The leader of Argentina’s most notorious criminal group may see another sentence of 25 years added to his tally, although this will do little to stifle the gang’s activities or his leadership.

On November 4, prosecutors requested an additional 25-year sentence for a 2021 kidnapping-for-ransom case for Ariel Cantero, alias “Guille,” head of Rosario’s Monos gang. Should the petition succeed, Cantero’s cumulative sentences for past convictions could total 160 years, though the actual sentence would be capped at 50 years — the maximum sentence permitted by Argentine law, according to newspaper La Nación. 

“The unusual thing about Guille Cantero, the Monos’ leader, is that 95% of the sentences he faced were for crimes he committed in prison, not while he was free,” Germán de los Santos, author of the books “Los Monos” and “Rosario,” told InSight Crime,

Since his arrest in 2013, Cantero has  been charged with drug trafficking, criminal association, racketeering, homicide, and kidnapping. His first conviction was in 2018.

Despite Rosario’s fame as the birthplace of soccer legends Lionel Messi and Ángel Di María, the city in Argentina’s central Santa Fe province has made headlines in recent years for its pervasive violence as criminal clans fight over drug dealing turf. Strategically located along Route 34, which runs from Bolivia to Argentina’s eastern coast, and with a port on the Paraná River, Rosario is a key transit point for international drug trafficking organizations. Local gangs have taken advantage of the city’s role to ensure a steady supply of drugs for the local market. 

SEE ALSO: How Rosario Became Argentina’s Drug Violence Capital

Here InSight Crime recounts how the Monos group has evolved and where it may be heading.

The Past

The Monos have operated under four generations of Cantero leadership, working their way through a variety of criminal economies.

The group emerged in the 1990’s under Ariel Cantero, alias “El Viejo,” as a family-led criminal clan. Initially involved in security rackets and marijuana trafficking from Paraguay, the Monos shifted focus to the local cocaine market in 2004.

Violence broke out in 2012 when Viejo’s son, Claudio Ariel Cantero, alias “El Pájaro,” allegedly killed his brother-in-law over a botched drug shipment. El Pájaro was murdered a year later, leaving his brother, Guille, to take the reins of the group. Guille unleashed a wave of violence on the city to establish his control but was arrested after attempting to talk to police officials under a false identity.

Despite Guille and other Cantero clan members being in prison, the Monos adapted and remained resilient. 

“Did it change? Yes, it changed momentarily, but these organizations have plasticity, they reorganize themselves,” said Edgardo Glavinich, a security analyst at the think tank, Argentine Council for Integrated Security (Consejo Argentino para la Seguridad Integrada) in an interview with InSight Crime. Guille maintained control, issuing orders from behind bars and managing to get phones into his cell to contact those on the streets.

Control over Rosario’s neighborhoods was divided up, with the next generation, including Guille’s nephew Uriel Luciano Cantero, alias “Lucho,” taking charge of various operations, de los Santos said. Many of these leaders have also ended up in prison.

The Present

Though its leaders are imprisoned and homicides have dropped significantly, the Monos have evolved, building a franchise system with small bands operating under the group’s banner.

Since new administrations took office in Santa Fe and Argentina’s federal government in December 2023, new strategies – such as isolating Guille and other criminal leaders in prison – were implemented, resulting in a drop in homicides in Rosario. But the Monos and other gangs in the city continue to operate, albeit with less violence.

“What I see today is that there is a pause in violence. It is not possible to say that violence in Rosario has been eradicated and this has happened before, when there are changes of government,” said de los Santos.

SEE ALSO: Milei’s Economic, Security Policies At Odds in Rosario, Argentina

The gang’s decentralized structure complicates government efforts. No longer a single, monolithic group, the Monos consist of several bands, some unrelated to the Canteros family, that pay for the Monos brand to sell drugs in certain territories.

With these modular operations, smaller groups can manage day-to-day operations, with minimal need for communication with top leadership. These criminal groups in Rosario have long relied on deals with police,  trading reduced violence or cash in exchange for authorities turning a blind eye.  As long as such corruption persists, organized crime will likely continue evading justice.

“To generate instruments to fight against corruption is almost unfeasible, because the system itself is the one that feeds on it,” said Glavinich. 

The Future

More than a decade of its leadership behind bars has done little to halt the Monos’ criminal enterprises, and Guille’s latest sentencing is unlikely to affect the gang’s future in crime.

As Guille’s latest charges reveal, imprisonment has not curbed his criminal activities. Though now held in special isolation in Marcos Paz Penitentiary, Argentina’s unaddressed prison corruption makes it doubtful Guille will remain completely disconnected from the Monos in the long term.

“Prison guards protect and manage the perimeters. On the inside, even for basic numerical reasons, the management and governance is in the hands of criminal organizations,” said Glavinich.

And even without corrupt assistance, Rosario’s criminals have proved creative from behind bars. The Monos likely top rival, Esteban Alvarado, for example, nearly orchestrated  a helicopter escape by syncing WhatsApp on a smartwatch disguised as an unconnected timepiece. 

Should Guille be completely cut off from the group, it would not be the death knell for the Monos. With four generations of Canteros at its helm and a structure that operates as a loose collection of criminal bands, the Monos will likely survive any changes in leadership, adapting to the evolution of Rosario’s underworld.  

Featured Image: The leader of Los Monos, Ariel Cantero, in a court hearing. Credit: Alan Monzón/Rosario3.com

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