Police Arrest 'El Primo', Head of the Nuevo Imperio Cartel and one of the State of Mexico's Most-Wanted

“MX” for Borderland Beat

Oscar Antonio Garcia Alvarado (alias “El Primo”), one of the State of Mexico’s most-wanted kingpins, was arrested in Tecamac municipality earlier this week.

Authorities say he was the suspected boss of the Cártel Nuevo Imperio (New Empire Cartel, CNI), a little-known criminal group in the Greater Mexico City area. This gang is involved in drug dealing, kidnappings, and extortions in several municipalities in the region.

In a statement, authorities said that this subject is part of the list of the 47 most-wanted criminals in the State of Mexico. The Attorney General’s Office of the State of Mexico (FGJEM) was offering a reward of up to MXN$300,000 (about US$20,000) for information leading to his arrest since 2018. They said El Primo was one of the main “generators of violence in the State of Mexico”.

In addition to this, El Primo had two pending arrest warrants issued against him by judges in the districts of Tlanepantla and Cuautitlán, for aggravated homicide. Investigators say he is linked to more than 20 other murders in the area.

The arrest was conducted after a woman called the police and told them that three men in a gray vehicle had robbed her at gunpoint. The police eventually found the vehicle in question and arrested the three suspects after they found the woman’s belongings and the firearm they used. When officers reviewed their database, they were surprised to learn that El Primo was one of the detainees.

Background

The Nuevo Imperio Cartel began operating in 2017, after the arrest of Nahum Abraham Sicairos Montalvo (alias” El Quinceañero”), operator of Dámaso López Serrano (alias “El Mini Lic”), former high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel.

“The day after El Quinceañero was captured, the first narcobanners (narcomantas) of the Nuevo Imperio Cartel appeared, threatening all the other groups in that area,” a journalist from the State of Mexico said.

Authorities have not confirmed if the Nuevo Imperio Cartel works with other drug cartels. As reported by Borderland Beat, up to 40 gangs operate in the Greater Mexico City area. Some groups have alliances with each other but operate independently, while others are direct rivals.

Members of this criminal group extort merchants and business owners in Mexico City through derecho/cobro de piso (“user rights”), a form of extortion where businesses are forced to pay criminals periodically in order to be able to work. This is a tactic that is prevalent in Mexico, as documented by Borderland Beat.

Sources: Milenio; Silla Rota (1); (2); Infobae; Noticias en la Mira; Borderland Beat archives