 | |
| Named after | Anthrax (Disease) |
|---|---|
| Founding location | Culiacán,Sinaloa,Mexico |
| Ethnicity | Mexican |
| Leader | José Rodrigo Aréchiga Gamboa |
| Activities | Murder,kidnapping,drug trafficking |
| Allies | Sinaloa Cartel Gente Nueva Los Chapitos |
| Rivals | Los Mazatlecos Los Zetas Mexican Army Cártel de los Beltrán-Leyva |
Los Ántrax is a large enforcer unit and hit squad for theSinaloa Cartel, a majorcrime syndicate based in theMexican state ofSinaloa. The group was led by the drug lords Jesús Victoriano (alias "El 20"),José Rodrigo Aréchiga Gamboa (alias "El Chino Ántrax"),René Velázquez Valenzuela (alias "El Sargento Phoenix"), among others, and they are responsible for a number of homicides and for providing armed security services toIsmaelEl Mayo Zambada.[1] The gang operates in the capital city ofCuliacán,Sinaloa, where its members conduct homicides and violent attacks.[2] Los Antrax is theSinaloa Cartel's largest and deadliest enforcer unit.
The name of the group is inspired from the bacterium sporesanthrax, although theSinaloa state authorities have never officially recognized the group's existence.[2]
Los Ántrax worked as the security force of the drug lordIsmaelEl Mayo Zambada (now arrested), who leads the Sinaloa Cartel along withJoaquínEl Chapo Guzmán (now also arrested). Several homicides have been attributed to the gang, which was led by a drug trafficker namedRodrigo Arechiga Gamboa (El Chino Antrax), who died on May 15, 2020, and his right-hand man Jesus Peña (El 20).[1] Peña escaped from a prison in Sinaloa on March 16, 2017 with four other suspects, including alleged Ántrax member Rafael Guadalupe Félix Núñez (alias "Changuito Ántrax") and Juan José Esparragoza Monzón, son ofJuan José Esparragoza Moreno.[3]
A fierce gunfight between members of the Sinaloa Cartel (with the backing of Los Ántrax) and theBeltrán Leyva Cartel (with the support ofLos Zetas) left about 30 dead in the town ofTubutama, Sonora in northern Mexico on 1 July 2010.[4][5] The drug gangs clashed just a few miles across the international border from the U.S. state of Arizona – an area notorious for being a smuggling route for narcotics and human trafficking.[6] Eleven late-model, bullet-ridden vehicles were found at the scene, along with dozens of high caliber assault rifles. Some of the vehicles had "X" painted on their windows, a method often used by the Mexican drug trafficking organizations to distinguish the vehicles of rival drug cartels during armed confrontations.[7][8]
Los Ántrax gained public attention on 26 May 2011, when a squadron of theMexican Army that was patrolling a neighborhood in southern Culiacán spotted three vehicles with armed assailants.[2] The encounter prompted a gunfight, but the Mexican forces managed to neutralize three members of Los Ántrax; they also liberated three kidnapping victims from a safe house in the area (a woman; a man who had his toes and ears mutilated; and a 5-year-old girl).[9] Although preliminary reports indicated that the three gunmen killed by the army – Jesús Humberto Corona Guillén, Franklin Olguín Velázquez and Pedro Valenzuela Meza – had died from gunshot wounds during the shootout,[10] the post-mortem reports indicated that the gunmen had been beaten andtortured by the soldiers before being killed, even though the official account of the event was that they "died in a gun battle."[2][11]
On 1 November 2011, during an indoor football game inCuliacán, Sinaloa, an armed commando interrupted the game and killedFrancisco Arce Rubio, the leader of Los Ántrax.[12] According to police reports, several armed men carryingAK-47s and handguns interrupted the soccer game at the Deportivo Jimmy Ruiz stadium and forced all of the players to lie face down on the field at around 11:00 p.m. Once they had subjugated everyone on the field, the gunmen executed one of the team's managers, and then went on to kill Arce Rubio (aged 30). After the double-homicide, the gunmen departed.[13]
Arce Rubio was reportedly killed by rival members ofLos Mazatlecos, a gang headed byFausto Isidro Meza Flores, nicknamedEl Chapo Isidro. Arce Rubio was also reportedly responsible for assassinating two nephews ofAmado andVicente Carrillo Fuentes in Sinaloa. Meza Flores and his gang are reportedly part of theBeltrán Leyva Cartel, which disputes the drug trafficking corridors with the Sinaloa Cartel in western Mexico.[14][15][16]
The weekend Arce Rubio was killed, the state of Sinaloa experienced at least 20 homicides possibly linked to the drug lord's death. In one incident, gang members hung three bodies from a bridge in the town ofGuamúchil. In another incident at a volleyball court in Culiacán, unidentified gunmen killed 8 people and injured several others. Several other bullet-ridden corpses were found throughout the state that same weekend.[17][18]
El Chino Ántrax was arrested by Dutch police on 30 December 2013 atAmsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands at the request of the United States, which contactedInterpol to arrest him for charges relating to drug trafficking.[19][20] On 20 February 2014, Mexican authorities arrested Jesús Peña (alias "El 20"), in Culiacán following a massive operative carried out to capture "El Mayo" Zambada.[21] On 23 May 2014, Melesio Beltrán Medina (alias "El Mele") was killed in the Morelos neighborhood in Culiacán.[22]
Following the arrest of Chino Antrax, some British sources claimed thatClaudia Ochoa Félix was the new leader of the group. This information was not officially confirmed and she has denied her involvement in organized crime.[23] Ochoa Félix was found dead in her private residence inCuliacán on the 14th of September 2019, due to apparentpulmonary aspiration caused by a drug overdose. The previous night she had been seen going home with an unidentified man after attending a party in the city centre. The morning after the unidentified man raised an alarm due to Félix not responding; she was pronounced dead at the scene.[24]
On 3 March 2020, Chino Antrax was released from prison and transferred to house arrest.[25] On May 9, however, his probation office reported him as missing.[26][27] On 15 May 2020, Chino Antrax was found dead in Sinaloa, after being murdered alongside two other people, including his sister.[27]