A suspected shootout between two rival drug cartels has left Filiberto Caudillo Salinas, a leader in the violent Mexican Gulf Cartel, dead more than three years after the cartel operator faked his own death. Breitbart News reports the shootout happened just west of the Mexican city of Matamoros this past week. Shortly before faking his death in 2017, Salinas reportedly began giving tips about rival cartels to Mexican military authorities.
(Via Breitbart)
In March 2017, Caudillo Salinas faked his death during a series of clashes between rival factions of the Gulf Cartel and the Mexican military. However, intelligence officials revealed to Breitbart Texas that instead of dying, Caudillo Salinas went underground and helped push the myth of his death. Shortly thereafter El Filis allegedly died, he became an informant and began to feed tips about his rivals to Mexican military forces. It remains unclear when El Filis resurfaced in Matamoros. At the time of his death, however, he was controlling the Ciclones strike team for the Gulf Cartel.
The Gulf Cartel formed in the 1930s as a smuggling group that shipped alcohol products into the United States during the prohibition era. The Gulf Cartel is considered Mexico's oldest criminal organization.