The capital has been the scene of several high-profile homicides, linked to organized crime, during the final part of some years.
After a forensic analysis of the body’s fingerprints, the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office (FGJ) confirmed that the man murdered on December 21 in the Cuauhtémoc borough was Óscar Noé Medina González, alias El Panu, identified as the alleged head of security for Los Chapitos, a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.
According to the official report, El Panu was having dinner with family members at the Luaú restaurant in the Juárez neighborhood when a man dressed in dark clothing, wearing a cap and face mask, made his way through the tables and shot him repeatedly.
Part of the media attention generated by the crime was due to the fact that El Panu was one of the men most wanted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). However, his murder has not been the only high-profile killing that has stained the capital with blood during the month of December. In MILENIO, we share a recap of other similar cases that occurred in Mexico City during the final part of previous years.
Édgar Bayardo del Villar: the triple agent murdered in a coffee shop
The end of the 2000s was a turbulent time within the Sinaloa Cartel, as the capture of Alfredo Beltrán Leyva in January 2008 caused an irreparable rift amid suspicions of possible betrayal.
In this context, the organization’s main leaders sought to strengthen their alliances with corrupt authorities. One of the most notable was the one that Jesús Reynaldo Zambada García, alias El Rey, established with Édgar Enrique Bayardo del Villar, a commander of the Federal Police.
For a time, Bayardo del Villar acted as a triple agent, as in addition to being a police chief, he was an ally of the Sinaloa Cartel and an informant for the DEA. Information obtained by journalists Ángel Hernández and Arturo Ángel of MILENIO indicates that the commander was assigned to the organized crime unit thanks to a bribe paid to high-ranking security officials and allegedly received a payment of $50,000 per month in exchange for collaborating with Zambada.
When he was discovered, Édgar Bayardo requested to be included in the protected witness program of the then Attorney General’s Office (PGR), which he used to accuse his Federal Police colleagues of working for the Beltrán Leyva cartel, according to investigations by journalist Rubén Mosso, published in this newspaper.
The investigations suggest that it was precisely the Beltrán Leyva faction that ordered the commander’s assassination, which finally took place on December 1, 2009. That morning, Bayardo del Villar went to have breakfast at a coffee shop in the Del Valle neighborhood accompanied by his bodyguard. Minutes later, a couple of armed men entered the establishment and shot him dead.
Chucho Pérez, the former manager of Gerardo Ortiz linked to the CJNG
On the afternoon of December 4, 2024, the tranquility of the Granada neighborhood was interrupted by an intense police operation. Patrol cars from the Secretariat of Citizen Security (SSC), members of the Mexican Army, and even an air ambulance were deployed to Plaza Miyana after reports of an armed attack.
After several hours of uncertainty, it was revealed that Jesus Chucho Pérez Alvear, a music promoter under investigation in the United States for his ties to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), had been murdered inside a restaurant in the plaza.
Since 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department had identified Pérez Alvear as a partner of Abigael González Valencia, alias El Cuini, and as being involved in a scheme to launder money from drug trafficking through an event organizing company. In June 2023, journalist Ángel Hernández revealed that Pérez Alvear had formalized a plea agreement, in which he accepted having conspired with the Jalisco cartel. The murder of Chucho Pérez unleashed a flurry of speculation regarding the possible individuals involved, but it wasn’t until October 2025 that Pablo Vázquez Camacho, head of the SSC (Mexico City’s Secretariat of Citizen Security), announced the dismantling of the criminal cell involved.
Between April and October 2025, investigations into the case led to the capture of six people, including the alleged perpetrator, identified as members of a criminal faction operating in the western part of the country:
* Wenceslao ‘N’, arrested in the Iztacalco borough on April 5
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* Lenin Cristopher ‘N’ and Cielo Guadalupe ‘N’, arrested in Michoacán on June 17
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* Alejandro ‘N’, alias Tío Pelón, captured on August 14 in Mexico City
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* Jaime Omar ‘N’, the alleged mastermind, apprehended on August 26 in Iztacalco.
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* Edson Arturo ‘N’, alias Randal, the alleged shooter, arrested on October 20 in Chimalhuacán, State of Mexico.
What is known about the murder of El Panu?
In the days following El Panu’s murder in the Zona Rosa, journalist Carlos Jiménez revealed a series of details that shed more light on the case.
One of them was that, apparently, the head of security for Los Chapitos was in Mexico City to celebrate Christmas with his family. According to Jiménez, El Panu took his mother to church and later went to dinner with her and his wife at the Luaú restaurant.
Also, through his program C4 en Alerta, Carlos Jiménez revealed that El Panu may have been betrayed by someone in his inner circle, since he wasn’t followed by anyone during his stay in the capital.
Despite the apparent lack of surveillance, his killer knew his exact location, walked to the restaurant, fired a dozen shots —without missing a single one— and fled on foot.
Sources: Milenio, Cartel Insider Archives, Cartel Insider Archives
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5 Comments
Panu was trying to cut his own deal with the DEA. The quiet brother ordered him hit
I have direct contact with the DEA in Mexico and he was not in process of cutting a deal.
Very dumb move having dinner in a restaurant with family during Christmas. While a war is raging. He pissed off someone within Chapos. IAG cleaning house.
With the death of Panu does this mean the war is almost over? It seems like Iván and Alfredo have lost literally every top player in their organization. I understand La chapiza still has cjng but the only top people left in the organization are Ivan and Alfredo. They have lost el Guerito, el 200, el Panu, la perris and many others I’m forgetting. It would seem they’re in the same position the damasos were in when they turned themselves in
In cartel structures, there’s always someone waiting to step in. Succession is built into the system—and it often stays in the family. Bronto took over for his brother Güerito, 300 took over for his brother 200, and the pattern repeats. Historically, that’s how the business maintains continuity: the names carry on. You still see it in the same surnames—CDN with a Treviño, the Arellanos with an Arellano, the Gulf tied to Osiel’s family, and so on.
Wars don’t “end,” Panu—at least not in the clean way people imagine. This isn’t MF vs. IAG; it’s MF/Cabreras vs. IAG/CJNG. The Cabreras are in Sinaloa, and 03 has people in the capital. If you take a step back, people like Panu, 200, and Güerito are replaceable.
So when you ask, “isn’t the war almost over?”—what does “over” even mean here? That all the soldiers on the ground unify under one flag? Not a chance. This war is personal to the men holding guns. Their loyalties aren’t to a single banner; they’re to their crew, their grudges, and what they’ve already lived through.