Tepito

Most crimes here involve the counterfeiting of goods but it is robbery that gives the area its reputation and can cause problems for sellers by scaring away their customers.

The story states that when a group of policemen were about to go on their rounds one night, one advised the rest that "Si veo a un ratero te pito" ("If I see a thief, I'll whistle at you") with the last two words fusing to become the name of the neighborhood.

[10] It soon became a place to stay for those bringing goods into this market to sell, leading to the Aztec name Mecamalinco, roughly translating to "for carriers.

Similar to Aztec times, this area became filled with inns for caravans of donkeys and other transport bringing goods for the markets of Mexico City.

More merchants came into the area as large informal markets (tianguis) were pushed out of the city center over the course of the colonial period and the early decades after Independence.

[11] During the Mexican–American War, residents of Tepito, along with Mixcalco and Candelaria de los Patos, fought the army of Gen. Winfield Scott, throwing things at them from their houses, and stealing horses and killing soldiers under cover of darkness.

[12] When railroads were built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they took over the task of bringing goods to market, and the inns that sheltered merchant travelers became tenements.

[10] In 1901, the decision was made to close the El Volador market, the last major tianguis in the city center, just south of the National Palace and relocate the merchants to the Tepito area.

[12] The Revolution saw the foundation of the influential Casa del Obrero Mundial, a revolutionary organization at the heart of the Mexican worker's movement, in Tepito.

[13] The reduction of buildings here to tenements and the crowding from the influx of Cristero War refugees turned the area into Mexico City's first slum.

[4] In the 1950s four permanent markets were constructed for the various trades (foodstuffs, shoes, and secondhand items), confirming the area's status as a commercial center.

Mayors promise to clean it up and owners of the land there have tried various legal and other methods to get rid of the current residents to sell or redevelop the property.

[9][15] The area was a complex of 144 tenements known as "La Fortaleza" (The Fortress) where about eight kilos of cocaine and a half ton of marijuana was moved each day.

As the tenements were being destroyed a number of curious finds appeared such as safes, false walls, murals, such as Pancho Villa smoking pot, reserves of cognac and champagne and even a Jacuzzi.

[9] The city's Secretary of Public Safety stated that 411 convicts or ex-convicts were living in the tenements on Jesus Carranza and Tenochtitlan, most of which had been in jail for assault and/or robbery.

Vendors selling this, most of it copied in Mexico itself, have small television sets with large speakers blaring music at full volume.

Even in the pre-Hispanic times when Mecamalinco's residents were barred from the Tlatelolco market, there is evidence that some of the merchandise sold here were stolen goods.

[12] Most of Tepito is filled with the huge open-air market, or tianguis, and most of the criminal activity occurs in the form of selling counterfeit items and stolen goods.

[13] Seven out of ten illegally copied or counterfeit products consumed in Mexico go through this neighborhood, despite the fact that it is only blocks away from the Procuraduría General de la Republica.

[18] In an earlier raid, federal and city police seized twenty five tonnes of illegally copied material and contraband cigarettes.

[citation needed] PROFECO analyzed twenty nine randomly selected alcoholic beverages sold in Tepito and results indicated that all were counterfeit and adulterated, not matching the brand of the packaging.

[5] Arms trafficking, including assault weapons, has also escalated in Tepito, a "phenomenon" described in the Mexico City newspaper El Universal on 4 May 2010, and expanded upon in a piece in MexiData.info.

The Santa Muerte of Tepito is dressed as a bride and wears hundreds of pieces of gold jewelry given by the faithful to show gratitude for favors received, or to ask for one.

Next to the El Maracaná is the José "Huitlacoche" Medel Gymnasium which houses the boxing ring which is another reason the area is called the "barrio bravo" (fierce neighborhood).

[15] It had been one of the main drug distribution sites in Tepito, moving about eight kilos of cocaine and a half ton of marijuana each day.

[15] The land expropriated by the government was excavated by the National Institute and Anthropology and History (INAH), which found pre-Hispanic and colonial-era artifacts.

Scattered around the site were more cajetes, mortars called molcajetes, dishes painted with eagles, serpents, and figures of Mexica deities, pieces of incensories, parts of musical instruments such as rattles and flutes, obsidian knives and needles made of bone and thorns.

Although the feast day is 8 December, the crowds come to the church on 13 August to commemorate the apprehension of Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec emperor.

He is the creator and editor of a magazine called Desde el Zaguán which gives non-professional writers in the area a chance to publish their work.

Recently, a number of these writings and publications were put together for an exhibition called Dos filos at the José María Velasco Gallery.