He says her stepfather owned an elegant Tijuana restaurant and her grandfather had been head of immigration and a political party chief. MEXICO CITY (AP) _ Mexicos former head of anti-drug intelligence has been accused of kidnapping and torturing a member of the Tijuana drug cartel to extract information for a rival gang, news reports said Wednesday. ''I thought I explained that to you. The Arellano Felix brothers did that and more-they exploited one of Tijuanas treasures: its youth. Finally, Alejandro Enrique Hodoyan Palacios (Alejandro), Hodoyan's brother, gave a videotaped deposition in Mexico on November 30, 1996, and was interviewed in the United States in February 1997 about his brother's and Valdez's involvement in both murders. The 36-year-old Mr. Hodoyan hasn't been seen since and is presumed dead. One day the witness was surfing at an Arellano Felix beach house while Ramon relaxed in his bedroom. Instead, when Angelica was 16, she tearfully revealed to her mother that she was pregnant. Fue exonerado del cudruple homicidio de agentes federales y un taxista en la Ciudad de Mxico en 1996. I thought [forget] that, and got off the beach. They wore gala attire. They interviewed him, and hoped that he would eventually be a cooperating witness for the Government against the Arellanos. The D.E.A. On Sept. 14, three days after Mr. Hodoyan was abducted by his soldiers, a hit squad linked to the Arellanos assassinated a top Mexican antidrug prosecutor in Mexico City. They saw them involved in an illicit business, yet roaming around free, getting all the French champagne and good-looking girls, and they said, Hey, why cant I be part of this elite? , I knew [Alfredo] was with them, Alejandro said. WebIndividuals featured as characters in Narcos and Narcos: Mexico. Alfredo was openhearted, generous- wasnt he always issuing invitations to play basketball at the Hodoyans hoop? MEXICO CITY -- The Giants and Padres teamed up to hold a Play Ball event at Estadio Alfredo Harp Hel on Saturday morning, hosting over 100 local youth from the John Langdon Down Foundation in conjunction with Major League Baseballs Mexico City Series. On Sept. 10, 1996, the Arellano gang sent Alex Hodayan to Guadalajara, the central Mexican city that has emerged as a battleground for competing drug gangs. She is the mother of Alfredo Hodoyan, 31, the childhood friend of Emilio who is accused of taking part, at the behest of the cartel, in the spectacular gangland slaying of Baja Californias federal police commander in September 1996. But when Lina became pregnant, her family reluctantly consented to their marriage, a relative says. Life in Wartime Alex Hodoyan is a typical teenager living in Tijuana. But the new godfathers and their friends presented a social quandary. Newspaper and TV reports said that Ignacio Weber Rodriguez, of the now-defunct National Institute for the Combat of Drugs, was charged Tuesday at a high-security prison outside the nations capital. I think 90% of the kids who went to discos knew them by sight, Alejandro said. He was kidnapped while driving with his mother in Tijuana several days later and has never been seen since. Comments are moderated, refer to policy for more information.Enva fotos, vdeos, notas, enlaces o informacin Todo 100% Annimo;borderlandbeat@gmail.com. Mexican officials now suspect that much of the information the general extracted from Mr. Hodoyan went directly to the rival drug organization. I remember him perfectly, Hodoyans mother, Cristina Hodoyan de Palacios, referring to Weber Rodriguez, told authorities on Tuesday during a hearing at the prison. He began to make mental plans to take Mr. Hodoyan to the United States as a witness in gun-running cases. Cristina, 62, rolls her eyes dismissively at any suggestion that Alfredo was the killer, the Wolf described by prosecutors. ''I don't want trouble. Weber Rodriguezs arrest was the latest twist in the story of Mexicos former drug czar, Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, charged in February with being on the payroll of the late drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes. Individuals He began to cooperate, almost too enthusiastically, with his captors. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. If he is broke, I pay his credit card bill. SomeoneWhy kill Alfredo? : r/narcos - Reddit Looking up, I see Ramon sitting there with a scope, like an M-16, pointing at us surfing, the witness says. You have to prove your loyalty. He would pay for a big baptism party., The Arellano Felixes and their entourage became the beautiful people, the 90210 of drug cartels, says Gonzalo Curiel, the assistant U.S. attorney assigned to the case. Hodoyan Palacios form parte de los Narcojuniors, un grupo de sicarios del Crtel de Tijuana que era comandado por Everardo El Kitty Paz. But Kitty, with his jeans, T-shirts and irresistable grin, was considered the coolest guy in his Instituto clique. BUSINESSWOMAN Guadalupe Gonzalez is helping a customer select the perfect floral teacup from a china showroom that is a fantasia of fine figurines. Boys who played with Cristinas sons at the Tijuana Country Club years ago. Mr. Hodoyan, an American citizen who was born in San Diego and lived most of his life just across the border in Tijuana, was abducted and detained illegally for 80 days by Mexican military officers. As his legal woes deepened, Emilio complained to a relative that his wife Lina was receiving not a cent from Ramon Arellano. United States officials later described that as an egregious failure to deliver the basic protections guaranteed citizens in trouble in foreign lands. They began to change around 1985, when Cristina picked up her daughter at a rock concert and was introduced to a flamboyant teenager with flashy gold chains on his wrists and a big gold medallion around his neck. Narcos Mexico' Season 3 Episode Unbeknownst to Hodoyan, he was tailed by Walt Breslin. ''He didn't tell anybody above, below or alongside,'' a diplomat said later, calling Mr. Randall's performance ''a clear case of nonfeasance.''. Actor Lorenzo Ferro also appears in El Angel, Perfidious, and El Marginal. Mexican Tale: Drugs, Crime, Torture and the U.S. A few months after his sons arrest in 1996, Alejandro Hodoyan pointed out that Alfredo wasnt the only one in Tijuana rubbing shoulders with the Arellano Felixes. Hodoyan Mr. Hodoyan reeled. But according to both women, Mr. Curiel was reluctant to listen. It wont be so easy now.. ''When we see him, he's not bruised, not beaten, no chili peppers up his nose, no signs of duress.''. who is he? Giants, Padres team up for Mexico City Play Ball event Authorities rounded up two suspects Sept. 30 in a luxury apartment in San Diegos picturesque Coronado Shores. His account was relayed by officials in Washington and Mexico who said they had reviewed reports the agent filed at the time. WebTras 20 aos en prisin, Alfredo Hodoyn Palacios, del Crtel Arellano Flix, gana un amparo y su libertad. A Mexican drug prosecutor who saw the two men together toward the end of Mr. Hodoyan's captivity said they were ''like father and son.''. agent who questioned him. A large middle class feeds a pulsing youth culture of crowded discos and hip rock bands. And the parents of these rebels without a cause found themselves the subject of unwelcome scrutiny. DEA Loses Key Informer Of Mexican Drug Cartel - WSJ My work as a priest is one thing, but to act as an authority is another.. One night, Ramon invited Emilio out to romance some beautiful women, and Lina snapped: Shut up Ramon. Emilio worried about it, a relative says. Authorities managed to swoop in and arrest Francisco Arellano Felix in 1993 in Tijuanas tony Chapultapec hills. 8 Appearances Her suitor was a rakish 19-year-old unknown with bedroom eyes and a crooked smile, a man known as Kitty to his friends. It seems But if being an enemy was dangerous, being a member of his entourage could be a rush. No! They keep meeting these people, in a party, at a disco, they buy bottles of champagne, and they become the new members of the narco-society. A United States magistrate concluded in his ruling that Alejandro Hodoyan had probably been killed last year by the Tijuana drug traffickers, who were Alfredo's associates. The nuncio blessed Ramon, and they left. He was cute, he was charming, he was very athletic, and he had all the girls crazy, a former schoolmate of Angelicas says. It is also a story of kidnapping and coercion that highlights some of the perils for the United States in working with the secretive Mexican military, which has been given a central role in the drug war despite its lengthening record of corruption and brutality. Emilio ended up in a U.S prison, convicted of drug trafficking in 1998. Mexican Tale: Drugs, Crime, Torture and the U.S. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/18/world/mexican-tale-drugs-crime-torture-and-the-us.html. Kitty Paez was arrested by U.S. request in downtown Tijuana in 1997. Episode count TE PUEDE INTERESAR:Doa Lety: La ex judicial que le declar la guerra a 'El Mencho' y a Los Zetas. Like more than a few well-connected Tijuanans, Ruth was born in San Diego County. The Business - Arellano-Felix Cartel | Drug Wars Alejandro Furth as Ramon Salgado "HEARST" and "Redlogarythm" for Borderland Beat This week, a pamphlet showing the rules of conduct given to hitmen in "Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat The United Nations warns in a new report that insecurity in the capital has reached levels com "Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat Video translation is as follows: Five days after the shootout in Teocaltiche, Jalisco, images w "HEARST" and " Redlogarythm" f or Borderland Beat Hitmen who work for Cartel del Golfo boss "El Primito" were "Socalj" for Borderland Beat A K9 sniffer dog alerted inspectors to a load of over 11,500 bottles of tequila bound for export. According to those same documents, Emilio and Ramon were attending a birthday party at Tijuanas Club Britania in late 1988 when an unwelcome guest arrived. Chapter 3: A city of contrasts comes into focus Gustavo Miranda Santacruz fue el siguiente en la lista al ser levantado y posteriormente baleado, suerte que no corri El Lobo. ''Alex, above all, we have to be united,'' Mrs. Hodoyan said, her voice taut with pain. They were Emilio Valdez Mainero and Alfredo Hodoyan. Mexican police say some of the brothers were the proteges of a well-connected relative, the Sinaloa drug kinpin Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, who was jailed in 1989 in connection with the murder of U.S. DEA agent Enrique Camarena. He was a killer idiot., By the time Ramon joined the list of FBIs Most Wanted in 1997, Ruth was in San Diego, immersed in a life of intense suburban normalcy-except for the DEA crew trailing her family. Mr. Hoyodan's mother and father urged him to remain loyal to the family and his circle of childhood friends. Their lawyers have asserted that the statements of Alex Hodoyan and other witnesses provided by Mexico were obtained through torture and are thus invalid. Completely neurotic. Alex Hodoyan Alfredo Hodoyan, 25, the rakish and strong-willed brother who is Alex's youngest sibling, took on a more violent role in the gang, according to his brother and other associates. It was a very unique time of my life.. bureau declined to make the agent who questioned Mr. Hodoyan available for an interview. It's Francisco Flores was in fact inspired by Alex Hodoyans story but not 100%, it is the General plus the three stars gives it away..just saying not sure. Within days, several witnesses said, there was a change in Mr. Hodoyan's demeanor. But behind the image on the videotape is a tale of a middle-class family torn apart, with brother turned against brother in a violent drug culture. Youre young. Those were simpler times. Its the same now: You go to a party, you meet these guys and you dont even know their names, just pseudonyms. Join Facebook to connect with Alfredo Hodoyan and others you may know. Many people who come to this freewheeling experiment in urbanism shed the reserve and formality of central Mexico. ''It was just a usual-suspects thing,'' a United States official in Guadalajara said, just another of the 71 cases the consulate handled in 1996 of Americans who went missing in that region. Porcelain brides and grooms painted in reassuring pastels gaze at each other with bland expressions of matrimonial joy. The elegant breakables in the tall glass cases seem too fragile for the tale that Gonzalez is telling. Ruth gave birth to their first child-also named Ruth-in San Diego a year later, and Montano baptized her. The troops had no arrest warrant and filed no report to the police. After 28 days on the job, Ibarra was shot to death Sept. 14, 1996, outside the Mexico City airport. Mexico Wins Extradition of Two Defendants From U.S. agent about Mr. Hodoyan. Last He said they had burned the soles of his feet with lighters and had applied electric shocks to his eyelids and toes. The fraternal struggle that played itself out in the courtroom left one brother facing the possibility of decades in jail and the other presumed dead. You have no rules. I know Alfredo is innocent, Cristina Hodoyan said at the time. He was killed by the Tijuana Cartel and his body was hanging on an overpass. When Gutierrez Rebollo became head of the countrys anti-drug effort on Dec. 6, Hodoyan agreed to work as his bodyguard in return for protection. Alejandro Enrique Hodoyan had been a minor though well-placed member of the drug organization, running guns and errands. Mr. Hodoyan soon became devoted to his jailer. They were graduates of the finest private schools, at home on both sides of the border, the children of families that knew or were related to some of the most powerful people in Baja California. ''We would have no reason to call the military,'' an American official said, explaining that the armed forces do not usually detain people under Mexico's legal system. The US captured him based on the information provided by General Gutierrez Rebollo. He named Emilio on national television. His mother says a federal police commander pulled Alex out of her car in 1997 and the family hasnt seen him since. But by the mid-1980s, even this reliable terrain began to shift. Seven weeks earlier, gunmen for the Arellano organization had bungled a plot to assassinate Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the leader of a rival cartel. Nicholas Goldberg: Is God on the side of blasphemy laws? They never did anything to me, Mama, please try to understand,'' he said. After the archbishops killing, Ramon and Benjamin were no longer enigmas but front-page headlines-Mexicos most wanted fugitives. Mr. Brayshaw did not inquire again what had become of Mr. Hodoyan because he assumed that the Consul General had done his job, Mr. Hamilton said. ``Yes, thats him! In Mexico, where ties of blood and ritual kinship are nearly sacred and the law absolves suspects from incriminating immediate relatives, it was a formidable undertaking. The agent later told colleagues that it bothered him that he could not see the prisoner's eyes. Linas father passed away four months later. As soon as the Hodoyan family realized Alex was missing, they turned to the American authorities for help. Meanwhile, one of the Arellanos top gunmen, Fabian Martinez, ''the Shark,'' placed several calls from hiding to the Hodoyans, saying he knew Alex was a Government informant. Her mother is raising her three grandchildren. To do that, you have to kill someone.. '', Mexican officers told the A.T.F. This has been a terrible blow, said Amparo de Valdez, Emilios aging mother, who died last year. Emilio said, If theyre not helping her, they must think I betrayed them. It made him think they viewed him as an enemy.. Murdered by the Tijuana cartel. Personal Information And consider the saga of Lina Literas, one of Angelicas best friends, a beautiful young woman whose fathers chain of border import stores supplied much of the crystal that graces the tables of Tijuanas elite. He was a party boy. Fabian Martinez Gonzalez, a grade-school classmate of Alex Hodoyan's younger sister who teased the girls by lifting up their skirts, grew up to become El Tiburon, or the Shark. As in Los Angeles, the past is not taken quite so literally. How could you not know him? Agustin asked after Alfredos arrest in 1996. His testimony, which produced eight hours of videotape and more than 200 pages of transcripts, is viewed on both sides of the border as a law enforcement triumph, a breakthrough in Mexico's flagging fight against drug traffickers. She had volunteered at the church since she was 16, reading Scripture at services and carrying the wine, chalice and water. Families with such names as Bustamante, Fimbres and Anchondo coalesced into tight-knit circles that formed the core of Tijuana society. Giants outfielder Joc Pederson and his brother, Champ, who has Down syndrome, were Every Friday or Saturday night he would be at a party or a disco. He waited 13 days before visiting Mr. Hodoyan. Mexican military officials announced the arrest of General Gutierrez Rebollo. Alfredo Hodoyan But in March, another Tijuana junior, Walter Ruiz Fimbres, 21, turned up in Chicago newspapers, arrested in Deerfield, Ill., with a carload of marijuana, and was slapped with a $10-million bond. A new, cash-rich generation of drug traffickers was jostling for control of Tijuana; they took advantage of police and government corruption, and of the citys strategic location at the doorstep of the worlds largest narcotics market. At one point, the elder Mr. Hodoyan told his son that a Mexican lawyer who had defended the Arellanos was offering to help get Alex out of military custody. Cristina Palacios de Hodoyan said her son Alfredo, a graduate of St. Augustine Catholic school in San Diego, is the manager of family rental properties, not a gunman. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. Now the kids I don't feel sorry for. And Tijuana discos are still prowled by charming strangers who seem far too eager to buy drinks for the whole table. Ramon and Benjamin retreated to gated beach houses south of Rosarito, according to the protected witness, where Ramons appetite for cocaine and his huge steriod rages made him increasingly unpredictable. WebAlfredo Hodoyan was extradited to Mexico and is now awaiting trial in Almaloya, Mexico's high security prison outside of Mexico City. ''I'm sure I would have done whatever needed to be done,'' he said, calling it ''convenient'' that embassy officials had heaped all of the blame on the one person involved who was no longer in government service. According to American officials, she said there were reports that Alex had been detained on Sept. 11 by the military authorities in Guadalajara. A HOT DAY IN TIJUANA IS COOLING INTO A GOLDEN SUNSET. But I never wanted to ask him for a favor, Agustin said, because nothing is free. Not everybody had those reservations. I never saw anything strange about them in the religious meetings, the priest says. Abductions since last night have been reported in San Fernando, Reynosa "Sol Prendido" for Borderland A man identified as Guillermo Daniel Mndez Madrigal, 25, who allegedly belonged to a cell of the A Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels. Then, several officials said, Mr. Randall did nothing further about Mr. Hodoyan. I still pay for his gas. Carrillo was considered Mexicos No. El Lobo permanece en libertad y se especula que regres a vivir a San Diego, California. Mr. Hodoyan's claims of torture have not been confirmed by independent witnesses, and the statement he gave his family, which he never signed, remains the only record of his first days in captivity. Tape recordings of some of Mr. Hodoyan's phone calls to his family were made available to The New York Times by participants in the events who requested anonymity. Mr. Hodoyan volunteered nothing about mistreatment by the soldiers, American officials said, and the statement he later gave his family suggests a reason. First His manic charisma drew the admiration of kids such as Emilio Valdez Mainero, the kind of young men who are known in Mexico by a not entirely flattering term: juniors. Eventually Ramons friends would be tagged by the press as narcojuniors., People whispered about what Ramon and his brothers did. ''You are helping the man who is accusing your brother! ''In a normal situation, a family like the Hodoyans would never find themselves involved with traffickers.''. If Alfredo said, Mama, I need a car, I got him a car. Fabian is presumed dead. The Hodoyans hoped to raise their children with the best of the American and Mexican cultures. El Lobo Hodoyan fue acusado de participar en el asesinato del doctor Ernesto Ibarra Sants quien era sealado como un hombre incorruptible que fue comisionado en 1996 por la PGR a la plaza de Tijuana. Portrayed by Alex Hodoyan (died 1997) was the younger brother of narcojunior Alfredo Hodoyan. Webbrother and fled back to Tijuana. No one knew who they were, Cristina says. Its hard to believe Fabian grew into the Shark, alleged by Mexican police to have killed at least a dozen people on behalf of the cartel. Hector hEochagin shares devastating news of Authorities on both sides of the border believe the organization was responsible for shipping billions of dollars of cocaine into the United States over the last decade. Mr. Hodoyan, the oldest of the Hodoyan children, is a 35-year old law school dropout and cocaine addict who never held a steady job. The priest says he repeated the rendezvous with Benjamin in January 1994. Lets face it, it was often for the money. His parents hoped that if Alex was freed, he would testify in the effort to block Alfredo's extradition in San Diego. She was the perfect girl. Her mother tried to discourage her romance with the swaggering Emilio. Upper-class circles are as newly minted as the modern Tijuana Country Club, built in 1948 on the grounds of the old casino, a remnant of the time that the city was a Prohibition getaway for Hollywood movie stars. In one conversation his father asked him what he wanted to tell his brother Alfredo and his brother's lawyers. saw this guy, he was walking around having a good time,'' Mr. McGivney said. Mr. Curiel acknowledged recently at a court hearing in San Diego that the allegations of torture were plausible and serious, but said they should be investigated by the Mexican authorities. U.S. prosecutors say he worked for the notorious Arellano Felix brothers: Benjamin, described by law enforcement authorities as the cartels chief executive, and Ramon, considered the enforcer, the man who planned the murders of the cartels enemies. He was Ramon Arellano Felix, the blue-jeaned kid brother of a big family new to Tijuana. TIJUANA IS THE MEXICAN CITY OF REINVENTION. With the help of United States prosecutors in San Diego, the Mexican Attorney General marshaled a wealth of testimony by drug associates against Alfredo He is accused of being one of Mr. Arellano's most feared gunmen and is wanted for murder in Mexico. And they go around spreading it everywhere. It was a surprise to a lot of people in Tijuana who had dealings with them without knowing what they did, Montano says. In three days of declarations, including the sections on videotape, Mr. Hodoyan once again told all he knew about the Arellanos -- this time for the legal record. Seduction of a Generation - Los Angeles Times They have new cars and they invite the girls to a disco and meet their cousins. The Mexicans said Alfredo was hiding out near San Diego with Emilio Valdez, the godfather of Alex Hodoyan's daughter, who was wanted in Mexico on another murder charge. General Gutierrez Rebollo's officers, he said, warned him before the interview that if he told the A.T.F. had been told of Mr. Hodoyan's military detention more than a month earlier by the A.T.F. Not Alfredo-tall, good-looking, bilingual, U.S.-born; a graduate of the prestigious St. Augustine Academy in San Diego. Alfredo Hodoyan and one other gunman ''were responsible for finding the victim, whom they murdered in the hallway that connects the restaurant and the bathrooms of the hotel.''. And power, Garin says with a wry, world-weary air. ''The amazing thing is, the guy just doesn't shut up,'' said a United States official who questioned the A.T.F. American Federal agents arrested Mr. Valdez and Alfredo Hodoyan on Sept. 30 in San Diego, and at Mexico's request United States prosecutors opened an extradition case to return them to Mexico for trial. She would have kept seeing him. And that was merely the first chapter in a life never imagined by Angelicas parents. He was fun.. It is the story of her daughter Angelicas first marriage. agent that Mr. Hodoyan had been blindfolded to prevent him from seeing the American's face, since the prisoner, they said, was a ''dangerous and violent criminal.''. And Emilio-Did you know his father was the cousin of a Mexican president?-lived right around the corner. His mission, he later said, was to find a new ''safe house,'' a local base for the group's operations.
