The Tombs Of Dead Cartel Bosses That Feature WIFI, Air Conditioning And Bedrooms
In my world of studying organized crime, drug cartels and other depraved people there is one thing that is a constant with these individuals... death. There is plenty of it and it permeates through life. In the world of Mexican drug cartels though death is treated different. Now in Mexico in general, death is treated a certain way. It's filled with remembering the person but also doing it in an extravagant way. When someone at the highest level in the cartel world dies they are treated with the utmost respect. It's not just grab a coffin and dig a hole like here in America. Some of the rich and famous may get a mausoleum. If you are a drugs boss, you live your years in Heaven or Hell in luxury. They do not skimp on the afterlife.
I recently stumbled upon an interesting place after speaking to a journalist Ioan Grillo who has spent his life covering cartels
We talked a lot about El Chapo and even the capture of his son. But in the scenic state that sits on Mexico's western coast I found a graveyard that is something you have to see to believe.
Jardines del Humaya or the "Gardens of Humaya" was created in 1969 with the purpose of being a a graveyard for the area's rich and successful, people like politicians. Quickly though it turned into a spot where cartel bosses were buried and the tombs and mausoleums were must see. They aren't your normal resting places. They are shrines and fully built homes equipped with balconies, bedrooms (in case you want to sleep alongside your favorite narco) TV's, air conditioning and more.
They are gigantic structures that cost millions of dollars and what your looking at in this below video are tombs even though some look like huge mansions… and obviously they have become a tourist attraction.
Narcos buried there include:
Arturo Beltran Leyva, the violent leader of the Beltran Leyva Cartel. ABL and his brothers grew up and at one point were extremely close to Joaquin El Chapo Guzman before breaking off over believing Chapo gave up several of them to the government. Beltran Leyva was killed by Mexican Marines in 2009 in the Mexican state of Morelos after a shootout at his mansion. His family spent nearly 700 grand on his tomb which has TV's, Wi-Fi and a kitchen. Weirdly enough in 2010, a rival cartel left a severed human head with a flower behind the ear on the steps of the tomb.
AFP. Getty Images.
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Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel-
OMAR TORRES. Getty Images.Coronel was a former member of the Juarez Cartel who ultimately became part of the Sinaloa Cartel. He was a visionary and was one of the originators and most dominant crystal meth traffickers in Mexico. He died in a shootout with the Mexican miltiary in Zapopan in Jalisco in 2010. One famous story involving Nacho comes from when at one point a rival cartel Los Zetas, kidnapped his teenage son and killed him. Nacho sent 100's of his sicarios to snuff out the Zetas. His tomb includes a music system where visitors can control the tunes as well as a state of the art alarm system. An interesting fact: El Chapo's current wife Emma Coronel is the niece of Nacho Coronel. She is currently doing a federal prison sentence for aiding Guzman. Coronel is wife only by name, as they aren't actually married. When Chapo met Emma, she claims they married "under the law of the divine" and a priest was bribed to put on the sham wedding. She also would have two of Chapo's kids, his youngest. It's estimated he has dozens of children though, 10 he knows of and dozens he doesn't.
KENA BETANCUR. Getty Images.The most elaborate of the tombs is for the brother of El Chapo, Arturo Guzman Loera aka El Pollo- Pollo was Chapo's youngest brother and he was a close confidant to his brother aiding him in one of his escapes from prison in the early 2000's and down the road was integral in creating the tunnel systems Chapo would use to escape. Pollo though eventually was arrested and was viciously killed in prison by a rival cartel that led to a war between Chapo and the Juarez Cartel. Chapo would construct five separate buildings for himself, Arturo and the rest of his brothers for when they meet their maker. They cost in the area of several million dollars.