Mexico Presumed Him Dead in 2023, But ‘El Serio’ is Still Alive and Trafficking Weapons

In 2023, Mexican authorities declared Francisco Jaramillo—alias “El Serio”—dead. Who is this individual? Who was the man Mexico identified as the leader of an armed wing of the criminal group operating in the states of Guerrero and Morelos? 

Not only is he still alive, but he is also responsible for procuring weapons for the criminal group in the United States; indeed, he leads an arms-trafficking network. Ángel Hernández gained access to the documents and reports on the story. 

Francisco Jaramillo Baldovinos—alias “El Serio,” leader of one of the Jalisco Cartel’s most violent armed wings—ordered military-grade firearms from a drug trafficker and an arms dealer who was operating from prison; both were based in the United States. 

Although Jaramillo was presumed dead following a 2023 shootout, investigations in the U.S. confirmed he is alive and leading “La Seriezada,” a faction of the “Four-Letter Cartel” (CJNG) tasked with territorial expansion and control in Guerrero and Morelos, as well as fighting the “Nueva Familia Michoacana” in Guerrero, Michoacán, Morelos, and the State of Mexico. 

Inquiries by the U.S. government’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) indicate that “El Serio” ordered at least two .50-caliber machine guns through Javier Benítez Salazar—alias “Paquitas,” a known cocaine trafficker from Corpus Christi, Texas—who in turn coordinated with an arms trafficker directing the entire operation via cellphone from prison. 

That trafficker was Sean Roseberry Bisnot, a 38-year-old African American man with an extensive criminal record. In late 2024, prison officials confiscated his device, and a forensic analysis of his conversations revealed a complex arms-trafficking network supplying Mexico. 

For instance, on May 14 of that year, Bisnot and Salazar discussed an arms purchase that “El Serio” had made. The first individual coordinated the purchase of at least eight weapons destined for a cartel in Mexico. 

Two of these were handed over to Benítez Salazar, with Jaramillo Valdovinos presumed to be the intended end-user. One was an Ohio Ordnance Works M2 machine gun (serial number 850331), purchased in late 2022 by U.S. citizen Darius Mauris King. 

The other—the same model, bearing serial number 850368—was acquired by U.S. citizen Yasha Ros Sowell in March 2023. One of the weapons was seized on December 28, 2023, at the Anzalduas border crossing (between Mission, Texas, and Reynosa, Tamaulipas) before it could reach the intended recipient. There is no information regarding the other weapon, though it is presumed to have reached Jaramillo Valdovinos.

Source: Milenio