La Unión Tepito". Insight Crime.inc. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
10. "SSC y PGJ caen en contradicciones sobre matanza en la colonia Doctores". Proceso. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
11. "Vinculan a 'La Unión Tepito' con matanza de seis en la Doctores". El Financiero. 19 September 2019. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
12. "Masacre en la Doctores: vinculan a la Unión Tepito con el asesinato de seis personas". Infobae. 19 September 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
13. "Denuncian presunto vínculo entre La Unión Tepito y Enamorándonos". El Sol de México. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
14. "La Unión Tepito y su relación con AcaShore y Enamorándonos". El Universal. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
15. "UNIÓN TEPITO CONFIESA LAVADO DE DINERO EN PROGRAMAS DE ENAMORÁNDONOS Y ACAPULCO SHORE". Estado 21. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
16. "Las mujeres que mandan en La Unión Tepito". La Unión Jalisco. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
17. ""Lamentable": Sheinbaum informó que ya hay detenidos por el caso de niños descuartizados en el Centro HistóricoLa". Infobae Noticias. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
18. "Eran dos menores de edad, los restos descuartizados que se trasladaban en "diablito"". EL Universal de Queretaro. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
19. "La violencia se recrudece en Ciudad de México con el hallazgo de dos niños descuartizados en el centro". El País. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
20. ""Si no regreso dale un beso a mi mamá", el mensaje de Dyron, niño narco asesinado a balazos". La Opinión. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
21. ""Si no regreso dale un beso a mi mamá"; Joven antes de morir baleado en al CDMX". Tabasco Hoy. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
22. "Matan a lavacoches integrante de la Unión Tepito, festejaba el cumpleaños de su hermano". Plumas Atómicas. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
23. "Extrema vigilancia para reos de Cártel de Tláhuac y la Unión Tepito: fueron trasladados a penales federales". Infobae Noticias. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
24. "'El Alexis' de La Unión y su vida de lujos que terminó en tragedia". Excelsior. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
25. "Asesinan en Jalisco a 'el Alexis', líder de la Unión Tepito". El Financiero. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
26. "García Harfuch atrapa a 64 y degrada a La Unión Tepito a 'células'". Milenio Noticias. 17 February 2022. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
27. "La Unión Tepito está debilitada, ve Harfuch". El Financieron. 18 February 2022. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
28. "Capturan a "El Chícharo", presunto líder delictivo de la Unión Tepito". El Sol de México. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
29. "'El Chícharo' de la Unión Tepito seguirá en el Reclusorio Oriente". La Jornada. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
30. "PERFIL: 'El Chori', líder de la Unión Tepito más buscado con recompensa de 5 mdp". El Financiero (in Mexican Spanish). 2023-08-16. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
31. "¿Quién es el Chori, actual líder de la Unión Tepito y el más buscado de la CDMX?". Radio Fórmula (in Mexican Spanish). 2023-08-18. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
32. "¿Quién es "El Chori"? Líder de la Unión Tepito por el que ofrecen 5 mdp de recompensa". Publimetro (in Mexican Spanish). 2023-08-14. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
33. "La Unión Tepito". InSight Crime. 2020-11-12. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
34. "La Familia Michoacana despliega narcomantas en Morelos y amenaza a extorsionadores de la Unión Tepito". Infobae (in Mexican Spanish). 24 December 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
35. "Cártel de Sinaloa y la Unión Tepito convierten las cárceles capitalinas en un campo de batalla". Infobae (in Mexican Spanish). 3 March 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2024.