BoxRec

Photo courtesy of Rick Farris


Bobby Chacon and Rick Farris

Photos and caption by Rick Farris


Dan Hanley, Pops, Rick Farris & Armando Muniz


Rick Farris and Tom kelly

Photo and caption by Rick farris


John Bardelli and sister Cleo Klaiser. They accepted WBHOF
Induction for their father Guido Bardelli, "Young Firpo".

Photo by Rick Farris


Rick and Monica Farris

Photo by Diego


Orlando De La Fuente, holding a portrait of me, done by Diego.

Thanks Diego....

Portrait, hanging in my dining room wall

Tony DeMarco: A Boston Legend

By Ted Sares, Photos courtesy of IBRO --

"I was a champion a million times in my dreams - and finally it came to be.” -Tony DeMarco

The following is taken from the website summaries of the World Boxing Hall of Fame enshrinees http://www.wbhf.org/:

Tony DeMarco (Leonardo Liotta)
World Welterweight Champion, 1955
Born: January 14, 1932 Boston, Massachusetts
Living in: Weymouth, Massachusetts
Height:5'5 1/2"; Weight: 147
Nationality: Italian-American
Ring record: 58-12-1
Managed by: Coogie McFarland, Angelo Pucci, Bobby Agrippino..

“It is Tony DeMarco's destiny that while he was one of the great welterweights of all time, a legendary puncher and now, a Hall of Famer- he is best remembered by the boxing public for two great fights in which he was the loser.

“Nobody who witnessed, in person or on TV, Tony's title defense against Carmen Basilio on June 10, 1955, will ever forget the savagery of that fight. For almost 12 full rounds, the two battlers fought with unequaled fury. Basilio came back from the brink of destruction to prevail in the Fight of the Decade.

“DeMarco rebounded with a one-round demolition of Chico Vejar, but failed-again in 12 rounds, in another ring classic - in a bid to win back the title from Basilio.

Fighting mostly in and around his hometown of Boston, Tony outslugged most of the stellar 147 pounders of his day: Kid Gavilan, Vince Martinez, Arthur Persely, Pat Manzi, and Gaspar Ortega, to name a few.

“He won the title by knocking out Johnny Saxton on April 1, 1955”

The Road to Fame

DeMarco grew up in Boston’s North End (which is the Little Italy of that city) and he remains a true legend among all Bostonians. He even has a street named after him--"Tony DeMarco Way."

When he fought, he was not unlike later West Coast greats like Bobby Chacon and Danny Lopez in that he consistently sold out the Boston Garden breaking attendance records in the process.

DeMarco, a first generation American, started boxing when he was about eleven and was a product of the Boy’s Clubs in Boston and of the Parks Department where he was a very active combatant, but when he graduated to full amateur status, he participated in only a few fights. In his first pro fight, he knocked out one Mestor Jones in the first round. He was just sixteen years old at the time and had “borrowed” the name of an 18 year old named Tony DeMarco.

This hardscrabble battler would win 29 of his next 32 fights before dropping two decisions in a row in Quebec, Canada. Regrouping, he then went undefeated in his next seventeen, and on April 1, 1955, won the World WelterweightTitle by stopping the great Johnny Saxon in the fourteenth round before a full house at the Boston Garden. On the road to that championship, DeMarco fought and beat many top notch opponents such as George Araujo (52-5-1), Johnny Cesario (86-12-4), Carlos Chavez (61-24-9), Teddy “Red Top” Davis (56-49-5), Christian “Gentleman Chris” Christensen (26-4-2), Paddy DeMarco (65-10-2), Terry Young (70-27-5), and Jackie O’Brien (47-4-5). He also fought to a draw with the Jimmy Carter (72-17-8) in 1955.

The Basilio-DeMarco Wars

Two months later, he lost the title to future Hall of Famer Carmen Basilio by twelve round TKO in a fight where Tony ran out of gas after taking the fight to Carmen. It would be the first of two great toe to toe, ebb and flow thrillers with the Canastota Onion Farmer. But in between (and in a Welterweight Title Eliminator), he iced the very capable Chico Vejar in one round. Vejar was 63-4-1 at the time. Then, in November of that same year, he met Basilio again in one of the greatest fights ever held in Boston. In fact, it was The Ring Magazine 1955 Fight of the Year.

Tony, a puncher and instinctive counter puncher, also had enough boxing skills to hold his own with such stylists as Kid Gavilan. But his incoming pressure style was more akin to that of Jake LaMotta or Rocky Marciano. Each was a ruthless stalker who walked down his foes like a hunter quickly closing in on his prey. Pure ‘50s through and through, Tony toiled amidst the hazy smoke generated by cheap cigars and the odiferous arena alchemy of perfume, beer and sweat through the entire decade.

Against Basilio in the rematch and before 13, 373 fans crowded into Boston Garden, DeMarco started fast, but suffered a bad cut in the eft eye in the second round courtesy of well placed head shots from the rugged upstate New Yorker. To be fair, however, Basilio broke his left hand in that same round. Tony then took control and pressed the action rocking and staggering Basilio on many occasions, but the granite-chinned Basilio countered with his one shots.

Then, in an incredible seventh stanza, Basilio launched a hook, but was met with an equally well-timed left hook which landed first and badly staggered the man who had been down only once in his previous 65 fights . He was on Queer Street; hell, he was out on his feet and DeMarco was all over him like a wet suit. Basilio was on the verge of going, but DeMarco couldn’t finish him, as he threw more than fifteen malefic shots with twenty seconds to go in the round. Fortunately, for Basilio, most in not all missed.

At the end eight rounds, the three scorecards read: 79-74, 78-67, and 79-73, all in favor of DeMarco. The Onion Farmer, knowing that he needed a KO to win, proceeded to launch a brutal body attack in the ninth round. In so doing, he turned the tide of the fight in his favor. Then, in the twelfth round, he caught a totally exhausted DeMarco with a right and left that sent him crashing down. Somehow, someway, the gritty warrior got up, but at the 1:54 of the same round, was caught with a vicious four-punch volley that rendered him unconscious. The end had come in a great ebb and flow classic. Tony was unable recapture his welterweight crown, but he gave it a tremendous effort.

DeMarco then won his next four which included bouts against such greats as Kid Gavilan (104-21-5 coming in), Vince Martinez (50-3 at the time), Wallace Bud Smith, and Arthur Persley (48-9 -2 coming in). .Some say his TKO over Smith sent the Cincinnati fighter’s career in a downward spiral as he subseuqntly lost nine fights in a row. DeMarco lost two heartbreaking split decisions to the Gaspar Ortega in 1956 (both at Madison Square Garden). However, as a testament to his fortitude, he bounced back to win a dominant UD from Ortega in Boston in 1957. He followed up with a win over tough Larry Boardman who was 34-3 at the time. After losing two action-packed and brutal fights to the great Virgil Atkins in unmitigated savagery that featured multiple knockdowns, he bounced back with wins over George Monroe (48-17), Don Jordan (51-20-1) and closed out his great career with a UD over Stefan Redl. Appropriately, this last fight was at the Boston Garden in front of his beloved following.


Tony and Larry Boardman (Photo courtesy of IBRO)

Tony DeMarco finished with a deceptive 58 (KO 32)-12 (KO 7)-1 slate; deceptive because many of his stoppage losses were due to cuts.

DeMarco moved nicely into retirement, though he did not make a lot of money. But if being humble is worth something, Tony was (and is) a multi-millionaire who has remained faithful to the sport he loves so much. Unlike his friend Jake LaMotta (whose style DeMarco emulated), Tony is one of the sweetest persons you could ever hope to meet outside of the ring. A Hall of Fame member of RING FOUR Boston-Veteran Boxers Association International, he has received many honors, including induction into the Official National Italian American Hall of Fame in Chicago. In the end, the affable DeMarco (Scally Cap and all) is fit, ready and sharp at 76. And he is pure Boston -the city in which he treated fans to thirty-one great fights with twenty-one of them being main events.

However, there is still one honor that inexplicitly and shamefully has not been bestowed upon this Boston great; namely, induction into The International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York. This should have been done long ago; let‘s correct this wrong and get Tony in there.

Watch for the author’s new book entitled, Reelin’ in the Years: Boxing and More due out in December.

Tony DeMarco & Miss Jo Ann Costonis, DeMarco's Fiancee, April 2, 1955,
Following DeMarco victory over Johnny Saxton for the Welterweight
Championship of the World

kikibalt wrote:

bennie wrote:
The Boys from Classic American West Coast Boxing
Brian Higgins, Dan Hanley Jr., Randy De La O, Roger Esty and Ed Hernandez

Look at all those beers!

Borracho's....

(hic)...excuse me ...(hic)

Randyman wrote:

Congratulations to the Entire Bardelli Family on the Induction of Guido Bardelli (Young Firpo) to the 2008 World Boxing Hall of Fame at the
29th Annual Banquet of Champions at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott


Young Firpo - Guido Bardelli - The Uncrowned Light Heavyweight Champion
and 2008 World Boxing Hall of Fame Inductee


John Bardelli and sister (My apologies for forgetting her name) and World Boxing Hall of Fame Board of Directors member and friend of the Bardelli family, Rick Farris


John Bardelli and Rick Farris


John Bardelli remembering his father


John Bardelli and Emcee Tom Kelly

To read more on Young Firpo go here: http://boxing-ring.blogspot.com/search?q=firpo

John, my apologies to your sister Cleo for forgetting her name.

Randy

Former Light Heavyweight Champion Marvin Johnson and wife
2008 World Boxing Hall of Fame Inductee



Former Heavyweight Champion Lennox Lewis and wife
2008 World Boxing Hall of Fame Inductee

Randy De La O and George Chuvalo (one of boxing's toughest)

George Chuvalo and Tommy Morrison



Jesus Pimentel, Rodolfo "El Gato" Gonzalez, Danny "Little Red" Lopez and Paul Gonzalez

kikibalt wrote:Photo by Diego


Orlando De La Fuente, holding a portrait of me, done by Diego.

Thanks Diego....

As with all your paintings Rog, you did a great job. Looking good Frank.

Randy

Pound for Pound Nationalism Style: Mexico
By Daniel “Tex” Cohen

Nationalism and Boxing are connected at the hip. Some of the best fights in history are based on a nationalistic divide between two fighters. Russians and the US. Mexicans and Filipinos. Italians and Jews.

Race seems to be multiplied several times over in the sport of boxing. There are times when racism seems to prevail to the extent that the business can only scratch its head and wonder whether we have progressed as people. Other times, the influx of racial divide is central to the dramatic conflict; The prejudice is the juice.

This fine line is one that is hardly ever discussed (save when promoters slap together something as ridiculous as “America’s Last Stand”). While one of the most powerful countries in the world has elected its first black president (apologies to Bill Clinton), Boxing is in the frame of mind that race is, if not everything, essential.

Members of this community have several different options available we can pretend that prejudice does not exist, acknowledge and transform it, or redirect it into creative concepts. For example, we could give a geographic breakdown of the best fighters in the world so that we know who is from where. That way, when the next big racially-oriented fight rolls around, such as the “Dream Match” between Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao this December, we can all talk about which nationalities actually have the best fighters as of right now.

To do that, we have to identify these fighters. Presented below for you is the Pound for Pound List for one of the greatest boxing countries in the world… Mexico! (Note: These fighters are actually from Mexico. Americans of Mexican descent will be classified as American).

Mexico

This piece could address any number of countries first. Since we are embracing generalizations in this exercise, I may as well plainly state that the Mexican fan base seems to be a loyal group with plenty of great fighters to boot. Also, almost all of the top candidates for the 2008 Fight of the Year have at least one Mexican participant.

#1- Juan Manuel Marquez

Marquez is by far the best fighter from Mexico. He may be the best Mexican fighter since Julio Cesar Chavez retired. His business decisions have not always been solid, but there is plenty of reason to believe that a fight between Marquez and Marco Antonio Barrera when both men were in their primes would have been a masterpiece to watch. Marquez never fought Erik Morales, but that fight could have been absolute gold at one point as well. Marquez has had a great year, with a close decision loss to Pacquiao and a knockout of Joel Casamayor.

#2 - Antonio Margarito

Margarito has a head of stone, and he has used it to take out two A-List competitors this year. After dominating Kermit Cintron in a rematch that was a replica of its predecessor, Margarito knocked out Miguel Cotto in the eleventh round to earn the title of baddest welterweight on the planet.

#3 - Israel Vazquez

One half of the Fight of the Year and part of perhaps the greatest fight trilogy of all time, Vazquez has given more blood than a charitable spirit after natural disaster. He took enough punishment in his one fight in 2008 to cover the bumps and bruises for the rest of the decade. He also is the likely favorite against almost everyone in his weight division.

#4 - Rafael Marquez

The other half of the Fight of the Year could have won his trilogy with Marquez if he had caught a couple of breaks. One of those breaks would have been staying on his feet at the end of the fight. I won’t beat up on Marquez (Vazquez already did that. If you see Rafael Marquez, I didn’t say that). He deserves this rank, right underneath the victor in their series. We can not as commentators and fans repay him for the gut he has shown.

#5 - Ulises Solis

A shout-out to little men nets Solis the number five spot. Solis is a great fighter with a unanimous decision always waiting in his gloves and a knockout always well within his reach. Solis took a title off of Glenn Donaire earlier this year and knocked down Nerys Espinoza several times en route to a unanimous decision.

#6 - Fernando Montiel

Inconsistent but brilliant when at his best, Montiel has absolutely dominated the ring lately. Montiel is probably the quietest semi-legitimate case for 2008 Fighter of the Year, going 3-0, 2 KO’s, and taking out a top tier opponent and two solid contenders. He is also a joy to watch; Montiel’s knifing finishing flurries are among the best in the business.

#7 - Cristian Mijares

Mijares was the man in his division until Vic Darchinyan took him out with pulverizing, winging hooks. Mijares has great movers but did not have it in him that night to defend his title. Mijares will finish the year 3-1, 1 KO. His victory over Jose Navarro was a split decision that should have been a unanimous decision. Mijares is still very dangerous; Underestimating him is the height of stupidity.

#8 - Humberto Soto

Between his loss to Kevin Kelley and his decision loss last year to a very good fighter in Joan Guzman, Soto went-five years without a loss. He should have been 3-0, 3 KO’s this year, but the debacle with Francisco Lorenzo cost him a victory. Soto is a true warrior, unafraid to hit and be hit. He will fight anyone anywhere, and he is not to be taken lightly.

#9 - Julio Diaz

After suffering a wickedly painful loss to Juan Diaz in which Julio quit on his stool, Julio Diaz had had a moderately successful 2008. Diaz took on the undefeated David Torres and beat him like pizza dough en route to a fifth round knockout, then scored a unanimous decision over a game veteran in Fernando Trejo. Torres’ record is inflated by poor competition and Trejo is not exactly an A-List fighter either, but Diaz took care of business at a time when he needed to gain solidify his momentum. On his better days, he might be able to take out some of the best lightweights in the world.

#10 - Jorge Solis

Everyone’s image of Solis is probably as the guy that got the crap kicked out of him by Manny Pacquiao in between Pacquiao’s handlings of Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. Personally, I give him credit for even getting in the ring with Pacquiao. Aside from the loss, Solis has beaten all and pummeled most.
Honorable Mention: Daniel Ponce De Leon, Jhonny Gonzalez, Jorge Arce, Edgar Sosa, Raul Garcia…And even Jose Luis Castillo and Marco Antonio Barrera.

kikibalt wrote:Pound for Pound Nationalism Style: Mexico
By Daniel “Tex” Cohen

Nationalism and Boxing are connected at the hip. Some of the best fights in history are based on a nationalistic divide between two fighters. Russians and the US. Mexicans and Filipinos. Italians and Jews.

Race seems to be multiplied several times over in the sport of boxing. There are times when racism seems to prevail to the extent that the business can only scratch its head and wonder whether we have progressed as people. Other times, the influx of racial divide is central to the dramatic conflict; The prejudice is the juice.

This fine line is one that is hardly ever discussed (save when promoters slap together something as ridiculous as “America’s Last Stand”). While one of the most powerful countries in the world has elected its first black president (apologies to Bill Clinton), Boxing is in the frame of mind that race is, if not everything, essential.

Members of this community have several different options available we can pretend that prejudice does not exist, acknowledge and transform it, or redirect it into creative concepts. For example, we could give a geographic breakdown of the best fighters in the world so that we know who is from where. That way, when the next big racially-oriented fight rolls around, such as the “Dream Match” between Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao this December, we can all talk about which nationalities actually have the best fighters as of right now.

To do that, we have to identify these fighters. Presented below for you is the Pound for Pound List for one of the greatest boxing countries in the world… Mexico! (Note: These fighters are actually from Mexico. Americans of Mexican descent will be classified as American).

Mexico

This piece could address any number of countries first. Since we are embracing generalizations in this exercise, I may as well plainly state that the Mexican fan base seems to be a loyal group with plenty of great fighters to boot. Also, almost all of the top candidates for the 2008 Fight of the Year have at least one Mexican participant.

#1- Juan Manuel Marquez

Marquez is by far the best fighter from Mexico. He may be the best Mexican fighter since Julio Cesar Chavez retired. His business decisions have not always been solid, but there is plenty of reason to believe that a fight between Marquez and Marco Antonio Barrera when both men were in their primes would have been a masterpiece to watch. Marquez never fought Erik Morales, but that fight could have been absolute gold at one point as well. Marquez has had a great year, with a close decision loss to Pacquiao and a knockout of Joel Casamayor.

#2 - Antonio Margarito

Margarito has a head of stone, and he has used it to take out two A-List competitors this year. After dominating Kermit Cintron in a rematch that was a replica of its predecessor, Margarito knocked out Miguel Cotto in the eleventh round to earn the title of baddest welterweight on the planet.

#3 - Israel Vazquez

One half of the Fight of the Year and part of perhaps the greatest fight trilogy of all time, Vazquez has given more blood than a charitable spirit after natural disaster. He took enough punishment in his one fight in 2008 to cover the bumps and bruises for the rest of the decade. He also is the likely favorite against almost everyone in his weight division.

#4 - Rafael Marquez

The other half of the Fight of the Year could have won his trilogy with Marquez if he had caught a couple of breaks. One of those breaks would have been staying on his feet at the end of the fight. I won’t beat up on Marquez (Vazquez already did that. If you see Rafael Marquez, I didn’t say that). He deserves this rank, right underneath the victor in their series. We can not as commentators and fans repay him for the gut he has shown.

#5 - Ulises Solis

A shout-out to little men nets Solis the number five spot. Solis is a great fighter with a unanimous decision always waiting in his gloves and a knockout always well within his reach. Solis took a title off of Glenn Donaire earlier this year and knocked down Nerys Espinoza several times en route to a unanimous decision.

#6 - Fernando Montiel

Inconsistent but brilliant when at his best, Montiel has absolutely dominated the ring lately. Montiel is probably the quietest semi-legitimate case for 2008 Fighter of the Year, going 3-0, 2 KO’s, and taking out a top tier opponent and two solid contenders. He is also a joy to watch; Montiel’s knifing finishing flurries are among the best in the business.

#7 - Cristian Mijares

Mijares was the man in his division until Vic Darchinyan took him out with pulverizing, winging hooks. Mijares has great movers but did not have it in him that night to defend his title. Mijares will finish the year 3-1, 1 KO. His victory over Jose Navarro was a split decision that should have been a unanimous decision. Mijares is still very dangerous; Underestimating him is the height of stupidity.

#8 - Humberto Soto

Between his loss to Kevin Kelley and his decision loss last year to a very good fighter in Joan Guzman, Soto went-five years without a loss. He should have been 3-0, 3 KO’s this year, but the debacle with Francisco Lorenzo cost him a victory. Soto is a true warrior, unafraid to hit and be hit. He will fight anyone anywhere, and he is not to be taken lightly.

#9 - Julio Diaz

After suffering a wickedly painful loss to Juan Diaz in which Julio quit on his stool, Julio Diaz had had a moderately successful 2008. Diaz took on the undefeated David Torres and beat him like pizza dough en route to a fifth round knockout, then scored a unanimous decision over a game veteran in Fernando Trejo. Torres’ record is inflated by poor competition and Trejo is not exactly an A-List fighter either, but Diaz took care of business at a time when he needed to gain solidify his momentum. On his better days, he might be able to take out some of the best lightweights in the world.

#10 - Jorge Solis

Everyone’s image of Solis is probably as the guy that got the crap kicked out of him by Manny Pacquiao in between Pacquiao’s handlings of Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. Personally, I give him credit for even getting in the ring with Pacquiao. Aside from the loss, Solis has beaten all and pummeled most.
Honorable Mention: Daniel Ponce De Leon, Jhonny Gonzalez, Jorge Arce, Edgar Sosa, Raul Garcia…And even Jose Luis Castillo and Marco Antonio Barrera.

"Tex" Cohen. Now that's a new one on me. :)

CHUMP CHANGE

I was outside with Pops Hanley. I didn't like standing around the lobby so I decided to listen to the old guy speak his peace.
"I collect three pensions,"said Pops.
"You're doin' OK then."
"I was never afraid to work. I loved to work. I worked three jobs at one time."
He had an empty glass of wine on the table next to him.Danny,his son,came out with a bottle of beer.
"Here Rog. Keeping the old guy company?"
Dan's old man grabbed his cane."
"My son's full of shit."
Me and Danny were cracking up.
"Hey Dad,Roger just called you a cocksucker. You gonna' take that?"
"I don't get interested in another man's hobby."
Danny's old man was still Irish and tough despite the 84 years. Dan pulled up a chair.
"Well I guess Lennox is a no show. The banquet starts in 15 minutes."

Just as he said this a large group quietly entered from the back. It was Lewis and his entourage.
"No pictures please. Not now. Please no pictures,"said one of his men.
Lewis was huge compared to the other fighters who were there. Only Chuvalo was a heavyweight,but he was dwarfed by the big former Champion.His people ushered him inside the dining room. It was impossible to get near him.

What struck me though was while everyone wanted to get close to Lewis,the old fighters who were present, ignored him. I don't think it was out of disrespect,but it was like they didn't even see him. Chuvalo was drinking with a friend when Lewis walked by. Alex Ramos was sitting smoking a cigarette. They never looked up. Lewis never stopped to talk with anyone.

Inside ,the ceremony dragged on. Finally the inductees were introduced. Lewis was announced last to get his award for being inducted. When it was over,he left with his party as fast and silently as he had arrived. It was straight to the airport to catch his flight.

The BoxRec Boys had a few nightcaps in the lounge. We retired after a drink. I think we were all beat. In our room my wife asked me a question.
"Porque los boxeadores son enanos? Solomente el gigante,el ultimo fue grande?"
"I don't know.Maybe smaller men like to fight more. Maybe they have something to prove."
"El gigante tiene muchos amigos."
"Those guys work for him. He made a lot of money fighting."
"Y los otros? Los small guys."
"They came along at the wrong time. Before pay Per View. Before Vegas and Atlantic City."
"No entiendo,"said my wife.
"Those old timers made chump change compared to what that big guy made."
My wife began slipping off her clothes.
"Me no understand,"she said." Estoy cansado. No entiendo."

Expug wrote:Had a great time meeting all the guys and their wonderful spouses this past weekend in LA.
As I said, its an honor getting to know all of you.
This will be a yearly tradition for me. Next time, Frank, Bennie and the rest of those who couldnt make it this year can hopefully come next year.
Its hard to articulate on a website how great it was spending time with all of you. Thanks for having me.
Roger, Rick, Randy and their wonderful wives.Ed, Dan and his wonderful Father, Im truly honored to be able to call all of you friends.
Brian

Good to hear it, Pug. I'm going to do the same thing next year, all you and the guys have to do is get there. This years event was very disorganized and below it's potential. It'll just get better.

-Rick

kikibalt wrote:Photos and caption by Rick Farris


Dan Hanley, Pops, Rick Farris & Armando Muniz


Rick Farris and Tom kelly

Has Dan nicked Mando's Bud? 8)

Randyman wrote:
George Chuvalo and Tommy Morrison



Jesus Pimentel, Rodolfo "El Gato" Gonzalez, Danny "Little Red" Lopez and Paul Gonzalez

Some real quality on show. George and his ant-drugs campaign is always worth a mention and this man tells it as it is. He reveals to those who think taking drugs may be 'cool' how his sons defecated themselves (with excitement) before taking heroin, and would clean themselves up afterwards.
Really 'cool'.

Randyman wrote:
Former Light Heavyweight Champion Marvin Johnson and wife
2008 World Boxing Hall of Fame Inductee



Former Heavyweight Champion Lennox Lewis and wife
2008 World Boxing Hall of Fame Inductee

Pops looks like someone just mentioned Mike Spinks.

500 police officers replaced in Tijuana


Mexican federal agents and army troops are dispatched in a bid to rid the Tijuana police department of cops suspected of having links to drug traffickers.

By Richard Marosi
November 19, 2008

Reporting from Tijuana -- Mexican federal agents and army troops fanned out across this besieged border city Tuesday to replace 500 police officers, the latest move by the government to purge the troubled force of corrupt and incompetent cops.

Last week, 21 officers, including two deputy chiefs, were detained on suspicion of having ties to drug traffickers and flown to Mexico City for questioning by Mexico's anti-organized-crime unit.

The moves come as authorities struggle to control a brutal war among rival traffickers that has killed more than 300 people in Tijuana since late September and left residents wary of large swaths of the city.

Despite past purges, the 2,200-member police department is still viewed by many as an arm of the drug cartels.

Officers have been accused of working as lookouts, informants, hit men or bodyguards for drug smugglers, and scores of them have been killed over the years.


The 500 officers who were replaced will be sent to a police academy for training and background checks and could return in a few months, authorities said.

Their removal appears to be aimed at weakening Teodoro Garcia Simental, known as El Teo, a suspected crime boss who is believed to control the police in the city's east.

Federal agents and troops, supported by Baja California state police, will patrol four neighborhoods considered Garcia's strongholds, including La Mesa and Cerro Colorado.

Tijuana Mayor Jorge Ramos hailed the replacements as part of his long-term efforts to reform the unruly department. Earlier this year, 100 officers suspected of corruption were fired.

Prosecutors also said Tuesday that a top police official who was Mexico's main liaison with Interpol was under house arrest as part of an investigation into leaks to drug cartels.

Interpol said officials in Ricardo Gutierrez Vargas' position would have access to information on suspects, the Associated Press reported.

Among the 21 officers detained in Tijuana last week was a veteran policeman well known in U.S. law enforcement circles. Javier Cardenas, the Mexican liaison to U.S. federal and local agencies, was highly regarded for capturing fugitives and suspects here and turning them over to U.S. authorities.

He was taken into custody by a convoy of soldiers that descended on the downtown police headquarters.

Marosi is a Times staff writer.

[email protected]

For Tijuana children, drug war gore is part of their school day


Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Two boys on their way to school stop to look at pools of blood inside a Tijuana house where a shootout occurred the night before.
Youths are increasingly exposed to the grisly violence that pervades the city.

By Richard Marosi

Reporting from Tijuana -- The schoolchildren bounded up the rickety steps and followed the path of shattered glass into the two-story house on Laguna Salada Street. Two boys in neatly pressed gray pants flipped open their cellphones and took pictures of the pools of sticky blood. One teenager with a blue backpack pounced on a mangled bullet lying near a stained mattress.

In the living room, someone slipped on a pile of human entrails.

Downstairs, girls in blue skirts and white socks carefully avoided the blood dripping through the ceiling.

The "Scarface" poster hanging on the pockmarked wall disappeared.

The day before, a shootout between Mexican soldiers and drug cartel suspects had left three suspects and a soldier dead in the safe house at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac. Police had cleared the bodies, including the corpse of a kidnapping victim stuffed in a refrigerator. But someone had left the door open.

"Look, intestines!" yelled one teen, who was among dozens of children who streamed through the house between classes at nearby Secondary School 25.

"I think I'm going to be sick," said one boy, covering his mouth.

"It's shocking," said Victor Rene, 14. "I saw four dead guys last week, but that was clean. Their heads were wrapped in tape."

As Tijuana's latest flare-up in the drug war rages into its fifth week, with the death toll approaching 150, violence is permeating everyday life here, causing widespread fear, altering people's habits and exposing the city's youngest to carnage.

Civic leaders are calling for a 9 p.m. curfew for children. Archbishop Rafael Romo has asked the media to refrain from showing gruesome photographs. One priest halts his sermons every week to demonstrate proper shootout-safety behavior: He cues a drum roll, then throws himself to the floor.

But these and other measures haven't been able to shield children from the violence near schools, neighborhoods, busy streets and popular restaurants. Grisly public displays of death have been the hallmark of the killings since the latest violence between rival drug cartels started Sept. 26.

Bodies have been hung from overpasses. Twelve corpses, some with their tongues cut out, were tossed into a vacant lot across from an elementary school. Several men have been beheaded, and killers have left behind acid-filled barrels containing dissolved human remains.

The toll of innocent victims has also been rising. Gunmen burst into the El Negro Durazo seafood restaurant and killed two rivals and a photographer who tried to run away. A 24-year-old teacher was kidnapped outside her school. Gunmen wielding AK-47s killed two teenagers sitting outside their home after they witnessed a drug-related killing. A toddler died this week when his mother crashed her car trying to avoid a shootout between state police and suspected cartel hit men.

Tijuana has endured years of violence and waves of kidnappings that have led thousands of people to move across the border to San Diego suburbs.

Still, the recent violence is unprecedented in scale and brutality. More than 460 people have died violently so far this year, a record, according to the Baja California state attorney general's office.

"It makes your hair stand on end," said Father Raymundo Reyna, a popular radio show host who keeps a muertometro -- death meter -- tally. Reyna is the priest who demonstrates to parishioners how to duck when gunfire breaks out.

"We show people how to prepare for an earthquake. Now we need to train them for a shootout," Reyna said.

Many people simply avoid public places. Families have cut back on going to restaurants. Some parents forbid their children to go to nightclubs, preferring they attend parties at the homes of people they know. More parents pick up their children from school rather than letting them take public transportation.

After eight people were killed in neighboring Rosarito Beach on Thursday, some panicked parents kept their children home, reacting to rumors that children were going to be kidnapped.

Cops, or anybody in a law enforcement uniform, are avoided; at least 10 security personnel have been gunned down in recent weeks in the Tijuana metropolitan area. Ana Luisa Angulo, a mother of four, said her daughter was recently pulled over by an officer for speeding.

"She didn't even argue," Angulo said. "She just wanted to get the ticket and get away from him as quickly as possible."

For some youngsters, Tijuana's battlefield is a playground, another childhood experience.

Down the street from Reyna's Monte Maria Church in a tough hillside slum, kids play in another bullet-riddled former hide-out, where a family was killed this year.

Then there are the wakes and funerals, among the few nighttime events that parents allow their children to attend.

Around the corner from the hide-out, teenagers last week stared glumly into the open caskets of Isabel Guzman Morales, 14, and Victor Corona Morales, 17, cousins who were shot to death outside their home. More than 100 people squeezed into the tiny front yard of a relative, where the caskets had been placed side by side under a tent.

Later, the teenagers climbed down staircases made of rubber tires to another wake. Inside a teetering house made of wood scraps, the kids looked into the open casket of another friend, 19-year-old Felipe Alejandro Prado, who was also fatally shot with the cousins after being chased down by unknown assailants.

While family members served coffee and cookies, relatives and friends tried to piece together the tragedies. "The killers were probably outsiders," said Prado's father, Martin Gomez Mejilla. "They're taking so many innocent lives."

Friends suggested that Prado was not an innocent bystander; he was a drug dealer who fearlessly roamed the neighborhood's dirt streets, they said. One 11-year-old visitor seemed to want to emulate the dead teen. "When I grow up I want to be a narco, and get all the women and the money," he said.

Such shows of bravado from youngsters, say parents and psychologists, could mask deep-rooted trauma. Many children's anxieties are increasingly manifesting themselves in eating and sleeping disorders, they say.

"At night, some kids have nightmares," said David Sotelo, a psychologist, "but what worries me more than the trauma is the social costs, the desensitization and the low value some kids have for human life."

Even more troubling, say some, is a growing exhaustion bordering on indifference.

Teachers have twice had to evacuate Secondary School 25, where a razor-wire fence rings the playground. The first time, police had opened fire at the state prison a few blocks away, killing at least 20 rioting inmates. Two weeks later, a body was tossed in the street outside the school.

Last week's shootout at the safe house forced teachers and students to hit the floor again.

When the youngsters returned for afternoon classes after visiting the house, teachers had trouble getting their attention: The students were showing off their cellphone pictures of the carnage.

A teacher asked an assistant principal to confiscate the kids' phones and give them to their parents, so they could lecture their children. The assistant principal, Marcos Alvarez Guardado, just shrugged: "I'm sure they've already posted the images on the Internet," he said. "What more can we do?"

Marosi is a Times staff writer.

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Those two last articles are for Diego, as I know the kids from T.J are dear to him.

Ode to the commode


On World Toilet Day, we should all be plumb grateful to be bestowed with a loo -- many in the world aren't as lucky.

By Margaret Wertheim
November 19, 2008

Today is World Toilet Day. You might chuckle or blush, but it's worth taking a moment to acknowledge what the humble loo has done for us.

Though the word "toilet" is often considered declasse and even rude to utter aloud, much of modern life would not be possible without the commode. Ask yourself this: If you had to live without toilets or electricity, which would you choose?

If you opted for electricity, you might consider the plight of Londoners during the summer of 1858, when the city experienced what historians know as the Big Stink.

As a thriving metropolis at the peak of an empire, London teemed with vitality. But all those productive citizens had to poop, and all that excrement had to go somewhere.

Where it went, generally, was into chamber pots and thence into the streets or one of the city's 200,000 backyard cesspits, which overflowed into basements, neighbors' yards and nearby streets. Most of it ended up in the River Thames as undiluted, putrid muck. The problem was perennial, but the summer of 1858 was unusually hot, causing bacteria in the pits and river to multiply. The stench was so appalling the House of Commons was overpowered. Parliamentarians soaked the curtains in chloride of lime to combat the smell and considered moving their business upriver to Hampton Court. Anyone who could leave town did.

The experience galvanized the Metropolitan Board of Works, which set about reforming the city's sanitation infrastructure. The next year, the major elements of the London sewerage system were under construction, which in turn necessitated the evolution of the flush toilet. Though the first modern toilet is said to have been built for Elizabeth I, true flushable loos are an invention of the late 19th century.

From the Middle Ages on, most large cities were drowning in excrement, making urban spaces not just stinky but downright dangerous. In the London cholera epidemic of 1844 to 1855, 20,000 people died because of commingling of sewage and drinking water. New York City began comprehensively building sewers in 1849, after its own series of deadly cholera outbreaks.

Toilets became a key factor in metropolitan growth both laterally and vertically. In order to build up, you have to be able to flush down. (Imagine carrying a chamber pot down the 102 stories of the Empire State Building.)

The average person goes to the toilet between six and eight times a day. Of the 69 gallons of water Americans use per person per day indoors, 27% (18.5 gallons) goes to flushing -- more than on showering or laundry or any other single activity, says the American Water Works Assn.

So central are flush toilets to our lives that we easily forget how many people do without them, or any other kind of effective sanitation either. Nobody seems to keep toilet statistics per se, but the World Health Organization and UNICEF monitor access to what is called "improved sanitation" -- which they reckon 2.5 billion people live without.

Contrary to what the term appears to imply, "it doesn't mean anything indoors and it doesn't mean water. It certainly doesn't mean flushable toilets," says Patricia Dandonoli, the president of WaterAID America, an organization that works to provide sanitation in developing countries. It does mean a private, covered pit latrine -- which Dandonoli stresses is "several steps up the sanitation ladder" from open defecation.

In cities like Nairobi, many residents have no option but to use what is known as the "flying toilet." They defecate in a plastic bag that they throw onto the roadside. Others may only have access to the woods or open fields. In slums and shantytowns in South Asia and South America, millions of people rely on "hanging latrines," an open platform with a hole in the middle built precariously on poles over a river or stream.

Women are especially vulnerable when there are no sanitation facilities. Modesty may keep them from going until night, when they are vulnerable to attack. In developing countries, 11% more girls go to school when sanitation is available.

Diseases such as diarrhea and dysentery -- caused by food and water contaminated with excrement -- are the second-biggest killer of children worldwide, causing 5,000 deaths a day, five times the number dying from HIV/AIDS. (The No. 1 killer is pneumonia and upper-respiratory infections.)

The costs of not having sanitation are enormous. According to the U.N. Development Program, countries in sub-Saharan Africa lose 5% of their total GDP because of illness and death caused by poor sanitation and water. The United Nations estimates that every $1 spent on sanitation saves at least $9 in accumulated health costs, lost productivity and delayed economic development.

One of the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals, set in 2000, was to halve the proportion of people living without "basic sanitation" by 2015. We are nowhere near to making good on that promise, Dandonoli says. It would require spending about $10 billion a year for a decade to get covered pit latrines to just 50% of those who need them. That's less than what Americans spend on bottled drinking water, which, according to the Beverage Marketing Assn., is running at more than $12 billion annually.

Today, on World Toilet Day, I propose that all of us give one loud grateful flush for the porcelain throne. Followed by one hour of not flushing in silent solidarity with those who don't have the privilege of pooping safely in private.

Margaret Wertheim is a science writer who has consulted for WaterAID America on public outreach.