Femme fatale dead
SiSinaloa l hitwoman the ‘Kim K. of crime’
One of Mexico’s deadliest — and sexiest — gangsters is dead.
The body of Claudia Ochoa Felix, who reputedly led the assassination unit of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s Sinaloa Cartel, was found last weekend in her presumed lover’s bed, according to reports.
The 35-year-old femme fatale had earned social-media fame in 2014 — along with the nickname the “Kim Kardashian of organized crime” — for posting photos of herself in tight outfits while wielding pink- and gold-colored AK-47s and toting designer handbags, The Telegraph reported.
Mexican newspapers reported at the time that she was at the helm of Los Ántrax — or Anthrax — an armed enforcement wing of the Sinaloa drug cartel, for which she had been given a second nickname: the “Empress of Ántrax.”
Ochoa Felix had denied any allegations of organized-crime involvement, tweeting that the reports about her were “cowardly lies and slander.”
But the curvy brunette was reputed to have been involved romantically with José Rodrigo Aréchiga Gamboa, better known as “El Chino Ántrax” — or Chinese Anthrax — who headed the murderous unit before he was arrested, The Sun reported, citing local media.
Felix took on the role of the Ántrax leader after Arechiga’s arrest, according to The Sun. The group of killers allegedly carried out hits under the orders of Sinaloa leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia, who took over from El Chapo.
Ochoa Felix also was married to a Sinaloa drug trafficker nicknamed “El Chavo Felix,” with whom she had three children, according to The Sun.
The night before Ochoa Felix was found dead, she had gone to a nightclub with a man, according to the Mexican newspaper La Prensa.
The pair apparently slept late, and when the man tried to talk to her in the morning, she did not respond — so he called police.
No official cause of death has been released, but La Prensa reported that a drug overdose may have been to blame.
Other reports indicate that she died of pulmonary aspiration — which occurs when someone inhales foreign objects, such as fluids, into their lungs.
Alcohol and other substances were found in Ochoa Felix’s system and she died of suffocation, according to prosecutor Juan José Rios Estavillo — but the official cause of death has not been released pending autopsy results.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether her death was accidental or whether there was foul play involved.