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In June 2014 a glamorous woman dubbed the “Kim Kardashian of organised crime” held a bizarre press conference after Mexican newspapers alleged that she was the leader of El Chapo’s hit squad Los Antrax.
Wearing a blazer and skirt, Claudia Ochoa Felix stammered: “My children are being subjected to bullying, my mother is suffering from anxiety, and I am devastated and without peace, and now my physical integrity is threatened.”
In short, the woman known as the “Empress of Antrax” was denying all involvement with the assassin wing of El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel.
READ MORE: El Chapo's sons executing own dealers after drug ban – and leaving chilling calling card
For more stories on El Chapo and his Sinaloa Cartel you can read them here.
This was despite the curvy brunette being romantically connected to a Los Antrax boss and regularly flaunting her wealth and luxurious lifestyle on social media – where she boasted about travelling the world with her designer handbags.
Two years after the press conference, she again went viral online after a snap showed her holding a pink AK-47.
Then, in September 2019, Claudia was found dead in a lover’s bed – with authorities concluding that she died of a drug overdose.
Los Antrax
Before Claudia’s death, she always dismissed being linked to Los Antrax, describing allegations as “cowardly lies and slander”.
But there was nothing fictitious about the gruesome hit squad known for dismembering enemies and hanging them from bridges.
So what do we actually know about Los Antrax? The quick answer is that they only answered to Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán, the Mexican drug lord who was the head of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel. He is now serving a life sentence in Colorado, but more on him later…
His Los Antrax hit squad meanwhile wear diamond studded skull rings, with replicas being sold on Amazon for around £32.
But to understand the history of Los Antrax you need to know about Jose Rodrigo Arechiga Gamboa, also known as Chino Antrax, the most famous leader of the bloodthirsty group.
He was also the man believed to have been involved in a relationship with Kim Kardashian lookalike Claudia.
Chino Antrax initially wanted to join the military but was a low level member of the Sinaloa Cartel before he became a bodyguard to the son of one of the leaders, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
He was eventually promoted to head of Los Antrax – and similar to Claudia, he often used his Instagram page to show off guns and fancy cars.
But between the years 2010 and 2013, the harsh reality of being a high level player in the Mexican drug war became apparent for Chino.
His Los Antrax squad was ordered to back the Sinaloa Cartel in a shootout with rival drugs gang the Beltran Leyva Cartel in Tubutama, Sonora, in a deadly scene that left up to 30 people dead.
Then, just one year later, the true extent of how barbaric Los Antrax was became clear during a gunfight with the Mexican Army in southern Culiacan.
Horrified cops freed kidnapping victims from a nearby safe house including a woman, five-year-old girl and a man who had his toes and ears mutilated.
Then after former Los Antrax leader Francisco Arce Rubio was murdered at a football game that the hit squad escalated the violence to a whole new level.
Up to 20 murders were reported almost immediately after Rubio’s death – and three bodies were even found hanging from a bridge. One victim had been tortured and was riddled with bullets while two others were kept in a freezer before being dumped.
But it was the beginning of the end for El Chino, who was arrested in Amsterdam in December 2013 in an operation overseen by the US and Interpol.
He had been trying to enter the Netherlands using a fake name and the hitman was sent to a maximum security prison.
There, it was concluded that he had used plastic surgery to transform his appearance and had even changed his fingerprints.
He was later extradited to the states and pleaded guilty to shipping cocaine and marijuana from Mexico to America, as well as being a violenct enforcer for the cartel.
Before he was caged, he pleaded with the judge: “I’m truly ashamed … I promise you I will never again go the wrong way. I would like to be able to work honestly.”
And his role as leader of Los Anthrax was confirmed by US Attorney's Office Southern District of California. Their statement read: “Arechiga-Gamboa is believed to have worked for the Sinaloa Cartel as the leader of a violent enforcement arm of the Sinaloa Cartel called ‘Los Antrax’ and a key lieutenant of Mayo.”
He was released in March 2020 before he was found shot dead alongside his sister and her husband.
His body was found in Sinaloa after he was reported missing by his probation officer – and his murder was reportedly ordered by senior cartel leaders.
Los Antrax today?
After the deaths of Francisco Arce Rubio, Claudia Ochoa Felix and Jose Rodrigo Arechiga Gamboa, it is unclear who runs Los Antrax today.
According to reports, the group remains active, despite most of the publicly known leaders being either dead or in prison.
And while El Chapo serves a life sentence in Colorado, his sons allegedly continue to rule the drugs game on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel.
And the cartel has no shortage of hitmen like Los Antrax, which was demonstrated back in January after El Chapo’s son, Ovidio Guzmán López, was arrested in January.
That’s because his capture led to violence erupting in Sinaloa where 30 people perished.
Known as El Ratón, or 'the Mouse', he was extradited to the US last month and pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering charges.
El Ratón is accused of taking over a large fraction of the Sinaloa Cartel after his dad’s arrest and him and his three brothers – Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar and Joaquín Guzmán López – are collectively known as Los Chapitos.
Alongside El Chapo’s son, the cartel is also believed to be led by Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the man who reportedly formed Los Antrax.
- El Chapo
- Kim Kardashian
- Drugs
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