I just read about one of the most disturbing criminal cases in Mexico and I can't help but share it. Daniel Arizmendi López, alias El Mochaorejas, was literally the terror of Mexico City during the nineties.

What's fascinating about the case is how he operated. He wasn't a kingpin hiding in total concealment like many others. This guy maintained an almost normal life, with family and businesses, which caused authorities to take years to catch him. That's what surprises me most: someone so violent and so active in the capital, practically in plain sight.

Between 1996 and 1998, his gang was responsible for at least 12 confirmed kidnappings, though it's believed there were many more. What made him truly infamous was his modus operandi: he would cut off one ear from his victims and send it to their families as proof of life. That's how he got that nickname that everyone knows. The level of brutality was such that it generated an unprecedented social reaction and accelerated the creation of specialized anti-kidnapping units.

He was detained on August 18, 1998 in the State of Mexico. In 2000 he was sentenced to 393 years in prison. But here comes the most recent part: he was just acquitted of the kidnapping charge on December 24, 2024, after spending 27 years in jail. Although he will remain in prison for other crimes, the sentence reopened the debate about Mexican justice.

It's one of those cases that reminds you how dark that period was in Mexico City. Daniel Arizmendi López left a deep mark on the country's criminal history that is not forgotten.