Martin Arzola Ortega (1977-31 July 2019) was a high-ranking leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel during the Mexican Drug War.
Biography[]
Martin Arzola Ortega was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in 1977, and he began his criminal career in 1998 by stealing cargo trucks. He joined the Milenio Cartel in Michoacan after his release from prison, and, after the Milenio Cartel was torn apart by infighting following Ignacio Coronel Villarreal's death in 2009, Arzola founded the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in 2010. On 13 July 2011, the Mexican Federal Police arrested him in Tlajomulco de Zuniga, and, on 9 December 2015, he was sentenced to 24 years in prison. In September 2018, he was released after his case was appealed; the only charge kept against him was illegal possession of firearms, but he was sentenced to time served. At 4:20 PM on 31 July 2019, he was shot dead by two gunmen as he ate with his aunt and nephew at a Carl's Jr. restaurant in Zapopan, and one of the assailants was killed by the bodyguard of Governor Antonio Echevarria Garcia's wife after the assailants began firing on the other customers.