Mexican authorities scored a significant arrest this week in the tourist port city of Mazatlán, Sinaloa, with the arrest of Gabriel Nicolás Martínez Larios, also known as "El Gabito" or "El 80," an alleged regional leader of Los Chapitos who for years oversaw the group's operations in the area.
Martínez Larios was arrested June 1 by federal and state authorities in a residential development north of the city. His capture represents a major blow to the faction led by the sons of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, as El Gabito had become a key figure within the organization and was even immortalized in several narcocorridos, a genre of Mexican ballads that often narrates and embellishes the lives of cartel members.
