“Sol Prendido” for Borderland Beat
Elements of the Secretary of the Navy (SEMAR) and the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) captured, on the afternoon of September 13, 2023, Norberto “N”, alias “El Socialitos”, alleged financial operator of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel, in the Valle Escondido golf club subdivision, located in the municipality of Atizapán de Zaragoza, in the State of Mexico.
The U.S. Government presented a provisional arrest warrant for extradition against “El Socialitos” for the crimes of money laundering and organized crime, due to the fact that Norberto “N” operated a front company located in the state of Nuevo León.
The Beltrán Leyva cartel is currently led by Sinaloa drug lord Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, alias “El Chapo Isidro”, who was also considered the right-hand man of Alfredo Beltrán Leyva, alias “El Mochomo”, before the latter’s arrest in 2008.
Born in 1982 in Bamoa, a Guasave syndicate, Meza Flores belonged to the Sinaloa Cartel as a teenager. But, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Sinaloa drug trafficker switched to the Beltran Leyva Cartel, of which he was one of the last leaders.
In that group, also known as “El Chapito” Isidro, he became the most important rival of Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, alias “El Chapo” Guzmán, when the latter was plotting his escape routes, according to the US Treasury Department.
Also Ismael Zambada García, alias “El Mayo”, after Arturo Beltrán Leyva, “El Barbas”, broke with the Sinaloa federation in 2008, due to the arrest of his brother Alfredo Beltrán, “El Mochomo”.
He formed an alliance with the former leader of “Los Mazatlecos”, Santiago Lizarraga Ibarra, alias “El Chagún”. The Deputy Attorney General’s Office Specializing in Organized Crime Investigations (SEIDO) of the Attorney General’s Office considered this organization, also known as “La Oficina,” to be extremely violent.
Meza Flores has escaped from various operations implemented by the National Defense Secretariat (Sedena), the Mexican Navy (Semar) and the Federal Police (PF), including one in 2013, when marines arrived at a wedding in the community of Santa Maria del Oro, Nayarit, where narco corrido singer Remmy Valenzuela was killed.
“El Chapo” Isidro was one of the 122 “priority targets”, alleged criminals who were listed by the Federal Government as being considered highly dangerous and the main generators of violence in the country.
