Sicarios murder Uruguayan drug boss in Palermo as he fled vendetta in Montevideo
Carlos Andrés Migales Viera, leader of the gang La Mafilia, was shot dead in his Buenos Aires apartment. He had crossed to Argentina in September to escape a drug war in Villa Española.
Attack in two minutes: sicarios kill Uruguayan drug trafficker in his Palermo apartment
At around 3.30am on Sunday, three men entered a second-floor apartment at Costa Rica 5600 in the Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Palermo using a numerical code. In that unit slept the two youngest daughters of Carlos Andrés Migales Viera, head of the Uruguayan drug gang known as La Mafilia or Los Puglia. He was also there that night.
According to infobae.com, María Mercedes Boneta, Migales' partner, was the first to see the sicarios when the door opened. She screamed for help. Her husband, who was in the bathroom, tried to block the entrance, but it was already too late. The intruders surrounded him and shot him nine times; only one bullet passed through his abdomen. It was enough to cause his death.
Sources with access to the case told the outlet that the entire sequence lasted approximately two minutes. The sicarios, originally from the Buenos Aires suburbs, fled the scene running. Buenos Aires city police captured two of them in the vicinity. A third person was detained, though according to the sources, he would have no direct links to the crime.
On Monday morning, Boneta was transferred with a large police operation—involving special forces groups—to testify before National Criminal and Correctional Court No. 26.
Failed escape from Montevideo
According to the same sources, Migales and his family had crossed to Argentina in September seeking to escape a drug vendetta. His rivals had allegedly put a price on his head: reports mention half a million dollars. The family closed all their social media accounts and the plan was to begin a new life in Buenos Aires, at least for a time.
The victim had a criminal record for drug and murder offences. The gang he led, La Mafilia, is embroiled in a bloody territorial dispute in the Villa Española neighbourhood of Montevideo, facing off against a group known as Los Suárez. A member of that rival gang stated that the conflict cost her all her children's lives.
It is not yet confirmed whether the vendetta originated specifically from Los Suárez. However, Migales' flight to Buenos Aires would be linked to the recent murder of a man who was allegedly his partner, a fact that may have precipitated the family's departure from the country.
Connection to international drug trafficking
Investigators are tracking the victim's background and his ties in Uruguay to identify the intellectual author of the crime. They have no doubt that it was a drug vendetta, stemming from disputes over control of drug sales points in Montevideo.
The sources also note that the organisations involved, including Migales himself, were not operating only at a local level. They would have connections to international drug trafficking and, more distantly, a link to Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marsset, currently imprisoned in the United States after being detained by the DEA in Bolivia.
The search for the third sicario who managed to escape continues, whilst the case proceeds under the hypothesis of a settling of scores between cross-border criminal organisations.
Source: Google News UY — Crime