The suspected leader of the violent Mexico City criminal organization Tepito Union was arrested yesterday as he was leaving the city for Cuernavaca, Morelos.
Investigations have linked Roberto Moyado Esparza or Roberto Fabián Miranda, also known as “El Betito,” with a number of executions and beheadings in Mexico City and neighboring México state.
Moyado’s gang is also dedicated to drug smuggling and extortion of businesses in the country’s capital, activities that have sparked turf wars with opposing gangs.
Interior Secretary Alfonso Navarrete Prida wrote yesterday on Twitter that Moyado “is one of the main generators of violence and drug trafficking in Mexico City and México state.”
The 37-year-old went to great pains to avoid capture, according to details provided today by National Security Commissioner Renato Sales Heredia.
He told a press conference that Moyado underwent surgery to alter his appearance, including plastic and gastric bypass surgeries and the application of a hair prosthesis. The alleged gang leader “lost more than 30 kilograms and modified his appearance with the intention of avoiding arrest,” Sales said.
Moyado hid from his rivals and the authorities in the upscale Mexico City districts of Polanco, Jardines del Pedregal and San Ángel.
At the time of his arrest, he was traveling with his brother and bodyguard, José. The men were carrying US $10,000 and 4,470 pesos in cash, 140 doses of methamphetamine and a loaded weapon.
Moyado was born in Mexico City and has a criminal record dating back to 2008, when he was arrested for petty theft.
He is believed to have risen to the leadership of the Tepito Union late last year after a series of internal quarrels and the assassination of former leader Francisco Javier Hernández Gómez.
The Tepito Union has been associated with the sale of illegal drugs in nightclubs of the Zona Rosa, Condesa and Polanco districts, as well as with extortion, mainly in the Cuauhtémoc borough, Sales said.
The security chief added that the gang has also been implicated in the murder of two people whose dismembered remains were found on June 17 in San Juan Ixhuatepec.
Source: Milenio (sp)
