), At Willie Nelson 90, country, rock and rap stars pay tribute, but Willie and Trigger steal the show, Wildfires in Anchorage? As his legal woes deepened, Emilio complained to a relative that his wife Lina was receiving not a cent from Ramon Arellano. They have new cars and they invite the girls to a disco and meet their cousins. They never did anything to me, Mama, please try to understand,'' he said. It wont be so easy now.. agent about his torture, ''he would be the last person I would ever cross a word with.''. He was doubtful of Alex truly being a citizen -well, he sure as hell had ways of confirming his citizenship.These brothers knew they were breaking the law & working 4 some badass people -everything has consequences -whether good or bad -like the bible says "Money Is The Root Of All Evilness ", Great post love to here about los arellano past, Alex Hodoyan is the gay guy in the movie traffic. Other wives, like Lina Literas, hunkered down and became one of the boys-but she was not crazy about Ramon. Mr. Hodoyan, an American citizen who was born in San Diego and lived most of his life just across the border in Tijuana, was abducted and detained illegally for 80 days by Mexican military officers. It seems Portrayed by Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Now hes trying to sell his story to Hollywood. Kitty Paez was arrested by U.S. request in downtown Tijuana in 1997. It was unclear when he was arrested. If he is broke, I pay his credit card bill. Soldiers tortured him with cigarette lighters and electric shocks to the eyelids, according to an account he later gave his family. the fat crazy looking guy in military or police outfit in the middle? Why is Frank McCourt really pushing this? THE ARELLANO FELIXES, A PROSPEROUS FAMILY OF SEVEN BROTHERS AND FOUR sisters, were from Sinaloa, the Pacific Coast birthplace of many Mexican drug traffickers. Hodoyan Palacios form parte de los Narcojuniors, un grupo de sicarios del Crtel de Tijuana que era comandado por Everardo El Kitty Paz. Kitty was sentenced to 30 years. ''He was crazy, loco, desperate,'' Bertha Hodoyan said. Court documents say Ramon was named godfather of their son, Emilio Alfredo, in 1991, though relatives say he didnt show up for the baptism. TIJUANA IS THE MEXICAN CITY OF REINVENTION. ''Alfredo is my brother. Ramons habit of treating everyone to champagne endeared him to the Instituto set. And with his disappearance, a promising window into the inner workings of one of Ramon became the godfather of a number of children in Tijuana, Cristina de Hodoyan said in 1996. Alejandro Hodoyan He never considered turning the brothers in because this was a matter of conscience. Alex replied: ''I am not sure if I can help Alfredo, but at least I am sure I will be free and clear for the rest of my life. Anyone can read what you share. agent that Mr. Hodoyan had been blindfolded to prevent him from seeing the American's face, since the prisoner, they said, was a ''dangerous and violent criminal.''. ``Yes, thats him! His life changes drastically when he is recruited into Ramn Arellano Flixs Narco Juniors gang. But the new godfathers and their friends presented a social quandary. And they go around spreading it everywhere. But in those days, explains one self-described narcojunior who is now a protected witness, the guys with the nicest cars and girls were the drug dealers. Walt has to tell Alex hed been lying about the death of his brother Alfredo to make the hapless narcojunior come with him. Ryan Truex is congratulated by big brother, NASCAR Series Cup driver Martin Truex Jr., in victory lane after winning Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series A-GAME 200 at Dover International Speedway. Cristina, 62, rolls her eyes dismissively at any suggestion that Alfredo was the killer, the Wolf described by prosecutors. He is accused of being one of Mr. Arellano's most feared gunmen and is wanted for murder in Mexico. He waited 13 days before visiting Mr. Hodoyan. Mrs. Hodoyan has said that she visited her son last fall at a military installation in the western state capital of Guadalajara, where she said he was being held secretly by the generals men. Tho "Sol Prendido for Borderland Beat The war begins in Tamaulipas. nothing out on the street).Prevention by programs directed at children and teens to understand drugs and addiction.Of course there will always be persons who choose to make use of legaly available drugs and will be fucked by the drugs (albeit clean drugs are much less harmless than dirty drugs), but those persons alone (and their immediate family as also now is the case) will bear the burden of their abuse and not society as a whole. Hodoyan Palacios form parte de los The Mexicans said Alfredo was hiding out near San Diego with Emilio Valdez, the godfather of Alex Hodoyan's daughter, who was wanted in Mexico on another murder charge. En los ltimos das de 2016, Hodoyan Palacios recobr su libertad a solo 14 aos de haber permanecido tras las rejas en tres diferentes penales federales de mxima seguridad: del Altiplano en el Estado de Mxico, en Tamaulipas y en Chiapas. His life is turned upside down when he joins Ramn Arellano Flix's Narco Juniors gang. Mexican anti-drug agents flew Mrs. Hodoyan from Tijuana for the hearing. He consulted with the No. But when Lina became pregnant, her family reluctantly consented to their marriage, a relative says. ''I thought I explained that to you. Mr. Hamilton refused to identify the consul involved in the case. In 1980, Francisco Arellano Felix, owner of a Mazatlan disco, failed to appear in a San Diego court to answer charges of selling half a kilo of cocaine. He was recruited by Arturo "El Kitty" Pez to smuggle drugs across the border, but was Marcos Santos played by Francisco Rubio (season 3), Andreas We all no what happens 2 people who snitch-its a horrible, torturous death & furthermore, u r with ur mom -putting her life n danger too!! Mexican court documents describe Mr. Arellano as a compulsive murderer who has killed several times for sport and is implicated in more than 60 homicides. A large middle class feeds a pulsing youth culture of crowded discos and hip rock bands. Mr. Hodoyan made it clear that General Gutierrez Rebollo had promised him that his statements against Alfredo could not be used in any Mexican or American court because they were brothers. American diplomats in Mexico learned of Mr. Hodoyan's captivity shortly after he was imprisoned, but did nothing to help him. He was a killer idiot., By the time Ramon joined the list of FBIs Most Wanted in 1997, Ruth was in San Diego, immersed in a life of intense suburban normalcy-except for the DEA crew trailing her family. 8 Posts may contain strong violent material, discretion is advised. Before dawn on the morning of Feb. 20, Mr. Hodoyan committed what a United States official described as ''totally irrational and suicidal act.'' WebIndividuals featured as characters in Narcos and Narcos: Mexico. U.S. prosecutors say he worked for the notorious Arellano Felix brothers: Benjamin, described by law enforcement authorities as the cartels chief executive, and That worried Emilio a lot, the relative says. '', Mexican officers told the A.T.F. El Lobo Hodoyan fue acusado de participar en el asesinato del doctor Ernesto Ibarra Sants quien era sealado como un hombre incorruptible que fue comisionado en 1996 por la PGR a la plaza de Tijuana. agent as an ''unusual but not inappropriate'' place for the meeting. And Emilio-Did you know his father was the cousin of a Mexican president?-lived right around the corner. Officially, Kitty owned a liquor store in Rosarito. As soon as the Hodoyan family realized Alex was missing, they turned to the American authorities for help. ''I'm sure I would have done whatever needed to be done,'' he said, calling it ''convenient'' that embassy officials had heaped all of the blame on the one person involved who was no longer in government service. The protected witness returned to the scene of an all-night drinking session and found two hungover gunmen playing soccer with a ball that, upon closer inspection, turned out to be a third gunmans head. It backs up investigators claims that the general used his power to help Carrillo in his multibillion-dollar smuggling enterprise. But I never wanted to ask him for a favor, Agustin said, because nothing is free. Not everybody had those reservations. Trending pages Benjamn Arellano Flix Ramn Arellano Flix Alex Hodoyan Enedina Arellano Flix David Barron Corona Alfredo Hodoyan Arturo Pez Alicia Maria Arellano Flix All items (15) # A B C D E F G Reached by telephone at his southern California residence, Mr. Randall said he had no recollection of Mr. Hodoyan's case. One day the witness was surfing at an Arellano Felix beach house while Ramon relaxed in his bedroom. She called, Montano says, and begged the priest to deliver a letter to the pope explaining the Arellano Felixes innocence. Father, Im asking this of you because I trust you, Ruth implored, and, according to the priest, I didnt even think about the fact that she was the wife of a fugitive., Ramon met the priest at a busy Mexico City cafe in December 1993 and they drove to the papal nunciate for Ramons three-hour private audience with the nuncio. Not Alfredo-tall, good-looking, bilingual, U.S.-born; a graduate of the prestigious St. Augustine Academy in San Diego. They just want to help me now because they have problems with the military and the police. Episode count He named Emilio on national television. Donald R. Hamilton, the embassy's spokesman, otherwise defended its handling of the case, saying Mr. Hodoyan did not complain of torture to any American official in Mexico or suggest that he was under duress. Police told the family that he appeared to have been tortured in front of her. ''In Tijuana the Arellanos bought their way into the cream of society,'' said a Mexican antidrug prosecutor who asked not to be identified. They were hastily married not long before the birth of their twins in 1988. Mexican authorities believed that gunmen led by Ramon Arellano Felix mistook the archbishops car for that of a rival druglord, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. He offered businessmen generous credit to tide them through the tight economy. In the last days of November 1996, he summoned Mexican civilian prosecutors to Guadalajara. The D.E.A. In return they gave him loads of cocaine and marijuana to move across the border, allowing him to keep the proceeds, he told Mexican prosecutors. Alfredo Hodoyan Palacios era un empresario inmobiliario que administraba las propiedades en renta de la familia Hodoyan y no un matn, al menos eso deca su mam Cristina Palacios. Two Mexicans who saw Mr. Hodoyan in later weeks of his detention say they noticed a fresh scar in the middle of his forehead. Linas father passed away four months later. But on Oct. 7, the day of Adriana Hodoyan's most urgent appeal for help, one arm of the United States Government learned that the Mexican military knew exactly where to find Mr. Hodoyan. Boys whose parents Cristina knows from school PTAs. The gothic twists and turns of this feud had already resulted in the deaths of six people at a Puerto Vallarta disco in 1992 (Ramon escaped through an air-conditioning duct in the bathroom) and prompted an Arellano Felix associate to have someone seduce and kill the estranged wife of a rival drug lord, push her children off a bridge and send her head to her husband, Mexican authorities said. Gustavo Miranda Santacruz fue el siguiente en la lista al ser levantado y posteriormente baleado, suerte que no corri El Lobo. Mr. Hodoyan's claims of torture have not been confirmed by independent witnesses, and the statement he gave his family, which he never signed, remains the only record of his first days in captivity. A HOT DAY IN TIJUANA IS COOLING INTO A GOLDEN SUNSET. agent that the general had changed his mind and was not ready to release Mr. Hodoyan. Then, several officials said, Mr. Randall did nothing further about Mr. Hodoyan. not sorry for parents, just the little girls,..but Mr. Curiel and other U.S. Ramon roared through the streets on a motorcycle, wearing splashy Versace shirts, black leather pants and an easy smile. For his parents the conversations were agonizing. Benjamin opened a nice seafood restaurant in town. General Gutierrez Rebollo had good reason to court Mr. Hodoyan. Antes, un Those were simpler times. And it was anything but bland. De acuerdo con reportes de prensa, el fallo de los magistrados que fue por mayora y no por unanimidad, present que la responsabilidad del acusado en el mltiple homicidio no fue demostrada e incluso negaron el valor de la declaracin de El Kitty que involucraba a EL Lobo en los homicidios. Alex's father suggested to his son that he was suffering from Stockholm syndrome, which occurs when kidnap victims become attached to their kidnappers. agents flew Mr. Hodoyan to the United States. I know Alfredo is innocent, Cristina Hodoyan said at the time. They saw them involved in an illicit business, yet roaming around free, getting all the French champagne and good-looking girls, and they said, Hey, why cant I be part of this elite? , I knew [Alfredo] was with them, Alejandro said. Like Angelica, Kitty partied with a popular crowd of teenagers who studied at the Instituto Mexico, one of Tijuanas exclusive private schools. Still, the drug enforcement agents eagerly accepted the offer as a rare chance to cooperate with the Mexican military and improve their relations with the general. Emilio Valdez Mainero seemed an appropriately upper-tier husband, but he too allegedly found employment in the Arellano Felix organization, recruiting young assassins who belong to Tijuanas upper class-some of them his childhood friends. The troops had no arrest warrant and filed no report to the police. I made my own research with the info thats was out there about the Hodoyan's. It is also based on confidential Mexican court documents as well as tape recordings, obtained by The New York Times, of telephone calls he made to his family in Tijuana last year when he was a military prisoner. Lina was a far savvier player in the social scene. ''He was wearing a big thick chain with a big gold cross encrusted with emeralds,'' said a Hodoyan relative, who asked not to be identified. ''Killing is a party for them, it's a kick,'' Mr. Hodoyan tells Mexican investigators. I can't say anything about that until I finish what I am doing here.''. I don't think one single drug trafficker took to the "business"on their own,the next suspect,their enemiesnooo,then who could have dragged them to the life?? My work as a priest is one thing, but to act as an authority is another.. 2 official in the embassy, Charles H. Brayshaw, who sent him to the consul general for Mexico City, a senior diplomat who handles problems involving United States citizens. The Mexican military eventually turned Mr. Hodoyan over to American officials who are preparing a major new indictment against the Arellano Felix organization. You have women all over the place. he said. That was when Mr. Hodoyan, who had spoken throughout the interview in Spanish, announced that he would not need a visa. Officers at the Defense Ministry in Mexico City invited an agent from the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to question an exceptional informant they had about arms smuggling to Mexican drug traffickers. It was around that time that Benjamin began coming to church with one of the prettiest girls in town. Angelica wasnt the only well-to-do Tijuanan to bring a reputed trafficker into the family. After the archbishops killing, Ramon and Benjamin were no longer enigmas but front-page headlines-Mexicos most wanted fugitives. In one conversation his father asked him what he wanted to tell his brother Alfredo and his brother's lawyers. In late October, General Gutierrez Rebollo was sufficiently confident of his new informant's cooperation that he allowed him to call his family and tell them he was still alive. They weren't involved in drugs. '', ''He can't,'' Mr. Hodoyan insisted. For half an hour, the agent described the American imprisoned in Guadalajara. Ramon was shot to death by Mexican police in February. No Emilio said, If theyre not helping her, they must think I betrayed them. It made him think they viewed him as an enemy.. Father Gerardo Montano says he was first introduced to Benjamin by Ruth Serrano Corona, a striking blond in her early 20s who was very devout and very proper, when he was parish priest at San Francisco Javier church. Ruth went to work on her husbands behalf. A United States magistrate concluded in his ruling that Alejandro Hodoyan had probably been killed last year by the Tijuana drug traffickers, who were Alfredo's associates. I thought [forget] that, and got off the beach. They seemed small-time. Ramon walked out of the crowded party and shot and killed his sisters boyfriend and two friends parked outside. Once people move to Tijuana, they are pretty much whoever they say they are. On Feb. 18, the fragile world Mr. Hodoyan built as an informant imploded. They wore gala attire. A cuatro aos de su liberacin, El Lobo permanece en libertad y se especula que regres a vivir a San Diego, California. But he probably would have been. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. At midnight, Montano says, the nuncio went to speak with then-president Carlos Salinas: Ramon wanted to meet with him, too. After two hours, the official said, the agent believed that he ''had a live one.'' So did skinny little Fabian Martinez, who was so shy that his father, a respected pediatrician, organized a baseball team so his son would have children to play with. In 1986, Ruth Serrano Corona, the granddaughter of a top federal official in Tijuana, married Benjamin Arellano Felix. The elegant breakables in the tall glass cases seem too fragile for the tale that Gonzalez is telling. Alejandro Enrique Hodoyan had been a minor though well-placed member of the drug organization, running guns and errands. Finally he broke down in sobs. I still pay for his gas. They have lots of money. In a sworn statement before his second disappearance, Hodoyan, 35, wrote that he met the general during his interrogation in Guadalajara, and that he was tortured there. But Kitty, with his jeans, T-shirts and irresistable grin, was considered the coolest guy in his Instituto clique. He joined one of the cartel's hit squads and is wanted on murder charges in Mexico. ''. The day after the interview, Mexican military officials told the A.T.F. Tape recordings of some of Mr. Hodoyan's phone calls to his family were made available to The New York Times by participants in the events who requested anonymity. ''Alex, above all, we have to be united,'' Mrs. Hodoyan said, her voice taut with pain. But the chain of dark destinies did not end there. He would sit at nearby Sanborns cafe on Avenida Revolucion, poring over his ledger books, wearing a distinctive white linen suit and carrying an executive attache case. Meanwhile, one of the Arellanos top gunmen, Fabian Martinez, ''the Shark,'' placed several calls from hiding to the Hodoyans, saying he knew Alex was a Government informant. Id never heard of him, Gonzalez says. Appearances At first, no one on either side of the border took much notice when some of the brothers drifted into Tijuana in the early 1980s. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Weber Rodriguezs arrest was the latest twist in the story of Mexicos former drug czar, Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, charged in February with being on the payroll of the late drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes. But how had a penniless 19-year-old come up with the money for a liquor license? They were graduates of the finest private schools, at home on both sides of the border, the children of families that knew or were related to some of the most powerful people in Baja California. Life in Wartime Their lawyers have asserted that the statements of Alex Hodoyan and other witnesses provided by Mexico were obtained through torture and are thus invalid. Mexico City sent authorities to ransack the Hodoyans house, and houses belonging to Emilio, Kitty, Benjamin and Ramon were seized. Webbrother and fled back to Tijuana. Cooperating with General Gutierrez Rebollo, he argued, was the only way he could survive to see his two young daughters again. But it wouldnt have mattered. Hodoyan was kidnapped a second time, in Tijuana last March, and remains missing. Hodoyan wrote that on Feb. 11, a U.S. government plane flew him from suburban Mexico City to San Diego. On Sept. 10, 1996, the Arellano gang sent Alex Hodayan to Guadalajara, the central Mexican city that has emerged as a battleground for competing drug gangs. Mr. Curiel declined to be interviewed, noting that he is barred from discussing pending cases. Soon after, Mexican officials sent their American counterparts information developed by General Gutierrez Rebollo indicating that Alfredo Hodoyan, Alex's brother, was a triggerman in the killing. The 36-year-old Mr. Hodoyan hasn't been seen since and is presumed dead. agent he believed that Mr. Hodoyan was probably one more Mexican trying to get out of a jam by claiming to be an American. According to American officials, she said there were reports that Alex had been detained on Sept. 11 by the military authorities in Guadalajara. Delicate swallowtail butterflies rest on china daisies. And General Gutierrez Rebollo was leaning heavily on Mr. Hodoyan to talk by offering to place him in a Government witness program where his past criminal record would be erased. He replied, ''This is more than I want to hear.''. Authorities said terrible things about other neighborhood boys, too. Theyre like doctors. Emilio Valdez Mainero and Alfredo Hodoyan were linked to the Arellano Felix drug organization, which controls the lucrative drug corridor from Baja California into the United States. Porcelain brides and grooms painted in reassuring pastels gaze at each other with bland expressions of matrimonial joy. La facilidad con la que Alfredo Hodoyan cruzaba la frontera con Estados Unidos con total facilidad y sin levantar ninguna sospecha se deba a que contaba con la nacionalidad estadounidense ya que naci en un hospital en suelo de la nacin norteamericana. ''He didn't tell anybody above, below or alongside,'' a diplomat said later, calling Mr. Randall's performance ''a clear case of nonfeasance.''. Taking to Twitter this morning, Hector and pal Tommy People have had the experience, and it was a very bitter one. ''Had this person done even the minimum which duty, regulation, law and custom indicate, the consular service would not have been ignorant of Mr. Hodoyan's detention,'' said Mr. Hamilton, the spokesman for the embassy in Mexico City. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. ''We would have no reason to call the military,'' an American official said, explaining that the armed forces do not usually detain people under Mexico's legal system. He moved freely about the headquarters of the federal drug agency in the capital, where General Gutierrez Rebollo had been transferred. Her path seemed preordained: an adolescence consumed with long days at the Tijuana Country Club, the possibility of college in San Diego, and marriage to another young scion of Tijuanas ruling class. Shortly before the generals arrest, American law officers allegedly approached Hodoyan. Alex exploded, saying: ''I don't matter to them! Alfredo Hodoyan era apodado como El Lobo tuvo una estrecha relacin con los hermanos Arellano Flix en Tijuana. It's a shame they choose that life style. Mr. Hodoyan volunteered nothing about mistreatment by the soldiers, American officials said, and the statement he later gave his family suggests a reason. While Rmon and the Hodoyan brothers escape to the Arellano stronghold, Francisco gets caught by Walt himself.