Tula prison break

Last updated
Tula prison break
Part of the Mexican drug war
Date1 December 2021
Location 20°03′37″N99°21′42″W / 20.0603°N 99.3617°W / 20.0603; -99.3617
Result

Prison break successful

  • Nine inmates freed
  • Cartel boss escaped
  • Mexico promises to recapture inmates
Belligerents
  • Gangsters
  • Prisoners
Flag of Mexico.svg Mexican police
Casualties and losses
2 injured
Mexico Hidalgo location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within Hidalgo

On 1 December 2021, a gang of armed men broke into a prison in Tula de Allende, Hidalgo state, Mexico. [1] [2]

Contents

Incident

At around 4am on 1 December 2021, gangsters arrived at the building, they proceeded to car-ram and then blow up a pair of vehicles, catching the prison guards' attention. Gunshots were fired by the criminals. [3] [4]

Just as local security forces began to react, two more cars exploded, allowing the gang to successfully storm the jail. [1] [5]

Aftermath

Nine inmates were freed, [6] including José Artemio Maldonado Mejía, more well known as "El Michoacano", a local drug lord and head of a Mexican drug cartel, the Pueblos Unidos. [2] The next day, Mexican police managed to recapture three inmates and 8 criminals involved in the prison raid. [7]

Two law enforcement officers, one a policeman and the second a guard, were injured in the attack. [2]

The government of Hidalgo has launched an investigation aiming to track the criminals down. The program is still ongoing. [4]

Car bombs are a rare occurrence in Mexico; the most notable example of their usage occurring in 2010. [8] [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gang</span> Associative criminal group

A gang is a group or society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectively, in illegal, and possibly violent, behavior, with such behavior often constituting a form of organized crime.

A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster. Gangs provide a level of organization and resources that support much larger and more complex criminal transactions than an individual criminal could achieve. Gangsters have been active for many years in countries around the world. Gangsters are the subject of many novels, films, television series, and video games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mexican Mafia</span> Mexican American criminal organization

The Mexican Mafia, also known as La eMe, is a predominantly Mexican American prison gang and criminal organization in the United States. Despite its name, the Mexican Mafia has no origins in Mexico and is entirely a U.S. organization. Law enforcement officials report that the Mexican Mafia is the deadliest and most powerful gang within the California prison system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Hoover</span> American mobster (born 1950)

Larry Hoover Sr is an American former gangster and street gang kingpin. He is the founder of the Chicago street gang, the Gangster Disciples.

Omar Portee, also known as "O.G. Mack", is an American gang leader, known for founding the United Blood Nation gang while serving a prison sentence at Rikers Island, New York, in 1993.

<i>American Me</i> 1992 film directed by Edward James Olmos

American Me is a 1992 American crime drama film produced and directed by Edward James Olmos, in his directorial debut, from a screenplay by Floyd Mutrux and Desmond Nakano. Olmos stars as Montoya Santana, who is loosely based on Mexican Mafia boss Rodolfo Cadena. Executive producers included record producer Lou Adler, screenwriter Mutrux, and Irwin Young. The film is a fictionalized account of the founding and rise to power of the Mexican Mafia in the California prison system from the 1950s into the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Penitentiary, Florence High</span> United States federal prison in Colorado

The United States Penitentiary, Florence High is a high-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. USP Florence High is part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Florence, which is situated on 49 acres (20 ha) of land and houses different facilities with varying degrees of security. It is named "Florence High" in order to differentiate it from the United States Penitentiary, Florence ADMAX, the federal supermax prison located in the same complex.

Rene "Boxer" Enriquez is a former Mexican-American prison gang member and major organized crime figure. His criminal history also includes jailhouse stabbing attacks on other inmates, drug trafficking, extortion, and a sexual assault. He was a high ranking made man in the Mexican Mafia before defecting and becoming a federal witness in 2003. His life is chronicled by journalist Chris Blatchford in the true crime book The Black Hand: The Story of Rene "Boxer" Enriquez, and his life in the Mexican Mafia.

The Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1 "Altiplano" is a maximum security federal prison of the Secretariat of Public Security in Mexico. It was originally called the Penal de Máxima Seguridad No. 1 "Almoloya de Juárez", later renamed the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1 "La Palma", before assuming its present name. This facility is located in the Santa Juana Centro neighborhood of Almoloya de Juárez, in the State of Mexico, 25 kilometers (16 mi) from Toluca.

La Línea is currently the leading faction of the Juárez Cartel originally designed to be one of the cartel's enforcer units set up by a number of former and active-duty policemen, heavily armed and extensively trained in urban warfare. Their corrupt "line" of policemen were set up to protect drug traffickers, but after forming an alliance with Barrio Azteca to fight off the forces of the Sinaloa Cartel in 2008, they established a foothold in Ciudad Juárez as the enforcement wing of the Juárez cartel. La Línea has also been involved in extortions and kidnappings. As of 2021, La Línea has formed an alliance with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in Ciudad Juárez to fight off influence and incursions from the Sinaloa Cartel.

Barrio Azteca, or Los Aztecas, is a Mexican-American street and prison gang originally based in El Paso, Texas, USA and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The gang was formed in the Coffield Unit, located near Tennessee Colony, Texas by Jose "Raulio" Rivera, a prisoner from El Paso, in the early 1980s. It expanded into a transnational criminal organization that traded mainly across the US-Mexico border. Currently one of the most violent gangs in the United States, they are said to have over 3,000 members across the country in locations such as New Mexico, Texas, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania as well as at least 5,000 members in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apodaca prison riot</span> 2012 riot in Nuevo León, Mexico

The Apodaca prison riot occurred on 19 February 2012 at a prison in Apodaca, Nuevo León, Mexico. Mexico City officials stated that at least 44 people were killed, with another twelve injured. The Blog del Narco, a blog that documents events and people of the Mexican Drug War anonymously, reported that the actual (unofficial) death toll may be more than 70 people. The fight was between Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel, two drug cartels that operate in northeastern Mexico. The governor of Nuevo León, Rodrigo Medina, mentioned on 20 February 2012 that 30 inmates escaped from the prison during the riot. Four days later, however, the new figures of the fugitives went down to 29. On 16 March 2012, the Attorney General's Office of Nuevo León confirmed that 37 prisoners had actually escaped on the day of the massacre. One of the fugitives, Óscar Manuel Bernal alias La Araña, is considered by the Mexican authorities to be "extremely dangerous," and is believed to be the leader of Los Zetas in the municipality of Monterrey. Some other fugitives were also leaders in the organization.

The Altamira prison brawl was a deadly fight that occurred on 4 January 2012 in Altamira, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Officials from the state of Tamaulipas confirmed that 31 people were killed, with another thirteen injured. The fight started after a drug gang burst into a section of the prison where they were banned from, attacking their rival gang housed there, triggering the fight. During the altercation, the inmates used several kinds of cold weapons (non-firearms) to kill their opponents. The prisoners also used sticks and knives to massacre the members of the rival gang.

A prison gang is an inmate organization that operates within a prison system, that has a corporate entity, exists into perpetuity, and whose membership is restrictive, mutually exclusive, and often requires a lifetime commitment. Political scientist David Skarbekargues the emergence of prison gangs are due to the dramatic increase in the prison population and inmate's demand for safety. Skarbek observes that in a small, homogeneous environment, people can use social norms to interpret what behavior is acceptable, but a large, heterogeneous setting undermines social norms and acceptable behavior is more difficult to determine. Prison gangs are geographically and racially divided, and about 70% of prison gang members are in California and Texas. Skarbek suggests prison gangs function similar to a community responsibility system. Interactions between strangers are facilitated because you do not have to know an individual's reputation, only a gang's reputation. Some prison gangs are transplanted from the street. In some circumstances, prison gangs "outgrow" the internal world of life inside the penitentiary, and go on to engage in criminal activities on the outside. Gang umbrella organizations like the Folk Nation and People Nation have originated in prisons.

The Nine Trey Gangster Bloods or Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods (NTG) are a "set" of the United Blood Nation street gang, which is itself a set of the Bloods gang. The gang operates on the East Coast of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Topo Chico prison riot</span> 2016 prison riot in Mexico

On 10 February 2016, a prison riot broke out at the Topo Chico prison near Monterrey, in northern Mexico. 49 inmates were killed during the riot and ensuing fire. The riot was the most deadly in Mexican penal history, surpassing the death toll of the 2012 Apodaca prison riot. After the rioting, authorities uncovered 'luxury cells' prison leaders had. Among the items confiscated included televisions, mini-fridges, aquariums, and saunas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">José Antonio Yépez Ortiz</span> Mexican drug trafficker

José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, known as El Marro, The Sledgehammer and The Brown, is a Mexican suspected drug trafficker and huachicolero. Between 2017 and 2020, he served as the leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel (CSRL), a criminal group based in Guanajuato, Mexico. He was wanted by the Government of Mexico for his active participation in fuel theft. By June 2020, El Marro's cartel had lost all "soldiers" and was not active in organized crime, due to heavy losses received in the war against CJNG. On 2 August 2020, he was captured by state and federal authorities in Juventino Rosas, Guanajuato and was transported to the maximum security federal prison Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1, also known as the "Altiplano".

Pueblos Unidos is a Mexican criminal group active in the Michoacán region. It began in 2021 as a self-defense group defending the local avocado farmers from cartel gangs Los Viagras and Jalisco New Generation but soon degenerated into a criminal racketeering group itself. It has been suggested that the group is tied to the gang La Resistencia.

References

  1. 1 2 "Brazen prison break sees nine escape with help of armed men". Riviera Maya News. 2021-12-02. Archived from the original on 2021-12-02. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
  2. 1 2 3 "Gangsters use vehicles to ram into Mexico prison and free nine inmates". The Guardian . 2021-12-01. Archived from the original on 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
  3. "Car bomb prison break frees nine inmates in Mexico". ca.news.yahoo.com. 2 December 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-12-02. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
  4. 1 2 "El espectacular ataque con autos bomba a un penal en México del que escaparon 9 reos". BBC Mundo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
  5. "Dramatic breakout as gang rams vehicles into prison in Mexico". euronews . 2021-12-02. Archived from the original on 2021-12-02. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
  6. 1 2 "Gang rams vehicles into prison, springs 9 inmates". The Independent . 2021-12-02. Archived from the original on 2021-12-02. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
  7. "Ya son 8 detenidos y 3 recapturados tras fuga en penal de Tula". TV Azteca (in Spanish). 2021-12-02. Archived from the original on 2021-12-02. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
  8. Carillo, Gerardo (2021-12-01). "Gang rams vehicles into prison, springs 9 inmates". CTVNews . Archived from the original on 2021-12-02. Retrieved 2021-12-02.