A new case of extortion ordered from the Coronda prison and committed against Rosario merchants, an episode that became known this week and that had unusual edges, once again put the focus on the ease with which crimes are planned and ordered from places of detention.
It is, according to the analysis carried out by the local Justice, one of the biggest shortcomings that the system exhibits to contain the scourge of insecurity that has punished the Gran Rosario for more than a decade.
"For three years we have been demonstrating that prison is the origin of ninety-five percent of the shootings and extortions in the city," said prosecutor Pablo Socca this week, a member of a Unit created especially in 2020 to work on shootings. , threats and extortion.
"Enough fucking, old man! They call from prisons. Later the fact is spread and a shooting makes the fact credible. Let's stop fooling around.
We are all prisoners of an extortion industry that is carried out from prisons," Mayor Pablo Javkin complained after learning of the new case.
The planning and orders that detainees and convicted persons give from their places of detention so that crimes are committed is a widespread modality that is revealed in multiple judicial investigations.
"Prison criminal intelligence activity is nil," Javkin told
Clarín
.
Pablo Javkin, mayor of Rosario, once again demanded this week that there be intelligence in the area of prisons, from where crimes are committed on a daily basis.
Photo: Juan Jose Garcia
“They talk about this problem as if Rosario were out of the country.
The problem is Argentina, not a city.
Be careful not to believe that it is only Rosario.
This is expanding, ”he warned, pointing to the controls in the Santa Fe prison services, but also those that are under federal orbit.
This week three people were arrested for extortion against merchants in the southern part of the city.
After multiple complaints, a prosecutor determined that the order came from the same cell phone that, it was later verified, was in the Coronda prison.
The extortionist – arrested for a qualified robbery – claimed money in the name of “los Cantero”, a clear allusion to the family clan that manages the gang “Los Monos”.
In order not to attack the businesses, he demanded the payment of 250,000 pesos –which guaranteed coverage for the whole year– or weekly installments of 50,000.
"Silver or lead", closed the messages with demands that came through WhatsApp.
“That is so you don't get shot every week, so you don't send the kids over and grab someone from your workers and shoot him, so we don't set it on fire and many more things.
It's a single fee, or if you don't pay you'll have problems with the mafia.
Atte.
The Mafia”, said the text that some merchants received.
A woman, related to the Coronda prisoner who planned the extortions, was involved in the maneuver and was arrested and charged.
In addition to leaving intimidating notes in one of the businesses contacted - it was recorded in multiple recordings captured by security cameras -, he lent his Uniform Bank Code (CBU) to make the deposit of the required money.
Aníbal Fernández visited Mobile Detachment 2 of the Gendarmerie in November 2022, which was set up on a property in Circunvalación Rosario.
Photo: Juan Jose Garcia
The case presented another curiosity: one of the detainees, it was later verified, was a victim of extortionists.
He didn't just pay with money and a bicycle.
The criminals forced him, under threat of death, to go and collect money from one of the threatened merchants.
It was a police-controlled delivery.
When it was found that he was not part of the group, but rather one of those affected by the pressure, his release was ordered.
“They disarm a gang with several threatened businesses in Rosario.
What was the origin?
A guy arrested in Coronda who called on the phone and sent the girlfriend to collect.
They gave a CBU!
Has anyone seen greater impunity than giving a CBU?” Javkin inquired.
The mayor of Rosario demanded controls so that "there are no criminal activities inside the jail."
Also, some aggravation in the sentences when these types of crimes are committed.
“Today there is no sanction.
The person who is detained and commits this act does not have an aggravation in her detention conditions.
And meanwhile, the bad guys are in prison and fuck just as if they were free, ”she complained.
During the imputed hearing on Friday, Judge Nicolás Foppiani ordered the director of the Coronda prison to order measures so that the inmates – not only the defendant in this new case – are prevented from communicating through cell phones or by other “prohibited” means. by prison regulations.
The most emblematic case of a detainee who continues to order crimes from prison is that of Ariel "Guille" Cantero, leader of "Los Monos."
Arrested in 2013, he was sentenced to 24 years in prison for crimes committed while he was still free: possession of a weapon, homicide and commanding an illegal association.
Once in prison, he continued to exercise his leadership and was involved in multiple crimes.
He was found responsible for organizing a kidnapping and arranging shootings against the judiciary;
threatening a judge and for drug trafficking and trade.
For everything he organized and already detained, he received sentences of 72 years and eight months in jail.
In total, he adds sentences to 96 years and eight months.
However, the law does not allow him to remain detained for more than 50 years.
A plainclothes policeman killed two thieves who tried to rob a family business.
A neighbor was also injured.
So far this year there have already been at least 18 deaths.
Photo: Juan Jose Garcia
He is currently awaiting conviction for a shooting that ended with the death of a gambler in the Rosario casino.
For that attack, also ordered from prison, prosecutors requested a 33-year sentence.
New change in the police leadership and more personnel to patrol the streets
Organized crime in prisons spills over into the city streets with violence.
Last year ended with a record of violent deaths in the Great Rosario: 287 crimes were registered.
This 2021, at the close of this note, there were already 18 homicides in the 21 days of January.
The promised reinforcement of federal forces failed to contain the attacks.
Currently, 950 gendarmes work in Rosario.
Although in September 2021 the Minister of Security, Aníbal Fernández, promised the arrival of 1,575 agents of that force.
This reinforcement, which was never completed, should be fully ready by March 2022.
Last month, on his last visit to Rosario, Fernández confirmed that in all of Santa Fe there are 3,449 federal troops, a list that includes the Gendarmerie, the Naval Prefecture, the Airport Security Police (PSA) and the Federal Police.
The mayor Javkin acknowledged to
Clarín
that the troops that were arranged to work in Rosario show progress, in joint work with the federal prosecutors, in investigation and monitoring tasks.
But, on the other hand, they show for the moment
"a very low effectiveness to calm the hot areas"
of the city and to "give security to the neighbors so that they can travel through the streets."
Javkin explains that, of the entire city map, the sectors that suffer from insecurity problems represent a smaller percentage of the total territory, which should facilitate control.
"Rosario has its problem of violence limited to 12 or 13 percent of its territory," he told this newspaper.
That's why it has parks full until late, people celebrating birthdays.
So it should be easier to control the issue.”
Governor Omar Perotti, during the swearing in of the new Santa Fe Security Minister, retired policeman Rubén Rimoldi, who took office in August 2022
On Wednesday, Governor
Omar Perotti ordered new changes in the police leadership.
The deputy head of Regional Unit II, Adrián Galigani, took over from Margarita Romero.
Galigani is the tenth police chief in Gran Rosario since Perotti took office in December 2019. Javkin, who has been claiming to have an influence in choosing the police chief in his jurisdiction, appreciated Galigani's arrival because he is a commissioner who, He said, he lives in the city and knows it.
One of the first announcements of the new police chief was the promise to incorporate 700 new troops to patrol the city.
The idea is to saturate the hot neighborhoods.
They will be added to the 4,700 currently working at UR II.
Although he celebrated the reinforcement provided, Javkin warned that the controls within the city must be accompanied by other measures: “Drugs and weapons are not manufactured in Rosario.
The federal forces guard the entire route they make with these elements until they reach the city.
Thousands of kilometers travel with total freedom.
You have to work in border areas, on the waterway.”
Rosary beads. Correspondent.
GL
