Lifetime sentence
The Attorney General of Mexico (FDR) has revealed a court has sentenced the mastermind behind one of the worst attacks against civilians in the country’s history at the Monterrey’s Casino Royale in 2011 to 135 years in prison.
massacre at the Monterrey casino in 2011 that left 53 dead
According to Mexican media on Wednesday, the Second Federal Criminal Court in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, found Baltasar “El Mataperros” Sauceda Estrada guilty of multiple offenses relating to his role in the massacre at the Monterrey casino in 2011 that left 53 dead.
The court found Estrada guilty of drug-related offenses and the “illegal deprivation of liberty in the form of kidnapping, against three victims.”
Cartel members convicted
The FGR’s Office confirmed the court’s verdict and stated that, as a member of the Mexican cartel Los Zetas, Estrada must also pay a fine of over 1.2m pesos ($68,000) for his involvement in organized crime and kidnapping.
The court in Matamoros also sentenced five other Los Zetas members connected to the attack to 15 years in prison. Police arrested all the defendants between 2011 and 2012, with some already serving time when the court handed down its verdict this week.
The rulings draw a line under one of the darkest events during then-Mexican President Felipe Calderón’s “War on Drugs.”
A permanent reminder of the tragic events of August 2011 remains in a memorial to the victims on the demolished casino’s grounds.
Day of infamy
At around 3:15pm on that August day, 14 Los Zetas gunmen arriving in multiple vehicles stormed Casino Royale, robbing patrons of their belongings, destroying gaming machines and dousing them with gasoline.
The attackers set the property on fire and then blocked the exits, leaving trapped patrons and employees to their deaths.
