El Cadeza arrested in Puebla on kidnapping warrant
Original reporting: Tribuna Sonora
What happened
Tribuna Sonora reports that René Cadeza Villegas was arrested on a warrant involving the kidnapping of E.M.A.D. and transferred to Oaxaca. Prosecutors allege a regional CJNG role and links to several criminal networks.
Reporting and context
René Cadeza Villegas, known as “El Cadeza” or “La Rana,” was arrested in Puebla on an aggravated kidnapping warrant and transferred to Oaxaca, according to Tribuna Sonora. Oaxaca prosecutors identify him as a suspected regional leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
The arrest took place at 3:30 p.m. on November 5 in Puebla’s Villa Deportiva neighborhood. Citing the National Detention Registry, the outlet placed the operation on Unidad Deportiva Avenue, between Calzada Ignacio Zaragoza and Pirineos Street, beside the Depósito Saravia business.
Tribuna Sonora reported that the warrant concerns the kidnapping of a person identified by the initials E.M.A.D. Oaxaca’s strategic action unit, UFAE-Grupo Biniza, and state anti-kidnapping unit participated, with support from Puebla prosecutors, the Navy, Army and National Guard. The registry listed the federal Security Ministry as the arresting authority.
According to the Oaxaca Attorney General’s Office (FGEO), Cadeza is from San Juan Bautista Tuxtepec and operated in a CJNG faction called Empresa de la Cuenca under W.M.M., known as “El Bistec” or “El 84.” Prosecutors allege that he organized extortion, kidnapping, drug trafficking and vehicle-theft networks, forcibly controlled the transport of stone materials, and was linked to killings and disappearances. Authorities describe him as a regional leader since 2022.
Oaxaca Attorney General Bernardo Rodríguez Alamilla said investigators located him through work tracking those structures. The FGEO alleges that he had taken refuge in Puebla to evade officers searching for him.
The arrest followed two other cases described in the report: Iván Cazarín Molina, “El Tanque,” was detained in Zapopan, Jalisco, on October 5; Carlos César Cruz Muñoz, “El Semáforo,” whom the outlet describes as his successor, was arrested in Tuxtepec on October 28 alongside Ana Gabriela Aguilar Ávalos, identified by authorities as his suspected logistics operator.
Original publication: https://tribuna.com.mx/seguridad/2026/11/06/cae-en-puebla-el-cadeza-jefe-de-plaza-del-cjng-que-huyo-tras-arresto-de-el-tanque-y-el-semaforo_711989