"El 35": Official Biography of a Captured Killer

From an official government communique issued a few days after his capture: Jesús Armando Acosta, 35, was a major operative in Cd. Juarez, involved in trafficking of drugs, assassinations, kidnapings, and other activities for La Linea. He spent part of 1999 and 2004 in the municipal jail of Juarez for drug violations, and was in jail on February 19 of this year. According to national Public Safety Department in Mexico City press release, he received orders directly from José Antonio Acosta Hernández, alias “El Diego,” second in command behind Juan Pablo Ledezma, alias "El JL," a top operator for Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, who heads the Juarez cartel.

Jesús Armando Acosta, alias “el 35”, was responsible for coordinating and operating kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking in downtown Juarez and Anapra, as well as in various bars in the city such as Arriba Chihuahua, V-Bar, Mirage, Club 16, Aristos, El Rodeo, and El Ghost.

He is believed to have planned and executed assassinations against rival gangs, especially the "Artistas Asesinos," (tragically a.k.a. Doble A in the case of the high school football team), who work for the Sinaloa cartel. He is believed to have participated in at least 25 murders, the last of which were two members of "Los Mexicles," who also work for the Sinaloa carte. He is said to have ordered the narco-messages that threatened the federal police, and to have ordered the execution of law enforcement officials of various police agencies, such as the murder of two federal police killed in the vicinity of the Arriba Chihuahua bar.

He is also said to have been in charge of bribing local, state, and federal authorities to obtain institutional protection or to get confidential information about his organization. In this effort he is said to have provided over $1000 (U.S.) per week for each cell in his organization to a source known as "the legend," who was in charge of getting the money to authorities.

He also supervised security protection to safe houses and wholesale points of sale for illicit drugs. He was in charge of finding military weapons, ammunition, and radios for members of his organization.

His capture last week is believed to have precipitated the car bombing on 16 de Septiembre, in which four persons were killed and eleven wounded. Narco-messages put up after the event threatened more car bombings.

Source: Dirección General de Comunicación Social. Secretaría de Seguridad Pública, (SSP). For internet access to this communique click here.