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guay with her husband, after the Panama
Papers revealed they owned millions in
illegal assets.
The agency behind the Hotelito’s un-
maskingwastheU.S.Treasury’sOfficeof
Foreign Asset Control, or OFAC. “Our job
is similar to any law-enforcement agent’s
–wejustdon’tarrestpeople,”anOFAC
investigator says. Instead, when OFAC
suspectssomeoneofsupportingacartel,
it can “designate” that person under the
Kingpin Act, thereby freezing assets and,
in essence, locking the suspect out of the
financial system. OFAC added Mencho to
its financial blacklist in
2015and,inaseriesof
actionssince,hasexposed
avastwebofCJNG-re-
lated holdings, including
an agricultural company,
an advertising firm, a va-
cation-rental business, a
tequila brand and a chain
of sushi restaurants.
“The idea is to squeeze
Mencho through his busi-
ness associates,” the in-
vestigator says. “By put-
ting things on the list, we
kindofshinealightand
say, ‘The guy who owns
thiscompanyisactually
afrontforElChapoor
El Mencho, and he’s been
laundering money for 20
years–soyouprobablyshouldn’tbedoing
business with him.’”
As OFAC was exerting financial pres-
sure on Mencho, Mexican law enforce-
mentwasalsosteppingupthehunt.
They’d had several close calls before: In
March 2012, the Mexican army (known
bytheacronymSEDENA)raidedaGua-
dalajara apartment building where Men-
cho was believed to be hiding. A shootout
followed,butMenchowasabletoescape.
Afewmonthslater,Mexicanfederalpo-
lice staged another raid, attacking a rural
CJNG compound with five Black Hawk
helicopters; in the ensuing firefight, six
CJNG members were killed. Reports sur-
facedthatMenchohadbeencapturedby
the government, although that turned out
to be false. According to a DEA source,
“They literally missed him by minutes.”
The following spring, CJNG taunted
authorities with a faux press conference
posted to YouTube, featuring 50 mercenar-
iesinbalaclavasandbodyarmourholding
weaponsinfrontofahugeCJNGbanner.
Attheend,aspokesmandeliveredames-
sage from “el señor”, meaning Mencho:
“Bark, dogs,” he said in Spanish. “But while
you’re barking, know that I am advancing.”
AndthenMenchodeclaredwar.On
March 19th, 2015, a detachment of federal
policewasonastakeoutinaJaliscotown
called Ocotlán when CJNG gunmen am-convoy stopped, and that’s when CJNG
attacked, bombarding the pinned-down
cops with machine guns and grenade
launchers. Fifteen officers were killed in
the bloodbath – the deadliest day for Mexi-
can law enforcement in about a decade.
CJNGsufferednocasualties.
Mexico’s secretary of defense delivered
a full-throated denunciation of CJNG,calling them “people without scruples or
conscience who, with their vile actions,
harm Mexicans, their families, their heri-
tage and their way of life”. “This cowardly
attack,” Solorio declared, “will not go un-
punished.”
A few weeks later, the Mexican army
struck back with Operation Jalisco – a
planneddecapitationstrike.Inthepre-
dawn darkness on Friday, May 1st, a de-
tachment of elite SEDENA paratroopers
and federal police – carried by two EC-725
“Super Cougar” helicopters – descended
on a ranch in southwestern Jalisco where
Mencho was believed to
behiding.Butonceagain,
the cartel was waiting for
them.Asthefirstsoldiers
rappelledfromachop-
per, cartel gunmen in ar-
moured trucks and cam-
ouflage uniforms reading
cjng special forces
high commandopened
fire with assault rifles
and Russian-made RPGs.
Oneofthehelicopter’sro-
tors was hit, sending it
crashing down in flames.
Eight soldiers and one
police officer were killed.
The lone survivor, an in-
telligence officer named
Iván Morales, suffered
burns to more than 70
per cent of his body.
The attack marked a deadly milestone:
the first time a Mexican military aircraft
had been destroyed by a cartel. In the
hours that followed, Mencho doubled
down on the terror, setting fire to doz-
ensofhijackedbuses,trucks,gasstations
and banks throughout Jalisco, snarling
traffic and bringing the state to its knees.
The U.S. consulate warned its citizens to
shelter in place; the Mexican government
hadtosendin10,000troopstosecurethe
state. According to the former DEA agent,
the chaos was designed to help Mencho
escape – a tactic the cartel reportedly
learned from Israeli commandos. “I’ve
heard about Israelis meeting with them- snipers and stuff,” the agent says. “It’s
atechnicaluseofforceyou’veneverseen
with Mexican cartels.”
“Itwasaprettyamazingrapiddeploy-
ment of forces,” says one federal investiga-
tor. “In hardly any time at all, Mencho got
hisorganisationtocreatechaosinthesec-
ond-largestcityinMexico.‘Oh,you’recom-
ing after me? I’ll show you who’s really in
charge.’”Thisaggression,theinvestigator
says, was almost unprecedented. “[CJNG]
weren’t just reacting to raids. They were
actively going out and seeking confronta-
tion with authorities. You could argue that
youhadn’tseenthattypeofinitiativesince
Pablo Escobar.”
“Everyone
who pushed
dope was
kidnapped
or killed.
you worked
for mencho
–ifnot,
you’re gone.”
bushedit,killingfiveofficers.Twoweeks
later in Guadalajara, the cartel carried out
an assassination attempt on Jalisco’s com-
missioner of public security, Alejandro
Solorio, spraying his armoured truck with
more than 200 bullets. “When we tried to
strike back,” Solorio said later, “they threw
two grenades at us.”
Then, the week after Easter, the big one.
A convoy of elite Fuerza Única police was
drivingfromPuertoVallartatoGuadala-
jarawhen–around3p.m.onawinding
two-lane mountain road – it came across
aburned-outcarblockingitsway.The[Cont. on 89]