JUAREZ POLICE ARREST MAN LINKED TO SLAYINGS OF 200

A reputed Azteca gang lieutenant allegedly involved in 200 murders was
arrested along with other gang members early Thursday at a Mexican
army checkpoint on a Juarez street, military officials said.

[name redacted], known as "[nickname redacted]" or "[nickname redacted",
told authorities he committed about 140 murders and ordered the deaths
of about 60 other people in the past seven years, officials with Joint
Operation Chihuahua said.

If the admission is true, it would make the short and portly [name redacted]
not only one of the most prolific murderers in Mexico's deadliest city
but also one of the worst killers in world history.

The world's deadliest serial killer is Thug Behram of India, who is
said to have murdered 931 people in the 1800s, according to several
Web sites about serial killers.

Another serial killer, Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski, was a contract
killer reputed to have murdered more than 200 men for the Italian Mafia.

The Aztecas are reputedly allied with the Juarez drug cartel, which is
battling the Sinaloa cartel in a war that has claimed more than 4,000
lives in Juarez since January 2008.

[name redacted] is accused of leading a crew involved in street-level drug
dealing in downtown Juarez, officials said.

The crew also targeted enemies such as the Mexicles and Artistas
Asesinos (Artist Assassins) gangs, the Sinaloa cartel and independent
drug dealers, known as chapulines (grasshoppers).

Military officials alleged that [name redacted]'s crew was responsible for
killing five Mexicles in an attack last June on a drug rehabilitation
center and for the 11 people slain at the Fasterday bar, before the
place was set on fire.

At 5:30 a.m. Thursday, [name redacted] and three other alleged Aztecas were
arrested when their car was stopped at a street checkpoint in the
Chavena area south of downtown Juarez, officials said.

In the car, soldiers found three handguns, an AK-47 and 155 pounds of
marijuana.

Also arrested were:

[name2 redacted], accused in two murders.

[name3 redacted], accused in four slayings.

[name4 redacted], who is accused in 64
murders after leaving prison earlier this year.

[name4 redacted] had been arrested in November 2008 on firearm and drug
possession charges but was released after three months in prison,
military officials said.

At another checkpoint Thursday morning, soldiers arrested [name5 redacted],
who is also allegedly an Azteca working for Mendoza. [name5 redacted] is
accused in 28 slayings and five kidnappings.

The Aztecas in Mexico are a brother organization to the El Paso-based
Barrio Azteca prison gang, which has members in several U.S. cities
and has been the focus of FBI organized crime investigations.

The men arrested on Thursday allegedly told Mexican investigators they
took direct orders from the Azteca gang boss, who was identified only
as "[name6 redacted]" and who lives in Las Vegas.

"We do not believe that is the case," said Special Agent Andrea
Simmons, a spokeswoman for the FBI in El Paso. She said the FBI was
not aware whether the men arrested in Juarez held any significant
leadership rank in the gang.

The Azteca arrests occurred as checkpoints and stops of suspicious
vehicles are being increased in Juarez in an effort to find weapons
and curb an upswing in killings.

Chihuahua state police reported 13 homicides on Tuesday, 17 on
Wednesday and 10 as of Thursday evening, including a city police
officer. Jesus Alberto Soto Soria, 31, was shot and killed when gunmen
ambushed his patrol vehicle.