“HEARST” for Borderland Beat
El Acelerado, a Sinaloa Cartel – Rusos figure who is allegedly “close with Mayo”, was arrested by Mexican authorities in Baja California for three charges against him in the US. The circumstances of his arrest point towards a set up by other Rusos members.
The Arrest
State Police officers and federal (FGR) agents closed in on a Sinaloa Cartel – Los Rusos operator as he drove down the highway to the airport in predawn hours of Thursday, April 20, 2023. The operator is named David Fernando Vásquez Bejarano but he goes by the alias “El Acelerado”.
At 2:09 am, authorities approached him and he was officially detained at some point near the kilometer 11 mark on the highway.
A few grams of cocaine were found among his possessions and seized by authorities. But any potential drug possession charges were scarcely even considered.
El Acelerado had been detained due to three far more serious charges against him in the US, which were:
- The crime of conspiracy
- The distribution of narcotics
- The importation and transportation of controlled substances, in the form of drug trafficking
The US requested El Acelerado’s extradition and this led to Mexico issuing court order number 42/2021, which called for his arrest. As of the writing of this story, further details about the three US charges are unknown.
So, just how important is this guy? Milenio newspaper writes that ”according to Federal government intelligence sources, he [Acelerado] is considered a man close to Ismael El Mayo Zambada, alias ‘El Señor del Sombrero’, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel.”
The weekly magazine Zeta Tijuana claims that “according to local authorities, El Acelerado is considered an objective almost equally as important as Jesús Alexander Sánchez Félix, alias El Ruso.”
El Ruso is the founder and former leader of Los Rusos. Rumors alleged that he is currently semi-retired, playing more of a mentor role to the current leader of Rusos, P1.
Of note, Zeta Tijuana emphasized that El Acelerado was “usually accompanied by bodyguards” but he happened to be traveling alone when authorities closed in on him. This fact, coupled with the timing and location of the arrest, strongly suggests that Acelerado was set up to be turned in by Sinaloa Cartel (CDS) figures close to him.
Narco-Corridos
There are no details about El Acelerado in any news report prior to his arrest. Zeta Tijuana claims that Acelerado “navigated with a low profile, because he directed the transfer of drugs to the United States.”
Milenio, at least, points in the direction of some potential information, saying “El Acelerado has several narcorridos [ballads which praise cartel figures] where he is said to be a violent man.”
Now within the narco-corrido world, there are a lot of songs called “El Acelerado” – most of which are not about Vásquez Bejarano. Some of these songs are actually about Rusos rivals – los Chapitos, such as Banda Tres Rios’s song El Acelerado, which is for Ivan Archivaldo.
But there is at least one song about Vásquez Bejarano, a track from Beto Vega which references riding around the beaches of Baja of California.
It includes all the boring flexes which mention ATVs, iPhones, yachts, and blended scotch, along with an especially gross conquistadors reference about how “his white skin has helped him to conquer territories.”
The only piece of information throughout the whole song is a single reference to clubbing in Mazatlan – I know, I know, a CDS figure partying in Mazatlan? Groundbreaking.
The Leadership Structure of Los Rusos
Since the narco-corridos are a dead end, let’s return back to the alleged set-up of Acelerado and the Rusos figures who might have turned him in.
First, thing to know is that Los Rusos, which translates as the Russians, although they are not ethnically Russians, is a Sinaloa Cartel group which operates in Mexicali, Baja California. Mexicali is a major port of entry to the US and a key drug smuggling territory.
Los Rusos are associated with El Mayo and they report under Mayo’s son-in-law Juan Carlos Felix Gastélum , alias “El Chavó Felix.” As a side note, it’s locally rumored that Chavo Felix had bariatric surgery at some point during the last decade and more recent images of him show him appearing considerably slimmer.
The current leader of los Rusos is Alfonso Peralta, alias “El P1”, and it is P1 who is the most likely to have participated (or approved) turning in El Acelerado. It’s hard to imagine that the personal security detail for the Rusos figure in charge of US drug distribution was removed without P1’s knowledge.
It’s worth noting that P1 may have been involved in a similar move two years ago when the supposed “leader of Rusos” Felipe Eduardo Barajas Lozano, alias “El Omega”, was arrested by municipal police officers after an anonymous phone call reported gunfire in the area.
El Omega, it turned out, was not the real leader of Rusos, but instead acted more as a public face for the group, according to local rumors.
Omega was, in a sense, the perfect fall guy to take the law enforcement heat that accumulated from Rusos’ constant battle with Los Salazars for the nearby territory of SLRC.
Hopefully in the coming days, more details about El Acelerado will emerge, giving us all better insight into the inner workings of Los Rusos.
Special thanks to Borderland Beat’s Ivan and Obscuro’s Gary.
Sources: Zeta Tijuana, Los Noiticieristas, Lopez Doriga, Milenio, Tiempo, Vanguardia Veracruz, Diario de Colima, TeleDiario, Linea Directa Portal, Beto Vega
Further Reading
Read an overview of the region Mexicali lies within
Read about the December 2022 Attempt to Kill El Ruso