Mexico detains drug capo, alleged ally of fugitive Guzmán

By Dialogo
March 13, 2012

MEXICO CITY – Mexican officials said on March 12 that a suspected drug gang leader captured in western Mexico was allied to the country’s most wanted fugitive and behind the killings of dozens of his rivals.
Erick Valencia Salazar, alias “El 85,” captured in a major military raid on March 9 in the western city of Guadalajara, led the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, General Ricardo Trevilla, spokesman for the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA), said at a news conference.
Valencia Salazar set up the gang with brothers Óscar Orlando and Juan Carlos Nava Valencia, who have been detained, and worked for the Sinaloa drug gang of billionaire fugitive Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Trevilla said.
Valencia Salazar also allegedly created the Matazetas, or Zeta Killers, hit men blamed for killing dozens of Guzmán’s rivals from the Zetas drug gang in the eastern state of Veracruz.
[AFP, 12/03/2012; Laopinion.com (Mexico), 12/03/2012]