Eduardo "Richolm" Ravelo (born October 13, 1968) is a

Mexican American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

gangster who was a leader of the

Barrio Azteca The Barrio Azteca (), or Los Aztecas (), is a Mexican-American street, and prison gang originally based in El Paso, Texas. The gang was formed in the jails of El Paso in 1986 and expanded into a transnational criminal organization. Currently one ...

gang. He is also a former

fugitive A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...

wanted on several charges related to drugs and organized crime. On October 20, 2009, he was named by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

as the 493rd fugitive to be placed on the

Ten Most Wanted list The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives is a most wanted list maintained by the United States's Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Dire ...

. He was captured in Mexico on June 26, 2018.

Background

Since 1994, Ravelo has cultivated relationships with some of the highest-ranking cartel members. He rose to power within the Barrio Aztecas because of his connections with the

Juárez Cartel The Juárez Cartel (Spanish: ''Cártel de Juárez''), also known as the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Organization, is a Mexican drug cartel based in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, across the Mexico—U.S. border from El Paso, Texas. The cartel is one ...

. In 2005, an

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...

and former Barrio Azteca lieutenant testified that Ravelo told him to help find fellow gang members who had stolen from the cartel. The informant testified that later he was taken to a house in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

, where a gang member's mouth, wrists and ankles were bound with

duct tape Duct tape (also called duck tape, from the cotton duck cloth it was originally made of) is cloth- or scrim-backed pressure-sensitive tape, often coated with polyethylene. There are a variety of constructions using different backings and adhesi ...

. He was delivered to the Juarez cartel and never heard from again. In March 2008, he became the leader of the gang shortly after betraying his predecessor, stabbing him several times and shooting him in the neck. Ravelo and his gang members are allegedly hitmen for a Mexican

drug cartel A drug cartel is any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when the ...

and are responsible for multiple homicides. Barrio Azteca has approximately 600 active members who engage in illegal activities such as arson, assault, auto theft,

contract killing Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...

, extortion, illegal immigration, kidnapping, money laundering, murder, prostitution, racketeering, human and drug trafficking. Many of the members are in American and Mexican prisons and benefit from the gang's profits by having funds placed in their prison commissary accounts. Ravelo is originally from Mexico, but has permanent resident status in the United States, helping him to cross the

Mexico – United States border Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

. Ravelo was believed to be hiding with his wife and children in a Barrio Aztecas-controlled neighborhood in

Ciudad Juárez Ciudad Juárez ( ; ''Juarez City''. ) is the most populous city in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It is commonly referred to as Juárez and was known as El Paso del Norte (''The Pass of the North'') until 1888. Juárez is the seat of the Ju� ...

, just across the border from El Paso, Texas. He was said to have bodyguards and armored vehicles to protect him from rival gangs and rival cartels. Federal authorities stateded that Ravelo might have altered his appearance by plastic surgery, and fingertips to disguise his fingerprints. On June 26, 2018, the FBI announced that Ravelo along with several other Barrio Azteca gang members had been arrested during a police raid in Mexico.

References

External links

FBI press release announcing Ravelo's addition to the listRavelo's FBI Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitive AlertRavelo's profile on ''America's Most Wanted''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ravelo, Eduardo 1968 births American drug traffickers American crime bosses FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives Fugitives Living people Mexican drug traffickers Mexican emigrants to the United States Mexican crime bosses People from El Paso, Texas People of the Mexican Drug War