According to an article in Excelsior from 15 December 2014, elements of the state police (SSP) in Calvillo, Aguascalientes arrested 34-year-old Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, aka "El Tripa Seca", for 9 warrants for homicide related to cases from 2013-2014 in Jalisco, including for the murder of the Jalisco Tourism Secretary, José de Jesús Gallegos Álvarez, carried out in March 2013. According to reporting, Ricardo Ruiz Velasco had a long criminal history and was involved in a shootout with ministerial police of the Grupo Exterior in Calvillo on 24 April 2013. He was apparently later arrested for shoplifting and auto theft, as well arrests in Calvillo on 13 February 2012 for selling drugs and September 2010 for robbing cantinas.
The arrest was reported by Excelsior and copy-pasted or paraphrased in several smaller publications around the same time. The picture of the subject in the Excelsior story shows a gaunt man in his mid-30s with detached earlobes, a crooked nose and fairly wide eyes.
Four years after the story was published, another series of stories appeared about an associate of Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) named Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, aka "El RR", or "El Tripa", who was apparently arrested on 6 October 2018 in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco in an operation by the Federal Police. According to reporting, "El RR" was wanted for the December 2012 murder of the Venezuelan model Daysi Ferrer Arenas, among other charges for homicides and selling drugs. According to reporting, elements of the Army, Navy and Federal Police transferred Ricardo Ruiz Velasco to the airport in Guadalajara, where he was subsequently transported by air to SEIDO facilities in Mexico City. SEIDO was a special counternarcotics investigative unit within the Federal Police.
The news of the story first broke on Twitter on 6 October 2018 at 19:07 UTC by @alertaGDL, an anonymous persona reporting on crime and police activity in the Guadalajara metro area. The picture of the individual described in the tweet as "Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, alias 'El Tripa' or 'RR'" was not the same individual pictured in the Excelsior story from 2014.
Federales detienen a Ricardo Ruiz Velasco alias “El Tripa” o "RR” operador del #CJNG en la #ZMG en un operativo realizado en #Tlaquepaque, se le acusa de matar al Srio. Jesús Gallegos y a una modelo venezolana además de ser dueño en un laboratorio en #Ixtlahuacan pic.twitter.com/q9AVxCTxGX
— ALERTA GDL (@AlertaGDL) October 6, 2018
Borderland Beat published a translation of a story from El Sol de Cuautla on 7 October 2018 which featured the photo from the @alertaGDL tweet, while the photo used in the El Sol de Cuautla story was a photo of the subject in the Excelsior story.
Comparing the two photographs, we can see that they are obviously two different people. The person pictured in the @alertaGDL tweet has attached earlobes, a straight and flatter nose, fuller lips and a heavier build.
It is not possible to exclude or match the subject in the photo posted by @alertaGDL with the person in the mask in the Grupo Élite video message, who was described by the Secretary of Defense Luis Cresencio Sandoval as "El RR".
On 30 July 2020, a new development was reported by the office of the State Attorney General in Guanajuato. A public announcement was eventually made that José Antonio Martinez Calderon, aka "El Tripa", an alleged associate of CJNG, had been captured in Uriangato, Guanajuato. The first instance I can find of the story on Twitter is from 4 August 2020.
"El Tripa" was apparently suspected of murders, kidnapping, drug trafficking and fuel theft in the municipalities of Moroleon, Uriangato and Yuriria in Guanajuato. According to a story in La Silla Rota from 5 August 2020, "El Tripa" had a criminal record and was a suspect in the murders of at least two men (Christopher Moisés and Jorge N.) in separate incidents in Uriangato in 2017.
On 6 August 2020, a story on La Verdad Noticias reported that "El RR", described by authorities as El Mencho's personal YouTuber, had been captured in Guanajuato. The story claimed that the man was "known only as Antonio, alias ‘El tripa’ or ‘el RR’ or Ricardo Ruiz Velazco" and that he had been arrested by the State Attorney General's office. The story stated that the subject had been arrested as recently as May 2020 for killing a child and dumping the body on the side of the road. Finally, the story claimed that the subject was responsible for filming and distributing the videos of the CJNG Grupo Élite. Two stories with synoptic details were later reported by Diario del Narco and Blog del Narco on 10 August 2020.
However, in the last communication from Grupo Élite, which appeared on social media on late 7 or early 8 August 2020, the speaker mentioned the arrest of El Marro. According to one report from 7 August from local media in Guanajuato, José Antonio Martínez Calderon, aka "El Tripa", was arrested on 30 July, three days before El Marro was captured on 2 August 2020. But the person who appeared in the latest video communication—which mentioned El Marro's arrest—had the same voice as the person in the Grupo Élite videos from 18 July 2020 and 23 July 2020, who Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval identified as "El RR", one of the leaders of Grupo Élite.
A search of the National Detention Registry (RND) for Antonio Martinez Calderon revealed that an individual with that name was arrested in Uriangato, Guanajuato on 26 July 2020. Thus, it is not possible that this was the same "El Tripa", aka "El RR", aka Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, since "El RR" appeared in the last known video communication from Grupo Élite which mentioned El Marro's arrest. El Marro was captured on 2 August 2020, a week after the arrest of Antonio Martinez Calderón. It appears that Martinez Calderon has since been released.
Additional information
A translated report about 2011 arrest from El Heraldo de Aguascalientes:
"They capture in Calvillo a dangerous criminal
A dangerous criminal who operated in the municipality of Calvillo, Aguascalientes, was captured by ministerial agents because he had several arrest warrants, both in the common jurisdiction and in the federal jurisdiction.
The person who has already been transferred to CERESO for Males, where he was placed at the disposal of a District Court based in Aguascalientes, due to the fact that he is being prosecuted for crimes against health, is Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, alias “El Tripa Seca”? ?, 30 years old, residing at Calle Nogal No. 104 in the La Querencia community, in the municipality of Calvillo, Aguascalientes."
ECATEPEC CALLE JIMENEZ NUM. 8 SANTA CLARA RICARDO RUIZ VELASCO ROJI 30/11/[2012]
NTR Guadalajara