Mexico Under Siege

TIJUANA KILLINGS MAY SIGNAL FALL OF ARELLANO FELIX CARTEL

With Dozens of Bodies Found in the Last Week, Some in Law Enforcement
See 'The Tail End' Of the Organization. but Others Warn That Elements
of the Ruthless Cartel Remain Very Much Alive.

TIJUANA -- The birthplace of one of Mexico's most infamous drug
cartels looks more and more like its graveyard. Gunmen and associates
of the Arellano Felix cartel, rulers of the city's criminal underworld
for two decades, are being massacred by the score.

Their mangled bodies turn up in garbage-strewn lots, a dozen at a
time. Killers cut out their tongues, slice off heads, and leave behind
taunting messages. Two barrels of industrial acid left on a sidewalk
last week are believed to contain liquefied human remains.

In all, at least 57 suspected organized crime members, a majority of
them believed to be part of the Arellano Felix organization, were
killed in the last week, including 12 dumped in front of an elementary
school Sept. 29 and eight tossed in an industrial yard Thursday.

The carnage may be a sign that the cartel named for the Arellano Felix
brothers is fractured and vulnerable to contenders, inside and outside
the organization, who are looking to get control of lucrative
trafficking routes into the United States, according to law
enforcement sources.

Several forces have converged on the trafficking organization. The
U.S. government has dedicated tens of millions of dollars over two
decades to combating trafficking across the border with Baja
California. The Mexican government also has intensified its efforts
aimed at the cartel, which has splintered. Rival cartels have
attacked, announcing their arrival with the savage killings and
banners unfurled across busy intersections.

"El Mayo and El Chapo are the ones trying to enter Tijuana," read one
banner, referring to alleged trafficker Ismael Zambada, and Mexico's
most-wanted man, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa cartel.

"We are now seeing the tail end" of the Arellano Felix organization,
said John Kirby, a former federal prosecutor in San Diego who co-wrote
indictments against several members of the organization. "They're
losing what was left of their grip on Baja California."

Elements Survive

Not so fast, others warn. Elements of the organization, which earned
its ruthless reputation by turning back all challengers, remain very
much alive. Some of its deadliest assassins still roam the region. Its
reputed leader, Fernando Sanchez Arellano, nicknamed El Ingeniero, a
nephew of the group's founders, is believed to have a large war chest.
The organization retains strong ties to law enforcement. And a
contender for control has emerged from within the Arellano Felix
organization.

"Old cartels don't seem to go away; they just seem to morph into new
variants over time," said David Shirk, director of the Trans-Border
Institute at the University of San Diego. "There's strong continuity
for these organizations, dating back multiple generations of smugglers."

The cartel came to power in the 1980s when Colombian cocaine barons,
shut out of traditional trafficking routes across the Caribbean Sea
into Florida, began partnering with Mexican crime groups.

The Arellano Felix brothers -- Benjamin, Ramon, Javier -- moved in
from Sinaloa and provided the perfect springboard. From their Tijuana
stronghold, they controlled trafficking routes into California, the
biggest drug market in a country that is the biggest consumer of
cocaine in the world.

By the 1990s, the brothers were smuggling tons of cocaine into the
U.S., mostly through the crossing at Mexicali, and killing anyone in
their way. Authorities believe they killed hundreds, including
prosecutors, police and judges.

The cartel suffered its biggest blows in 2002, when Ramon was gunned
down by police in Mazatlan. With the feared enforcer out of the way,
Mexican authorities weeks later arrested his brother Benjamin, the
reputed brains of the organization.

Javier, often likened by authorities to the inept Fredo Corleone of
"The Godfather" film clan, managed to keep the cartel together with
the help of brutal and loyal lieutenants.

But after his 2006 arrest on a boat off Baja California, one associate
after another began to fall. Gustavo Rivera, an alleged top
lieutenant, was arrested outside a hot dog stand in Cabo San Lucas in
March. Days later, Saul Montes, identified by authorities as an
enforcer, was pulled out of his car by police at the Baja 250 off-road
race. In August, another reputed enforcer, Ruben Rios Estrada,
nicknamed El Pit, was dragged away from the bingo tables at a local
casino by federal agents.

The cartel's leadership is said to have passed to Sanchez Arellano,
the son of an Arellano Felix sister. Not much is known about Sanchez
Arellano and it's unclear whether Mexican authorities even know what
he looks like. They have not released a photo, as they commonly do for
drug suspects.

Sanchez Arellano's attempts at reviving the family legacy have been
blocked by his chief rival, Teodoro Garcia Simental, nicknamed El Teo,
a former cartel lieutenant who broke off earlier this year, according
to law enforcement authorities.

Garcia often is blamed for the spate of abductions over the last few
years, which have turned the city into one of the kidnapping capitals
of the world. By April, the medical community, led by physicians who
had been held for ransom, was threatening to stop treating patients in
Tijuana.

Sanchez Arellano demanded a halt or cutback in the kidnappings because
they were bringing down too much heat on the organization, according
to Mexican media reports confirmed by Mexican law enforcement
authorities.

Garcia allegedly refused, leading to an April gun battle between the
rival groups that left 15 gunmen dead. Garcia fled to Sinaloa after
the shooting. Tijuana enjoyed a relatively peaceful early summer.

Then in late August, four decapitated bodies were found in an empty
lot. Their heads, charred from gasoline burns, were left at their
feet, along with a message, "We are people of the weakened Engineer,"
referring to Sanchez Arellano.

Killing Field

Since then, Tijuana has turned into a killing field of burned,
decapitated and mangled bodies, many bearing similar messages.

"I think Teo's back, with a vengeance," said one U.S. federal
anti-drug official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is
not authorized to speak with the media.

Garcia's fierce offensive suggests that he has formed alliances with
outside organized crime groups, possibly the Sinaloa cartel. The
powerful Gulf cartel also could be operating in the city, said Martin
Rubio, the Mexican federal attorney general's top official in Baja
California, who said the beheadings were the telltale signatures of
the Texas-based organization.

The main battle for now appears to be between the cartel leader and
the renegade lieutenant. Sanchez Arellano is said to control the
coastal area; Garcia, the sprawling eastern part of the city. Each
leader has an army of about 100 gunmen who roam in convoys of SUVs,
according to the U.S. anti-drug official.

If Sanchez Arellano claims the intimidating pedigree, Garcia boasts
the fiercer reputation. One of his top enforcers, Raydel Rosalio
Lopez, is nicknamed Crutches because he has left so many of his
victims disabled.

They're apparently the lucky ones.

Police found eight more bodies Friday. Two had been decapitated, their
tongues cut out and their heads placed atop their torsos. The killers
left behind another message, according to the Baja California attorney
general's office.

"Here you go Engineer," wrote the killers.