Narco soccer: The four drug traffickers who had teams in Mexico

Drug trafficking has crept into unimaginable places in Mexico's daily life and soccer has been no exception given its capacity to entertain. As an example, there are names such as Tirso Martínez, Wenceslao Álvarez, Raúl Flores and José Marío Ríos.

First Division clubs and, above all, lower division teams that do not boast economic stability, have been involved in these movements that, according to media outlets such as Cámara Húngara, have included seven Mexican soccer franchises in recent years.

So far, the names of at least four drug traffickers who, more or less since the year 2000, were owners of some teams in what is now known as Liga MX or made payments to certain teams, which were used to launder money and were disaffiliated when the information came to light or even disappeared, have been made public.

Tirso Martinez

Known as "El Tío" or "El Futbolista", Martínez bought Venados de Yucatán from the now defunct Liga de Ascenso and then La Piedad, Irapuato and Querétaro, all of which belong to the Primera División.

Apprehended in León, Guanajuato, in 2014, Martínez operated for years in Mexican soccer without it seems that nobody was aware of this: "All the important people linked to Mexican soccer, if not the owners, knew the gentleman... some more than others," said a source interviewed by Ignacio "Fantasma" Suárez.

It was in 2004 when the government intervened to recover the franchises that "El Tío" owned, although they had to pay between 10 and 14 million for Querétaro and Irapuato, which in those years played in the Maximum Circuit.

Wenceslao Álvarez

A high-ranking member of the Familia Michoacana, Álvarez was not only a great soccer fan but also the owner of the Mapaches de Nueva Italia team, from a town in the so-called "Tierra Caliente" of the state of Michoacán.

Accused of trafficking cocaine to the United States, the owner of Mapaches was arrested in Mexico City when he accompanied his team to a match against an affiliate of Club America. There, in Coapa, not only Álvarez was arrested, but also players from the Second Division team, coaches, equipment suppliers and managers.

Raúl Flores

The Guerreros de Autlán franchise, which participated in both the Third and Second Divisions of Mexican soccer and whose history came to an end more or less in 2008, was linked to this character.

Flores Hernandez was indicted by the U.S. Treasury Department but his time in Liga MX cannot be ignored, as the drug trafficker was listed as president of the Jalisco team with the Mexican Soccer Federation.

Guerreros disassociated itself from the FMF in 2008, due to alleged differences with the organization, although its history includes the championship obtained in the 2004 Apertura of the Third Division and the runner-up position in the Second Division some time later.

José Mario Ríos

Known as "El Negro", José Mario Ríos Laverde worked under the orders of "Don Diego", ex-leader of the Colombian cartel of Norte Valle and who, according to portals such as El Comercio, covered two payments to the Salamanca team with drug money.

When the team was playing in the Second Division, it received two payments from Ríos, of approximately US$880,000 and US$875,000.

This story came out as a result of the arrest of Tirso Martínez, who was also involved with Colombian organized crime, whose money was used to pay bribes or investments in Mexican soccer between 2003 and 2006.

Source: AM