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A brawl with makeshift knives among members of the Sinaloa drug cartel left seven inmates wounded inside the Cereso No. 3 state prison in Juárez, the Chihuahua public safety secretary said.
The large fight on Sunday, Aug. 4, was due to “personal quarrels” among imprisoned cartel members, known as “Los Sinaloas” or “Los Chapos,” Gilberto Loya, public safety secretary for the state of Chihuahua, said at a news conference on Monday, Aug. 5. Initially, the fight was reported to be between members of Los Mexicles and La Empresa, although that was not confirmed by the authorities.
The brawl was not believed to be linked to the recent arrests in the El Paso area of reputed Sinaloa cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, Loya said.
The cartel brawl, involving fistfights and the use of makeshift shanks, was quelled by prison guards before the arrival of state police to the penitentiary, Loya said. A state police helicopter patrolled the area as a precaution against further trouble.
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The fighting resulted in 7 inmates requiring medical care — 4 remained hospitalized Monday and three others had been treated and released. 6 shanks were seized. “It wasn’t anything extraordinary,” Loya said.
Some of the inmates were transferred to a high-security module inside the penitentiary as a preventive measure to avoid more trouble, Loya said. The violence is under investigation by state police and prison intelligence officers.
Loya attributed the violence to overcrowding. Cereso No. 3 has a capacity of 2,800 prisoners but currently holds more than 4,100, he said. The state prison system is working on improvements and reassignment of inmates.
In recent years, the Cereso No. 3 state prison has been the scene of notorious gang-related violence.
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The aftermath led to the warden’s firing and the discovery of luxury “VIP” cells stocked with liquor, drugs, weapons and comforts, including a mechanical bull and a now infamous hairless prison cat with a gang tattoo.