Biographical information on alleged Tijuana drug lord Teodoro Garcia Simental

Biographical data on alleged Tijuana drug lord

NAME — Teodoro Garcia Simental

NICKAMES — El Teo, El Tres Letras

BIRTH YEAR — 1974

BACKGROUND — He was once considered a top hit man for Tijuana’s dominant cartel, the family-run Arellano-Felix. After law enforcement arrested or killed most of the Tijuana cartel leaders in 2008, Garcia launched a new group affiliated with the Sinaloa Cartel. The splintered organizations have been involved in a violent turf battle in Tijuana.

REPUTATION — Police say Garcia is particularly brutal and that his forces executed, beheaded and mutilated hundreds of rivals in Tijuana, sometimes pinning notes to the corpses, other times dissolving the bodies in caustic soda.

TERRITORY — Police say he attempted to control eastern Tijuana and Rosarito Beach.

(This version CORRECTS that bodies dissolved in caustic soda sted acid.)