TIJUANA – Investigators are following numerous leads as they try to piece together the events at the La Mesa state penitentiary that ignited two days of rioting last week and left at least 23 dead.

“We have facts that we cannot reveal at the moment, but I can assure you it has a lot to do organized crime,” Rommel Moreno Manjarrez Baja California's attorney general, said yesterday.

The largest criminal group has been identified as Los Sureños; the Tijuana weekly Zeta has reported that the group consists of members of the California prison gang Mexican Mafia who operate in San Diego's Barrio Logan and have links to the Arellano Félix cartel.

Moreno said the group's leader inside the prison, identified as Victor Eduardo Aguilar Sánchez, is serving a sentence for kidnapping and homicide. He is one of six prisoners accused of instigating the first riot. He was transferred to Mexico's maximum security Almoloya penitentiary outside Mexico City.

Screwdrivers, scissors and other sharp metal objects were among 371 improvised weapons seized from inmates, officials said.

Moreno said it's possible there could be more than 23 killed. Investigators are testing bones and ash found at the prison that they believe could belong to one or more victims. Though most of the dead appear to be inmates, Moreno would not rule out that guards could be among the fatalities.

Law enforcement officials acknowledge that the initial outbreak of violence Sept. 14 followed the death of a 19-year-old inmate at the hands of guards. The violence flared further as members of criminal groups began fighting each other and police, officials say. Baja California's human rights ombudsman has said the inhumane treatment of inmates primarily caused the unrest.

Family visits have been suspended, but since Sunday, inmates have begun communicating with their relatives through telephones and video screens set up inside and outside the prison.

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Sandra Dibble: (619) 293-1716; sandra.dibble@uniontrib.com