Adolfo Constanzo
Encyclopedia
Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo (November 1, 1962 – May 6, 1989) was an American serial killer
, drug dealer and cult
leader. His nickname was El Padrino de Matamoros
(The Godfather of Matamoros).
, USA. His mother was a Cuba
n immigrant. She gave birth to Adolfo at the age of 15, and eventually had three children of different fathers. She moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico
, after her first husband died, and she remarried there. Constanzo was baptized Catholic
and served as an altar boy, but was also influenced by his mother in the religion called Palo Mayombe. The family returned to Miami in 1972, and his stepfather died soon after leaving the family with some money. His mother soon remarried and his new stepfather was involved in the religion and drug dealing.
Constanzo and his mother were arrested numerous times for minor crimes like theft, vandalism, and "farderismo” (shoplifting, concealing goods between their clothing). He graduated from high school but was expelled from prep school. His mother believed he had psychic abilities for supposedly having foretold the attempted assassination of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan
in 1981.
As a teenager, he befriended a priest of Palo Mayombe ritual, who taught him the skills to be a drug dealer.
in 1983, supporting himself as a tarot card reader. There, he recruited two younger men; Martín Quintana Rodríguez and Omar Chewe Orea Ochoa to be his servants, lovers and disciples. Constanzo returned to Miami shortly thereafter, but he moved to Mexico City in mid-1984. Over the next few years he became the leader of a full-fledged religion with drug dealers, musicians and even police officers under his command. The religion, based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas
, on the U.S.-Mexico border, sold drugs, held high-priced religious ceremonies, and by 1987 at the latest, murdered people for use in human sacrifices. These victims fell along with the religion's rivals in dealing drugs.
When a US citizen tourist, 21-year-old Mark J. Kilroy
, disappeared in Matamoros during Spring Break
1989, local police, facing pressures from Texas
authorities, began to search in earnest for him. They discovered Constanzo's religion quite by accident (in an unrelated drug investigation) and, after arresting some of the members, quickly discovered that they were responsible for the murder of Kilroy. Officials said Kilroy was killed by Constanzo with a machete chop to the back of the neck when he tried to escape about 12 hours after being taken to the ranch. The suspects said a number of the victims were dismembered and burned. .
More and more of the cult's members were arrested until, on May 6, they had cornered Constanzo and four of his followers, two of whom were his male lovers, in a dilapidated Mexico City apartment. Determined not to go to prison
, Constanzo ordered one of the disciples to shoot him and Quintana Rodríguez. They were both dead when the police finally broke in.
One of Constanzo's most trusted leaders within his cult, Sara María Aldrete
, was arrested not long after his death. She was sentenced to a total of 68 years in prison for her involvement in the cult and the murders.
series, "Most Evil
", by Dr. Michael Stone, profiled Constanzo in the last episode ("Cult Leaders") of the second season. Constanzo's "evil level" was 22, the highest.
Constanzo was also profiled in the documentary "Instinto Asesino
" which aired on Discovery en Espanol
in 2010. The episode was entitled, "El Padrino".
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
, drug dealer and cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
leader. His nickname was El Padrino de Matamoros
Matamoros, Tamaulipas
Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern part of Tamaulipas, in the country of Mexico. It is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas, in the United States. Matamoros is the second largest and second...
(The Godfather of Matamoros).
Early years
Constanzo was born in Miami, FloridaMiami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, USA. His mother was a Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n immigrant. She gave birth to Adolfo at the age of 15, and eventually had three children of different fathers. She moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
, after her first husband died, and she remarried there. Constanzo was baptized Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
and served as an altar boy, but was also influenced by his mother in the religion called Palo Mayombe. The family returned to Miami in 1972, and his stepfather died soon after leaving the family with some money. His mother soon remarried and his new stepfather was involved in the religion and drug dealing.
Constanzo and his mother were arrested numerous times for minor crimes like theft, vandalism, and "farderismo” (shoplifting, concealing goods between their clothing). He graduated from high school but was expelled from prep school. His mother believed he had psychic abilities for supposedly having foretold the attempted assassination of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
in 1981.
As a teenager, he befriended a priest of Palo Mayombe ritual, who taught him the skills to be a drug dealer.
Adulthood
Constanzo visited Mexico CityMexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
in 1983, supporting himself as a tarot card reader. There, he recruited two younger men; Martín Quintana Rodríguez and Omar Chewe Orea Ochoa to be his servants, lovers and disciples. Constanzo returned to Miami shortly thereafter, but he moved to Mexico City in mid-1984. Over the next few years he became the leader of a full-fledged religion with drug dealers, musicians and even police officers under his command. The religion, based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas
Matamoros, Tamaulipas
Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern part of Tamaulipas, in the country of Mexico. It is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas, in the United States. Matamoros is the second largest and second...
, on the U.S.-Mexico border, sold drugs, held high-priced religious ceremonies, and by 1987 at the latest, murdered people for use in human sacrifices. These victims fell along with the religion's rivals in dealing drugs.
When a US citizen tourist, 21-year-old Mark J. Kilroy
Mark J. Kilroy
Mark J. Kilroy was a University of Texas at Austin student who vanished in March 1989 on the streets of Matamoros, Mexico along the Texas/Mexico border across from the city of Brownsville, Texas....
, disappeared in Matamoros during Spring Break
Spring break
Spring break – also known as March break, Study week or Reading week in the United Kingdom and some parts of Canada – is a recess in early spring at universities and schools in the United States, Canada, mainland China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, the United...
1989, local police, facing pressures from Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
authorities, began to search in earnest for him. They discovered Constanzo's religion quite by accident (in an unrelated drug investigation) and, after arresting some of the members, quickly discovered that they were responsible for the murder of Kilroy. Officials said Kilroy was killed by Constanzo with a machete chop to the back of the neck when he tried to escape about 12 hours after being taken to the ranch. The suspects said a number of the victims were dismembered and burned. .
More and more of the cult's members were arrested until, on May 6, they had cornered Constanzo and four of his followers, two of whom were his male lovers, in a dilapidated Mexico City apartment. Determined not to go to prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
, Constanzo ordered one of the disciples to shoot him and Quintana Rodríguez. They were both dead when the police finally broke in.
One of Constanzo's most trusted leaders within his cult, Sara María Aldrete
Sara Aldrete
Sara María Aldrete is a multiple murderer known as "La Madrina". She attended high school in Brownsville, Texas, United States, while still living south of the border, and gained resident alien status so she could attend Texas Southmost College. She was known among her peers as a good student...
, was arrested not long after his death. She was sentenced to a total of 68 years in prison for her involvement in the cult and the murders.
Possible Accomplices
- Abel Lima "El sodomita de Iztapalapa" presunto responsable de los secuestros en carretilla de mediados de los años 90.
- Rubén Estrada "Patitas cortas"
- Christian Campos "El Panzas"
- Emmanuel Romero "El trompas"
- Saúl Sánchez "El Macaco"
- Ricardo Peña "El cepillín"
Documentaries
The Discovery ChannelDiscovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
series, "Most Evil
Most Evil
Most Evil is an American forensics television program on Investigation Discovery presented by forensic psychiatrist Michael Stone of Columbia University. On the show, Stone rates murderers on a scale of evil that he has developed...
", by Dr. Michael Stone, profiled Constanzo in the last episode ("Cult Leaders") of the second season. Constanzo's "evil level" was 22, the highest.
Constanzo was also profiled in the documentary "Instinto Asesino
Instinto Asesino
Instinto Asesino is a series produced by Endemol Argentina for the Discovery Channel. Each episode portrays a notorious serial killer case occurred in a country from Latin America...
" which aired on Discovery en Espanol
Discovery en Español
Discovery en Español is the Spanish language version of the Discovery Channel. It is operated by Discovery Networks International's Latin America division in Miami, Florida....
in 2010. The episode was entitled, "El Padrino".
Pop culture
- BorderlandBorderland (film)Borderland is a 2007 horror film written and directed by Zev Berman. It is released as one of the 8 Films to Die For at Horrorfest 2007. It is very loosely based on the true story of Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo, the leader of a religious cult that practiced human sacrifice...
, a 2007 film loosely based on Constanzo and his cult. - BrujeríaBrujeria (band)Brujeria is an extreme metal band formed in Tijuana, Mexico in 1989. Their name comes from the Spanish word for "witchcraft". Their songs, which are sung in Spanish, are focused on Satanism, anti-Christianity, sex, immigration, narcotics smuggling, politics....
, a death metalDeath metalDeath metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
band whose lyrics focus on Satanism, anti-Christianity, sex and drug smuggling, put a picture of a severed head (later nicknamed Coco Loco) in their album Matando GüerosMatando GüerosMatando Güeros is the debut album from the band Brujeria. The album talks mostly about killing white Americans and border crossing. "Güero" is a Mexican-Spanish slang term for a pale-skinned or blonde-haired person, often used as a slur....
. The head is believed to be of a victim of Adolfo Constanzo cult. - JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese doom metalDoom metalDoom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
band Church of MiseryChurch of Miseryis a doom metal band from Tokyo, Japan. Church of Misery's style melds early-era Black Sabbath style doom with psychedelic rock.-History:Most songs by Church of Misery are about serial killers and mass murderers...
reference Constanzo in their song El Padrino (GodfatherCapo di tutti capiCapo di tutti capi or capo dei capi is Italian for "boss of all bosses" or "boss of bosses". It is a phrase used mainly by the media, public and the law enforcement community to indicate a supremely powerful crime boss in the Sicilian or American Mafia who holds great influence over the whole...
, in SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
). It appears on their Houses of the Unholy album, each song being about a serial killer/mass murderer.
External links
- Crime Library 2 another Court TV article on the "Death Priests"
- "The Mexican Voodoo Massacre" Bizarre Magazine
- The Godfather of Matamoros