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Servando Gómez Martínez (born February 6, 1966), commonly referred to by his alias La Tuta (The Teacher) for once being a teacher, is a Mexican drug lord and former leader of the
Knights Templar Cartel The Knights Templar Cartel (, ) was a Mexican criminal organization originally composed of the remnants of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel based in the Mexican State of Michoacán. The Knights Templar Cartel used to indoctrinate its operati ...
, a criminal organization based in the state of
Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...
. He is a former leader and founder member of
La Familia Michoacana La Familia Michoacana (, LFM; English: ''The Michoacán Family''), La Familia (English: ''The Family''), is a Mexican drug cartel & organized crime syndicate based in the Mexican state of Michoacán. They are known to produce large amounts of m ...
drug cartel, the split-off group of the Knights Templar.A Mexican Cartel's Swift and Grisly Climb
/ref> On February 27, 2015, he was arrested by Mexican security forces in Morelia, Michoacán.


Biography

Gómez Martínez served as the operational chief and spokesperson for the now extinct La Familia drug cartel, which sometimes was described as quasi-religious, since its former leader,
Nazario Moreno Gonzalez Nazario may refer to * Ronaldo Nazario (born 1976), Brazilian former footballer * Nazario (given name) * Nazario (surname) * Nazário, a municipality in Brazil * Nazario Collection, a cache of carved stones at Guayanilla, Puerto Rico * San Nazario, ...
, referred to their assassinations and beheadings as "divine justice." He cofounded the organization in 2006, and became its leader after Arnold Rueda Medina, aka la Minsa, was arrested. Servando Martínez' partners in La Familia Cartel were
Nazario Moreno Gonzalez Nazario may refer to * Ronaldo Nazario (born 1976), Brazilian former footballer * Nazario (given name) * Nazario (surname) * Nazário, a municipality in Brazil * Nazario Collection, a cache of carved stones at Guayanilla, Puerto Rico * San Nazario, ...
,
José de Jesús Méndez Vargas José de Jesús Méndez Vargas (born 28 February 1974), commonly referred to by his alias El Chango ("The Ape"), is a Mexican drug lord and former leader of the now disbanded La Familia drug cartel, headquartered in the state of Michoacán. ...
, Enrique Plancarte Solís and
Dionisio Loya Plancarte Dionisio Loya Plancarte (born 21 October 1955) is a Mexican drug lord and high-ranking leader of the Knights Templar Cartel, a quasi-religious criminal organization based in the state of Michoacán. He is the uncle of Enrique Plancarte Solís ...
, who each have had a bounty of $2 million for their capture. In 2009, he called a local TV newscast and called on the government of Felipe Calderón to negotiate with the country' s drug kingpins. Gómez Martínez has been indicted in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
with conspiring to import and distribute hielo
cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...
and
methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug use, recreational or Performance-enhancing substance, performance-enhancing drug and less commonly as a secon ...
into the United States from Mexico. According to the Gómez Martínez indictment, he was, among other things, responsible for ensuring that La Familia's drug trafficking activities were not impeded by law enforcement, and also for acquiring weapons for use by the cartel. The Indictment alleges that, on July 17, 2009, a few days after the bodies of twelve murdered Mexican federal law enforcement officers were discovered following the arrest of a cartel leader, Alberto Espinoza Barron, Gómez Martínez made a recorded statement to a local television station in Michoacan, in which he publicly acknowledged that he was a member of La Familia Cartel, and among other things, stated that the cartel was in a battle against the Mexican federal police and prosecutors. He also offered the Mexican federal security forces a truce in exchange of freedom to continue their
illegal drug trade The illegal drug trade, drug trafficking, or narcotrafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of drug prohibition, prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibitionism, prohibit trade, exce ...
. President
Felipe Calderón Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician and lawyer who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 2006 to 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 and 2004. ...
's government refused to strike a deal with the cartel and ignored their calls for dialogue. On 25 February 2010, the
United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...
sanctioned Gómez Martínez under the
Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act The Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, better known as the Kingpin Act, is landmark Federal government of the United States, federal legislation in the United States intended to address Illegal drug trade, international narcotics traffic ...
(sometimes referred to simply as the "Kingpin Act") for his involvement in drug trafficking along with twenty-one other international criminals and ten foreign entities. The act prohibited U.S. citizens and companies from doing any kind of business activity with him, and virtually froze all his assets in the U.S. During the first trimester of 2010, he was still registered as a teacher in the state of Michoacán, and earned a salary of 50,000 pesos during this period.La Tuta tiene plaza de maestro
''Eluniversal.com.mx'', 8 December 2010 (accessed on 18 July 2019)
In a 2012 video, he explained the "peaceful credentials" of the Knights Templar Cartel and asked the leaders of Mexico's drug trafficking organizations to join forces and put down
Miguel Treviño Morales Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales (born 18 November 1970), commonly referred to by his alias ''Z-40'', is a Mexican former drug lord and leader of the criminal organization known as Los Zetas. Considered a violent, resentful and dangerous criminal ...
(''Z-40''), one of the leaders of
Los Zetas Los Zetas (, Spanish for "The Zs") is a Mexican criminal syndicate and designated terrorist organization, known as one of the most dangerous of Mexico's drug cartels. They are known for engaging in brutally violent " shock and awe" tactics suc ...
. He insisted that his organization is a "necessary evil," and insists that his organization is "not a cartel, nor any kind of organized criminal group. heyare a brotherhood, founded by a set of statutes and codes." He then goes on to explain that the Knights Templar's "only function is to help the people, preserve hestate ... and keep exicofree of people causing terror ... ndlive in peace."Gómez Martínez then asks other cartels to create a "common front" against Los Zetas and asks Calderón to take on his action. After La Familia leader Nazario Moreno González was falsely claimed to have been shot dead by security forces (he was actually not killed until 2014), Gómez Martínez took control of La Familia. Soon afterward Gómez Martínez broke with Méndez-Vargas and formed the Knights Templar Cartel. This splinter group soon developed a rivalry with La Familia. On June 21, 2011, Méndez Vargas was captured by Mexican security forces. On August 7, 2011, the Mexican Attorney General reported that the La Familia Cartel was disbanded. In 2014 he gave an interview to Channel4 News in which he explained that he realized that he was a criminal, and that he knew that he would eventually pay for his crimes. But he maintained that he would not give himself up, but rather fight to the death. He also defended his decisions to do business with Chinese smugglers of iron ore who he claimed had a right to expand their markets.


Arrest

On February 27, 2015, at 3 AM, Servando Gómez Martínez was captured. He was apprehended by an elite squadron of the Mexican Federal Police in Morelia, Michoacán, in an operation where no shots were fired. He was then transferred to the SEIDO installations, Mexico's organized crime investigation agency, in
Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
for his legal presentation. That same night, he was transferred to the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1, a maximum-security prison in Almoloya de Juárez, State of Mexico. The police was able to spot him in a cave near Morelia after his girlfriend ordered a chocolate cake for his 49th birthday, which raised the suspicion of the authorities looking for him. At the time of his arrest, Gómez Martínez was one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords. On 11 March, he was officially charged by a federal court in Toluca, State of Mexico for organized crime, kidnapping, and drug trafficking offenses. During Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán's second escape in 2015, Servando Gómez Martínez, also jailed in the maximum-security prison of Almoloya, faked a heart attack to facilitate his escape. In June 2019, he was sentenced to 55 years in jail for the kidnapping of a businessman in 2011.


Family

His brother Luis Felipe Gómez Martinez, aka El Güicho, is in prison since 2001 for drug trafficking. Francisco Javier Sotelo Barrera, aka El Pancho, the presumed leader of La Familia, was identified in 2009 as the nephew of Servando Gómez Martinez. His son Luis Alfredo Aguilera Esquivel was arrested by Mexican authorities on 3 March 2014 in Los Reyes, Michoacán. According to federal reports, he carried out kidnappings and extorted agricultural workers in Michoacán, the most recent one on orders from his father. His other son Huber Gómez Patiño was arrested by the Mexican Federal Police in Arteaga, Michoacán on 21 June 2014. His brother Aquiles Gómez Martínez was reportedly found dead in Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán with a gunshot wound on 19 September 2014. His cousin José Martínez Mendoza was arrested by the Federal Police in Uruapan, Michoacán on 8 November 2014. His alleged uncle Gerardo Martínez Legorreta was arrested by Michoacán security forces on 8 December 2014 in Arteaga.


See also

* List of Mexico's 37 most-wanted drug lords *
Knights Templar Cartel The Knights Templar Cartel (, ) was a Mexican criminal organization originally composed of the remnants of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel based in the Mexican State of Michoacán. The Knights Templar Cartel used to indoctrinate its operati ...
*
La Familia Michoacana La Familia Michoacana (, LFM; English: ''The Michoacán Family''), La Familia (English: ''The Family''), is a Mexican drug cartel & organized crime syndicate based in the Mexican state of Michoacán. They are known to produce large amounts of m ...


References


External links


PHOTO of Servando Gómez Martínez

(Published by Univision.com at
''Capo mexicano es profesor de primaria: Líder de 'La Familia' recibe sueldo.''
Univision. 12 August 2010. Accessed 10 March 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez Martinez, Servando Living people La Familia Michoacana traffickers Mexican drug traffickers Mexican crime bosses Prisoners and detainees of Mexico 1966 births People sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act People from Michoacán