Union Tepito's Negotiations on Executed Kidnappings Revealed

The Unión Tepito is one of the criminal organizations that is dedicated to the collection of floor fees, intimidating merchants and businessmen but also dedicated to kidnapping. In the news program Despierta (Wake Up) they revealed audio of the negotiation between a member of the Union's cartel and the wife of a kidnapped man. "As you saw, your husband is fine, but realize this: we are not playing games. Do you know that where your husband works is one of the safest areas in the city? Did you know that? No, you see that we didn't, you see that even though it's like that we were able to do this. Listen to this: your husband is wanted dead".

Even though the Historical Center is one of the safest areas of the capital, in May 2019 they kidnapped "Pablo", a restaurant manager who paid 3,000 pesos a week to the Union. The man had warned his wife about the threats he was receiving so that he and other merchants would pay dues. After her husband's kidnapping, Ofelia suffered the indifference of some authorities. Ofelia told Despierta that when she went to the anti-kidnapping force, she and her son talked to a policeman who treated them very badly.

"He was questioning us and made us feel that because of our guilt they were going to kill my husband because we had said that we were going to give more money than we brought," she said. The officials from the FAS told them that this area did not belong to them and sent them to the SEIDO. In response, the lawyer who accompanied them drew up an administrative record because of the police officer's response and because he had alcoholic breath.

Ofelia paid part of the ransom but even so, Pablo was killed and the body was found in the State of Mexico. Months before his death, Pablo pointed out that a member of the Unión Tepito was collecting fees. He was the son of Omar Sánchez Oropeza, a Union operator who was killed aboard his BMW in 2018. The "Pollo" was arrested and released a few days before Pablo's murder. Now, "Pollo" is also linked to the murder of two Mazahua children who lived in the Center.

Pablo's case was one of the first, but during 2020 there were more, such as the brothers Aidé and Luis Arturo Hernández, whose bodies were found inside a car in San Juan de Aragón and that of Héctor Pavlovich from Sonora. In another of the audios to which access was gained, the delinquent threatened the victim by saying that his boss had already given him the order to kill him.

"You have until 3:00 in the afternoon, and if you don't put together what is being asked of you, I am going to proceed to do it in pieces to your son of a bitch, because he is telling me pure lies," he said in the audio. Even though the Prosecutor's Office has recognized that this criminal organization operates in the capital, there is no suspect imprisoned for these crimes.