The head of Los Pulpos, Jhonsson Cruz, said, referring to a police officer:
–They want to blame me for having something with him. I, cause, am not a snitch. I don’t have to go to court. Rather, justice wants to give me. He has put a price on my head. Do you copy me?
–Of course, of course –answered the ‘Gato Coté’, Josué Blas Lezama.
‘Gato Coté’, famous and millionaire, was the head of La Gran Alianza, collector of quotas in the illegal mining of Pataz. He looked for Jhonsson in May 2024, a few days after Los Pulpos kidnapped his compadre, a gold seller nicknamed Pantera, Emilio Julca Huamán. He wanted to be released. The telephone conversation was recorded by ‘Gato Coté’ and found on his cell phone by the police after he was murdered that same year in Colombia. It was originally broadcast by Trujillo journalist Milver Ávalos in La Hidra, a program on the digital news portal Macronorte.pe.
Before discussing Julca’s kidnapping, both criminals talked about their secrets. Johnson continued:
–With you there have been misunderstandings, but we have never gone, as they say, to a clash. Until now we are not going to go to the crash. Do you copy me?
There were two misunderstandings. The first arose because a tip-off allowed the release, without payment or damages, of someone kidnapped by Los Pulpos, Nilda Arrascue, owner of Tiendas Tía de Trujillo, in November 2022. She was held captive for 12 days. In the world of lazy people there was a version that there was an agreement between Jhonsson and the police. That’s why he said: “I’m not a snitch.” And, at another time:
–I am, whore, anti-police, cause. I with justice not even there. No problem. Do you copy me?
The second misunderstanding was due to an attack against ‘Gato Coté’, which he attributed to Jolín, a former ally of Los Pulpos.
“I did that, cause,” Jhonsson replied. Don’t be fooled. Like with your friend Pepito. We did it to Pepito.
Pepito was José Becerra Espejo, leader of the Los 80 gang. Los Pulpos, disguised as police officers, shot him down inside a cebichería in the Víctor Larco Herrera district, in Trujillo, on October 3, 2022. Out of pure rivalry. When mentioning this episode, Jhonsson suggested to ‘Gato Coté’ that he was capable of doing harsh things against him or his friends, but that he did not want to and that they could carry things out in peace. ‘Gato Coté’, however, questioned whether Jhonsson had attacked him:
–You haven’t been. Jolín’s goat has been.
He was referring to Jolín Bazán Valderrama. Jolín belongs to one of the factions of La Jauría, which competes to the death with Los Pulpos. He was an ally of Jhonsson, but, at the juncture of the conversation, they were estranged. Jolín was suspected of collaborating with the police. Johnson said:
–I found out that they wanted to do a trick on me. They wanted to sell me to the uncles, they wanted to give me away…
–I know Jolín played you badly. “He screwed you up,” said the other.
Jhonsson added that, acting alone, he was doing better. He alluded to the kidnapping of Nilda Arrascue:
–Since the last thing I did with that aunt, about three or four more have come out. And they have turned out well. Because I have no longer counted on that person who, suddenly, at the time, gave the uncles from Lima to their aunt. Do you copy me?
Here Jhonsson admitted that Jolín could have given away the location of the businesswoman, who was released by the police. I wasn’t sure. It is now known that this assumption was true because, in the oral trial, in 2024, a police officer summoned by the prosecution stated that Jolín was the informer and that, to protect him, the rescue operation left misleading traces so that the informer was not identified. According to a witness, Jhonsson, who was attending the trial virtually from his lawyer’s computer, cursed and announced:
–I’m going to leave this wretch.
Jolín was acquitted due to lack of evidence, despite the fact that he financed the kidnapping, according to information obtained by the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office. In another trial he was sentenced to life imprisonment, although he is a fugitive. But the denunciation caused enmity between Jolín and Jhonsson, to the point that it is now mentioned that one of Los Pulpos’ motivations for kidnapping Jenss Lara was that he had stopped paying them to hire La Jauría. The hypothesis awaits confirmation. What is certain is that they wanted their money, which they finally got. Of the two and a half million dollars paid, a fifth went to the broker, a friend of Los Pulpos. Sometimes, the broker is someone close to the victim who deserves the trust of the kidnappers. ‘Gato Coté’ fulfilled this role when he called Jhonsson in May 2024. He was chosen by his compadre Pantera. In the conversation between the two of them, they finally got to the point.
–So, for that reason, look –Jhonsson said–. So that you can see that I want this ice to break, right? I am going to hand this boy over without torturing him. I’m not going to throw him away like the other boy left. No, but as it should be. Do you understand me or not? It’s in my hands, it’s in my possibilities. I demonstrate to you with facts. You are going to look good and you look good to me. The economy is involved, cause. Do you copy me or not?
–Of course, of course –answered the ‘Gato Coté’.
And so it was. Pantera’s relatives paid his ransom and he was released a few hours later. Who was “the other boy” that the leader of Los Pulpos was referring to? Santos Sánchez Vera, 38 years old, a mineral wholesaler from Pataz kidnapped on January 18, 2024. They called him Chapana. His mutilated body was found eight days later in a ravine in Santiago de Chuco. He was missing fingers on his hand and his abdomen was cut. He probably didn’t get a good broker.
After ‘Gato Coté’ was murdered on September 7, 2024 and abandoned near Medellín, the market for quotas for the illegal miners of Pataz was at the mercy of Los Pulpos and the various factions of La Jauría, which has several bosses. The Octopuses have primacy because they are crueler and kill more, although perhaps the economic movement of the packs is greater. Since he took over the leadership of the gang in his family, Jhonsson knew that he had to be the most feared.
A video of his first murder was released on social networks, in 2020, when he was 24 years old. He attacked a wholesale merchant from Trujillo, Santos Eustaquio, known as the potato queen, to rob her. In the confrontation, the woman dropped her wallet. Jhonsson took it and then, of no use for the robbery, shot it twice. The same thing happened in Lara’s kidnapping: unnecessary deaths for the purpose of the action. Without an effective transponder, with Los Pulpos, the kidnapped person was going to lose several fingers or his life before the outcome.
These days, Los Pulpos are choosing a successor, since the lack of communication to which Jhonsson will be subjected will make his leadership difficult. For the first time, it is possible that the designation will fall to someone who is not a family member.
