This June 7, when 25 years since the murder of Paco Stanley in the parking lot of the El Charco de las Ranas taqueria, Prime Video released the final episodes of Who killed him?a series that took up real events to build an alternative narrative to the historical truth about the case that shook Mexico in June 1999.
Directed by Humberto Hinojosa, the six episodes that made up the project focused on key characters in the event, whose versions converge in the final chapter, focused on “The Attorney” (played by Jorge Zárate), a character based on Samuel del Villar, then head of the Attorney General’s Office of the Federal District.
During the first five episodes, especially the one dedicated to Benito Castro, the series takes the viewer to a version that gained strength after the acquittal of Mario Bezares, Paola Durante, Erasmo Pérez ‘El Cholo’, Jorge García Escandón and José Luis Martínez: a Paco Stanley was killed for messing with the wrong woman. However, the final episode blurs that theory.
The last episode of Who killed him? starts with Luis Gabriel Valencia ‘The Flame’, admitting that he was pressured by the prosecutor’s office to accuse Mario Bezares and Paola Durante, who were acquitted in 2001 due to lack of evidence and irregularities in the process. Despite the fiasco of his investigation, which was marked by abuse of power, Samuel del Villar remained at the head of the PGJDF during the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
In fiction, Del Villar contacts a journalist to tell his truth before his death. During the talk, the prosecutor defends her investigation, but not even he can support her story, full of inaccuracies, irregularities, and the planting of false evidence.
Cornered, ‘The Prosecutor’ affirms that the Stanley case involves very powerful people and criminal groups who saw the Federal District as the new place to conquer: “Triple A wanted to kill Stanley: The Amezcua, Amado and the Arellano Félix. “Stanley got rid of his people, but they had already identified him, the Arellanos who wanted the DF plaza had set their sights on him, the noose around his neck,” says Del Villar.
The chapter ends with Samuel del Villar imagining being executed by men in charge of Rosaura Vidal, the famous blonde linked to Amado Carrillo, whose existence in real life was never confirmed. However, the series sticks to the facts and shows the prosecutor dead on a sofa, alone, and taking with him the answer of who or who killed Paco Stanley.
The Stanley case suffered a significant setback with the death of Samuel del Villar on March 20, 2005. At age 60, the former prosecutor died due to brain death resulting from cancer that had kept him hospitalized for several weeks. The final outcome came in his home in Colonia Lomas de Chapultepec.
The body of the former prosecutor was laid to rest at the Gayosso funeral home, in an atmosphere of regret and reflection on the many enigmas that he, possibly, took with him. However, before being buried, he was transferred to his place of origin, San Luis Potosí, where he was said goodbye. With his departure, numerous unknowns related to the Paco Stanley case remained unresolved, further fueling the interest and intrigue surrounding this enigmatic event.
