"El Mataperros," the man responsible for the Casino Royale fire, is sentenced to 135 years in prison.

MEXICO CITY (apro) - Baltasar Sauceda Estrada, alias "El Mataperros," was sentenced to 135 years in prison and a fine of more than one million pesos for organized crime, public health crimes, and kidnapping. He is considered the mastermind behind the August 25, 2011, attack on the Casino Royale in Monterrey, which left 52 people dead.

The Second District Judge of Federal Criminal Proceedings, based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, sentenced six members of "Los Zetas" to up to 135 years in prison for organized crime and illegal deprivation of liberty in the form of kidnapping.

José Alberto Loera Rodríguez, Luis Carlos Carrasco Espinoza, Hugo Fernando Rodríguez Castillo, Juan Norberto Estrada Valdez and Héctor Javier Montoya Chávez were sentenced to 15 years in prison and a fine of 370,578 pesos for organized crime and kidnapping.

Arrest warrants were executed against the accused between 2011 and 2012. All are currently serving their sentences in various prisons across the country.

Casino Royale

At around 3:50 p.m., between 12 and 16 armed men, who arrived in four vehicles, stormed the establishment.

The attackers, led by Baltazar Saucedo Estrada, alias "El Mataperros," doused the bingo area with gasoline and set it on fire, allegedly in retaliation for the owner, Raúl Rocha,'s refusal to pay a weekly extortion fee of 130,000 pesos.

The fire killed 52 people, including two pregnant women, primarily from asphyxiation due to carbon monoxide poisoning. More than 100 people were in the casino at the time of the attack, and many were trapped because the emergency exits were locked, triggering a stampede. The second floor of the building collapsed hours later. More than 35 people were trapped for several hours, and at least 10 were injured.

The attack was described as an "act of terror" by then-President Felipe Calderón, who declared three days of national mourning.

In 2022, eleven years after the fire, the families of the deceased received a public apology from representatives of all three branches of government, although those affected were careful to remind them that impunity prevails.

For the assault perpetrated by a Zetas Cartel commando at the betting house in the San Jerónimo neighborhood, west of the city, on August 25, 2011, the Undersecretary of the Interior, Alejandro Encinas, appeared to apologize on behalf of the Federal Government.