Unión Tepito Members Hunted Down Across Mexico City by CJNG-Back Rivals

By “El Huaso” for Borderland Beat

A flare up of violence between drug gang La Unión Tepito, Cartel de Tláhuac, and their Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) -backed rivals the Anti Unión Tepito, has resulted in a dozen targeted killings in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City. 

All killings have followed a similar modus operandi. Gunmen, usually on motorbikes, will drive up to their targets after dark, open fire, and flee once the target is killed. The large majority of these killings are occuring in Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City, especially the Centro Historico. One attack occured just three blocks from the National Palace.

According to Mexico City, Bertha Alcalde Luján, these attacks are related to violent reorganizations between criminal groups after the capture of their main leaders. The killings also follow one month after the CJNG released a narco video declaring war on the Tepito Union and the Tláhuac Cartel to “bring order” to Mexico City and the State of Mexico.

La Unión Tepito is the dominant criminal organization in Mexico City, behind drug dealing, prostitution, and extortion. According to InSight Crime, their rivals the Anti Unión Tepito began contesting the Unión Tepito’s territory around 2017. For years, the Anti Unión Tepito has received support from the CJNG, who aim to move into Mexico City. 

Events: 

29 July: Two armed assailants entered a parking lot on Lago Viedma Street in the Argentina Antigua neighborhood of Miguel Hidalgo and opened fire, killing one man and wounding a woman before fleeing the scene on a motorcycle.

29 July: A man was shot and killed while sitting inside a vehicle at the intersection of Tila and Boldo streets in the Victoria de las Democracias neighborhood.

29 July: Two men were gunned down by assassins on a motorbike at the intersection of La Turba Avenue and Delfín Street in colonia Del Mar.

29 July: A 16-year-old Unión Tepito member known as “El Dilan” was murdered late Wednesday night between Rivero and Matamoros streets in colonia Morelos of the Tepito neighborhood by a rival from the Anti Unión gang, who was arrested while fleeing.

27 July: Edgar ‘N’, alias “El Valentín”, a member of the Unión Tepito gang was killed in an ambush by two men on a motorcycle at the intersection of República de Brasil and Belisario Domínguez streets in the Cuauhtémoc borough. “El Valentín” died at the scene, while two others were wounded and taken to a hospital. The attack occurred just three blocks from the National Palace.

27 July: Esteban Gerardo, alias “El Diablo”, a lookout working for a local drug dealing gang, gunned down on Matamoros Street in the Morelos neighborhood of Cuauhtémoc borough.

26 July: Two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a group of men repairing a car at the intersection of Paseo de la Reforma and Comonfort in the Morelos neighborhood of Cuauhtémoc before fleeing. The attack left two dead and one injured.

18 July: Three people were wounded when two armed assailants opened fire outside a beer shop at the intersection of Jesús Carranza and Matamoros streets in the Morelos neighborhood of Cuauhtémoc before fleeing on a scooter.

14 July: Unión Tepito officer Lizeth Yuridia Juárez, alias “La Chofis”, was murdered in a parking lot in the Morelos neighborhood, in the Cuauhtémoc borough.

9 July: Jesús Ismael Mendoza, alias “El Maelo”, a Unión Tepito drug dealer was murdered by gunmen who arrived on a motorbike at a barbershop on Tenochtitlán Street in Tepito.

Sources: Publimetro, Milenio, Proceso, La Silla Rota, InSight Crime