A group of Hungarian gypsies were arrested in northwestern Mexico this week after they kidnapped a familymember from a wealthy Sonoran businessman.
According to Sonoran state police, the jefe of the seven kidnappers came up to Hermosillo from Jalisco last November and kidnapped the familymember of a wealthy Sonoran businessman. Apparently, the victim had extensive business holdings in Guadalajara, Jalisco, and family in Hermosillo. State police identify the kidnappers as Hungarian nationals but it’s not clear whether they’re actually Hungarians living in Mexico or part of the gypsy community that migrates around the country.
Two of the kidnappers, identified as Hungarian nationals who made an illicit living kidnapping people and a licit living reading Tarot cards for Mexicans, are accused of setting up the kidnapping. The ringleader was identified as a Sonoran gypsy, Armando “El Tomby” Ballester García, a wealthy Hermosillo resident who lives in a semi-posh neighborhood, Residencial Campanarios.
Tomby and his brother-in-law, Humberto Galván Loza, alias “El Pino,” studied the whereabouts and patterns of the victim, then moved in on the person. Then Tomby contacts his law enforcement source, José Luis Jiménez Chino, alias “El Chino”, a Federal Preventive Police officer working in Hermosillo.
Mind you, this Jiménez was not an ex-agent, but an active federal agent. A second federal officer was identified and is apparently on the run.
** Armando Ballesteros “El Tomby” courtesy Sonoran State Police
According to state police, Tomby’s plan was to couch the kidnapping as a federal law enforcement operation in case local police intervened. The kidnapping happened downtown, near the University of Sonora, at the intersection of Solidaridad and Luis Donaldo Colosio boulevards.
Tomby, police say, then brought in his helpers, more gypsies from Choyudo, a gypsy fishing community between Kino Bay and Guaymas.
The family paid the ransom and that’s when the Sonoran State Police anti-kidnapping unit moved in on them. Nine vehicles were seized, including a Lincoln Aviator, a BMW Surman, and a 2007 Ford Mustang. They’re still looking for a 2008 BMW.
Keeping in mind this morning’s story on the 11 Sinaloan cartel hitmen arrested by federal police in Mexico City, you now have a situation where state police are arresting corrupt federal cops in Hermosillo and federal cops arresting corrupt state police in Mexico City.
That’s what they call balance. Mexican style.
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