Teodoro García Simental (a.k.a.: ''El Teo'' and ''El Tres Letras'', born 1974) is a former drug lord and lieutenant of the
Mexican criminal organization known as the
Tijuana Cartel, and later allied with the
Sinaloa Cartel. He was
arrest
An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be question ...
ed by Mexican Federal Police - Special Forces on 12 January 2010 in
La Paz, Baja California Sur
La Paz (, ) is the capital and largest city of the Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Baja California Sur, with a 2020 census population of 250,141 inhabitants, making it the most populous city in the state. La Paz City is located in La ...
.
Biography
García started working for the Tijuana Cartel in 1995, along with his brother, Antonio García Simental (alias "8-9" or "El Chris"), who was a cartel enforcer, under the orders of
Ramón Arellano Félix. When the Tijuana Cartel leader
Eduardo Arellano Félix was arrested on October 25, 2008, a violent power struggle erupted between García and
Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano over the leadership of the Tijuana Cartel. García left the organization, formed his own gang, and forged an uneasy alliance with the rival Sinaloa Cartel.
When splitting from the Tijuana Cartel, his faction engaged in a war with it, which caused violent crime in
Tijuana
Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...
to increase significantly.
[ According to Tijuana's Chief of Police, García was principally responsible in the late 2000s for the increase in the number of homicides in the city.][
García is best known for running an ]extortion
Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...
and kidnapping
Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...
network, and is also known for dissolving the bodies of those who were in business with rival drug gangs by drowning them in caustic soda. Upon being arrested, García's lieutenant, Santiago Meza López — known as ''the Stew Maker'', claimed to have dissolved over three hundred bodies this way in 2008. The Mexican Army
The Mexican Army () is the combined Army, land and Air Force, air branch and is the largest part of the Mexican Armed Forces; it is also known as the National Defense Army.
The Army is under the authority of the Secretariat of National Defense o ...
stated that it believed Meza's claims to be true.[
]
Arrest
The Mexican Federal Police was offering a two million USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...
bounty for information leading to the capture of Teodoro García Simental. He was also wanted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating illicit Illegal drug trade, drug trafficking a ...
(DEA).
García was arrested on January 12, 2010, by Mexican Federal Police in a luxury home complex named Fidepaz, located in La Paz, Baja California Sur
La Paz (, ) is the capital and largest city of the Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Baja California Sur, with a 2020 census population of 250,141 inhabitants, making it the most populous city in the state. La Paz City is located in La ...
. He was arrested together with an individual named Diego Raymundo Guerrero García. One month later, on February 7, 2010, Manuel García Simental, García's younger brother and lieutenant, was arrested in the Baja California port city of La Paz. Authorities feared that the younger García was planning to reignite a gang war for control of Tijuana's drug trafficking routes.[
]
See also
*Mérida Initiative
The Mérida Initiative (named after Mérida, the city where it was agreed upon), also called Plan Mexico (in reference to Plan Colombia), was a security cooperation agreement among the United States, the government of Mexico, and the countries o ...
*Mexican Drug War
The Mexican drug war is an List of ongoing armed conflicts, ongoing Asymmetric warfare, asymmetric armed conflict between the Federal government of Mexico, Mexican government and various Drug cartel#Mexico, drug trafficking syndicates. When the ...
* List of Mexico's 37 most-wanted drug lords
* War on Drugs
References
External links
Photo gallery related to Teodoro ''El Teo'' García
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia Simental, Teodoro
1974 births
Fugitives
Living people
Mexican drug traffickers
People from Culiacán
Sinaloa Cartel traffickers
Tijuana Cartel traffickers