Global Courant 2023-05-26 14:00:17
The naked body is lying on the metal stretcher. On the forehead of that young man, shot to death, there is a white adhesive tape that says in large print “Ariel Cantero.” You can tell that death surprised him because a smile can be seen on his face. In another of the autopsy photos, the one on his right shoulder, the impact of the lead that ended up perforating his heart clearly appears.
For the Legal Medical Institute of the Judiciary of Santa Fe, this was autopsy 478/2013. For the people of the province, particularly those of Rosario, it was the beginning of a hell of drug violence and revenge that in 10 years has already claimed some 3,000 deaths… and it does not seem to have an end.
The naked body on the stretcher was that of Claudio Ariel Cantero (29), known as “El Pájaro”, eldest son of Máximo Ariel Cantero -“El Viejo”-, founder of the Los Monos narco clan and effective strategist, to the point of that he gave a good part of his children the second name Ariel to confuse his enemies.
The place where Claudio “Pájaro” Cantero fell riddled with bullets.
Claudio, “El Pájaro”, was assassinated by hitmen early on Sunday, May 26, 2013, at the door of a nightclub in Villa Gobernador Gálvez.
He had started the night in Yamper (south of Rosario) with vodka and champagne and traveled at full speed in his Peugeot cabriolet from Rosario to Villa Gobernador Gálvez while drinking a whiskey that had been given to him.
He was accompanied by three friends.
Claudio Cantero was boss of Los Monos.
The group arrived at the Infinity Night bowling alley, one of the “Bird’s” favorite night spots.
At the door of this place, around 5:30 in the morning, a Ford EcoSport advanced at full speed firing a burst at Cantero and his friends.
At first, there were between 10 and 15 shots, but no one knows if more shells fell inside the truck. According to the ballistic tests -which contradict some witnesses-, none of the murderers got out of the EcoSport.
Crime scene .
“El Pájaro” was killed with four bullets. And two of his friends were injured. They treacherously attacked him while he was urinating.
There were four detainees for the crime: Facundo “Macaco” Muñoz”, Osvaldo “Popito” Salazar, Milton Damario and the alleged mastermind, Luis “El Pollo” Bassi. But all were acquitted in oral proceedings.
The Canteros didn’t care much for that. They never trusted the Justice, to the point that they did not appear as plaintiffs in the case of the homicide.
Máximo Ariel “El Viejo” Cantero, head of the clan.
They set up their own justice system with their own hands and began to kill people shortly after the “Pájaro” wake.
This spiral of violence and the fact that his main rival, Esteban Lindor Alvarado, had the police apparatus in his favor, ended up fueling his fame and, hand in hand with this very high media profile, the myth of the “Bird” also grew. Stonecutter.
The file for the murder of Claudio Ariel “Pájaro” Cantero, leader of Los Monos, in Rosario, on May 26, 2013.
His charm, his charisma and his intelligence. That he played chess even before reading and writing. That he was a kind of Pablo Escobar from Rosario, helping neighbors and making himself loved. That he was calculating to the point that if they hadn’t killed him he would have controlled drug violence in Rosario, a factor that is always detrimental to business.
The truth is that at the time of Claudio Ariel “Pájaro” Cantero’s crime, Los Monos were not known nationally. An example: the news of his crime occupied a relatively minor place on page 40 of Clarín on Monday, May 27, 2013. Rosario was front page news, but because Newells had thrashed Boca Juniors 4-0.
The Clarín note, the day after the crime of Claudio Ariel “Pájaro” Cantero in Rosario.
The life of the “Bird”
Claudio Ariel left three children. Lorena Verdún (mother of all of them and his widow, although they were no longer together) was given the golden ring with a carved Saint Benedict. Saint Benedict of Nursia is a Catholic saint whose sacramental medal is widely used as an amulet against evil. In general, he bears the inscription “Vade Retro Satana” (Away Satan!).
What the family never recovered were two gold chains, one from which hung a ring that “El Pájaro” had taken off because it was too small for him, and another with a stone in the shape of a strawberry. Both were on the record when Cantero entered the care center. They never appeared and this angered the clan.
Although “El Viejo” Cantero has 24 recognized children, he only had seven within the marriage with Patricia Celestina Contreras (“La Cele”).
The YPF service station where “El Pájaro” Cantero was for the last time before being assassinated at the door of the Infinity Night bowling alley. Photo: JUAN JOSE GARCIA
The leader was “El Pájaro”, a nickname his grandfather gave him because he was small and mischievous. After his murder, six brothers, three women and three men, were left alive. The best known (both imprisoned and convicted) are Ariel Máximo Cantero (nicknamed “Guille”) and Ramón “Monchi” Machuca, son of the heart of the couple.
“Guille” and “Monchi” took charge of the revenge that turned out to be a real death machine.
In the 48 hours that followed the “Bird” crime, they ordered the killing of the owner of the Infinity nightclub and his mother.
Luis “Pollo” Bassi was acquitted of the crime.
They were so blinded that they mistook Milton César, who was also a hit man but had nothing to do with the “Pájaro” crime, with Milton Damario, who was later arrested and went to trial as one of the murderers.
In that confusion, Los Monos killed the mother, a brother and a friend of Milton César, who some time later tried to commit suicide while serving a sentence for another crime.
When they realized their mistake, Los Monos went after Damario and murdered his parents and those of Muñoz.
The place where the bowling alley was. Now there is a player. Photo: JUAN JOSE GARCIA.
They also killed the father and two brothers of “Pollo” Bassi. When he was arrested, his mother-in-law was murdered some time later.
The Canteros never forgot the crime of the “Bird”. It can be said that revenge is still on. In August 2022, during a prison transfer, “Popito” Salazar was murdered.
A striking fact. The confusion between Milton César and Milton Damario reached the Justice. The name of Milton César is the one that appears as the cover of the first bodies of cause for the crime of the “Bird”.
The investigation was so, so bad that in the oral trial all the defendants were acquitted. In a 143-page ruling signed on April 6, 2017, the judges found that there were many rumors but little evidence.
Lorena Verdún, ex-wife of Claudio Cantero, in front of her grave.
The crime of the “Ghost” Paz
Actually, the chronicle of the “Bird” crime began in 2012.
On September 8 of that year, there was a homicide that marked a before and after in this story.
The body of “Ghost” Paz in his car, after being riddled with shots.
Martín “El Fantasma” Paz was assassinated in the downtown area of Rosario. He was the brother-in-law of “Pájaro”, who was in a relationship with his sister.
Paz was suspected of laundering money for Los Monos. His crime went unpunished, but it was the tip for the mega-case against Los Monos that ended with his conviction.
There are several versions of who killed the “Ghost”. One indicates that the Canteros had him killed because he had kept change to buy a high-end car.
Celestina Contreras, “La Cele”, mother of the Canteros. Photo JUAN JOSE GARCIA
Luis Paz, father of the “Ghost”, did not hesitate to point to the “Bird” as the intellectual author of his son’s crime.
This crime changed the climate among the drug groups that had power in Rosario.
Ramón Machuca, known as “Monchi” Cantero, foster son of “El Viejo”, head of the Los Monos clan.
Cantero knew…
In the weeks prior to his crime, “El Pájaro” suspected that they wanted to kill him. This is how he had made it known to some of his intimates.
Two specific episodes had occurred that made him suspect that his life was in danger.
On May 15, the Judicial Division raided one of the “Pájaro” houses. They said they were looking for a certain “Termo”, but in reality Cantero read this movement as a lack of respect, a wet ear. “They want to put it on me,” he told his lawyer, who was trying to reassure him.
On top of that, the policemen had stolen everything from clothes to electrical appliances and when Cantero went to ask for explanations, they mistreated him. They were not the policemen that he had paid or within the gang. These worked for his enemies. And the one who paid them the best was Lindor Alvarado, who never appeared in the criminal intelligence reports.
In a key wiretap taken of Ramón Machuca, known as “Monchi” Cantero, in early 2013, Los Monos were upset with “El Pollo” Bassi, a key man in the “Pájaro” crime.
Intimate enemies: Rosario drug lords Ariel “Guille” Cantero and Esteban Lindor Alvarado.
According to the Canteros, Bassi was hanging around their stalls. This detail would be part of the police intelligence reports after the “Bird” crime and would be the main clue to follow, if not the only one, about his murder.
Reports, rumors, third-party statements. All this mixed with a good amount of corruption ended with the crime of Claudio Ariel Cantero unpunished.
In court, of course.
Outside the courts, Los Monos handed down their own verdict.
EMJ
