Exclusive: The Plan For Sinaloa's War
Mayito Flaco met with Chapo Isidro and José Gil Caro in Los Sitios
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The narco bosses arrived at a ranch in the arid hills near the Sinaloan villages known as Los Sitios on the morning of Sept. 2 to finalize the plans for war. Leading the meeting was Ismael Zambada Sicairos, or “Mayito Flaco,” the 42-year old son of the legendary drug lord El Mayo. His father was said to have been doubled-crossed, kidnapped and forced onto a plane to be handed to U.S. agents and Mayito Flaco wanted revenge.
A crucial presence at the council of war was Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, also known as Chapo Isidro, a major trafficker with a strong base in the northern Sinaloa town of Guasave and influence far beyond. Short and stocky, Isidro shares the “Chapo” nickname with the infamous Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, but he had been on the opposing side in several conflicts.
Another key attendee was José Gil Caro Quintero, known as “Pelo Chino” or “Curly,” a cousin (although commonly referred to as a nephew) of eighties drug lord Rafael “Caro” Quintero, blamed for the death of DEA agent Kiki Camarena. The younger Caro Quintero took over his uncle’s faction of the Sinaloa mob in Sonora and also runs operations in Veracruz, Chiapas and Quintana Roo, where he flew in from.
They had been negotiating since the arrest of Mayo on July 25 but the meeting was a chance to seal their alliance in person and finalize details. Chapo Isidro and Caro Quintero pledged to send sicarios, money and guns to support Mayito Flaco in the attack on the Chapitos, or sons of El Chapo. The Chapitos were blamed for the treason against Mayo, but the bosses also had various beefs with them.
The description of the meeting comes from an operator close to the Caro Quintero faction in Sonora who spoke to CrashOut. As with all sources in the narco world, the testimony is taken with caution but the operator has a track record of giving reliable information and further corroborating links that give him credibility.
“They want to fumigate the Chapitos,” he said. “There is going to be a lot of violence.”
That violence erupted on Monday, Sept. 9, a week after the meeting, when a convoy of gunmen attacked targets in the Sinaloa town of Costa Rica and firefights erupted in the heart of the state capital Culiacán. The battle has continued to rage throughout this week with shoot outs and thugs burning trucks and houses. By Wednesday night, the Sinaloa attorney general’s office announced an official death toll of nine, as well as 14 kidnappings. But the real figure is likely much higher as cartels will often take away the corpses of their fallen.
The Mexican army has sent troops and special forces onto the streets but they have been unable to contain the violence, which has forced schools to shut, businesses to close and residents to cower in their homes. Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha on Wednesday called for calm but conceded there would likely more be violence, which was a rather frank admission that the government was incapable of keeping order - or chose not to.
“You have been impacted by violent events,” Rocha said. “It’s probable that we will now have more similar events, the presence of armed groups.”
Map showing location of war meeting near the villages of Sitio de Abajo and Nicolás del Sitio (Sitio de Arriba) which are known as Los Sitios.
A Call To Banners
It is tough to estimate how many gunmen in total are active in the Mayos-Chapitos war now raging. But at the meeting near Los Sitios, the source said, Chapo Isidro pledged to send…
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