The naked body is lying on the metal stretcher. On the forehead of that young man, shot dead, is placed a white adhesive tape that says in large print "Ariel Cantero". You can tell that death surprised him because on his face you can guess a smile. In another of the autopsy photos, that of his right shoulder, the impact of the lead that ended up piercing his heart is clearly visible.
For the Legal Medical Institute of the Judiciary of Santa Fe, this was autopsy 478/2013. For the people of the province, particularly that of La Rosario, it was the beginning of a hell of violence and drug revenge that in 10 years has already claimed some 3,000 deaths... And it seems to have no end.
The naked body on the stretcher was that of Claudio Ariel Cantero (29), known as "El Pájaro", eldest son of Máximo Ariel Cantero -"El Viejo"-, founder of the narco clan of Los Monos and effective strategist, to the point that a good part of his children he gave Ariel his middle name to confuse his enemies.
The place where Claudio "Pájaro" Cantero was shot dead.
Claudio, "El Pájaro", was killed by hitmen in the early hours of Sunday, May 26, 2013 at the door of a bowling alley in Villa Gobernador Gálvez.
He had started the night in Yamper (south of Rosario) with vodka and champagne and traveled at full speed in his Peugeot cabriolet from Rosario to Villa Gobernador Gálvez while drinking a whiskey that had been given to him.
He was accompanied by three friends.
Claudio Cantero was head of Los Monos.
The group arrived at the Infinity Night bowling alley, one of the favorite night spots of the "Bird".
At the door of this place, about 5.30 in the morning, a Ford EcoSport advanced at full speed firing a burst at Cantero and his friends.
In principle, there were between ten and fifteen bullets but no one knows if more pods fell inside the truck. According to ballistic tests – which contradict some witnesses – none of the killers got off the EcoSport.
The crime scene .
"El Pájaro" was killed by four bullets. And two of his friends were injured. He was treacherously attacked while he was urinating.
There were four arrested for the crime: Facundo "Macaco" Muñoz, Osvaldo "Popito" Salazar, Milton Damario and the alleged mastermind, Luis "El Pollo" Bassi. But all were acquitted in oral trial.
The Canteros didn't care much about that. They never trusted the Justice, to the point that they did not appear as plaintiffs in the case for the homicide.
Máximo Ariel "El Viejo" Cantero, head of the clan.
They set up their own system of justice by their own hand and started killing people shortly after the wake of the "Bird".
That spiral of violence and the fact that his main rival, Esteban Lindor Alvarado, had the police apparatus in his favor, ended up feeding his fame and, hand in hand with this the very high media profile, the myth of the "Bird" Cantero also grew.
The case file for the murder of Claudio Ariel "Pájaro" Cantero, leader of Los Monos, in Rosario, on May 26, 2013.
His charm, his charisma and his intelligence. That he played chess even before he read and wrote. That he was a kind of Pablo Escobar from Rosario, helping neighbors and making himself loved. That he was calculating to the point that if he had not been killed he would have controlled the drug violence in Rosario, a factor always detrimental to business.
The truth is that at the time of the murder of Claudio Ariel "Pájaro" Cantero, Los Monos were not known nationally. An example: the news of his crime occupied a relatively minor place on page 40 of Clarín on Monday, May 27, 2013. Rosario was cover news, but because Newells had beaten Boca Juniors 4-0.
The Clarín article, the day after the murder of Claudio Ariel "Pájaro" Cantero in Rosario.
The life of the "Bird"
Claudio Ariel left three children. Lorraine Verdun (mother of all of them and his widow, although they were no longer together) was given the golden ring with a carved Saint Benedict. Saint Benedict of Nursia is a Catholic saint whose sacramental medal is widely used as an amulet against evil. In general, it bears the inscription "Vade Retro Satana" (Depart Satan!).
What the family never recovered were two golden chains, one from which hung a ring that "The Bird" had taken out because it was small and another with a strawberry-shaped stone. Both were listed in the minutes of when Cantero entered the health center. They never appeared and this angered the clan.
Although "El Viejo" Cantero has recognized 24 children, only seven had them within the marriage with Patricia Celestina Contreras ("La Cele").
The YPF gas station where "El Pájaro" Cantero was last before being killed at the door of the Infinity Night bowling alley. Photo: JUAN JOSE GARCIA
The leader was "The Bird", nickname given to him by his grandfather because he was small and mischievous. After his murder, six siblings, three women and three men, were left alive. The best known (both prisoners and convicted) are Ariel Máximo Cantero (nicknamed "Guille") and Ramón "Monchi" Machuca, son of the heart of the marriage.
"Guille" and "Monchi" were at the forefront of the revenge that turned out to be a real machinery of death.
In the 48 hours that followed the crime of the "Bird", they had the owner of the Infinity bowling alley and his mother killed.
Luis "Pollo" Bassi was acquitted of the crime.
They were so blinded that they confused Milton Caesar, who was also a hitman but had nothing to do with the crime of the "Bird", with Milton Damario, who was later arrested and came to trial as one of the murderers.
In that confusion, Los Monos killed the mother, a brother and a friend of Milton César, who some time later attempted suicide while serving time for another crime.
When they realized their mistake, Los Monos went after Damario and murdered his parents and those of Muñoz.
The place where the bowling alley was. Now there is a ballplayer. Photo: JUAN JOSE GARCIA.
They also killed the father and two brothers of "Pollo" Bassi. When he was arrested, his father-in-law was later murdered.
The Canteros never forgot the crime of the "Bird". It can be said that revenge still stands. In August 2022, during a prison transfer, "Popito" Salazar was murdered.
A striking fact. The confusion between Milton César and Milton Damario came to justice. The name of Milton César is the one that appears as the cover of the first bodies of cause for the crime of the "Bird".
The investigation was so bad that in the oral trial all the accused were acquitted. In a 143-page ruling signed on April 6, 2017, the judges considered that there were many rumors but quite little evidence.
Lorena Verdun, ex-wife of Claudio Cantero, in front of his tomb.
The Crime of the "Ghost" Paz
In fact, the chronicle of the crime of the "Bird" began in 2012.
On September 8 of that year, there was a homicide that marked a before and after in this story.
The body of "Ghost" Paz in his car, after he was riddled with bullets.
Martín "El Fantasma" Paz was murdered in the heart of downtown Rosario. He was the brother-in-law of the "Bird", who was in a couple with his sister.
Paz was suspected of laundering money for Los Monos. His crime went unpunished, but it was the tip for the mega-case against Los Monos that ended with his conviction.
There are several versions of who killed the "Ghost". One indicates that the Canteros sent him to kill because he had kept a return to buy a high-end car.
Celestina Contreras, "La Cele", mother of the Cantero. Photo JUAN JOSE GARCIA
Luis Paz, father of the "Ghost", did not hesitate to point to the "Bird" as the intellectual author of his son's crime.
This crime changed the climate among the narco groups that held the power of the Rosario.
Ramón Machuca, known as "Monchi" Cantero, son of the "Viejo", head of the Los Monos clan.
Cantero knew...
In the weeks before his crime, "El Pájaro" suspected that they wanted to kill him. He had made this known to some of his intimates.
Two specific episodes had occurred that made him suspect that his life was in danger.
On May 15, the Judicial Division raided one of the houses of the "Bird". They said they were looking for a certain "Thermos", but in reality Cantero read this move as a lack of respect, a wet ear. "They want to put it on me," he told his lawyer, who tried to reassure him.
On top of that, the police had stolen everything from clothes to appliances and when Cantero went to ask for explanations, they mistreated him. It wasn't the cops he had paid or inside the gang. They worked for their enemies. And the one who paid them the best was Lindor Alvarado, who never appeared in criminal intelligence reports.
In a key listening taken of Ramón Machuca, known as "Monchi" Cantero, in early 2013, Los Monos were upset with "El Pollo" Bassi, a key man in the crime of the "Bird".
Intimate enemies: Rosario drug lords Ariel "Guille" Cantero and Esteban Lindor Alvarado.
According to the Canteros, Bassi was hanging around their stalls. This detail would be part of the police intelligence reports after the crime of the "Bird" and would be the main clue to follow, if not the only one, about his murder.
Reports, rumors, sayings of third parties. All that mixed with a good amount of corruption ended with the crime of Claudio Ariel Cantero unpunished.
In Justice, of course.
From the courts outside, Los Monos handed down their own verdict.
EMJ
See also
