Mexican authorities confirmed the arrest this Thursday afternoon of José Alberto García Vilano, known as
La Kena
or
Ciclón 19
, in the state of Nuevo León.
García Vilano, who is an alleged member of a criminal group in the neighboring state of Tamaulipas, was apprehended in a shopping center in the municipality of San Pedro Garza García, in Nuevo León, authorities indicated.
In a message on the social network Facebook, the Attorney General's Office of the State of Tamaulipas confirmed the arrest of García Vilano, whom it considered "one of the main generators of violence in the northeast of the country."
An advertisement offering a reward for the capture of José Alberto García Vilano, alias "La Kena". Attorney General's Office of the State of Tamaulipas
García Vilano has been linked to the kidnapping of four US citizens in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, on March 3, 2023, according to several media outlets such as Milenio and The Independent.
A statement from the Mexican Navy Secretariat indicated that "naval personnel in coordination with the Attorney General of Justice of the State of Nuevo León, achieved the arrest."
The text specified that the detainee "
served as one of the key leaders
in one of the criminal organizations with the most presence in the state of Tamaulipas" and for which "a large reward" of more than 145,000 dollars or 2.5 million pesos was offered.
It was also indicated that "it was one of the main objectives of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)."
García Vilano has been identified as a high command of the armed wing of the so-called Grupo Escorpiones.
According to the newspaper, in the Secretary of the Navy he is known as "the real governor of Tamaulipas."
The kidnapping of the Americans
After the kidnapping of a group of four Americans who had crossed from Brownsville, Texas, to Matamoros, the FBI offered a reward of $50,000 for information on their whereabouts.
The four Americans had traveled to Mexico in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates, the FBI explained in a statement at the time.
In the incident, which was initially attributed to the Gulf Cartel, two of the victims, Zindell Brown and Shaeed Woodard, lost their lives.
The other kidnapped people, Latavia Washington McGee and Eric James Williams, were rescued alive in a wooden house in the town of El Tecolote, where the bodies of their companions were found.
After the incident, Mexican authorities arrested six people as allegedly responsible for the attack;
Five of them were delivered handcuffed with a message in which the Grupo Escorpiones, of the Gulf Cartel, apologized for the incident.
The four Americans, childhood friends, were kidnapped after traveling to Mexico so that one of them could undergo cosmetic surgery, a type of medical tourism popular in that country due to the low prices.