Tepito - Crime

Crime

The area has always been populated by the lower and alienated classes. Even in the pre-Hispanic times, when Mecamalinco's residents were barred from the Tlatelolco market, there is evidence that some of the merchandise sold here was stolen goods. Most of Tepito is filled with the huge open-air market, or tianguis, and most of the criminal activity occurs here in the form of selling counterfeit items and stolen goods.

Seven out of ten pirated or counterfeit products consumed in Mexico goes through this neighborhood, despite the fact that it is only blocks away from the Procuraduría General de la Republica. In 2009, federal agents confiscated fourteen tons of pirated audio and video, dismantled an audio laboratory and arrested three people during a raid in Tepito. In an earlier raid, federal and city police seized twenty five tones of illegally copied material and contraband cigarettes. PROFECO analyzed twenty nine randomly selected alcoholic beverages sold in Tepito and results indicated that all were counterfeit and adulterated, not matching the brand of the packaging.

October 2006 in the early morning hours, a hijacked truck with three men on board was steered to a parking lot in Tepito by two cars without license plates. Waiting for them was a group of youths, who quickly unloaded the truck of its contents – closed boxes with Asian writing on them. In less than half an hour the truck was empty, and the truck, cars, youths and boxes had all disappeared. It is said that each week dozens of trucks are led here to be so treated.

While the sale of counterfeit or stolen goods is still the main crime here, drug trafficking has made inroads as well. The sale of counterfeit goods took off here beginning in the 1970s, until vendors here were bringing it here from ports and the U.S. border by the truckload. Instead of sending the trucks back empty, contact between these merchants and drug traffickers were established so that the trucks now return with loads of marihuana. Their ready availability has now made drugs a problem for youths in the area.

Arms trafficking, including assault weapons, has also escalated in Tepito, a "phenomenon" described in the Mexico City newspaper El Universal on May 4, 2010, and expanded upon in a piece in MexiData.info.

However, the crime which causes the neighborhood's reputation of being "bravo" or fierce is robbery. Thieves track people who come to the market and look to see who makes what kinds of purchases. Then the chosen victims are confronted. Most of these confrontations do not end in violence as the threats are usually enough to intimidate the chosen victim. Another popular method of robbing is to assault a pedestrian while riding by on a motorbike. In 2006, 317 robberies against people in the street were reported for this area. This and police raids have had the effect of scaring away customers from the tianguis’ vendors.