Valentin Elizalde shot to death Tweet

[Chicano Soy]

Singer killed in apparent gangland hit
By Hector Tobar, Times Staff Writer
4:11 PM PST, November 25, 2006

<img src="http://www.juarol.com/sucasa/images/smiles/mexico.gif">

<img src="http://www.juarol.com/img/news/celebs/ValentinElizalde2.JPG" align="left">MEXICO CITY -- A popular singer, his manager and driver were gunned down in an ambush after a concert in the border city of Reynosa in an apparent gangland hit Saturday as unabated drug-related violence continued across Mexico.

The singer, 27-year-old Valentin Elizalde, was killed about 20 minutes after performing at a local fair. Elizalde was a mainstay of the accordion-based "norteno" music variously known as "Banda" or "grupero," and also was known by the nickname "the Golden Rooster."

According to media reports, two vehicles chased Elizalde's black Suburban as he left the concert and opened fire with automatic weapons as dozens of witnesses looked on. As many as 70 bullet cartridges were found scattered on the street around Elizalde's car. According to media reports, Elizalde was hit as many as eight times.

Elizalde often toured the United States and recorded several albums for Universal Music. Among his biggest hits were songs including "Vete Ya," "Ebrio de Amor" and "Soy Asi."

He also penned lyrics honoring one of Mexico's most notorious drug lords, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. Last year, he sang one of his "narcocorridos," ballads honoring the exploits of drug dealers, to a crowd of more than 3,000 convicts at the Puente Grande prison in the central state of Jalisco.

Guzman escaped from a neighboring prison in 2001 and remains at large.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in the on-going war between competing cartels and the police over Mexico's lucrative trade in illicit drugs, according to media reports.

On Saturday, the toll included a federal prosecutor gunned down in northern city of Monterrey, and a police chief and city councilman in the Monterrey suburb of Santa Catarina.

Baltazar Gomez Trejo of Santa Catarina was the sixth police chief killed in the northern state of Nuevo Leon this year. He had taken office 23 days earlier, and recently had purged the city's drug-enforcement unit, according to the newspaper El Universal.

This month, Elizalde received the "soloist of the year" prize at Los Premios de la Radio awards for regional Mexican music held at the Gibson Amphitheater in Hollywood. He was depicted in a mural in Pico Rivera, a Southern California hotbed of norteno music, last December.

The son of a musician, Elizalde was born in the northern state of Sonora. Once a law student, he began recording in the late 1990s.

According to the Guadalajara newspaper Mural, the convicts at Puente Grande joined in with Elizalde on "Clave Privada" (Secret Code), a song celebrating Guzman's exploits when Elizalde performed a Mexican Independence Day concert there in 2005.

Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel is battling the Gulf Cartel and other criminal groups for control of key smuggling points across the U.S.-Mexico border.

http://www.valentin-elizalde.com/Source

[brwn_eyes]

This is so sad! More than 70 shots were fired! That's insane! But i heard he got hit like 18 times......who knows!
I'm a big fan of his music! It's just sad you don't ever know what's gonna happen from one second to the next!! :#:

God Bless him and his family, and may he rest in peace! ray:

[Ozumautli]

It is crazy and once agian, no one ever knows the full story oundingfists: but yeah.. too bad he went out like that. I actually liked "veta ya" of all his songs.. "la papa" was good one too. :Vaquero:

[brwn_eyes]

so sad...sad! I don't know but i'm thinking he was involved in all that drug situation! Cause when you think of it, you might shoot at someone hit or miss but dang, 70 shots......that's hatred there...you really want that person dead!
It's sad if that's the case, because he was doing so well in his career and to get mixed up in all that...what a shame!
But then again, you don't really know the truth! :#: Just my opinion! :mm:

[Ozumautli]

I found some pictures on one of his Myspace pages. "Ebrio de Amor" is a nice song too!

http://www.myspace.com/valentinelizaldegallodeoro

http://www.myspace.com/valentinelizaldegallodeoro

http://www.myspace.com/valentinelizaldegallodeoro

http://www.myspace.com/valentinelizaldegallodeoro

http://www.myspace.com/valentinelizaldegallodeoro

Fans mourn Valentin Elizalde


MEXICO CITY: Thousands of fans turned out Sunday to mourn slain Mexican "banda" singer Valentin Elizalde as his casket was carried back to his hometown in northern Sonora state.

Elizalde, along with his manager and driver, died in a hail of bullets Saturday shortly after finishing a performance in the border city of Reynosa, across from McAllen, Texas.

On Sunday, a large crowd awaited the arrival of Elizalde's body at the airport in Ciudad Obregon, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) southeast of Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora state. Two police cars then escorted Elizalde's body to his hometown of Jitonhueca, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast, where a memorial service was to be held at his mother's home, the government news agency Notimex reported.

Along the way, the funeral procession was greeted by the strains of norteno music. Some fans applauded from the side of the road. Others tossed flowers or laid out votive candles.




Elizalde's Web site said the shooting occurred as he was leaving a "palenque," a sort of small, open-air festival, at which he sang. Authorities in Tamaulipas state, where Reynosa is located, were not immediately available to confirm the circumstances of the deaths.

"We appreciated all the displays of solidarity and affection from fans, friends and the media ... rest in peace, Valentin Elizalde," read the singer's Web site, which identified his manager, Mario Mendoza, and his driver and friend, Raymundo Ballesteros.

There was no immediate information on a motive for the killings.

Born in 1979 and known as "El Gallo," or "The Rooster", Elizalde was considered a mainstay of the accordion-based norteno music variously known as "banda" or "grupero."

Among his biggest hits were songs "Vete Ya," "Ebrio de Amor" and "Soy Asi."

___

On the Net:

Valentin Elizalde: http://www.valentin-elizalde.com/

[brwn_eyes]

I love that page Pete! thanks for posting that up! It makes me all teary eyed looking at all the pictures and reading all the comments!!! :lloroso:
But his talents will live on in his fans' hearts always!
Thanks again for posting that up!!! It's great!!!



Rest In Peace Valentin Elizalde!!! z::

[Ozumautli]

You're welcome Sophie! I'm surprised we are the only ones on this site who liked his music? oh well, I liked a couple of his songs. I saw a quick vid of the crime scene... they were still inside the truck.. It didn't seem like they did much damage to the truck, pero enough for the bullets to reach em' :?

You can watch his music Videos here

http://youtube.com/results?search_query ... rch=Search

I'm still tripping out on all the visists we've been getting from people doing searches on his death. the page views on this thread is already 1,500+ views

MEXICO CITY: Police in Mexico are investigating a possible connection between the killing of "banda" singer Valentin Elizalde and a video posted online, officials said Tuesday.

Elizalde, along with his manager and driver, died in a hail of bullets Saturday shortly after finishing a performance in the border city of Reynosa, across from McAllen, Texas.

The shooting occurred as Elizalde was leaving an annual fair where he reportedly closed his show with the song "A Mis Enemigos," or "To My Enemies."

The same song is used in a 3-minute video posted on Youtube.com. The video shows a collage of grisly photographs of people killed in drug-related violence, wanted posters of former soldiers who authorities say joined the Gulf cartel — a top Mexican drug gang based in Tamaulipas state, where Reynosa is located — and footage of an alleged hit man for the cartel being shot in the head.


The video, first posted three months ago, was taken down Monday after dozens of users posted messages both mourning and celebrating Elizalde's death. A new version of the video including photographs from Elizalde's crime scene was posted sometime later.

Youtube did not respond to an e-mail from The Associated Press seeking comment Tuesday.

Bolivar Hernandez, head of the state police in Reynosa, said investigators have not discarded the possibility that drug traffickers killed Elizalde to send a message to those behind the video.

"We're looking into all alternatives," Hernandez said. "But at this point, we don't have an element that can establish a specific motive."

Elizalde was born in the border state of Sonora and grew up in the Pacific Coast state of Sinaloa, where he was buried Monday in a funeral attended by about 20,000 fans.

Elizalde's mother, Maria Camila Valencia, told reporters her son had no enemies and that he was a family man who liked to spend time with his daughters — ages 6, 5 and 3.

Some say Elizalde is the latest victim in a wave of violence attributed to a battle between the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels for billion-dollar (euro) smuggling routes into the United States.

The struggle has led to beheadings, grenade attacks and execution-style killings of rival gangsters and police officers.

The violence swelled following the 2003 arrest of Osiel Cardenas, alleged boss of the Gulf cartel, which long controlled crime in the region. Investigators say the arrest encouraged Guzman to try to fight his way into the area.

The bloodshed has continued unabated despite President Vicente Fox calling for the "mother of all battles" against drug traffickers, and the mobilization of thousands of soldiers and federal police.

[brwn_eyes]

It's just crazy to think he would get involved in all that drug issue when he really had no need to! He was doing great and it could have only gotten better!

I was talking to my friend from Sinaloa last night and he was telling me what the group was called that supposedly did this.....some kind of mafia group (something like that) but i don't remember the name. i'm gonna have to ask again!

But it's hard to say whether he was or wasn't involved in that! But what i do know is his fans will be his fans....they will continue to love his music...and he will live forever in their hearts!



It seriously makes me sad though....(i'm such a baby...lol). I keep watching the videos and it kinda gets to me!!! I get all teared up and have to turn it off!!!

[Ozumautli]

But it's hard to say whether he was or wasn't involved in that! But what i do know is his fans will be his fans....they will continue to love his music...and he will live forever in their hearts!

Hard to say. Some say he sang the wrong song at the wrong place. Normally, I would probably shrug that idea off, but after something so stupid as east caost /weast coast battle in the 90's anything is possible I suppose :roll:

So weird, but not surprising, how his death is bringing out the ugly side of people. Over @ youtube, I seen some really gruesome videos of him. mocking his death and what not. What looks to be taken from a cell phone cam, his autopsy and also video clips of the bodies inside his SUV. :?

He had 2 or 3 little daughters no older then 7 years old.

[brwn_eyes]

So weird, but not surprising, how his death is bringing out the ugly side of people. Over @ youtube, I seen some really gruesome videos of him. mocking his death and what not. What looks to be taken from a cell phone cam, his autopsy and also video clips of the bodies inside his SUV. :?

He had 2 or 3 little daughters no older then 7 years old.

wow!! people are sick in the head seriously! What more do they want....for those that wanted him dead.....job done! How wrong for them to take pictures of that and exploit it like it's something great! Although, i guess to those jerks...it is! That makes me sick to think people are that cruel. Cruel......the world we live in everyday! :#:

yeah...i think he had 2 daughters. that's so sad....poor babies!!! :#: :#:
But now they have a guardian angel to watch over them everyday...who still won't miss a part of them growing up!!!