They deployed an operation in Jalisco to search for Italian citizens who disappeared in 2018

The Jalisco State Prosecutor's Office (FE) deployed a search operation to locate a group of missing persons in the municipality of Tecalitlán.

FE personnel worked in conjunction with state and federal authorities such as the State Secretariat of Public Security (SSP), the local Search Commission, the State Civil Protection and Fire Unit on operations, as well as the National Guard and the Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA).

The Prosecutor's Office reported in a statement that the work was carried out with the deployment of more than 70 elements of the authorities involved, in addition to three sniffer dogs.

According to the statement, the units acted in coordination to carry out the work of locating citizens of Italian nationality who disappeared in the year 2018.

While in the operation deployed, the agents went to the vicinity of the maravillas bridge, located on the stretch of highway from Tecalitlán in the direction of Jilotlán de los Dolores in the municipality of Tecalitlán.

This is investigated by the Office of the Special Prosecutor on Missing Persons (FEPD) and the General Directorate for Follow-up to Process, who will continue to “carry out search actions hand in hand with families and in coordination with different authorities in the country,” according to the statement.

Regarding the case, the authorities are looking for three persons related to the disappearance, who have arrest warrants, in addition to the fact that two policemen have convictions for the facts.

The foreigners are Antonio Russo, Vicenzo Cimmino and Raffaele Russo. Antonio and Vicenzo disappeared when they tried to find Raffaele when they didn't know anything about his whereabouts.

They were declared missing on October 31, 2018, as they were arrested by municipal police, who were apprehended days later.

After investigations, the authorities succeeded in the arrest, on 24 February of the same year, of four members of the municipal police Emilio “N”, Solomon “N”, Lidia “N” and Fernando “N”.

The elements stated that they had handed over to the Italians the then leader of CJNG by order of the director of the corporation, Hugo Enrique Martínez Muñiz, for a thousand pesos each.

However, Enríquez Martínez fled justice on February 29, 2019, while Fernando “N” died and Lidia escaped after not attending the last day of her hearing, so an arrest warrant was issued.

Due to the disappearance, the Italian Foreign Ministry in Mexico demanded that the Mexican authorities give an “urgent solution” to the case and to determine the whereabouts of foreigners. Similarly, there were several demonstrations in Italy in which they demanded the appearance of the three men.

After considering that the evidence was sufficient, police officers Emilio “N” and Solomon “N” were convicted on April 4, 2021, and on the 10th they were sentenced to 50 years in prison, in addition to the payment of 1,290,000 pesos for damages.

The leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel was identified at that time as “Don Angel”, although over time and investigations, it became known that he was José Guadalupe Rodríguez Castillo, alias “El 15″ or “Don Lupe”.

“Don Lupe” was arrested in Zapopan at the end of July 2018 by elements of the Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC) of the Attorney General's Office (PGR). When he was questioned about the Italian citizens he denied his participation.

He was released in May 2019 and continued his criminal activities until during a confrontation, he was injured by a grenade, resulting in his death in a hospital in Ciudad Guzman.

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