The Day They Tried to Assassinate ‘The Lord of the Skies’ in a Restaurant in Southern Mexico City

Although some of the most powerful drug traffickers have concentrated their operations in the north of the country, the violence that follows them closely has reached them in the capital on more than one occasion.

The leader of the Juárez Cartel was the target of an assassination attempt in Mexico City in the early nineties.

The sound of a gunshot was followed by an intense mobilization of police and emergency services. On the night of December 21, the Luaú restaurant located in the Zona Rosa of Mexico City became the scene of a murder.

Before the eyes of dozens of diners, the body of a man lay surrounded by a pool of blood, a scene that forced the deployment of personnel from both the Secretariat of Citizen Security (SSC) and the capital’s prosecutor’s office, who, after carrying out the corresponding investigations, confirmed the victim’s identity: Óscar Noé Medina González.

Although it was initially speculated that he was a businessman from Mazatlán, the investigations by the capital authorities confirmed that he was actually a person for whom the United States was offering a reward of up to 4 million dollars. The reason? He was one of the main operators and security chiefs of the Los Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel.

El Panu, as he was better known, met his unfortunate fate far from the state where he began his criminal career; however, his story is not unique. Decades earlier, another restaurant located in the south of the city became the scene of an armed attack that showcased the power that one of the country’s most famous drug lords had achieved, which allowed him to move around with complete impunity in the Mexican capital.

The influence of the Lord of the Skies in Mexico City

Amado Carrillo Fuentes was one of the most strategic drug trafficking leaders to have operated in Mexico. The origin of his extensive criminal record dates back, like that of many others, to the ranks of the Guadalajara Cartel, which was headed by his own uncle, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, along with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and Rafael Caro Quintero.

According to InSight Crime, Amado Carrillo Fuentes inherited the leadership of the Juárez Cartel after the assassination of Rafael Aguilar Guajardo in 1993 in Cancún. Although at that time he was only a lieutenant, the death of his leader, the eventual capture of the founders of the Guadalajara Cartel, and an ambition to consolidate his criminal empire were the ingredients that began to forge an alias that years later Mexico and part of the world would come to know: El Señor de los Cielos (The Lord of the Skies).

“The organization grew exponentially under Carrillo Fuentes’ command. More inclined to negotiation than to war, Carrillo Fuentes rebuilt and expanded Félix Gallardo’s old network. Over time, he came to control at least half of all Mexican drug trafficking and even extended his operations to Central and South America, including Chile and Argentina. Carrillo’s alias, El Señor de los Cielos, accurately describes his method: using commercial and courier air traffic, the Juárez Cartel moved thousands of tons of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico by air,” the aforementioned think tank describes regarding its operations.

The success of his criminal operations allowed Don Neto’s nephew not only to accumulate a fortune but also to begin weaving a network of corruption among public officials that allowed him to continue his lucrative business and which, ironically, were key to his arrest in 1989.

As journalist David Casco describes in his undergraduate thesis published by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), on June 27, 1989, El Señor de los Cielos was arrested by police and military personnel after attending a wedding in Badiraguato, Sinaloa, and was subsequently transferred to what was then called the Federal District, where his legal defenders began negotiating his release. “Amado Carrillo’s defense was steadily moving toward success. They couldn’t release him, but they offered to downplay his importance in drug trafficking, leave his family alone, and absolve his wife Sonia—treasurer of his airline company—the Leyva family, and his partner Antonio del Valle Ruiz of any responsibility. In exchange for a few million dollars,” reads a section of the academic investigation.

Journalist Ricardo Ravelo documented that, during his time at the Southern Penitentiary in Mexico City, “El Señor de los Cielos” (The Lord of the Skies) enjoyed numerous privileges. From having multiple conjugal rooms at his disposal to access to food from the most expensive restaurants in the capital and protectors who eventually expedited his release on June 7, 1990.

Once out of prison, the contacts he had accumulated by then allowed Amado Carrillo Fuentes to operate with impunity not only in Chihuahua, where the main center of operations of his criminal organization was located, but also in Querétaro, Morelos, Jalisco, Coahuila, the State of Mexico, and, of course, in Mexico City.

With the authorities on his side, the only thing “El Señor de los Cielos” worried about was protecting himself from fierce rivals with ambitions similar to his own: the Arellano Félix brothers. Investigations by journalist Ricardo Ravelo indicate that, in addition to having a large security team, the leader of the Juárez Cartel also took steps to protect himself with various safe houses, offices, and residences established in Mexico City, specifically in neighborhoods such as Bosques de las Lomas, Pedregal de San Ángel, Santa Úrsula, Xitla, and Lomas de Chapultepec.

In these locations, the drug lord would often spend the night, receive people, close deals, or even organize family parties; However, despite these measures, the pursuit by his enemies caught up with him in the heart of the Mexican capital. 

The assassination attempt on the Lord of the Skies.

Although Amado Carrillo Fuentes was aware of the risks he faced, the confidence he placed in his security team was enough for him to frequent public places.

Information from his lawyer, José Alfredo Andrade Borjorges, compiled by journalist David Casco, describes how the leader of the Juárez Cartel indulged in enjoying fine dining at the best restaurants. However, this did not mean neglecting his security detail: he went to familiar places, had established escape routes, a double security perimeter manned by two three-person security teams at the entrance, and a double perimeter at the exit reinforced by armored cars. “The team had orders to die before anything happened to the boss,” the lawyer added in a book he wrote about his client.

On November 20, 1993, Amado Carrillo Fuentes arrived in the Mexican capital with his wife and six children. They stayed at the Presidente Chapultepec Hotel in Polanco, and four days later they made a decision that, unexpectedly, put them in the public eye: going to dinner at the Bali Hai restaurant.

The establishment, located on Insurgentes Sur, was frequently visited by the drug lord. Waiters and staff knew that his visits meant generous tips, so the service had to be impeccable. Despite being seated at their usual table, that dinner took a 180-degree turn when the clock struck 8:30 p.m.

“The dinner proceeded without incident. And it wasn’t until about an hour and a half later that loud gunshots were heard throughout the restaurant: an armed criminal cell, sent by the Arellano Félix brothers—leaders of the Tijuana Cartel and enemies of the Sinaloan drug lord—opened fire on Carrillo Fuentes’ first security detail, who fell at the entrance of the establishment defending their boss’s life,” is described in David Casco’s undergraduate thesis, published by UNAM. Newspaper reports from the time recount that the shootout lasted between five and seven minutes, a time that the second security detail of the Lord of the Skies used to get him and his family to safety. 

That day, three members of his security detail lost their lives, as did a police officer and a restaurant patron.

The leader of the Juárez Cartel and his family fled to one of his properties in Cuernavaca, Morelos, while in Mexico City, the resulting chaos demonstrated how organized crime disputes had reached the country’s capital.

Having survived that attack by the Arellano Félix brothers allowed Amado Carrillo Fuentes to continue at the helm of a lucrative business that was boosted by the coordination of fleets of planes that transported cocaine shipments from South America to Mexico and then to the United States, triggering pressure from authorities in the neighboring country to arrest the now well-established Lord of the Skies.

Amid these efforts, in 1997, Amado Carrillo Fuentes underwent plastic surgery to alter his appearance and evade arrest; however, according to one version of events, the leader of the Juárez Cartel died during the surgical procedure.

Although there are multiple documented inconsistencies regarding the death of the Lord of the Skies, the fact remains that his absence from the country’s criminal landscape propelled the Sinaloa Cartel to the top of drug trafficking in Mexico.  Nevertheless, despite the decades that have passed, the targeting of organized crime members in the Mexican capital continues to demonstrate that, sometimes, history does repeat itself.

Source: Milenio