A member of the Federal Police stands guard at a checkpoint in Rosario, Argentina, on October 1, 2020. Argentina's third largest city has seen escalating violence for years amid the proliferation of drug-related gangs. Photo by MARCELO MANERA/AFP via Getty Images.
The founder of one of Argentina’s most notorious gangs was just arrested for allegedly ordering attacks on schools and businesses in November.Máximo Cantero, also known as El Viejo, which means “the old man” in Spanish, is allegedly the founder of Los Monos—The Monkeys—a family-run drug gang based in the city of Rosario. The Cantero family has been linked to drug trafficking in Argentina since the ’90s, and Rosario has turned into one of the country’s deadliest cities in the last few decades.El Viejo’s arrest is reportedly linked to early-morning gunshots at school buildings on Nov. 14, the day of the country’s legislative elections. While no children were present, one of the buildings was occupied by members of the Argentine military who were preparing to provide security during the vote. At a second school, gunmen reportedly left a sign that read: “Either you communicate with the mafia, or the shootings continue.” There were other shootings over the next week at several gas stations and a restaurant around Rosario. Authorities reportedly arrested El Viejo for ordering the attacks, allegedly aimed at furthering his extortion rackets.During the arrest Wednesday, authorities discovered six roosters believed to be used in cockfights, several greyhounds for racing, and 18 horses, which were allegedly in poor condition. Authorities also discovered a poster of Al Pacino from the ’80s gangster flick Scarface.El Viejo’s arrest reportedly coincided with the detention of 19 other people across the city, including his former partner Patricia Celestina Contreras. One of the detectives who investigated the case, Valeria Haurigot, said that their investigation involved connections to a plan to “sell narcotics” and pay for “public intimidations.”“There are people within those investigated who have a lot of experience in committing crimes,” she said.The arrests of El Viejo, Contreras and their associates further decimates the Cantero family and Los Monos.The elder Cantero reportedly passed control of Los Monos over to his sons years ago, and they ran Rosario with an iron fist, warring for local drug and extortion rackets and allegedly laundered money through high-rise apartments and a local soccer team.The group was headed by brothers, Claudio Cantero, alias El Pajero or the Bird, and Ariel “Guille” Cantero, along with an adopted brother named Ramón Ezequiel Machuca, a.k.a Monchi Cantero. Guille is the son of Contreras and El Viejo.But the younger generation’s leadership eventually crumbled.El Pajero was gunned down outside a nightclub in 2013. Over the course of 2014 and 2015, authorities arrested Guille, Monchi Cantero, and El Viejo in a lengthy investigation aimed at cracking the organization. Authorities eventually sentenced both Guille and Monchi Cantero in 2018 on wide-ranging charges that will keep them behind bars for several decades at least, while El Viejo received a much shorter sentence and was released in 2020.
Rosario is known as the hometown of soccer superstar Lionel Messi and the legendary leader of the Cuban Revolution, Ernesto “Che” Guevara. But more recently, the city gained infamy for being one of the most dangerous in Argentina. Located about 185 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, Rosario has seen 90 murders already this year, according to local media.
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Rosario is known as the hometown of soccer superstar Lionel Messi and the legendary leader of the Cuban Revolution, Ernesto “Che” Guevara. But more recently, the city gained infamy for being one of the most dangerous in Argentina. Located about 185 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, Rosario has seen 90 murders already this year, according to local media.