The Mossos d’Esquadra have been carrying out a police operation since early this Friday morning against Los Casuals, the criminal organization linked to a section of radical Barça fans. A police device that El País has advanced and that this newspaper has confirmed from police and judicial sources. The investigation began in November 2021 when a group of Los Casuals attacked the Los Cazadores bar, which in its day was frequented by the Brigades, the radicals of the eternal rival, Espanyol. The action was revenge for the attack on a Boixos bar that had previously been carried out by an ultra from Espanyol with a group of ultras from Benfica.

The investigation, directed by the head of the trial court 12 in Barcelona, ​​has been dubbed the Hydra case and the proceedings have remained secret since its inception. The investigators, from the general information police station and the kidnapping and extortion unit of the general criminal investigation police station, plan to arrest some 44 people today and carry out 18 entries and searches in homes and premises.

On the list of those arrested there are two historical figures from Los Casuals, Francisco Pérez, alias El Gordo, who has been arrested and who recently broadcast a threatening audio against one of the Espanyol ultras who invaded the Camp Nou the day that Barça won the league, and Ricardo Mateo whom the Mossos have not located at his home in l’Hospitalet, as El País has advanced and this newspaper has confirmed.

The police operation involves the Special Intervention Group of the Mossos, which has been responsible for the entrances to the homes of the leaders of the organization, and members of the Brimo and the Arro of six police regions, which shows the roots of the criminal organization throughout the Catalan territory. The entries have been made simultaneously in the towns of Barcelona, ​​l’Hospitalet, Viladecans, Gavà, El Prat, Castelldefels, Torrelles, Sant Pere de Sacarrera, Sant Quintí de Mediona, Sitges, Corbera, Barberà, Sabadell, Cunit, Hostalet of Pierola and Girona.