Daniel Arizmendi López

Daniel Arizmendi López (born 22 July 1958) is a Mexican convicted kidnapper and serial killer.[1][2] In 1998 Susan Ferriss of the Cox News Service wrote that Arizmendi was "Mexico's most notorious suspected criminal".[3]

Biography

Arizmendi López was originally a police officer in Morelos.[3] He became involved in crime in the 1980s while a police officer.[4] From 1996 until 1998 he was responsible for at least 18 kidnappings in Mexico and some murders. He often severed the ears of his kidnapping victims.[5] In many cases, he sent the severed ears to the families of his victims.[6] Because of this, he was nicknamed "El Mochaorejas" ("The Ear Chopper").[7] Arizmendi López collected over $40 million U.S. dollars in ransom money from kidnappings.[8]

On August 19, 1998 Mexican authorities announced that they had captured Arizmendi López in Naucalpan, Mexico State.[6][3] On the day of his arrest, he confessed to four murders.[5] Inside Arizmendi López's house police found an altar to Santa Muerte.[6] Authorities allowed Arizmendi López to bring a figure of Santa Muerte to prison, resulting in widespread media attention.[7] Jorge Madrazo Cuéllar, the Attorney General of Mexico, stated that information originating from plea bargains of gang members in prison and legal wiretaps were used in the capture.[5]

In 2022, a Magistrates Court ordered the removal of 14 statements from members of the Mochaorejas gang and Arizmendi López's brother due to the possibility of their having been obtained through illegal torture.[9] This decision invalidates the 40-year prison sentence, which will be reevaluated, but Arizmendi López will not be released from prison.

Legacy

The character Daniel "La Voz" Sánchez in the 2004 film Man on Fire is based on Arizmendi López,[10] and the character Aurelio Sánchez is based on Aurelio Arizmendi López, the brother of Daniel Arizmendi López.[11] Just like the real Arizmendi López, "La Voz" believes in Santa Muerte. Kevin Freese of the Foreign Military Studies Office stated that "it appears that the allusion" of the fictional Sánchez brothers with the real Arizmendi brothers "escaped the comprehension of much of the audience."[10]

References
  1. Depalma, Anthony (1998-08-19). "Mexico Says It Has Kidnapper Who Cut Wealthy Victims' Ears". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-01-08.
  2. Kovaleski, Serge F. (1998-06-14). "BRUTAL KIDNAPPER STRIKES TERROR IN MEXICO". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-01-08.
  3. Ferriss, Susan. "Ear-cutter Arizmendi Lopez arrested near los Angeles" (). Cox News Service at Laredo Morning Times. Wednesday August 19, 1998. p. 2.
  4. Information Services Latin America (ISLA). Information Services Latin America, 1998. p. 19. "CSM JUL *3 1998 3066 MEXICO CITY Brutal reputed kidnapper Daniel Arizmendi Lopez was a handsome police officer when he began his life of crime in the mid- 1980s. As a onetime cop gone bad - very bad - he symbolizes the tares[...]"
  5. DePalma, Anthony. "Mexico Says It Has Kidnapper Who Cut Wealthy Victims' Ears." The New York Times. August 19, 1998. Retrieved on May 15, 2014.
  6. Chesnut, R. Andrew. Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint. Oxford University Press, January 3, 2012. ISBN 0199764662, 9780199764662. p. 16.
  7. Martín, Desirée A. Borderlands Saints: Secular Sanctity in Chicano/a and Mexican Culture (Latinidad: Transnational Cultures in the United States). Rutgers University Press, December 19, 2013. Page unstated (Google Books PT180).
  8. Chesnut, R. Andrew. Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint. Oxford University Press, January 3, 2012. ISBN 0199764662, 9780199764662. p. 15.
  9. de 2022, 21 de Septiembre. ""El Mochaorejas": revocaron sentencia de 40 años de prisión contra el secuestrador". infobae (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2023-01-08.
  10. Freese, Kevin (Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth, KS). "The Death Cult of the Drug Lords Mexico’s Patron Saint of Crime, Criminals, and the Dispossessed" (). Foreign Military Studies Office. Retrieved on May 15, 2014.
  11. "La industria de secuestro en México es tan lucrativa que no caerá, según un experto" (Archive). Agencia EFE at La Voz (Arizona Star). October 3, 2010. Retrieved on May 15, 2014. "Su historia sirvió al director hollywoodiense Tony Scott para el filme "Man on fire", protagonizado por Denzel Washington y ambientado en el Distrito Federal. Los secuestradores se llamaron Daniel, como "el Mochaorejas", y Aurelio, como su compinche."
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