Rather than prioritizing corruption like its competitors, Los Zetas has preferred to use paramilitary violence to seize territory and intimidate rivals, according toInsight Crime. On Tuesday, Rodriguez testified about a bloody massacre involving more than 300 people. Breitbart Texas Cartel Chroniclesare published in both English and in their originalSpanish. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? The implication of this is that Los Zetas continues to bolster its criminal operations through nontraditional and unexpected means. Consequently, several Mexican cities such as Los Cabos, Tijuana, and Acapulco have recorded some of the highest murder rates in the world, according toStatista. There have been several arrests of purported Zeta members in the region but no trials. As the two factions continue their fierce fighting, gunmen from the two groups have taken to social media and banners to deliver threats to each other. De Leon will serve time in jail after pleading guilty to a marijuana charge. His body was stolen from the funeral home. However, PBS wrote that the Cali cartel did not inherit Escobar's public flair for violence, preferring to adopt a business faade in their international operation. He said that officers escorted him to remote locations to deliver guns to Millan-Vasquez on more than one occasion. He was arrested by the Mexican Navy in 2012. The traditional cartels buy off politicians, establish traffic routes for smuggling and make money. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. The witness said that the commanders kidnapped him and his two superiors until they paid what they owed for the seized load of marijuana. Cartel: Los Zetas According to reports in the BBC and Insight Crime, the latest cartel trend is the fragmentation of the drug trafficking landscape, especially in Mexico. Information obtained from authorities points to the victims being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Follow @NewsHourWorld The kidnapping and murder of the SEIDO agents resembles the type of actions of another infamous Mexican crime group, the Zetas. Los Zetas cartel members and San Fernando Massacre suspects being presented to the press on June 30, 2011. They also acted as lookouts for the cartel and turned a blind eye to their illegal activities. Los Zetass status as the largest drug cartel in Mexico carries additional implications. San Fernando woman Alma Miriam Ruiz holding a photo of her daughter Dalia missing since 2010. the Mexican boys forced to eat human flesh as a cartel initiation. Los Zetas was described by the US government in 2009 as "the most technologically advanced, sophisticated and dangerous cartel operating in Mexico". There have been several criminal organizations in the world that have perpetrated destructive acts against humanity without any form of military training, either formal or informal. 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This has led to savage fighting between some 400 splinter gangs, each killing and maiming for scraps of territory (via Business Insider). Los Zetas operates in 17 states, while Sinaloa operates in 16 states. By the early 1990s, Medellin was the most violent city not just in Colombia but the entire world, and much of that was because of the Medellin cartel's war with the government (via Rapid Transition). He sent soldiers into San Fernando after the massacre to protect migrants and Mexican families, but they soon withdrew unlike the cartels. From the mid-1980s to his death in 1993, Pablo Escobar was the "King of Cocaine," earning an estimated $420 million a week, according to Insider. 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In the 1990s, the aforementioned Cali cartel took the mantle from their Medellin rivals, becoming the most powerful cartel in the world. How could such a tragedy occur in San Fernando not once but repeatedly? https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/sadist-los-zetas-cartel-set-brutal-standard-in-drug-war, according to this graphic by the National Post, Mexican Marines Kill Drug Lord Known as The Executioner. This is because La Familia styled itself as the people's cartel by performing social work and employing civilians, which won both popularity and new recruits. He alleged that the victims were abducted from buses and killed for refusing to join the cartel or pay their way out. Few rivals could hope of matching Escobar as his cartel controlled80% of the cocaine trade, which involved daily 15-ton shipments to the United States, as detailed in Escobar'sInsight Crimebiography. WebCIUDAD VICTORIA, Tamaulipas -- Gunmen with the Los Zetas cartel butchered close to 20 victims over the weekend, three of those victims were Texas residents who had been While older cartels were more interested in smuggling drugs than anything else, Los Zetas apparently has its sights set on any type of crime that translates into quick and steady cash. Lazcano was the leader of the Los Zetas cartel. They ordered the informant be killed along with anyone and everyone associated with him. [4] The cartel recruits in US prisons and also courts street gang members for its drug trafficking activities in Mexico and the U.S. Instead, they were raped and beaten to death or vanished into a new life as cartel soldiers. At this juncture, it is safe and reasonable to conclude that Los Zetas is one of the biggest headaches of the American people. The Zetas were involved in 20 different criminal activities, George Grayson, an expert on the Zetas and professor of government at the College of William & Mary, said. However, the Gulf remains entrenched in theirTamaulipas stronghold, which provides steady revenue from narcotics and migrant smuggling (via Insight Crime). The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. In August 2010, the Mexican military stumbled upon the bodies of 72 people bound and executed. Countries militaries are dedicated to defense from external aggression and the protection of peoples lives and properties. Originally a security detail for the Sinaloa cartel, BLO seceded in 2008 and a fierce conflict ensued. However, Insight Crime suggests that the large traditional cartels may be over as Mexico's criminal underworld becomes increasingly fragmented and scattershot. As the two factions continue their fierce fighting, gunmen from the two groups have taken to social media and banners to deliver threats to each other. Today, the cartel retains a small presence in southern Mexico. [3] By the end of 2011, Los Zetas had eclipsed the Sinaloa Cartel as the largest operating in Mexico by virtue of their geographic presence. SAN ANTONIO -- A father whose son went missing in 2011 took the stand Wednesday in the federal trial of an alleged war commander for Los Zetas drug cartel. newsletter for analysis you wont find anywhereelse. Millan-Vasquez was found guilty last July of murder, violence, drug and weapons trafficking, and employing minors in a drug crime a total of 10 counts. This gang violence occurs in their stronghold of Ciudad Jurez, where 1,200 people were murdered in 2018. The rest of the video is a gruesome 40 seconds of cold-blooded murder, which caused international controversy recently when it was posted on Facebook. More terrifying is their ease of operations in countries like the US. The largest two graves were 10 feet deep and each held around 45 corpses. At least two jurors broke down in tears as they listened to Jorge De Leon Navarro describe how Los Zetas killed their prisoners. He also won territory from the Tijuana and Juarez cartels during the Mexican government's war on drugs, which brought new levels of violence to the region (via Britannica). Colombian National Police/Wikimedia Commons, ShareAlike 4.0 International/BaptisteGrandGrand. According to information provided to Breitbart Texas by the Tamaulipas government, the children have been identified as Galilea Garcia Amaya, Mariana Garcia Amaya (both from Texas), Maria Pizana Carrizales and Estephania Guadalupe Pizana Carrizales. Los Zetas is indeed the worst Mexican drug cartel in history. Families across Mexico reported that relatives had disappeared after boarding passenger buses bound for the Texas-Mexico border. Extortion, smuggling, torture, possible harvesting of human body parts. Who knows what is going on in American Samoa. Articles must link back to the original article and contain the following attribution at the top of the story: This article was originally published by the, Articles cannot be rewritten, edited or changed beyond alignments with house style books. Picture taken from a TV screen showing Miguel Angel Trevino Morales by Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images. This article was written by M.A. Even the Sinaloas are now decapitating people, he said. WebMultiple witnesses have testified that Millan-Vasquez controlled the region of Piedras Negras for Los Zetas and is responsible for hundreds of killings and disappearances. But Los Zetas stands out. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Brutality and inhumanity are the most noticeable traits of drug cartels all over the world, but Los Zetas has taken them to a new high. In August 2010, the gang massacred 72 kidnapped migrants at a remote ranch in Northeastern Mexico after they refused to pay a ransom for their release or take jobs as hit men. Elizabeth Shell. There were only a few bullet casings at the scene, but one sledgehammer and bodies showing blunt trauma to the head. De Leon said that he didn't voluntarily start working with the cartel; he was kidnapped and forced to participate. All of the Texas Observers articles are available for free syndication for news sources under the following conditions: You can chip in for as little as 99 cents a month. Read more about illegal drugs and those who deal in them on 10 Atrocities Committed By Mexican Drug Cartels and 15 Notable Drug Traffickers. Officials exhuming the bodies noticed that many bore the marks of blunt trauma. She was known for being the crazy white one. If the lawmakers are puppets to drug cartels, then there is very little hope that the war against the cartels will be won. Example video title will go here for this video. The criminal indictment claims that the former governor took bribes from drug cartels in exchange for official protection. The fledgling cartel were trained by members of Los Zetas, yet they would turn on their mentors because of local resentment to Zetas' methamphetamine business. They were the victims of a brutal new evolution in Mexican cartel violence. With that grim context in mind, here are the most dangerous cartels to ever exist. To set the records straight, Los Zetas was formed by Mexican ex-military men. In 2014, years after the conviction of the Orejuela brothers, the US government declared that the Cali cartel was no longer a threat, lifting sanctions that had been imposed by the Clinton administration in 1995 (via ABC news/Insight Crime). They were given map reading courses, communications, and standard Special Forces training and instruction on how to use light and heavy weapons, machine guns, and several other automatic weapons. Jalisco New Generation, often referred to as CJNG, is another Mexican cartel that emerged in 2010. The gunmen murdered a young girl by the name of Estefania Martinez Diaz, a woman by the name of Mara Campillo Mata and a man by the name of Miguel Angel Mendoza. "The first time [I was kidnapped], they took me with a group of about seven people. Mainly, Grayson notes a Zetalisation starting to occur among the other cartels. However, despite the logistical sophistication and the massive financial success, the history of cartels is fraught with betrayal, splinter groups, and brutally shortened lives. "[The government] told me not to go asking questions about my son. A depressing fact about Los Zetas is that they are sometimes aided by Mexican police in the commission of unspeakable crimes. Miguel Angel Trevino Morales (aka Comandante 40) The cartel leaders that subsequently took over after Moraless arrest were unable to stay in power for long, either being arrested or gunned down by a rival gang. He created a company, Tremor Enterprises, to purchase racehorses for American contests, winning millions in prize money through fixing races and doping horses. Please check your inbox to confirm. Outlets must also tag the Observer in all social media posts. If you support this mission, we need your help. If Mexican governors have been indicted as Los Zetas collaborators, then there is a possibility that one day, the criminal organization could produce a governor from its ranks. The Zetas were notorious for their brutality, even by cartel standards. Former governor Humberto Moreira was also singled out by former Mexican President Felipe Calderon has having protected Los Zetas in his state. Cartel: Los Zetas It was the second time in eight months that the town of 57,000 in the border state of Tamaulipas had been the site of mass graves. Navarro from Ciudad Victoria. In August 2010, Zetas executed 72 migrants in Tamaulipas, which was followed by 2011 attacks in San Fernando and a Monterrey casino, killing a combined 245 people. In 2006, severalLa Familia hit men, who said they had a "divine right" to kill, dumped five severed heads on a dance floor, yet this didn't alienate them in the public eye (via Insider/Insight Crime). Millan-Vasquez faces multiple charges, including conspiracy to distribute narcotics, enticing minors to sell drugs, giving a false identification to authorities, and charges for at least nine murders in South Texas and Northern Mexico. Led by the Beltran Leyva brothers Marcos Arturo, Carlos, Alfredo, and Hctor, the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO)was a vicious drug cartel in the Mexican state of Sinaloa (via Insight Crime/Wilson Center). During his peak in the mid-1980s, Escobar established a debt collection service called "Oficina de Envigado," which was based in the town hall of Envigado.