Free The Daughters of Juarez: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border by Teresa Rodriguez, Diana Montané Page B

and ineptitude" were behind the murders in Juárez. "There is one policía who is very powerful and he is always everywhere, handling things no matter where he is, hiding, and fabricating lies."
     
     
According to the Egyptian, the officer was "short of stature." He pointed out that all of the victims had been "slender and petite." "It's the type of woman he likes, a woman he can control and overpower." He grinned.
     
     
When asked about his alleged ties to members of Los Rebeldes, Sharif almost cut in, as if expecting the question.
     
     
"I never saw Los Rebeldes, nunca en mi vida. Never in my life, before I came here to El Cereso, had I even heard of Los Rebeldes, never. It's all fabricated. The police tortured them, put guns to their heads; they received death threats so they would make incriminating statements against me.
     
     
"What do I have in common with the gangs? I don't like gangs." He grimaced. "They hurt and kill people. I am an educated person, I am an intelligent person, but I don't speak Spanish! You hear how I speak Spanish, and I taught myself in prison. How am I going to manage a Mexican gang, una ganga mexicana?"
     
     
When asked when he intended to reveal the identity of this corrupt police officer, Sharif smiled. "When I get out of here," he said. "Dead or alive, I will get out of this place."
     
     
Sitting back in his seat, Sharif began to blow smoke rings and break them with his long fingers. "I'm not fasting to pressure a judge," he said in conclusion. "My fast is to God. It's been twelve days since I've eaten anything. I want the people to listen to me. What I'm saying is the truth and I have proof.
     
     
"Meantime I'm here. I may even die here, who knows? I take it one day at a time, one Gatorade at a time."
     
     
Sergio Armendáriz, aka "El Diablo," also denied any role in the killings when he spoke to Univision that day. "They forced me to sign a confession," the broad-shouldered inmate insisted. "And they signed my name with a X, saying I'm illiterate. That's not true! I've been to school."
     
     
Armendáriz's dark eyes narrowed as he recalled the police interrogation that had landed him in jail. "They grabbed my right arm to make me sign a document, a confession," he began. "And what do they know? I'm left-handed! And look, look at this scar on my forehead. They did this to me with a gun butt, because I wouldn't sign!
     
     
"Not only that! They cuffed me! I was handcuffed for three days inside the jail!
     
     
"I didn't sign and I didn't confess because I didn't do anything. I will not accept a guilt that is not mine."
     
     
While his nickname sounded sinister, like a title he had acquired because of his alleged gang activities, Armendáriz insisted it was actually a pet name given to him by his mother when he was a young boy because he was so devilish. He further claimed there wasn't even a gang called Los Rebeldes.
     
     
"There's an area, a barrio, a sector of the city where people like to have all kinds of fun," he said. "What's wrong with that? They congregate in that part of the city…. And that's an area where people can have fun.
     
     
"In other words, an area where you can go and dance and where you can get anything you want. So how can we call a gang by the name of that area, Los Rebeldes? I don't know who Los Rebeldes are. When they talk about that in here, they talk about those of us who are detained in here. I can't believe anything else, because like I've told the authorities, everything else, including the girls they're accusing me of murdering… is a fabrication!"
     
     
Armendáriz swore that he had never met Sharif. But authorities maintained they had proof that the gang leader had committed at least one of the murders. An odontological profile revealed that a bite mark found on the breast of one of the murdered women matched the teeth of Sergio Armendáriz, they said.
     
     
"According to the DA's office, the first set of tests on my teeth