“If they kill me, the city will burn”: Pilin Bracamonte’s gloomy ode, a few days before his tragic end

Andres Bracamonte, 53, said he wants to retire. His “job” was not traditional. I had no schedule or pay stub. He also did not deal with any boss. it was. He had control of the Rosario Central Brava gang for almost 30 years. Its power was greater than that of preventing avalanches. “I still can’t”, This journalist was warned 20 days ago during a conversation of more than two hours in a bar in the Martín neighborhood in the center of Rosario. This was the second case in less than two and a half months.

“Pilin” did not show that he wanted to retire. The fingers of his right hand were injured that day. Two days earlier, on Sunday, October 20, a flag appeared on the stand where the bar is located in honor of Samuel Medina, better known as Samu, son-in-law of Ariel “Guil” Cantero, whose death on October 1 Was murdered. After a central match against Vélez in the northern region, Gigante de Arroyo. “I authorized them to plant the flag, because they asked me to do so, but when they dropped the bombs they left. The game was over and I had to take some corrective measures,” he said. His severed right fist revealed that Bracamonte was far from retirementThe flag read in large letters, “We respect no one.” It also featured a picture of a monkey and the saying “Always a monkey, never a frog.”

Bracamonte not only headed the Rosario Central Bar, but also dozens of black businesses, although he claimed he never sold drugs. That is why he has gone to jail twice since 2020. A money laundering case landed him in “the worst place in the world”.

One of the enterprises they controlled was classic mafia: violence and control of territory, especially in the northern region of Rosario, not only in the Rosario Central region. His relationship with Los Monos dates back almost two decades, when he formed a bond of friendship not only with Claudio Pájaro Cantero. A photo that appears in file 813/12, The first investigation against the drug clan revealed that there was no basis for ties between the mafia. The image shows a selection of Rosario drug smugglers. Daniel “Tato” Vazquez, who was a member of the Newell’s Bar at the time, standing next to Bracamonte, Mariano Ruiz, who was convicted as a launderer for Los Monos, and Ariel “Guil” Cantero’s former lieutenant Marino Salomon . At the other table was Lionel’s brother, Matias Messi, who later left the scene.

“Rosario was covered in blood because they are all brainless. They all think they’re Pablo Escobar, and they’ve all been imprisoned or buried. They never understood the business and started killing each other for control of the two blocks. If you end up in a graveyard or a prison, which are the same thing, what’s the point? No one put a stop to it for a long time,” he said. “You have to be bored to be in this, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a sociopath. I still stand by, but I would never order a boy to be killed. In Rosario, codes were broken that ruined everythinghe adds.

– Why do they want to kill you?

, If they kill me the city will burn. The minors want to keep some part of the city for themselves. When I was shot in Alem Los Monos Park the same night they offered me a hunt. They offered me ten cars with armed men so that I could go out and look for the people who shot me. I stopped them because I don’t want to go back to jail. I am different. I live well, I don’t take drugs, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke. I have everything free. My chemical toilet company is impeccable. To live a good life I take care of myself.

The “hunt” was not successful on 10 August, when a few hours after the classic between Rosario Central and Newell he tried to kill Bracamonte in Alem Park, near the stadium. “Pilin” was not allowed to enter the field, but he was always around the stadium.

As happened this Saturday, when two hitmen shot him in Reconquista and Avellaneda. In August, three bullets hit him in the back, but he was back on the road a few hours after receiving medical attention. ,They tried to kill me 29 times. There are many similar marks on my body. they are all pills“He said while sipping his beer. This Saturday luck did not favor him. Bracamonte, who was in the passenger seat of a Chevrolet S10 truck driven by his friend Daniel Attardo, was sitting with his head thrown back. He was wearing a Piluso type cap.

This historian suggested he meet for coffee at 9 a.m., after which he frantically rushed to the meeting at the bar within minutes. “I have just finished training. “I’m going there,” he offered. He arrived half an hour later alone, wearing a cap and sunglasses. “I know how to walk alone. And I know how to do it,” he said.

That bar served as the setting for two long conversations over the past two months. “Pilin” was troubled by a publication Appeared in LA NACIONMany things were bothering him, some even more important, like the fact that he was one of the leaders of organized crime in Rosario, and the others were smaller. “You say I wear hair and that’s not the case. I let my hair grow. When I was in prison my classmate (Maximo) was El Viejo Cantero (founder of Los Monos). He cut my hair with the machine. I got information that the prosecutor had a wiretap in which he said ‘the bald man from Central’. “So I decided to let it grow,” he said. One night a prosecutor who investigated Bracamonte was eating a hamburger in a bar in downtown Rosario and an obese man was standing in front of his table. He did not recognize him. She had straight, copper-colored hair. “Doctor, don’t you recognize me?” He said smiling. It took several seconds for the officer to respond. “I’m Andres,” he told her to help her find it in her memory.

His physical identity had changed, or at least Bracamonte’s most famous image had changed. Shaved head and muscular. He had lost weight, had a full head of hair and outside the world of football he dressed a little more formally. There was a reason, which he repeated every moment: ““I’m a businessman and I don’t want to go back to jail.”

He lived in the Los Alamos country house in Ibarlucia, which was raided in a money laundering case. That investigation landed him in jail twice. He was at the high-profile pavilion with his “friend” Los Monos founderHe said, “He’s a nice guy, but even if he has to take your head off, he won’t hesitate.” “I bought him a pair of sneakers and a radio, because no one pays attention to him”he adds.

After the classic he was shot in Elem Park, Bracamonte said he was going to find out who wanted him removed from the scene. OrA month later he said that there was a Mafia group that wanted to remove him from control of the bars north of Rosario.“There is a child who has been running since March. No one looks for it. “He is said to be in Buenos Aires, but we saw him several times driving around Rosario in a Mercedes-Benz,” he said. He was referring to Los Menores leader Matias G., who has been a fugitive since last March. His criminal group is based in the 7 de Septiembre neighborhood in the northwestern area of ​​Rosario.

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