MONTERREY, Nuevo Leon – State authorities arrested the leader of a violent organization waging a fierce turf war against a faction of Los Zetas for control of the local street-level drug market. The arrest comes months after Breitbart Texas revealed the identity of the crime boss and exposed the existence of independent gangs fighting cartels.
On Thursday early morning, detectives with the Nuevo Leon State Investigations Agency (AEI) arrested Jonathan Enrique “El Totoy” Gonzalez Rivera with three of his trusted gunmen in the El Barro neighborhood. Authorities seized three assault rifles and several packages of drugs.
AEI detectives worked with investigative support from the Monterrey Municipal Police to track El Totoy’s stash houses in the city’s hillside area. On Wednesday night, El Totoy called for a meeting with some of his associates moments before the raid. According to a prepared statement from the AEI, the three arrested men were linked to murder, drug distribution, and other violent crimes in Nuevo Leon.
El Totoy’s arrest comes almost a year after Breitbart Texas revealed his identity and exclusively published his photograph.
Originally from Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, El Totoy served multiple drug distribution prison terms in the Apodaca and Topo Chico prisons before establishing his own ring. The Cartel Del Noreste (CDN) faction of Los Zetas has been carrying out a fierce territorial expansion in Monterrey to kill or recruit independents. Those refusing the CDN swelled El Totoy’s ranks and another group known as “Los Billy’s.”
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
Tony Aranda from Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report