By Lourdes Cardenas
El Paso Times
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico A man thought to be a top enforcer for the Sinaloa drug cartel and the mastermind in the massacre of 17 people at a drug rehabilitation center in Juárez and who is wanted by U.S. officials in El Paso was arrested by Mexican police on Friday, officials said.
Jose Antonio Torres Marrufo, alias “El Marrufo” and “El Jaguar,” is suspected of ordering the hit at Casa Aliviane on Sept. 2, 2009, said Ramon Eduardo Pequeco Garcca, head of the federal preventive police anti-drugs division.
The massacre at Aliviane shocked the city and made international news because of the brutal way the victims were lined up and shot to death.
A federal indictment in El Paso charges Marrufo with conspiracy to distribute marijuana and cocaine, distribution of cocaine, money laundering and supplying drug traffickers with firearms.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in El Paso did not comment on Marrufo’s arrest, but it’s customary for U.S. officials to seek extradition of top-level drug dealers after Mexican officials conclude their investigations.
Marrufo, according to news reports, was tied to the Fast and Furious debacle, in which U.S. authorities allowed guns to cross from the U.S. into Mexico in hope of tracing them. The Los Angeles Times reported in October that 40 weapons were found in Marrufo’s home in Juárez.
Marrufo is also suspected of ordering the slayings of a New Mexico bridegroom and several of his relatives during a wedding in Juárez.
Rafael Morales Valencia, 29, his brother, Jaime Morales Valencia, 25, and their uncle, Guadalupe Morales Arreola, 51, were kidnapped by gunmen who burst in at the conclusion of the wedding ceremony at Secor de la Misericordia Catholic church. Documents stated that informants told the DEA that Torres ordered the kidnapping at the wedding, interrogated the men and then gave the final order to have them killed.
Marrufo is suspected of drug trafficking, kidnappings, extortions and homicides in Mexico, Pequeco Garcca said.
Pequeco Garcca said Marrufo is reputed to be a top member of the Sinaloa drug cartel, allegedly led by Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman. The Sinaloa and the Juárez drug cartels have been entangled in a bloody war that has claimed the lives of more than 9,300 people since 2008.
Marrufo, who was arrested in Leon, Guanajuato, in central Mexico, is thought to be part of the criminal organization Gente Nueva, which works as the enforcer branch of the Cartel del Pacifico, the name officials give the Sinaloa drug cartel. “This arrest represents a strong blow to the Cartel del Pacifico,” Pequeco Garcca said.
Gente Nueva is allied with with criminal groups in Juárez such as Artistas Asesinos and Mexicles, which are fighting against Barrio Azteca for control of the distribution of drugs in the area. Barrio Azteca is allegedly headed by Eduardo Ravelo, alias “El Tablas.”
According to Pequeco Garcca, Marrufo was the leader of Artistas Asesinos since 2009.
Pequeco Garcca said that after his arrest, Marrufo confessed that he started trafficking drugs to the United States when he was 20.
Pequeco Garcca said that Marrufo became the leader of Gente Nueva in October 2011 following the arrest of other members of the gang.
During the arrest federal police seized four weapons, a bag containing methamphetamines, a Land Rover vehicle without plates and communication equipment.
Copyright 2012 El Paso Times, a MediaNews Group Newspaper