Marcos Arturo Beltran Leyva (5 February 1958– 16 December 2009) was one of the leaders of the powerful Beltran Leyva Cartel, commanding a squad of cartel assassins. In 2009, he was killed in a Mexican Navy raid on his mansion in Cuernavaca.
Biography[]
Marcos Arturo Beltran Leyva was born in Badiraguato, Sinaloa, Mexico on 5th of February 1958, the brother of Carlos, Alfredo, Mario Alberto, and Hector Beltran Leyva. The brothers once worked for the Sinaloa Cartel, and Beltran Leyva took command of a powerful group of assassins in the mid-1990s; he used them to fight for control of drug trade routes. In 2008, the brothers formed their own organization, the Beltran Leyva Cartel, after accusing Joaquin Guzman Loera of betraying their brother Alfredo to the police.
Downfall and death[]
Beltran Leyva after being shot
On 11 December 2009, the Mexican Navy's elite special forces unit raided a Christmas party at a gated house in Ahuatepec, Morelos, seeking to kill or apprehend Arturo. The party, attended by more than 20 prostitutes and some artists, became the site of a gun battle that left three gunmen and one bystander dead and 11 bodyguards captured. Beltran Leyva became paranoid, and he had the sons of his business associate Ponciano Dalba murdered after accusing Dalba of working with El Chapo. Ultimately, his own right-hand man Edgar Valdez Villarreal would be kidnapped by the Sinaloa Cartel and forced to give up his location to the military. On 16 December, Beltran Leyva was tracked down to another luxurious apartment community, this time in Cuernavaca. 200 Mexican Marines rappelled towards the building in which he was hiding, while two army tanks also closed in on his house. Beltran Leyva and three gunmen were killed, while a fourth shot himself.