Teodoro García Simental

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is García and the second or maternal family name is Simental.

Teodoro García Simental (a.k.a.: El Teo and El Tres Letras, born 1974) is a former lieutenant of the Mexican criminal organization known as the Tijuana Cartel, and later allied with the Sinaloa Cartel.^[7] He was arrested by Mexican Federal Police - Special Forces on 12 January 2010 in La Paz, Baja California Sur.^[6][8]

Teodoro García Simental
Born	1974 Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico
Other names	El Teo,^[1] El Tres Letras,^[2] El Lalo,^[3] El Alamo;^[3] El K-1^[4]
Occupation	Drug lord
Employer(s)	Tijuana Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel
Known for	Drug trafficking, kidnapping, extortion
Successor	Manuel Garcia Simental
Notes
US$2 million bounty.^[5] Arrested on January 12, 2010.^[6]

Biography

He started working for Tijuana Cartel in 1995, along with his brother, Antonio García Simental,^[9][10][11] (alias "8-9" or "El Chris"),^[12][13][14] who was a cartel enforcer,^[15] under the orders of Ramón Arellano Félix. When the Tijuana Cartel leader Eduardo Arellano Félix was arrested on October 25, 2008, a violent power struggle erupted between Teodoro García and Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano over the leadership of the Tijuana cartel.^[16][17] Teodoro García left the organization, formed his own gang, and forged an uneasy alliance with the rival Sinaloa Cartel.^{[18][19][20][21]} When splitting from the Tijuana Cartel, his faction engaged in a war with it, which caused violent crime in Tijuana to increase significantly.^[22] According to Tijuana's Chief of Police, García was principally responsible in the late 2000s for the increase in the number of homicides in the city.^[22]

Teodoro García is best known for running an extortion and kidnapping network,^[22][23] and is also known for dissolving the bodies of those who are in business with rival drug gangs by drowning them in caustic soda.^[23][24] Upon being arrested, García's lieutenant, Santiago Meza López — known as the Stew Maker, claimed to have dissolved over three hundred bodies this way in 2008.^[24][25] The Mexican Army stated that it believed Meza's claims to be true.^[25]

Arrest

The Mexican Federal Police was offering a $2 million USD bounty for information leading to the capture of Teodoro García Simental.^[5] He was also wanted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Teodoro García Simental was arrested on January 12, 2010, by Mexican Federal Police in a luxury home complex named Fidepaz, located in La Paz, Baja California Sur.^[6][8] He was arrested together with an individual by the name of Diego Raymundo Guerrero García. One month later, on February 7, 2010, Manuel García Simental, Teodoro's younger brother and lieutenant, was arrested in the Baja California port city of La Paz.^[26] Authorities feared Manuel was planning to reignite a gang war for control of Tijuana's drug trafficking routes.^[26]

See also

• Mérida Initiative
• Mexican Drug War
• List of Mexico's 37 most-wanted drug lords
• War on Drugs

References

1. Cops nab infamous Mexican drug lord Teodoro (El Teo) Garcia Simental; dissolved 300 people in acid. 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine Helen Kennedy. Daily News. New York. 12 January 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
2. "Officials: Mexican drug kingpin captured: Alleged Drug Lord Bio" . 2011-02-07 at the Wayback Machine USA Today, 12 January 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
3. El fiscal de la SIEDO obtuvo nuevo auto de formal prision contra Teodoro Garcia Simental, alias "El Teo". 2013-05-22 at the Wayback Machine Procuraduria General de la Republica. Mexico City, Mexico. 6 March 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
4. Detiene Policía Federal a El Teo en BCS: Captura Policía Federal a quien fuera sicario del cártel de los Arellano Félix, en un operativo en el que participaron más de 50 elementos policiacos. 2010-01-15 at the Wayback Machine El Universal. Mexico City, Mexico. 12 January 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
5. Ellingwood, Ken (March 24, 2009). "Mexico offers $2-million rewards for top drug suspects". Los Angeles Times. from the original on 2013-02-07. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
6. "Detiene Policía Federal a El Teo en BCS". El Universal (in Spanish). January 12, 2010. from the original on 2010-01-15. Retrieved 2010-01-12.
7. "Cae decapitador y sicario de 'El Teo'". El-mexicano.com.mx. from the original on 2016-08-12. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
8. Marosi, Richard; Ellingwood, Ken (13 January 2010). "Mexican drug lord Teodoro Garcia Simental, known for his savagery, is captured". Los Angeles Times. from the original on 2010-01-16. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
9. ""El Teo" mandó matar a su novia". El-mexicano.com.mx. from the original on 2018-04-20. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
10. "CAF, una historia de relevos". Zetatijuana.com. 30 June 2014. from the original on 25 November 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
11. "Nos dijeron que el Chapo estaba muerto". Riodoce.mx. 2 August 2015. from the original on 2018-04-09. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
12. . Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-08-12.
13. [1]^{[dead link]}
14. . Archived from the original on 2016-11-25. Retrieved 2015-08-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
15. . Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-08-12.
16. Brown, Dwane; Amy Isackson; Alan Ray (January 9, 2009). "DEA Releases Wanted Poster". KPBS. from the original on 2009-08-06. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
17. (PDF). Usdoj.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 May 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
18. Sosa Cabrios, Andrea; Sandoval, Francisco (March 10, 2009). "Raid on Mexico birthday party nets drug boss, police". Monsters and Critics. from the original on 2009-04-29. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
19. . Archived from the original on 2008-08-18. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
20. . Correo-gto.com.mx. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
21. . www.mexiconews.com.mx. Archived from the original on 22 June 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
22. "Mexico's drug barons and police locked in an increasingly violent battle for supremacy". The Telegraph. March 18, 2009. from the original on 2009-03-25. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
23. Marosi, Richard (December 18, 2008). "Mexico's drug war: Mystery man blamed for gruesome deaths in Tijuana, Mexico". Los Angeles Times. from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
24. "Brutal stew: Mexican gang member dissolves 300 bodies". Australian Associated Press. January 24, 2009. Retrieved March 26, 2009.^{[permanent dead link]}
25. "Mexico man 'dissolved 300 bodies'". BBC News. January 24, 2009. from the original on 2009-02-19. Retrieved March 26, 2009.
26. Richard Marosi (February 8, 2010). "Reputed drug cartel leader "Muletas" and another suspected gangster are arrested in Baja California". Los Angeles Times. from the original on 2010-02-12. Retrieved 2010-02-09.

External links

 

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