Mexican drug lord “El Teo”
Curious students on the way to school look at a pool of blood where a Mexican soldier died. The previous evening, the army attacked one of Teodoro Garcia Simental’s alleged hide-outs. Four hit men suspected of being followers of “El Teo” were killed inside the house. The body of a kidnap victim was found in a freezer in the carport. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
A forensic investigator in Tijuana examines vertebrae and other bone fragments that are all that remains of a human body recovered from a barrel of acid. The gruesome discovery in the Otay Mesa part of the city is consistent with a signature killing style of “El Teo” -- Tijuana’s most wanted cartel kingpin. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
A kidnap victim who requested anonymity for his own safety visits the place where he was held captive for two months. The former Tijuana businessman paid $300,000 ransom to a cell of the Arellano Felix drug cartel for his release. That cartel’s onetime top lieutenant, Teodoro Garcia Simental, transformed kidnapping into a multi-million-dollar industry. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
At the Cuartel Morelos army base in Tijuana, Mexican soldiers salute the casket of a soldier slain the night before in a shootout with a drug gang. Four hit men believed to be followers of “El Teo” were killed in the firefight. A tip leading to the hide-out reportedly came from a rival gang headed by “The Engineer.” (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
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A Mexican soldier in full battle dress escorts the suspected kidnapper of a Tijuana schoolteacher toward jail. The city has been terrorized by what is suspected to be Teodoro Garcia Simental’s criminal empire, which is allegedly built largely on kidnappings and extortion. Starved of narcotics profits, “El Teo” is said to thrive on bloody homegrown pursuits. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
On the steps of the Tijuana morgue, a man waits to claim a relative’s body. His newspaper chronicles another victim of Tijuana’s out-of-control drug war. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
