logo
Final moments of El Chapo's cartel strongman revealed in haunting audio

Final moments of El Chapo's cartel strongman revealed in haunting audio

Daily Mail​27-05-2025

A high-ranking drug cartel leader crumbled and begged his squadron of 'sicarios' not to leave him behind as the Mexican Army zeroed in for an intense shootout.
Sinaloa Cartel security chief Jorge 'La Perris' Figueroa was killed inside a home that doubled as the criminal organization's drug stash house in Navolato, a city in the western state of Sinaloa, during an Army special unit raid last Friday.
Figueroa, who was wanted by the United States Department of Justice, implored the cartel's hitman, nicknamed '37,' to help him escape, according to a leaked conversation obtained by Mexican journalist José Luis Montenegro.
'My buddy, my buddy, 37,' Figueroa calmly said in Spanish through a two-way radio.
'Go ahead, go ahead, listen, give me the exact location so I can hit you there with the gang,' the hitman replied.
A frightened Figueroa could then be heard saying, 'Don't leave me alone, dude.'
The cartel henchman then assured his boss that they were not going to leave him behind.
Figueroa seemed to grow tired and worried that he would be captured as he waited for his squadron of killers to rescue him.
A Mexican soldier was captured on video firing towards a target during the raid of a home where they killed two Sinaloa Cartel members, including Jorge Figueroa, who was in charge of providing security for the two sons of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán
'37, I'm f****** around the corner,' said Figueroa, referencing the cartel's hideout.
'What are you scared of or something, damn it? If those f****** soldiers are f****** already here, damn it.'
'Come on, man, come closer, man, are you not that tough, come on,' Figueroa said before the audio cuts off.
The soldiers eventually got to Figueroa, whose body was seen in pictures lying on a bed next to an assault rifle.
Mexico's public safety secretary Omar García Harfuch broke news of Figueroa's death on X on Friday and said that the Army was on the scene to arrest Figueroa before they were met with gunfire.
García Harfuch said Figueroa was 'one of the main generators of violence' in the state of Sinaloa.
Ovidio Guzmán and his brothers took over the Sinaloa Cartel operations after their father, Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán was extradited to the United States, where he is serving a life sentence
Figueroa was responsible for overseeing the security of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán's two sons, Iván Guzmán and Jesús Guzmán, who operate the Sinaloa Cartel faction known as 'Los Chapitos.'
García Harfuch said Figueroa led the cartel's war-like response against the military and police following the arrest of El Chapo's son, Ovidio Guzmán, at his home in the Sinaloa town of Culiacán in October 2019.
The daylight assault left 13 people dead before then-President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador greenlighted Ovidio's release despite an extradition request from the United States.
Figueroa was wanted by the United States government, which was offering a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.
According to the Department of Justice, Figueroa was allegedly in charge of setting up the security details for 'Los Chapitos,' a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel led by El Chapo's fugitive sons, Ivan Guzmán and Jesús Guzmán.
Figueroa shared cartel security duties with Nestor 'El Nini' Pérez, who was arrested and extradited to the U.S. on May 25, 2024. He also oversaw El Nini's security and was in charge of coordinating his fentanyl business.
Figueroa and other Sinaloa Cartel members were indicted by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York in April 2023.
Montenegro revealed that the Mexican Army learned of Figueroa's whereabouts after the Sinaloa Cartel's 'La Mayiza' faction, which is led by Ismael 'Mayito Flaco' Zambada, whose father Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada cofounded the organization with El Chapo, shared the location.
Figueroa, Montenegro claimed, had been in the process of turning himself after conversation with Mexico and United States officials.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Mexican president rebukes violence in Los Angeles protests
Mexican president rebukes violence in Los Angeles protests

Reuters

time36 minutes ago

  • Reuters

Mexican president rebukes violence in Los Angeles protests

MEXICO CITY, June 9 (Reuters) - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that she did not agree with violent acts committed during the massive protests which have broken out in Los Angeles against immigration raids. The leader, speaking from her morning press conference, also called on U.S. authorities to respect the rule of law in migration processes. "It must be clear: We condemn violence wherever it comes from," Sheinbaum said. Protests spread on the streets of Los Angeles over the weekend over President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement as groups of protesters, many carrying Mexican flags and signs denouncing U.S. immigration authorities, gathered in spots around the city. At least 42 Mexicans are being held in four detention centers after recent immigration raids in Los Angeles and four were deported, Mexico's Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente said during Monday's press conference. "We will continue our visits to monitor the Mexicans in detention centers in Los Angeles," De la Fuente said. He added that the vast majority of Mexicans detained were working when they were arrested.

Knocked up then locked up: Woman is caught smuggling drugs in fake baby bump
Knocked up then locked up: Woman is caught smuggling drugs in fake baby bump

Daily Mail​

time36 minutes ago

  • Daily Mail​

Knocked up then locked up: Woman is caught smuggling drugs in fake baby bump

A Colombian drug mule pretending to be pregnant was busted by cops after she was caught with a huge stash of narcotics in a pretend baby bump. The 27-year-old suspect was arrested on board a bus in the city of Cali after police discovered that she was wearing a latex belly, in which they found her to be hiding up to 5,600 individual doses of cocaine. The unnamed woman is said to have travelled from Narino in south-west Colombia and had been passing through Cali to reach the capital, Bogota, when she was intercepted by police. According to Colombian authorities, the sophisticated prosthetic bellies are purchased abroad by drug trafficking networks. Warning of the fake pregnancy tactic, Cali Police Commander Brigadier General Carlos Oviedo said in a statement: 'These types of garments are used as costume accessories or disguises to simulate pregnancies. 'Drug trafficking networks are purchasing them abroad for approximately [£590]. 'Once they arrive in the country, criminals replace the material of the fake gestational sac with illegal drugs and contact human couriers to arrange for the shipments to different cities in our country', he added. She had up to 5,600 individual doses of cocaine inside her latex belly Another official involved in the investigation told local press: 'This is a concerning new tactic.' 'These false bellies are not just props - they're part of a calculated effort to exploit human empathy and avoid suspicion.' Investigators are now working to determine whether the suspect is part of a larger network operating along high-traffic routes between Narino and Bogota. This is not the first time Colombian drug mules have been busted hiding narcotics in fake baby bumps. Back in 2022, five women were arrested after cops caught one of them concealing cocaine in a fake belly. Agents spotted that the woman was pretending to be pregnant while passing through security at Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport in the coastal city of Barranquilla. The woman, who was traveling with the rest of the suspects to Bogota, was pulled aside for a secondary inspection. Airport police detected several plastic wrapped bundles of the Type A party drug wrapped around her abdomen and placed her under arrest. Subsequently, the flight was temporarily grounded at the gate, allowing officers to search her four female companions, who also had the cocaine packages over their bellies. At least one of the women went inside the airplane's bathroom and removed three cocaine bundles before she was also busted. In all, authorities were able to seize 14 bundles of cocaine and confiscated an unknown amount of psychedelic drugs that Contreras was in possession of. Cocaine production in Colombia has been rising since 2013, according to the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime. A report published in October by the international organization found that the cultivation of coca bushes increased by 10 percent in Colombia in 2023, while potential cocaine production increased 53% from the previous year. While a 2016 peace agreement with the FARC rebels aimed to curb coca cultivation in rural areas, smaller armed groups have filled the power vacuum, actively promoting the lucrative cocaine trade.

Men deny attempting to smuggle cocaine into Cornwall
Men deny attempting to smuggle cocaine into Cornwall

BBC News

timean hour ago

  • BBC News

Men deny attempting to smuggle cocaine into Cornwall

Two men who deny smuggling more than 200kg of cocaine into the UK have gone on trial. Five other men previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle the drugs, worth more than £6m, into Cornwall, Truro Crown Court was jury heard the drugs were secreted aboard a cargo ship sailing from South America and then offloaded into the English Johnston, 37, of Havant, Hampshire and Michael May, 47, of Kelveden Hatch, Essex, deny a charge of conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the UK. 'Bales of drugs' Prosecutor Frederick Hookway told the jury a Border Force boat spotted a fast moving rigid inflatable boat (RIB) in the sea off Cornwall one morning in September last court heard the RIB sped off towards land and dumped drug bales into the sea after Border Force gave Hookway said the black watertight bales of drugs were fitted with a GPS tracking device attached to Apple air tags so they could be located by a second smaller boat to be taken to the Cornish court heard how Mr Johnston was one of three men on board the RIB and was found to have £2,615 in cash on other two other men on the vessel, Peter Williams, 43, of Havant, and Edwin Tabora Baca, 32, of Barcelona, Spain, have admitted a charge of drug landed the RIB at Gwynver beach near Sennen, where they attempted to run off in different directions before being arrested, the jury Hookway told the court the second defendant, Mr May, was arrested in a van on the Cornish coast, and alleged he was going to transport the unloaded drugs. 'Value of £6.2m' The court heard how a satellite phone was found in the target RIB showing where it had sailed, revealing it had left Mountbatten in Plymouth, Devon, the night before it was site analysis and number plate recognition inquiries showed the interaction between some of the men involved in the drug smuggling plot, the court Hookway said six bundles thrown into the sea were recovered and contained 230 blocks of high purity cocaine, weighing 1kg each, and with a wholesale value of £6.2m."It is suspected not all the discarded drugs were recovered," Mr Hookway two defendants deny the charge that they conspired with Peter Williams, Edwin Tabora Baca, Billy Pearce, Terry Willis, Alexander Fowley and others unknown to smuggle cocaine into the trial continues.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store