The infamous criminal behind the drug run “El Pozolero del Teo”, which diluted more than 300 people (2024)

In the criminal world, there are legends that became famous worldwide because of the cruelty they hide behind, or very rarely because of the heroism or gifts of kindness and struggle behind it.

There is a story of unimaginable cruelty that even to various narcocorridos such as the one composed and performed by Tito Torbellino called El Pozolero del Teo, where the life of Santiago Meza is portrayed, who obeyed the commissions of a former lieutenant of the Arellano Felix, in Tijuana.

It is a narrative set with accordions and percussion in the mere style of the Norteño Banda, who throughout his career dedicated himself to perfecting Tito Torbellino, who was allegedly killed by drug trafficking.

The lyrics chronicle one of the many adventures alongside his bosses, who apparently waged a checkpoint and arrest of great importance, in which El Jefe 3 Letras (Teo) and his compadre La Perra were involved, fighting shots with the authorities.

Teodoro García Simental, El Teo, was a former lieutenant of the Arellano Felix who ended up separating from them, was also the patron saint of Santiago Meza, one of the most sad*stic criminals of recent times, nicknamed by his modus operandi as El Pozolero, who revolutionized the methods of disappearance with its famous and feared acts of dissolution of corpses.

Santiago Meza López was arrested in 2009 in the border town of Tijuana, where he was engaged in masonry, but it was only a facade, in reality he was a rare criminal.

At the time of their assurance, along with that of other criminals, they were secured a .9mm caliber machine gun, Model MP5, a 5.56mm caliber carbine Model ZM4, a.308 caliber rifle, Model HK-91, a 0.5 caliber rifle, Model 82A1 rifle, 2 offensive grenades and useful cartridges, as well as Jeep Comander vehicles , Toyota Tundra and Toyota Camry.

The trail was found by the Association United for the Disappeared in Baja California, which located on the land known as La Gallera, a gigantic clandestine grave that held between 14,000 and 15,000 human remains, several of them contributed by Meza.

It was one of the assassins of Teo's own people who recommended that they continue the search in that area, until they finally found 7,000 human fragments with signs of attempted dissolution, and up to 2,000 teeth.

The Pozolero's job was to receive in his secret laboratory, where he had drums filled with caustic soda, the bodies of the enemies of his bosses and leave them in the substance until they were completely diluted. In return, he received $600 per body.

Although his method might sound, at first impression, somewhat brutal, grotesque and therefore, without prior planning, or “on the ride”, the truth is that Meza had his own recipe in the preparation of the substance he used. It wasn't an impromptu.

The nickname El Pozolero was given thanks to its method: a 200-litre tub that filled half with water, and then emptied two sacks of caustic soda and finally dumped the quartered bodies.

That mixture stayed for at least 8 hours on high heat until it finally boiled and disintegrated almost completely. There were parts of the body that did not burn, such as teeth, nails or small pieces of bone, which he eventually threw into a wasteland, burned them with gasoline and buried them.

This method, Meza reported, was taught to him by Efraín Pérez, a former member of the Arellano Felix Cartel and one of the most dangerous drug traffickers in recent times. He is in prison in the United States with a 26-year sentence.

At the time of his capture, he appeared before the national authorities, who, he said, dissolved just over 300 bodies on the orders of Teo, who first worked for the Arellano Felix Cartel and later separated. It is estimated that it was actually 650 in 9 years.

El Pozolero was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the crimes of organized crime, criminal association and clandestine burial; his time will be completed this year 2022 and he could be released throughout the month of April.

Tito Torbellino is not the only Mexican from the north who stood out for singing an epic-lyric song to the criminal described above. The band Explosión Norteña did the same with the song El Cocinero, as well as the piece Santiago Meza by Fidel Rueda.

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