JOSE WILL LEAVE PRISON IN A PINE BOX UNLESS HE ESCAPES OR A CORRUPT JUDGE ORDERS HIS RELEASE

Zeta assassin receives a sentence of 283 years for the killing of an Italian businessman and kidnappings

By Chivis Martinez from Reforma and Univision

Borderland Beat
September 11, 2018

Severe prison terms have been sentenced in kidnapping and homicide cases.

José Ortíz Cuevas was sentenced to 283 years for his role in the kidnapping and murder of Italian restaurant owner Claudio Conti Bonetti of Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, along with five other cases of kidnapping.

Co-Conspirator Rubén Raúl Pérez Mijangos was ordered to serve 77 years for his role in the kidnapping and murder of Conti.

The two men, both members of the Zetas criminal organization, abducted Conti in June 2008

Four alleged suspects in Mexico's kidnapping of Italian businessman Claudio Conti Bonetti, who is presumed dead, were captured by federal police, reported the Public Security Secretariat (SSP) Conti Bonetti, 53, was abducted on June 3, 2008. His captors demanded a ransom in pesos of the equivalent of $ 700k USD.

His death was ordered

Three of the detainees were part of the group " Los Zetas " assassins. One of them, Primitivo Ramírez, alias "El Pivo", was one of the leaders of the organization's criminal cell in the state of Oaxaca.

According to his statement, the businessman was murdered and his body buried in a grave dug in the place of his captivity, a hotel called "El Capi". owned by another detainee located in the Oaxacan town of Bajos de Chila.

In a room of the hotel were found some books written in Italian that were provided to the victim. The vehicle used in the kidnapping of the businessman was also located there.

The establishment belongs to Vicente Adame Téllez, also nicknamed "El Capi" and one of those responsible for the logistics of "Los Zetas" in the area. The hotel was used to hold hostages and provide accommodation for members of the criminal organization.

"A grave was excavated to bury Claudio Conti Bonetti, because during his captivity his death was ordered," the Ministry of Public Security reported in a press release.

The two were arrested a year later

Earlier this year, Rusbel “El Barbas” Ramírez Fuentes was sentenced to 48 years behind bars for his participation in crime.

For its part, the Mexican newspaper Reforma said that the authorities continued with the search for the body of the Italian, after the kidnappers confessed to having killed, buried and exhumed clandestinely.

Conti operated a hotel and a restaurant; his life had inspired the Italian writer Pino Cacucci’s book "Puerto Escondido", on which the film of the same title directed in 1992 by Gabriele Salvatores.