El Mochaorejas sentenced to another 50 years
Original reporting: El Diario de Juárez
What happened
The FGR says Daniel Arizmendi López now has at least seven sentences totaling more than 398 years; two co-defendants remain imprisoned in other cases.
Reporting and context
Daniel Arizmendi López, known as “El Mochaorejas,” received a new 50-year prison sentence for organized crime, money laundering and possession of weapons reserved for the armed forces, according to El Diario de Juárez, citing Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office, the FGR.
The court also imposed a fine of 916,312.50 pesos. El Diario de Juárez reported that the ruling brings Arizmendi’s total to at least seven sentences adding up to more than 398 years in prison. Those figures describe the accumulated sentences reported by prosecutors.
The new ruling followed court-ordered proceedings after Arizmendi and two other defendants obtained amparo relief against an earlier conviction. The report says the three were convicted in 2003 and that the latest resolution was notified in recent days after federal prosecutors submitted evidence.
The FGR also reported a 22-year sentence and a fine exceeding 4 million pesos for Daniel “V,” and a 16-year sentence and a fine exceeding 280,000 pesos for Dulce Paz Vanegas Martínez. Both were convicted of organized crime and money laundering. Their sentences in this case were deemed served, but they will remain imprisoned because they face other criminal proceedings.
Investigators said the three belonged from 1998 to a kidnapping organization operating mainly in the State of Mexico and what was then the Federal District. Arizmendi was arrested near Toreo de Cuatro Caminos in Naucalpan on August 17, 1998, allegedly while attempting to collect a ransom. Daniel “V” and Vanegas Martínez were arrested four days later.
The report says Arizmendi acquired his nickname by cutting off victims’ ears to pressure their families into paying ransoms.
Original publication: El Diario de Juárez.