From police officer to bloodthirsty kidnapper: Terror in Mexico during the years of The Ear Chopper'

"Excuse me, can I see your ears? The famous Mexican journalist Javier Alatorre asked this of Daniel Arizmendi, during a 1998 television interview. Arizmendi lifted his disheveled, uneven hair to reveal them to the camera. He turned first to the right, then to the left. Wouldn't you be afraid if someone were to cut off your ears with a pair of poultry shears? Alatorre inquired, continuing his line of questioning."

"The arrest took place in the early morning of August 17, 1998. Daniel Arizmendi alias El Mochaorejas, translated from Spanish as The Ear Chopper and some members of his gang were taken into custody. This closed one of the most macabre chapters in the history of crime in Mexico during the 1990s. The bloodthirsty and ruthless kidnapper was believed to have been responsible for at least 200 abductions. His modus operandi was to sever the ears and fingers of his victims."

"Now, 27 years later, Arizmendi has returned to the headlines. On December 24, a judge acquitted the 67-year-old in one of his cases, for the crime of unlawful deprivation of liberty. The judge from the State of Mexico (Edomex), Raquel Ivette Duarte Cedillo, issued an acquittal against The Ear Chopper in the case of unlawful deprivation of liberty in the form of kidnapping. In her opinion, the evidence presented at the time by the Federal Attorney General's Office (FGR) was insufficient."

Daniel Arizmendi, nicknamed El Mochaorejas, conducted a violent kidnapping spree in Mexico during the 1990s and was reportedly responsible for about 200 abductions. His victims often suffered mutilations such as severed ears and fingers. Arizmendi appeared unrepentant in a 1998 television interview where he revealed his ears and answered questions coldly. Authorities arrested Arizmendi and several gang members on August 17, 1998, ending the crime spree. On December 24, a State of Mexico judge acquitted him in one unlawful deprivation of liberty case, finding the original evidence insufficient, though he remains imprisoned on other organized crime sentences.

Read at english.elpais.com