However, despite their swift and brutal success, Insight Crime reports that Los Zetas has experienced fragmentation since 2012, especially when the Trevino brothers fell out and split the group into rival clans,the Northeast Cartel and the Zetas Old School. All Rights Reserved. Then, in December 2015, Insider reported that La Familia founderCarlos Rosales Mendoza was found dead baring torture wounds. Tamaulipas Lieutenant Governor Morelos Jaime Canseco Gmez admitted police were still looking for another bus of passengers. The violence has ebbed and flowed since that decade, including a shootout with Mexican police in 2008 which led to the arrest of Eduardo Arellano Felix (via Reuters). Los Zetass status as the largest drug cartel in Mexico carries additional implications. Subscribe to Here's the Deal, our politics newsletter. Reporter-producer Larisa Epatko contributed to this report. Marciano Millan-Vasquez, who was a member of the 'Los Zetas' organised crime gang, "brutally murdered anyone and everyone as it suited him and his cartel", the prosecuting lawyer said. Inside bloody world of Cancuns cartel wars as gangsters behead The last time Reyna saw his son was Sept. 11, 2011. Whatever the motivations, the mass killings show just how little control the federal government exerts over Tamaulipas. The video shows four women on their knees in a field, their hands tied behind their backs. Not only are groups like Los Zetas interested in influencing politics, but Mexican politicians are equally interested in the dividends of the drug trade. WebThe Most Brutal Execution Methods Reportedly Used By Mexican Cartels Beheading By Chainsaw. 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. With population of 60,000, San Fernando is near the Texas border and epitomizes cartel carnage. Los Zetas' Brutal Business Model About two dozen have been captured or killed, including some from Los Zetas: Ivan Velazquez Caballero (aka El Taliban) The irony of this scenario is that the training they received was supposed to prepare them for counterinsurgency and counter-narcotics operations. By that point, however, more bodies had surfaced. It was one of the deadliest attacks ever on Mexican The Texas Observer is known for its fiercely independent, uncompromising work which we are pleased to provide to the public at no charge in this space. You can chip in for as little as 99 cents a month. When it was Abstract. The Zetas have set a price for allowing smugglers to transport migrants into the United States, and the cartel expects its cut, Islas says. Three of them are Their wanton murders leave most civilians in silence. At least two jurors broke down in tears as they listened to Jorge De Leon Navarro describe how Los Zetas killed their prisoners. In early April, Mexican military officials made another grisly discovery in the once sleepy farming community of San Fernando: a series of mass graves among the mesquite brush. [9] Local police rounded up migrants traveling by bus and handed them over to the gang. 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. Thats bad for the bottom line., Drug cartels have famously eluded capture by the Mexican government as the problem has crossed the border and headed north: 1,000 U.S cities reported the presence of a Mexican cartel in 2010, according to this graphic by the National Post. Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty ImagesLos Zetas cartel members and San Fernando Massacre suspects being presented to the press on June 30, 2011. This time around, the horrific body count eclipsed all expectations with 193 people rotting in 47 mass graves. The following facts also illustrate the reality that an immediate defeat of the drug cartel may be far from feasible. To protect himself from harm, Guillen hired a retired Mexican soldier as his bodyguard, who in turn solicited 30 Mexican Army deserters to form the cartels well-paid mercenary wing. He has been in detention since his arrest in Texas in 2015. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st, The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. In this pivotal year, Zetas occupied territory in 405 Mexican municipalities, which Insight Crime found was more than double that of their biggest rivals. Miguel Angel Trevino Morales (aka Comandante 40) Specific forms of torture are discussed as well as the most likely victims and perpetrators. Rogue policemen are believed to have played a role in the deaths of 193 people, whose bodies were found in hidden graves in San Fernando in 2011, and 49 in Cadereyta in the state of Nuevo Leon in 2012. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Marciano Millan-Vasquez 'brutally murdered anyone and everyone as it suited him and his cartel', Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. 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. Unlike some of its fragmenting rivals, CJNG's power is forecast to grow despite government pressure on their front companies and bank accounts. Site made in collaboration with CMYK. "They did this so I would tell my family if they didn't obtain the money, this would happen to them," he said in court. There are a handful of drug cartels in Mexico, most of which run almost like corporations. Upon his release, he was put in charge of the cartel in Nuevo Laredo but then relocated to Zacatecas and rose through the ranks of Los Zetas. During the trial, witnesses said he had hacked apart his victims with an axe and burned their bodies in barrels, according to the San Antonio Express-News. If a debtor refused, Escobar deployed his team of lethal "sicarios.". Perhaps the most heinous La Linea crime occurred in Bavispe, where the group attacked a Mormon family inNovember 2019, killing nine people including several children, according to ABC. WebLos Zetas, originally founded by Mexican special forces deserters, some with US training, started as the enforcement arm of the Gulf Cartel, a crime group from northeastern GRAPHIC: Los Zetas Cartel Kill U.S. Woman and 2 Daughters Most are extorted and let go or sold into prostitution. In April 2015, the group killed 15 police officers just weeks after killing five federal officers, which involved the use ofmachine guns and grenade launchers. He said that officers escorted him to remote locations to deliver guns to Millan-Vasquez on more than one occasion. Editors Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The load belonged to De Leon. In August 2010, the Mexican military stumbled upon the bodies of 72 people bound and executed. 1996 - 2023 NewsHour Productions LLC. Earlier in life, he was trained in a Mexican Special Forces unit to fight drug-trafficking organizations. 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. newsletter for analysis you wont find anywhereelse. On Aug. 24, 2010, however, Mexican Armed Forces unearthed the bodies of 72 undocumented immigrants who were simply executed. Former governor Humberto Moreira was also singled out by former Mexican President Felipe Calderon has having protected Los Zetas in his state. Piedras Negras, in the state of Coahuila, has a reputation as a hotbed for drug smuggling and violence. Jeffrey Morris is a researcher and freelance writer with a passion for history and rarities. It was around this time that the group established the aforementioned Los Zetas, a paramilitary force that brought a new organized violence to the international drug trade. Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty. Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty ImagesAn armored police vehicle carrying Los Zetas member dgar Huerta Montiel in June 2011. 2021 The Texas Observer. Even the Sinaloas are now decapitating people, he said. WebCartel Del Golfo interrogation 4 Zetas these bastards have admitted to raping women,killing women, killing kids. Besides drug smuggling, the cartel is involved in every facet of trade in its territory including human trafficking. The traditional cartels buy off politicians, establish traffic routes for smuggling and make money. 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. The chief and 16 of his 25 men were questioned under suspicion of helping the Zetas abduct, kill, and bury the passengers. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port, A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador, A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk, The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron, Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. The Most Brutal Execution Methods Used by Mexican Cartels Families across Mexico reported that relatives had disappeared after boarding passenger buses bound for the Texas-Mexico border. WebThe Los Zetas used improvised weapons like knives, rocks, and burning mattresses. In 2018, analystParker Asmann dubbed the Sinaloa Cartel "Mexico's top crime group," despite El Chapo's arrest, trial and eventual detention in the United States. Cartels have dominated the international drugs trade since the 1980s, earning many billions of dollars and killing tens of thousands of people in Mexico and Colombia alone (via Al Jazeera and Britannica). I know that police and transit officials in San Fernando help the Zetas organization, because rather than take detainees to the Pentgano, which is to say the municipal jail, they would deliver them to the Zetas, said lvaro Alba Terrazas, one of the 17 detained police officials. The Gulf cartel is among the oldest cartels in Mexico and has held varying degrees of power since its origins in 1984, according toInsightCrime. Following the murder of 72 kidnapped migrants in August 2010, a subsequent investigation revealed that some Mexican policemen assisted the Zetas in committing the slaughter. During the late '70s and 1980s, the Sinaloa Cartel worked with the Medellin cartel, establishing lucrative cocaine routes to the United States that spanned land, sea and air. 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). As the cartel made connections across Mexico and the world, their death toll increased exponentially. 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. Follow @NewsHourWorld In 2017, the Mexican government extradited Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn, a 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. He was told to contact someone in Los Zetas to see if they had information. They would rape and kill the women and offer men a macabre choice. Thank you. The gunmen injured 4 others in the attack. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. According to court testimony, from 2007 through 2011, Chavarria oversaw the shipment of enormous quantities of cocaine between Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, and Eagle Pass, Texas on behalf of the Los Zetas Cartel, in which he was a high-ranking member. Former Zetas members testified Tuesday, claiming the cartel is responsible for a bloody massacre in Piedras Negras in 2011. Victims were piled on top of one another haphazardly before the cartel used a backhoe to cover up their resting place. The April 6, 2011, effort would eventually yield the largest mass grave ever found in Mexico. Months after the casino attack, 49 decapitated bodies were dumped on a Monterrey highway (via Insight Crime/The World). The kidnapping and murder of the SEIDO agents resembles the type of actions of another infamous Mexican crime group, the Zetas. WebThe 2011 San Fernando massacre, also known as the second massacre of San Fernando, was the mass murder of 193 people by Los Zetas drug cartel at La Joya ranch in the municipality of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico in March 2011. Los Zetas was described by the US government in 2009 as "the most technologically advanced, sophisticated and dangerous cartel operating in Mexico". Somewhere near San Fernando, which lies on the interstate to Matamoros, the buses were hijacked, and convoys of armed men snatched passengers. Los Zetas are blamed for last week's brutal killings of the police chief in the southern Mexican city of Veracruz, his wife and four children. De Leon is now cooperating with authorities. Founded by the Orejuela brothers, the Cali cartel earned billions a year, inheriting the Medellin cartel's 80% market share and multi-ton shipments to the United States (via Seattle Times/Insider). 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. The military gunned four Zetas members down, before capturing nine others and finding five abducted passengers inside the ranch. The cartel member he spoke with was Jose Luis Rodriguez. If you support this mission, we need your help. Multiple witnesses have testified that Millan-Vasquez controlled the region of Piedras Negras for Los Zetas and is responsible for hundreds of killings and disappearances. It is practically impossible to list all the atrocities that this extremely violent group has committed. We rely on the generosity of our readers who believe that this work is important. Yet the Cali cartel was still a powerful drug cartel that used violence if it had to, especially during its conflict with the Medellin cartel, which took many lives on both sides. In April 2019, CJNG killed 14 people in Minatitlan, a Zetas territory. // ]]>. In August 2010, the gang massacred 72 kidnapped migrants at a remote ranch in 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. When Osiel Cardenas Guillen took over as the leader of the Gulf Cartel, it was in the midst of a violent turf war. Yarrington is reported to have allowed the Gulf and Los Zetas cartels to operate in his state without hindrance in return for bribes. Cartel: Los Zetas 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). They immediately went to war with the Los Zetas and proudly claimed responsibility for a swathe of mass killings, including the massacre of 15 Mexican cops in a single ambush. In June 2021, The Independent reportedinfighting between Gulf factions the Metros, the Scorpions and the Cyclonesresulted in 19 deaths, 15 of them innocent civilians. The Shrinking actor talks mental health, being queer, and why the Lone Star State is the perfect home for his new play Silver Foxes. Los Zetas called Mexico's most dangerous drug cartel The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes, A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India, The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC, An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution, A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors, State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya, A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic, A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California, Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Authorities expect more violence to ensue in the coming days. [10] The authorities havent succeeded in shutting down the cartels sophisticated radio communication due to two reasons: The first is that the radio equipment is easy to replace; the second is that the gang relies on free forced labor to build and maintain its radio equipment. And these lives are often innocent civilians caught up in the dreadful violence and corruption, such as the shootout in Tulum, which killed two tourists and injured three more, according toThe Guardian. Mexico's CJNG Following Jurors broke down in tears when De Leon described a mother and father being pulled by their hair and forced to watch their 6-year-old daughter dismembered alive before they faced the same, brutal death. 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. 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Please notify us by email that the article will be republished at, Abbott Wants to Deny Undocumented Kids a Public Education, Border Security Is a Financial Black Hole that Will Consume Us All, Two Executions, Many Questions about Mental Health, Innocence, Remembering a Social Justice Lawyer Extraordinaire. If you dont pay them, they will take your merchandise, he says. WebDuring a particularly emotional testimony on Wednesday, a former worker for Los Zetas said that he was kidnapped twice by the cartel and was forced to witness several violent acts. There is a popular consensus that Los Zetas is the most brutal and inhuman drug cartel in history. Then, in May, SinEmbargo reported that the cartel had destroyed a military helicopter with an RPG, killing 5 soldiers. Led by the infamous Pablo Escobar, the Medellin cartel is said to have killed thousands of people, including three Colombian presidential candidates, many judges and over 1,000 police officers (via Biography). [8] Los Zetas has been linked to several other mass murders in Mexico. Facebook beheading video: Who was Mexico's Jane Doe? - BBC
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