Los Rugrats weakened, but still a force in Sinaloa’s cartel war

Amid the internecine war within the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the factions to have suffered the heaviest blows has been Los Chapitos, led by the sons of former cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. On the other side stands La Mayiza, headed by the successors to former kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. Unlike their more aggressive and media-savvy rivals, La Mayiza’s leaders have generally operated with a lower profile and less direct exposure.That, however, has not kept the organization led by Ismael Zambada Sicairos, better known as “Mayito Flaco,” off the radar of Mexican and U.S. authorities. In less than a week, 19 members of Los Rugrats, a group regarded as the most important hit squad operating in Culiacán on behalf of La Mayiza, were arrested.Carlos Páez Pereda, alias “Carlitos Rugrats,” a 30-year-old gunman from Laguna Colorada, Sinaloa, is known as a violent enforcer who flaunts drugs, weapons and stacks of cash from cartel profits on social media. His organization adopted its name and much of its imagery from Nickelodeon’s animated series Rugrats, specifically drawing inspiration from the character Chuckie Finster.Between October 10 and 15, at least 19 members of the criminal group were detained, including three key operators and five members of Páez’s family. In a raid carried out Saturday in the State of Mexico, authorities arrested Jesús Darío N., alias “Cara de Cochi,” in Valle de Bravo along with seven associates.According to state prosecutors, the suspect served as Páez’s chief of security and headed a criminal cell known as La Barredora 24/7. The group is linked to the Caborca Cartel, a strategic ally of La Mayiza that is involved in territorial disputes and battles over trafficking routes, particularly for fentanyl and methamphetamine, against rival factions, most notably Los Chapitos in the state of Sonora.In a separate operation carried out simultaneously in Toluca, authorities arrested three Colombian nationals, including Cristian N., who was described as one of the organization’s key logistics operators. Meanwhile, on Thursday, authorities took José Luis Páez Pereda, alias “El Wicho,” into custody. He is the brother of Carlos Páez Pereda and is believed to have overseen the group’s finances while serving as its second-in-command.According to Mexico’s Ministry of Defense, El Wicho is wanted by the U.S. Central District of California on charges of possessing cocaine in the United States with intent to distribute.Alongside his arrest, authorities detained several other relatives of Carlitos Rugrats, including Leslie Dennise Pereda García and Aglaee Ramírez Páez, cousins of the alleged crime boss who are accused of handling logistics for the organization. Also arrested were Claudia Selene García Ontiveros and Francisco Javier Ramírez Agüero, identified as Páez Pereda’s aunt and uncle, as well as Carlota Murillo Avendaño, María Alejandrina Páez Sainz, and Ana Cristina Ramírez Páez.Páez, a high-priority target for both Mexico and the United States, was charged with narco-terrorism last July as an alleged high-ranking operative within Los Mayiza. Prosecutors in the Southern District of California accuse him of running a trafficking network that smuggled fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine into the United States, while helping sustain the cartel’s operations through killings and kidnappings.Víctor Manuel Sánchez, a researcher at the Autonomous University of Coahuila, says that while La Mayiza had until recently suffered fewer setbacks than its rivals, the recent focus on Los Rugrats is significant. In his view, the arrest of El Wicho is particularly important because he could provide information leading to further arrests and because his capture deals an operational blow to the activities of Mayito Flaco in southern Sinaloa.He explains: “While it is not a fatal blow that dismantles the cell, in the long run it could suffer the same fate as Los Ántrax or the cell of El Macho Prieto [Gonzalo Inzunza] in Sonora, which ended up being renamed Los Rusos. If Carlitos Rugrats is arrested or killed and they begin to lose people, this cell could be reconverted or transformed into something different.”According to the security expert, Los Rugrats are made up of younger remnants of another faction historically loyal to El Mayo that was once among the most notorious and powerful criminal groups in the region: Los Ántrax. Founded by Rodrigo Aréchiga, better known as “Chino Ántrax,” the group enjoyed a period of considerable influence before many of its members were arrested or killed. In the aftermath, some of the younger gunmen who survived those crackdowns went on to form their own band of hitmen.“Los Rugrats are currently La Mayiza’s main shock criminal cell in Sinaloa,” Sánchez explains by phone. “This faction has far more powerful cells. They have Los Cabrera in Durango, Los Salgueiro in Chihuahua, the Nuevo Cartel del Tigre in Cuauhtémoc [Chihuahua], Los Arzate in Baja California and Los Rusos in Mexicali and San Luis Río Colorado. But specifically in Culiacán, Carlitos Rugrats’ group is the hit squad with the largest number of members and the best weaponry. And that has won them a place within that faction and also media coverage.” According to Sánchez, Los Rugrats currently play a key role in the struggle for control of southern Sinaloa. Although most of their members come from Culiacán, many have been deployed to Mazatlán and Escuinapa, in the southern part of the state near Nayarit, to fight for control of the territory.The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) alleges that Carlitos Rugrats oversees part of the cartel’s drug-trafficking corridor from Sinaloa to Tijuana, on the border with California. According to the agency, the narcotics are then distributed throughout Southern California and other parts of the United States.Sánchez argues that trafficking operations are routed through Baja California because it is one of La Mayiza’s strongest areas of influence, thanks to allies such as brothers René Arzate and Alfonso Arzate, known as “La Rana” and “Aquiles,” respectively, as well as Los Rusos in Mexicali.“Los Rugrats move the drugs through either of these two border strips controlled by their allies,” Sánchez adds, “paying a small toll percentage to the other cells, but keeping the bulk of the profit, reporting Mayito Flaco his share as a way of financing the recruitment of new hitmen, the purchase of weapons, paying bribes to police chiefs, among other actions.” The academic believes that the fact both Mexican and U.S. authorities have Los Rugrats in their sights marks the beginning of a broader dismantling process. Given the number of individuals identified and arrested so far, he considers the operation a significant blow to the organization.“They felt the impact,” says Sánchez, “but since it is not a fatal blow yet, the cell remains fairly operational.”Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition