Playa del Carmen Captures Notorious Panamanian Gangster
Notorious Panamanian gangster 'El Fantasma' sought Riviera Maya dominance, but Playa del Carmen authorities foiled his plot. This alleged hitman and gang leader (linked to 80% of homicides in a Panamanian district!) faces extradition and justice for his reign of terror.
Move over spring breakers and snorkel-sporting seniors, Playa del Carmen has a new kind of tourist in town: a sun-kissed bad hombre with a penchant for piña coladas and pistols. Javier Abdiel “El Fantasma” N, a 27-year-old Panamanian with a resume that reads like a narco telenovela, swapped balmy beaches for bulletproof vests and traded his tropical tan for the cool steel of a jail cell this January.
El Fantasma, as his less-than-friendly moniker suggests, wasn't here to soak up the rays and sip tequila sunrises. No, this phantom of a criminal was allegedly aiming to cast a shadow over the Riviera Maya, plotting to transplant his gang, the charmingly named “Los Terroristas,” onto Mexican soil. Think of it as a bad vacation rental deal, except instead of sand fleas and leaky pipes, you get kidnappings and contract killings. Not exactly the brochure paradise we're used to.
