Gang Arrested for Murdering Representative of Grupero Singers and Brother-in-Law of “El Cuini”

Mexico City and federal authorities dismantled a criminal cell that executed Jesús Pérez Alvear, alias “Chucho Pérez” or “El Zar del Palenque” (The Czar of the Cockfighting Arena), a dance and cockfighting arena organizer and former representative of regional Mexican music artists. He was the former brother-in-law of Abigael González Valencia, alias “El Cuini,” leader of the Los Cuinis criminal group, partners and administrators of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

The gang—comprised of five men and one woman—was considered a faction of a criminal organization operating in western Mexico, dedicated to drug trafficking, homicide, and extortion.

The detainees were identified as Wenceslao Palacios Ruiz, Lennin Cristopher Rodríguez Ruiz, Cielo Guadalupe Abundez González, Alejandro Gutiérrez Herrera, alias “Tío Pelón” (Uncle Baldy), Jaime Omar Castillo Martínez, and Edson Arturo Barajas Galindo, alias “Randal.” Official reports indicate that the latter was the perpetrator, while the rest of his accomplices coordinated and planned the murder.

Pérez Alvear was murdered around 4:20 p.m. on December 4, 2024, inside the restaurant “El Bajío,” located on the first floor of Plaza Miyana, in the Polanco neighborhood of the Miguel Hidalgo borough in Mexico City.

“After learning of the incident, various intelligence techniques were employed, allowing personnel from the SSPC, SSC, GN, and CNI to identify a group of individuals who participated in different activities before and after the attack,” authorities reported.

On April 5, 2025, Palacios Ruiz was arrested in the Juan Escutia neighborhood of the Iztacalco borough, wearing a bulletproof vest and possessing more than 200 doses of drugs. The investigation revealed that Rodríguez Ruiz and Abundez González hid in Michoacán, where they were apprehended on June 17, 2025, by federal and state agents. Gutiérrez Herrera was arrested on August 14 of the same year, also in Mexico City.

With the information gathered, federal and state authorities obtained an arrest warrant for aggravated homicide against Castillo Martínez, which was executed on August 16, 2025, in the Iztacalco borough. As the investigation progressed, they discovered that Barajas Galindo had taken refuge in the State of Mexico, and on October 20 of the same year, he was captured in Chimalhuacán, pursuant to another arrest warrant for the same crime.

The former representative of César Gerardo Ortiz Medina—better known as Gerardo Ortiz—and of Julio César Álvarez Montelongo—known as Julion Álvarez—and owner of the company “Gallística Diamante,” arrived at the restaurant and sat at table 35, which had been reserved by a person named Javier.

After sharing food and drinks with two men and a woman for two hours, at 4:20 p.m. on December 4, 2024, Pérez Alvear was shot in the body and the back of the head. The attackers arrived at the location—one wearing a gray sweatshirt and the other a black jacket, both wearing motorcycle helmets—identifying themselves as delivery drivers.

The alleged hitmen removed their helmets but remained masked and went to the table where the former brother-in-law of “El Cuini” was sitting, shooting him at point-blank range. The perpetrators ran out of the establishment and fled the area on a motorcycle.

Thirteen 9mm shell casings were found at the scene, according to case file 00449/12-2024, opened by the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office (FGJ-CDMX) and cited by the newspaper Reforma.

Following the attack, the U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory to its citizens, urging them to avoid the Polanco area. “They should exercise caution and avoid the area,” the U.S. government agency warned.

On April 6, 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated “Chucho Pérez” as a drug trafficker and accused him of using his company to launder money.

“Gallística Diamante,” the company owned by Pérez Alvear, organized the cockfighting arena at the San Marcos Fair in Aguascalientes and also managed the San Isidro Fair in Metepec, State of Mexico.

According to Sigal Mandelker, then Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at OFAC, Jesús Pérez Alvear, known as “Chucho Pérez,” supported the CJNG and Los Cuinis in “exploiting the Mexican music industry to launder drug money 

Source: Zeta Tijuana