“Socalj” for Borderland Beat
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Juan Sillas-Rocha, 45, of Tijuana, Mexico (initially from Sinaloa), pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance, Continuing Criminal Enterprise, and Conspiracy to Commit Murder in Furtherance of the Continuing Criminal Enterprise before Chief Judge Peter Welte in Fargo, North Dakota. Sentencing will be scheduled at a later time.
On March 31, 2011, Sillas-Rocha, also known as “El Rueda” was indicted by a grand jury in North Dakota in a Superseding Indictment on those three counts.
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Background on “El Rueda”
Sillas began his career by robbing drug dealers, often killing them in an attempt to exert control over the plazas that belonged to Teodoro García Simenta, “El Teo.” His primary objective was to dismantle distribution cells in Baja California that were loyal to the Sinaloa Cartel (CDS). With this task, he also had the backing of the Tijuana cartel (CAF) who were seeking to reestablish control over their territories and smuggling routes.
Operation Speed Racer
As outlined at the plea hearing today before Judge Welte, an investigation was initiated in 2004 in Fargo, North Dakota, into the drug-trafficking activities of local drug dealers. The investigation “Operation Speed Racer” revealed that from January 2002 until December 2005, Jorge Arandas, “Sneaky,” supervised a continuing criminal enterprise responsible for transporting large quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana to North Dakota and Minnesota from Washington, California, and Mexico. Arandas was supplied by Juan Sillas-Rocha or employees of Sillas-Rocha.
Lee Avila Murder
Gabriel Martinez – Life
Jorge Arandas – 40 years
Michael Petzold – 30 years
Alan Wessels – 23 years
Martin Carrillo – 20 years
After the arrest of Javier Arellano-Felix in 2006, his nephew, Fernando Sanchez-Arellano, “El Ingeniero,” assumed control of the AFO. Under the leadership of Fernando Sanchez-Arellano, Sillas-Rocha became a very powerful lieutenant in the cartel, controlling cells that were responsible for drug trafficking, armed conflicts with rival cartels, kidnappings, and numerous murders. Sillas-Rocha once boasted to authorities he killed up to 30 people a month during the Felix cartel’s prime in Tijuana, according to a detective in North Dakota.
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| “El Teo” Sinaloa Cartel’s Tijuana Plaza Boss |
Sinaloa Cartel Kidnappings
According to Sedena, Sillas-Rocha is credited with the kidnapping of three women, relatives of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, one of the most powerful leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, which occurred on September 25, 2010, in Tijuana.
The background on this kidnapping stemmed from brokering peace in Tijuana between the two rival cartels. Representatives of the Sinaloa cartel had arrived in Tijuana with fiscal incentives in order to “bring peace to the plaza,” giving “El Teo” and “El Sillas” the authority over the area. They spoke of ending the internal struggles that had brought forth these bloody confrontations, and they would do this while still paying the CAF the right to use the plaza of Tijuana to smuggle their drugs into the U.S. through various cells.
This is how the CAF and Sillas began to lose control of the plaza. “El Ingeniero” openly supported El Ruedas until September 2010 when Sillas kidnapped the aunt, cousin, and niece of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. This aggressive action causes the Sinaloa cartel to put a large price on the head of Juan Sillas Rocha.
“El Ingeniero” allowed “El Sillas” to be expelled from the CAF to show he was not supporting the kidnapping, and thus avoided a war with the CDS.
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ZETA Newspaper Threats
He issued death threats in 2010 against Adela Navarro Bello the director and also an editor of Semanario ZETA. US authorities had intercepted phone calls that the cartel looked to target “ZETA Editors”.
The Mexican army confirmed the threat and assigned seven soldiers each to the top three editors for more than two months, until after the suspects were arrested. In May of that year, authorities arrested a group of hitmen who plotted to carry out the threat by attacking the Zeta Tijuana offices using grenades.
Zeta reported that a Sinaloa cartel operative was recruiting hit men in San Diego, that authorities freed alleged cop killers, and that traffickers in small towns east of Tijuana paid off police to allow street-level drug dealing. “It’s not easy to take this route and commit to doing these investigations, but it’s what we do,” Navarro said, speaking in a newspaper conference room that features a portrait of Blancornelas above the manual typewriter he used as a cub reporter in the 1950s.
Zeta’s editors say they are honoring Blancornelas and their colleagues who have been gunned down: co-founder Hector Felix in 1988, Blancornelas’ driver, Luis Valero, in 1997, and editor Francisco Ortiz in 2004.
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2011 Arrest
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Victor Magana – 15 years
Danny Cepallo – 5 years
2022 Extradition