Drug violence is lived in the streets of Rosario, but
it is typed from the federal prisons
installed in the Province of Buenos Aires.
The bosses manage everything by phone from their cells and with the complicity of the prison officers.
Put like that, in a few lines, it sounds harsh.
But this is the reality that police, prosecutors and judges encounter when investigating organized crime and particularly
"Los Monos"
embarked on a war with their own and others that every day leaves more dead in Santa Fe.
To try to put the bell on the cat and only one day after the shooting attack against the supermarket of Lionel Messi's father-in-law, the Procunar (Narcocriminality Prosecutor's Office) coordinated a mega-operation against
Ariel Máximo "Guille" Cantero
, leader of "Los Monos", in his place of residence: cell 2714 of Pavilion 7 of Module II of the Penitentiary Complex 2 of Marcos Paz.
Uniting two investigations, one in charge, one of the federal prosecutor No. 2 of Rosario Paula Moretti and another in the hands of the federal prosecutor of Morón Mariela Labozzeta, the Procunar pointed against the power of "Los Monos" intramural and did so in a series of seven simultaneous raids that started this Friday at mid-morning.
The operations were ordered by the federal judges of Morón, Jorge Rodríguez, and Rosario, Marcelo Bailaque.
Since the Federal Penitentiary Service (SPF) itself - which houses Cantero and his sides - is suspected of being an accomplice, the operations were entrusted to the Intelligence Department against Organized Crime of the Federal Police.
Lorenzo Altamirano was kidnapped and murdered in Rosario: his body was dumped at one of the entrances to the Newell's stadium.
The victim had nothing to do with the attackers.
The foundations of the prosecutor's opinion detail how Cantero, his partners and second lines of the gang (also prisoners) would be linked to at least three significant acts of violence that have occurred in recent months: the 12 shots fired at a sentry box of the Marcos prison Peace, on November 13, 2022;
the murder of Lorenzo Altamirano, which occurred on February 2, 2023 near the main entrance to the Newells stadium and finally the attack on a Nuevo Banco de Santa Fe branch, on February 9.
With
privileged access to two fixed telephone lines
, placed suspiciously in front of his cell, and at least two cell phones, one of which was kidnapped inside his cell's television, "Guille" Cantero would have his organization under control, as well as the settling of scores.
The message they left next to Altamirano's body in front of the Newell's pitch.
That is why the prosecutors went after him in the raids this morning but also after some of his collaborators.
There were seven targets in total, six of which were in cells:
1) Cell 2714 of Pavilion 7 Module II of
Marcos Paz
, occupied by "Guille" Cantero.
2) Cell 4 of Pavilion D of Module VI of
Ezeiza Penitentiary Complex I
, occupied by Leandro "El Pollo" Vinardi, sentenced to 13 years for homicide, and a historic ally of Cantero.
Leandro "Pollo" Vinardi, one of the partners of the leader of "Los Monos" Ariel "Guille" Cantero".
3) Cell 11 of Pavilion B of Module VI of the Ezeiza Prison Complex I, occupied by Damian "Guampa" Escobar.
Qualified as a heavyweight of "Los Monos" he has been in prison since 2013 convicted of murder.
4) Cell of Pavilion 5 of the Rawson Federal Penitentiary Unit occupied by Rodolfo Ezequiel Masini, alias "Eli".
Investigators suspect that
his internship with "El Pollo" Vinardi would be the origin of the upsurge in homicides
in Rosario.
5) Cell of Leandro "El Gordo" Vilches in the Rawson prison.
He has been pointed out as the right hand of "Guille" Cantero and within the band he would be aligned with Masini.
6) Cell of Pablo Nicolás Camino in the Rawson prison.
Sentenced to 24 years for two homicides, he is designated as head of one of the drug cells that responds to "Guille" Cantero.
The threatening poster of "Los Monos" in the attack on the Marcos Paz prison.
In the operations, electronic communication elements such as cell phones or computers were searched both in the cells and in the personal requisition of the drug traffickers.
The SPF was also ordered to deliver the
footage of the sectors close to the raided cells
taken within the 24 hours prior to the operation.
This last point is directly related to the seventh raid and the serious
suspicions that there are about prison officers.
Prison guard complicity with drug traffickers
The raids on the cells of the dome of "Los Monos" were requested by the prosecutor Labozzeta and the head of the Procunar, Diego Iglesias.
But the work of tweezers was done with another open investigation in Rosario, in charge of Paula Moretti.
In this case, the SPF is directly targeted and its alleged
complicity with Cantero when it comes to allowing him to communicate with his people
and manage his organization from the Marcos Paz prison.
Shooting against a branch of Banco Santa Fe located in Ayacucho 5055 in Rosario.
Photo Juan Jose Garcia
For this reason, in the raids this Friday, one was also included in the administrative offices of that prison, mainly to search for documentation and records of
various strange episodes.
To begin with, according to the prosecutor's statement, the SPF failed in its task of reporting monthly to the Federal Oral Court No. 3 of Rosario (which has the execution of "Guille's" sentence) Cantero's communications records.
In other words,
you didn't report which numbers he calls.
Added to the fact that in March 2022, two cell phones were kidnapped from Cantero, is added the never fully explained episode of why on May 19, 2019, a landline telephone was installed right in front of his cell.
Moreover, it was determined that on December 3, 2020, another one was placed very close, in front of cell 2712 occupied by another heavy drug trafficker: Néstor Fabián "El Negro" Rojas.
The mafia message they left in the shooting at the Banco Santa Fe branch. Photo Juan José García
Nothing seems to stop "Guille" Cantero.
When he was imprisoned in the Piñero prison in Santa Fe, they had to move him after shootings near the perimeter of the prison and the
detection of drones
flying over the place.
He went to Chaco.
But he was released from the Federal Resistance Penitentiary Unit in 2018 due to the danger of escape and after verifying that he had uploaded a photo to Facebook taken with a cell phone that he had in his possession.
I end up in Ezeiza Penitentiary Complex I.
However, after a while she was already moving like in his house.
After the discovery of three cell phones that he was driving at his whim, in 2019 he sent it to Marcos Paz under, supposedly, a
strict security regime.
The raids this Friday once again show the power wielded by the drug lords, whom no wall seems to be able to stop.
MG
look also
The messenger corpse in Rosario, a month later: no one in prison and the shadow of Los Monos
Threat to Messi: what is known about the investigation and antecedents that give a bad prognosis
