A story written in blood
La Verdad - March 2010
Eye for an eye. Tooth for tooth. Soul for soul. Two family clans with origin in the Almeria town of Albox, 'Los Pertolos' and 'Los Franceses', have been writing with blood for almost a century an endless and unfinished story in which there is no other argument than revenge and whose characters respect no other law than that of Talión. The last chapter has just been written in the Murcian town of Puerto Lumbreras, where three members of the 'Los Pertolos' family have just been arrested on charges of attempted murder: a young man from Almeria was allegedly shot in the belly who would have been extorting money from him. Nobody knows what the next chapter will be, but it is known that it will be written with the fluid red of spilled blood.
The book 'History of crime in Almería', by the crime journalist José Ángel Pérez, reviews what seems to be the initiation event in this crime saga. It happened on the morning of April 20, 1925. Sotero Cortés Contreras, a member of the 'Los Franceses' clan, and Juan Rodríguez Santiago, from 'Los Pertolos', got into a discussion about the location of their mobile stalls in the market. Albox weekly. A municipal guard mediated the fight and, to prevent the confrontation from recurring, took Sotero out to the street. It was then that this 'Pertolo', apparently, approached them and struck a deadly stab at his adversary.
The fact that both Calés families disagree on everything, except for the unwritten rule that insults are washed away with blood and that one death is only paid for with another, has given rise in these 85 long years to an uncountable succession of murders . No one knows for sure how many have fallen in this clan war, but there are many. A dozen, at least, in the last decade, according to the accounts of the Civil Guard.
At the hands of his cousins
Already in 1967, another 'Pertolo', Domingo Rodríguez Rodríguez, died at the hands of his cousins, members of the other clan. He was 30 years old. The chronicles say that it was his own widow, Antonia, who avenged him. She did it years later, in the Plaza Circular in Murcia, when her husband's murderer was leaving the Old Prison. The woman filled his skin with lead. Antonia's three children undoubtedly inherited her courage and determination: their names were Juan Petronilo, Ramón and Domingo, of whom only the second - currently incarcerated in the Murcia prison, accused of a homicide - is still alive today. The other two were shot dead. Domingo, the little one, left his life in an uninhabited area of the Almeria town of Arboleas. His body was found, riddled with shots, along with that of another young man. He was 24 years old. And the eldest of the three brothers, Juan Petronilo, died in February of last year, in Olula del Río (Almería), shot dead by a shotgun that was wielded by a marble businessman, José Antonio GG, whom the deceased allegedly tried to extort. Along with Juan Petronilo, his 19-year-old nephew died, with whom he shared the name Juan Petronilo and also some adventures.
Although the first data indicated that the alleged murderer and his two victims did not know each other before the tragic incident, later information began to point out that there were unclear issues between them and that the apparent extortion was just one more element to take into account to explain the double crime.
Handcuffed at the funeral
Ramón, the only survivor of the three brothers who made up the main branch of the 'Los Pertolos' family clan, came handcuffed and heavily escorted to the funeral of his own son and brother. Not in vain, Ramón had been imprisoned a few months earlier in the Murcia prison as the alleged perpetrator -together with his cousin, Juan José- of the murder of a member of the 'Los Franceses' clan, which occurred in Águilas on August 7, 2008. José Contreras, known as 'The Little Son', 36 years old and a native of Albox, like most of the protagonists of this bloody story, was walking home when he was shot from a Mercedes convertible, stolen and with dummy plates. Two bullets took his breath away forever.
As always in these cases, 'Los Pertolos' became the first suspects. They had every reason to be on that list. As many as the rival family to search for them. And there are still a few other crimes that both clans can attribute to each other, although some of them are not formally resolved. In 1981, Amador Cazorla, from 'Los Franceses', was shot dead by six shots in Albox. And on February 6, 2003, the 41-year-old 'pertolo' Juan Rodríguez died of a shot to the head when he was leaving his home, located in the Alto de Albox neighborhood. Someone had shot him from an abandoned house, using a rifle with a telescopic sight. The event triggered a subsequent shooting between the two families, in which a painter with a broad brush who was passing by was wounded by a shot in the column. He was paraplegic.
Raising money
Although some data from the judicial investigation raise certain doubts about the possible authorship of Juan José and Ramón in the death of José Contreras in Águilas, the truth is that both were imprisoned and remain behind bars. This fact would have led other members of the family clan to then initiate an extortion campaign against businessmen in Almería and Murcia to try to collect money with which to support the family and pay for the defense of the suspects.
In one of these alleged actions, the two Juan Petronilo - uncle and nephew - were killed, as has already been said, killed by a marble businessman. Now, three other members of the family, JPRM, DRM and JPRM, between the ages of 27 and 29, have been detained by the Civil Guard in Puerto Lumbreras, on suspicion of having shot a young resident of Albox in the stomach , also linked to the clan of 'Los Franceses', having refused to give them the money that they allegedly demanded.
The incident took place on the morning of July 8, 2009. Faced with the young man's resistance to giving them the sum they demanded, and which amounted to several thousand euros, they allegedly shot him point-blank in the stomach and escaped from the place.
The Civil Guard, upon learning of such events, began the police operation 'Peque'. This gave its first results at the beginning of March when, after various police actions carried out by agents of the Civil Guard of the provinces of Murcia, Almería, Ciudad Real and Seville, the alleged perpetrators were identified. Everything indicates that there is a witness, who has been considered a 'protected', who has provided the names of the suspects.
Police sources indicate that the three alleged implicated in the attempted homicide have been detained in a hotel in Puerto Lumbreras, where they had made an appointment with their lawyer. Other sources, however, point out that they voluntarily surrendered to the Civil Guard, which is why they would have been accompanied by a lawyer they trust.
With his admission to prison, the Civil Guard considers that the violent clan of 'Los Pertolos' - a name that comes from Petronilo, or Petrolo, which is one of the most common names in that family - is practically dismantled, having five of its most prominent members in prison, apart from those who lost their lives in the endless war with the other clan. What the Civil Guards do not dare to do, however, is to assume that this long history of revenge has ended here. They know that as long as these families have one of their members alive and free, the risk of a mortal confrontation is high.
