An aspiring mayor-turned-gang leader committed a cardinal sin in the Mexican criminal world that led to the deaths of nine students – whose bodies were found mutilated on the same day he was executed.
A government official with knowledge of the investigation told DailyMail.com that José ‘EL Jocha’ Lavariega invited the victims, members of ‘Los Brujos,’ to spend time in Oaxaca.
‘They’re friends,’ the official said. ‘He told them, “Listen why don’t you come down here for a few days.”‘ After the invitation to come to the city, the victims allegedly asked the cartel boss if it would be fine for them to ‘steal’ and engage in other criminal activity while in Oaxaca, according to the source.
Lavariega eventually led the young adults to their own carnage by giving them the green light. When he was asked if the young group could steal from businesses in Oaxaca, he responded, ‘there’s no problem,’ the insider said.
The group of students from Tlaxcala – five men and four women – took Lavariega for his word, and set out to commit a wave of muggings and thefts.
However, it did not sit well with one of the drug-selling criminal groups that operates in Oaxaca – since the Los Brujos gang overstepped the line with their menacing activity on rival turf.
‘There is another local criminal group that controls the area near the coast of Oaxaca. And then what happened, happened,’ the official told DailyMail.com, referencing the horrific murders and mutilations.
The complex web of criminals in the area have an unspoken rule to steer clear of committing crimes that could harm local residents – but chaos ensued when the group of nine students transgressed these street orders, the government source said.
Pictured: José ‘EL Jocha’ Lavariega. He is the boss of a cartel, who allegedly invited the victims to spend time in Oaxaca – where they decided to go on a robbery spree
Authorities are seen here investigating the scene were nine missing students were found dead Sunday next to a road in San Jose Miahuatla, a city in Puebla, Mexico
‘The business model of the criminal group, that is most powerful right now, is the sale of drug dealing to tourists,’ the official said. ‘So, they have an agreement not to commit robberies – because robbery is a crime that affects ordinary citizens.’
The visiting victims formed part of a ‘Los Brujos’ cell known as ‘Los Zacapoaxtlas’ and allegedly robbed $19,000 from a man at Santander Bank in Santa Cruz Huatulco on February 14.
On February 17, they near stole an ATM downtown Huatulco and attempted to rob a business at a shopping center.
The source said that those incidents ‘heated up the area,’ which led the Oaxaca gang to respond.
On February 27, a group of men, who identified themselves as police, arrived at Hospedaje Jocha, a small hotel in the Oaxaca town of Huatulco that was owned by Lavariega.
One of the surviving victims, 19-year-old Brenda Salas, told the Tlaxcala State Attorney General’s Office that the Huatulco Municipal officer forced her and her friend, 29-year-old Angie Pérez, into a marked vehicle and kidnapped and beat them.
Salas was found Monday – abandoned on a road in Puebla – one day before the dismembered remains of Pérez and the other victims were discovered under a tarp and in the trunk of a car that was abandoned on the side of a highway.
Brenda Salas (pictured) was rescued by Mexican authorities Monday, a day after nine missing students were found dismembered and abandoned under a tarp
Lesly Noya was named as one of the nine missing students whose dismembered bodies were found on Sunday
Local outlets reported that José Lavariega, (pictured), owned the hotel where the students were staying before they were kidnapped
The other victims were identified as Rubén Ramos, Rolando Evaristo and Uriel Calva, each 22; Raúl González and Noemí López, both 28; and Lesly Noya, 21.
The Mexican government official’s theory came just as the Oaxaca State Attorney General’s Office announced Thursday that it has launched an investigation into the possible criminal involvement of police officers.
Oaxaca Governor Salomón Jara was questioned during a press conference on Tuesday about allegations that police officers were behind the brutal murders and kidnappings.
He said that the accused cops, who have not been identified, will be prosecuted under the fullest extent of the law if the allegations are true.
‘If there is a complaint and the people who were [forcefully] detained by the police have to file a complaint, it cannot be allowed that a state or municipal police officer detains a person, dumps him or her away and abandons him or her, or that person is hurt or beaten or can be tortured. The law already punishes people who commit these types of acts,’ Jara said.
José Lavariega’s killers left behind a sign on top of his body that was written in Spanish and read: ‘This is what you get for being a thief’
The official said that authorities are also investigating the murder of Lavariega, which occurred on Sunday.
The killers left a note over his body that read in Spanish: ‘This is what you get for being a thief.’
Five of the victims were buried in Tlaxcala on Wednesday and the burial of another person was scheduled for Thursday, Mexican news outlet Milenio reporter.
