Mexican Border State Judge Releases Politically Connected Gulf Cartel Leader from Custody

The highest judicial body in the border state of Tamaulipas ordered the release of a Gulf Cartel cell leader this week.

On Tuesday night, officials with the Tamaulipas First Criminal Court arrived at a hospital with release papers for Octavio “El Tarzan” Leal Moncada, the leader of the Pedro J. Mendez Armed Wing of the Gulf Cartel.

Leal Moncada had been moved from the state prison in Ciudad Victoria to a private clinic for medical reasons while awaiting a murder trial.

The order to release Leal Moncada from custody came from a magistrate with the Tamaulipas State Tribunal and was implemented by Judge Santiago Espinoza Camacho.
The ruling comes soon after Tamaulipas Governor Americo Villarreal removed Horacio Ortiz Renan, the former President of the Tamaulipas Supreme Court, amid accusations of corruption.

Leal Moncada supported Villarreal and used his cartel to pressure voters to behave accordingly.

The charge against Leal Moncada involves the murders of Rutilio Talip Narvaez and Sabia Talip Rivera on May 6, 2010, in Hidalgo, Tamaulipas. The wife of one of victims reported the allegation but was also killed weeks later. She was the only one who accused Leal Moncada for involvement in the homicide.

State authorities arrested Leal Moncada in Nuevo Leon in July. Soon after, Mexico’s Secretary of Defense Luis Crescencio Sandoval identified Leal Moncada and his group as a faction of the Gulf Cartel. Leal Moncada has also been allegedly tied to the use of car bombs.

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities.  The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “Francisco Morales” from Tamaulipas.