A prisoner, accused of being an alleged third line of The Monkeyswas charged this week in Rosario as the new person in charge of running the drug business in part of the city, and mainly in Villa Gobernador Gálvez. It is about Jonatan Emiliano “Jano” Fernández, who, from pavilion 5 of the Piñero prison, was in charge of the retail drug trade for delection of three historic sides of the drug boss Ariel Máximo “Guille” Cantero, according to the accusation carried out by provincial prosecutors Pablo Socca and Brenda Debiasi.
As explained by the members of the Public Prosecutor’s Office before Judge Aldo Bilbao Benítez, Fernández is in prison after being charged in 2023 as an alleged organizer of the band led by Cristian Nicolás “Pupito” Avallea cause for which he could be sentenced before the end of the year through an abbreviated trial.
The hearing, which began Monday, went to several intermissions. It continued on Wednesday, it continued on Thursday and this Friday they finished presenting the parties, so next week the judge’s resolution will be known. The extension was due to a logical issue: there are 33 defendants, with “Jano” at the head.
Prosecutors noted that Fernández “was appointed” by prisoners of Los Monos who are housed in the federal prisons of Ezeiza and Marcos Paz, such as the cases of Leandro “Pollo” Vinardi, Carlos Damián “Toro” Escobar and Cristian “Pupito” Avalle – historical followers of the gang leader – and “Guille” Cantero. All also known, among other things, for having been part of the huge drawings of that flag that was displayed at Newell’s stadium during the tribute match to Maximiliano “La Fiera” Rodríguez against Lionel Messi and Claudio Tapia.
Vinardi, Escobar and Avalle accumulate sentences for homicide, illicit association, shootings and drug trafficking. The three were also always targeted for leading the Newell’s brava group with people from Villa Gobernador Gálvez and part of the southern area of Rosario.
The reason for change of command of Los Monos It was due, according to prosecutors, to the isolation and tightening of the communications and visitation regime that “Pollo”, “Toro” and “Pupito” had in Ezeiza and Marcos Paz.
“Fernández, from his place of accommodation (Piñero), had a more prominent role through the improper use of cell phones and personal contacts of his visits for the management of this organization,” said the officials of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The cocaine sold by the investigated structure has the logo of a dolphina seal already seen in different operations in different parts of the country.
In one part of the hearing, prosecutors played several videos that show the volume of money that drug dealing moves. Although wads of bills are seen in the footage, investigators estimated a million-dollar flow of money that dealers receive via bank transfer or virtual wallets.
One of the videos shown before the judge heads this note and shows a cocaine seller doing a drug purity test in response to the complaint they had received from several customers.
“Jano” had been one of the members of Los Monos who in October 2023 were exposed in wiretaps along with “Pupito” Avalle trying to manage meetings with pre-candidates for communal chief in different Santa Fe towns and with union members to extort them into giving up activities.
According to what Avalle told Fernández in a telephone conversation, they were not asking the political leaders for money. “We tell them: ‘We simply want you to give us the services that you have there to cut the grass, things. The cooperatives’. And if there is a union, we want to be in it.”
The file also shows that different unions were extorted – even intimidated by shooting and notes – to demand that they give them the business of the members’ food.
Of the 33 defendants in this marathon hearing, there are also five companions from Fernández’s cell block 5: Milton Joel “Oreja” Rivero, Cristian David Ayala, Marcos Daniel Vera, Yair Agustín Vera and Miqueas Fernando Gómez, all related to Los Monos.
In the case of Ayala, he is in prison for having been the one who moved the flag from the Newell’s bar that was shown at the tribute to “La Fiera” Rodríguez. Meanwhile, Rivero received a life sentence for having killed Osvaldo “Popito” Zalazar, an inmate who was accused of the murder of Claudio “Pájaro” Cantero.
The brothers Marcos and Yair Vera, in turn, were convicted as members of the organization headed by Máximo Ariel “Viejo” Cantero, historical founder of Los Monos.
The accused were joined by Gladys Retamozo, mother of “Pupito” Avalle, who was in jail for illicit association. Morena Avalle, the inmate’s sister, had already been taken to court, where she was attributed to being part of the structure.
The list of defendants was completed with Alejandro Daniel “Zapa” or “Zapatito” Vallejos – alleged leader of the Newell’s brava group –, José María “Yiyo” Medrano – alleged head of the Coronel Aguirre group, a club in Villa Gobernador Gálvez –, Rubén Ricardo Rodríguez, Damián Nicolás Escobar, Marianela Pedraza, Alejandra Elizabeth Vera, Érica Vanina Márquez and Norma Itatí Arocha.
They are followed by Leonardo Javier “Mosca” Di Renzo, Rubén “Ponja” González, Hugo “Tiburón” Oscariz, Nicolás Nahuel Orellano, Luis Marcelo Castro, Daniel Brito “Dominicano” De León, Mirco Joaquín Gruning, Luis Alberto Flores, Lucas “Cepe” Fita Alustriza, Carolina Eliana Marín Rojas, Karen Berlari, Yamila Velázquez, Marcia “Chami” Ortigoza, Eliana Muñóz, Milagros Evelyn Romero and Agustín Gonzalo “Jamaica” García.
Two other people, Stéfano Horacio López and Antoine Arabian, were attributed with having sold blue dollars to the alleged “Jano” Fernández gang so that they could buy cocaine with the currency.
For the investigation, Fernández was placed under Fernández’s right-hand man, Rubén Rodríguez, who manages the drugs and does the accounting to the point of being the one to whom all money transfers are sent.
Next week, Judge Bilbao Benítez will announce whether he accepts the legal qualifications chosen by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the requests for preventive detention.
