The Narcosatanists. Shocking Story of Adolfo Constanzo
Type of criminal activity: murder, drug dealing, fraud
Who: Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo
Born: November 1, 1962 in Miami, Florida, U.S
Died: May 6, 1989 (aged 26) in Mexico City, Mexico
Victims: 16 confirmed, 26 suspected
Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo was an American serial killer of Cuban descent and the leader of a religious cult responsible for several murders in the Mexican city of Matamoros in the late 1980s.
Adolfo was born in Miami on November 1, 1962, his mother was a 15-year-old Cuban immigrant. His father left the family, and his mother remarried soon after. From a young age, Adolfo was surrounded by religion; he first got into Catholicism, but by the time he was 9, he became interested in Central African religions and later started studying Santería.
When he was 14, he got into another African religion called Palo Mayombe, which includes rituals of animal sacrifice. At that same age, he became a father; his 13-year-old girlfriend gave birth to his child.
After high school, he went to college but quickly dropped out. By the time he was 18, he had already been arrested twice for shoplifting. At 20, he moved to Mexico and lived in a rough neighborhood. There, he started working as a medium and religious guru, doing tarot readings, performing rituals to remove curses, and selling amulets. Within a year, he had gathered a large group of followers and formed his own kind of cult with himself as the leader. Because of his reputation as a sorcerer and magic expert, he became known even among the criminal circles in Mexico City. Gangs and smugglers would come to him for magical protection, performing rituals that were supposed to help them avoid the police.
His influence grew over time, and he even got involved in smuggling himself, besides providing magical services for other gangs. As he got more money and power, he used his “magic” tricks to sway people in law enforcement to his side.
In early 1988, Adolfo and his cult moved to a ranch called “Santa Elena” in the countryside near Matamoros. There, they committed at least 13 brutal murders. The cult performed human sacrifices about once a month. Adolfo didn’t care about who the victims were, their age, or social status; most were acquaintances of the cult members.
Adolfo was strict with his followers and punished them harshly for breaking rules. In August 1988, he publicly executed a former cop and cult member named Jorge Valente for theft. On February 14, 1989, Constanzo committed a triple murder, killing and beheading three drug dealers. In late February 1989, two more people were killed, including 14-year-old José Garcia, the nephew of one of the cult members.
In March, Constanzo demanded a new victim. The cult’s luck lasted until March 14, 1989, when they kidnapped 21-year-old Mark Kilroy.
Mark Kilroy, a 21-year-old student from the University of Texas at Austin, had come to Matamoros with friends for spring break. On March 14, 1989, he was kidnapped just 70 meters from the U.S. border. Four members of Constanzo’s cult were involved in the abduction. They took him to the “Santa Elena” ranch, where about 12 hours later, Adolfo Constanzo hacked and beheaded him with a machete.
Mark’s parents came to Mexico to search for him, launching a big search campaign. But it wasn’t until a month later, during a major drug crackdown, that things took a turn. During a raid on the “Santa Elena” ranch, authorities didn’t find drugs but instead discovered mystical artifacts, blood everywhere, and an iron cauldron filled with bones, animal remains, blood, human hair, and a brain. One of the cult members confessed to Kilroy’s kidnapping and detailed his murder and those of the other victims. 13 mutilated bodies were found in a mass grave. Adolfo and his close associates went on the run.
Adolfo managed to fly to Mexico City and hide from the authorities, but the police kept searching all over Mexico. On May 6, 1989, they found Adolfo and his accomplices and surrounded them. Refusing to surrender, Adolfo started a shootout with the police. When he realized they were trapped, he ordered his bodyguard to kill him and his closest aide. The bodyguard followed his orders and shot both of them.
The rest of the cult members surrendered to the police shortly after and shared details of Adolfo Constanzo’s last moments. After the arrests, Mexican police said that even though they could only link Constanzo to 15 murders, he was likely involved in more than 60 disappearances in the Matamoros area in 1988–1989, whose fates remain unknown. All the remaining cult members were later sentenced to long prison terms.
References:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1384787/?ref_=nm_flmg_job_1_cred_t_4
