Distressing video emerges showing wounded YouTuber El Pinky being tortured by a cartel, he was later found dead with a gunshot to the head the day after flyers were dropped from a plane with his name on
YouTuber ‘El Pinky’ Agustín Paul was found dead on January 10 in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico(Image: dpaul04_/Instagram )
Popular YouTuber El Pinky has been found dead with injuries from torture and his hands and feet bound. It is believed he was killed by a hitman associated with the Sinaloa Cartel.
A disturbing video came to light just after his death, showing El Pinky (real name Agustín Paul) bruised and wounded. El Pinky, aged 22, was interrogated by a Mexican cartel in the footage and accused of working with a rival cartel ‘La Mayiza’.
The day before his murder (January 9), flyers with El Pinky’s name on were shed from a plane in the city Culiacán – accusing the influencer of rival cartel association.
YouTuber ‘El Pinky’ Agustín Paul was found dead on January 10(Image: dpaul04_/Instagram )
The Mexican influencer, who had thousands of subscribers on his YouTube channel Los Plebes de Barrancos, was found dead with a gunshot to the head on January 10 in Culiacán city.
The executed YouTuber was allegedly laundering money for the Mexican cartel. The flyers dropped from the plane accused El Pinky of laundering money for La Mayiza, a rival cartel of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The gunshot wound to El Pinky’s head has led to the case being treated as a premeditated murder, allegedly carried out by the Sinaloa Cartel – once run by El Chapo – who are thought to have dropped the flyers naming him.
Deadly headshots often signify a pre-planned killing. Worryingly, other YouTubers with huge followings were also named on flyers dropped around Culiacán city on January 9.
Other YouTubers named in the flyer drop the day before El Pinky’s death included ‘Dos Dias’ artist Peso Pluma and YouTuber Markitos Toys.
Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, the head of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel(Image: AP)
After El Pinky’s death, a video surfaced online. It showed the 22-year-old being interrogated by alleged members of the cartel. El Pinky’s body was also covered in bruises, he was then shown being tied up, with his hands and feet bound behind his back.
Police are investigating possible motives leading up to El Pinky’s murder, and his YouTube channel content is thought to be a possible factor. El Pinky posted viral challenges to subscribers along with funny videos. His account, ‘Los Plebes de Barrancos’, had over 98,000 subscribers.
The huge influence El Pinky had online could have attracted attention from the cartel, and he’s not the first YouTuber to be murdered in Mexico. YouTuber, Miguel ‘El Jasper’ Vivanco, was also found dead in the Mexican state Sinaloa last year.
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A group of cartel hitmen kidnapped El Jasper from his home two nights before his body was found with 70 bullet wounds in November 2024, according to the family of Miguel ‘El Jasper’ Vivanco.
Both Miguel ‘El Jasper’ Vivanco and El Pinky had been tortured before being murdered, leading to contemplation of Mexican cartels being to blame for the YouTubers’ deaths.
The murders come amid escalating violence between rival cartel organisations impacting Mexico, as crime persists in the country. But now, the violence seems to be extending into the online world with social media influencers being targeted.
Mexican cartels took hold in the 1960s and 1970s, controlling production and distribution of the illegal drugs trade across the land, and into other countries.