24 Year Sentence Handed To Ex-Bodyguard of Nazario Moreno González, Former Leader of La Familia Michoacana

“MX” for Borderland Beat

A Mexican federal judge sentenced José Roberto de la Sancha Rodríguez, alias El Chivo, who was the bodyguard of Nazario Moreno González, alias El Chayo and/or El Más Loco, leader and founder of the La Familia Michoacana and the Knights Templar Cartel, to 24 years in prison. El Chivo was also in charge of supervising the activities of the criminal organization in the eastern region of Michoacán.

El Chivo was found criminally responsible for organized crime involvement, drug trafficking, and of violating Mexico’s Federal Law of Firearms and Explosives. The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) provided sufficient evidence to the judge, who handed down the 24 year sentence and ordered him to pay MXN$31,170 in fines.

According to court documents, El Chivo was arrested in October 2009 in Morelia, Michoacán. At the time of his arrest, El Chivo was based in Taretan municipality and was accussed of being the head of assassins for La Familia Michoacana in that region.

El Chivo and his associate Juan Estrada Rodríguez, alias ‘Charmín’, participated in the attempt to rescue high-ranking cartel boss Arnoldo Rueda Medina, alias ‘La Minsa’, who was arrested in July 2009. El Chivo was also suspected of being involved in the September 2009 murder of the Secretary of Public Security in Michoacan, José Manuel Revueltas López.

El Chivo is being held in the federal prison of El Rincón, in Tepic, Nayarit.

Nazario Moreno González

On March 9, 2014, the Mexican Navy and the Army killed Nazario Moreno Gonzalez in Tumbiscatío, Michoacán. This man was inadvertently presumed dead in December 9, 2010, during the administration of Felipe Calderón, following a massive shootout with security forces. His body was never recovered but officials assured he was dead for many years.

But the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto had reports, both from the self-defense groups, as well as from local authorities and anonymous people, that indicated that Moreno Gonzalez not only was still alive, but that he continued to conduct extortions, kidnappings, and drug trafficking operations.

The key piece of information that allowed security forces to know that he was still alive after the arrest of a man in February 2014. This individual confessed this body was hiding in Tumbiscatío. Authorities then proceeded to apprehend him and Moreno Gonzalez was killed in a shootout.

Moreno Gonzalez was notorious for ordering his opponents to be beheaded and indoctrinating young alcoholics and drug addicts into the cartel’s ranks, arguing that God had chosen him to accompany him in his cause.

Sources: Milenio; Proceso; El Universal