However, despite these smaller groups' threat to the Guerrero and Morelosstates, the Beltrn-Leyva Organization is merely a trace of its former self. Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty. A red Blackberry phone belonging to De Leon was examined by computer forensics experts with Homeland Security Investigations. Officials are still counting the dead, but, as of this writing, the bodies numbered nearly 200. Imagine how tragic it would be for such a respected and honored organization to become an evil one like Los Zetas. De Leon is now cooperating with authorities. It is practically impossible to list all the atrocities that this extremely violent group has committed. [1] The deadly organization started out as the enforcement branch of the Mexican Gulf Cartel. 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. However, despite the logistical sophistication and the massive financial success, the history of cartels is fraught with betrayal, splinter groups, and brutally shortened lives. She released videos of her beheading the caught zeta members herself. Reyna discovered that his son's co-worker and girlfriend were also missing. You have to have cartel cred being known as the meanest, most savage criminal organization in the Americas.. Favors were done under threat of death, while higher-ranking officials were paid off. The Shrinking actor talks mental health, being queer, and why the Lone Star State is the perfect home for his new play Silver Foxes. Trevino Morales became head of the Los Zetas cartel after the death of long-time leader Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano in October 2012. The 2010 San Fernando Massacre bore similarities to the June 2011 confession of Zetas member dgar Huerta Montiel. 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). The first one they asked, he didn't want to work, and [cartel members] said, that's fine. He turned around, and they shot him in the head. Then, in December 2009, Arturo Beltrn Leyva was killed by Mexican marines. Mexican government security spokesman Eduardo Sanchez (C) speaks during a press conference, accompanied by Mexican Navy General Jorge Victor (L) and Mexican Army General Martin Terrones (R) to present details of the military operation in which Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, the alleged drug lord behind the cartel Los Zetas, was arrested. Elizabeth Shell But Los Zetas stands out. A significant part of this bloodshed is caused by the Tijuana cartel, which is in constant conflict with the Sinaloa cartel. In and around Cali if the mafia doesn't like you, you just disappear.". This wasnt the first time such a tragedy had visited San Fernando. Cartel: Los Zetas 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. With Americans running the organization, winning the war against Los Zetas would be much more difficult. With the Medellin leader gone, Insider noted how the rival Cali cartel took the reins of Colombia's booming cocaine industry. Captured: Sept. 26, 2012 Jesus Gonzalez/AFP/Getty ImagesFollowing the 2011 San Fernando Massacre, Federal Highway 101 was colloquially dubbed the highway of death or the devils road.. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy, Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq, A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France, A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. This essay provides an overview of those incidents of torture and beheadings linked to the Mexican cartels and their mercenary and gang affiliates taking place both within Mexico and the United States. This was back when Lazcano and Z-40 were still running the Los Zetas cartel. The find is indicative of cartel operations in Texas and the United States as a whole. 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. As part of the threats, the Vieja Escuela faction has ordered that the relatives of the CDN leadership leave Ciudad Victoria or face a sure death. Drug cartels influencing politics paints a picture of total disaster. Largely funded by the international drug trade, Mexican cartels wield military-grade weapons in firefights with Mexicos Armed Forces that often leave collateral damage. This time around, the horrific body count eclipsed all expectations with 193 people rotting in 47 mass graves. Los Zetass status as the largest drug cartel in Mexico carries additional implications. Tributes to the 2011 San Fernando Massacre. He sent soldiers into San Fernando after the massacre to protect migrants and Mexican families, but they soon withdrew unlike the cartels. The cartels brutal murders came to a head under the leadership of Miguel Angel Trevino Morales. The video shows four women on their knees in a field, their hands tied behind their backs. He alleged that the victims were abducted from buses and killed for refusing to join the cartel or pay their way out. De Leon said that his two superiors were let go after they paid, but that he didn't have the $100,000 the cartel needed. He was arrested by the Mexican Navy in 2012. US attorney Richard L Durbin Jr told the court in San Antonio, Texas, the killer had acted "without mercy or compunction". This savagery is nothing new. Some believe the victims were simply killed for refusing to join the cartel but, ultimately, San Fernando had become so violent that few journalists ever entered to investigate. 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. Photo by Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images. In 2015, Los Zetas leader Morales was arrested in Mexico City. After the group's 1985 murder of DEA agentEnrique Camarena, the US and Mexico closed in on the cartel, causing several leaders to disperse across Mexico, leaving El Chapo and his partnerHctor Luis Palma Salazar as the Sinaloa chiefs. The handful of passengers lucky enough to be rescued confirmed their captors intended to recruit them. There were only a few bullet casings at the scene, but one sledgehammer and bodies showing blunt trauma to the head. Colombian National Police/Wikimedia Commons, ShareAlike 4.0 International/BaptisteGrandGrand. The criminal indictment claims that the former governor took bribes from drug cartels in exchange for official protection. 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. These are the top ten distressing facts about Los Zetas you dont want to know. They were the victims of a brutal new evolution in Mexican cartel violence. 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. Authorities expect more violence to ensue in the coming days. Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano (aka The Executioner) As La Familia Michoacana expelled Los Zetas, they took territory across Guerrero, Morelos, Guanajuato, Queretaro, Jalisco and Mexico City. WebOn behalf of Los Zetas." In 2015, U.S. law enforcement discovered a marijuana field in Texas with a market value of $2 million. Authorities had been notified of missing passengers from Highway 101 on May 24 and May 29, with soldiers following a tip that led them to the La Joya ranch a few miles off the road. They kidnapped a local farmers son and demanded $10,000, and when he gave them $5,000 everything he had they sent him half of his son.. Los Zetas was formed in 1997 to serve as enforcers for the Gulf Cartel. 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. WebThe Los Zetas used improvised weapons like knives, rocks, and burning mattresses. 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. If the lawmakers are puppets to drug cartels, then there is very little hope that the war against the cartels will be won. 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. Graphic from a 2011 NDIC national drug threat assessment. Moraless most preferred method of killing was to stuff victims in oil barrels and set them ablaze. You have to keep up with the Joneses. There are a handful of drug cartels in Mexico, most of which run almost like corporations. Some had been killed by sledgehammer. 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). Three of them are Subscribe to Heres the Deal, our politics Rather than prioritizing corruption like its competitors, Los Zetas has The Times wrote how Escobar had always dreamed of being the President of Colombia, and this ambition showed in his twisted flair for governance. Officials exhuming the bodies noticed that many bore the marks of blunt trauma. 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. Los Zetas is a Mexican drug cartel known for its sophisticated crime machine and brutality. Since then, BLO members have either been killed, jailed or defected to new splinter groups, such as the Guerreros Unidos and Los Rojos, which dabble in extortion, kidnapping and lethal violence. Follow @NewsHourWorld The cartel member he spoke with was Jose Luis Rodriguez. Then, in December 2015, Insider reported that La Familia founderCarlos Rosales Mendoza was found dead baring torture wounds. Initially, the group was led by Osiel Crdenas Guilln, who recruited around 30 alumni from Mexico's special forces. Insight Crime and the BBC reported that these splinter groups are suspected to have abducted 43 Ayotzinapa students, which hit international headlines in 2014. "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. Killed: Oct. 7, 2012 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. Months after the casino attack, 49 decapitated bodies were dumped on a Monterrey highway (via Insight Crime/The World). The largest two graves were 10 feet deep and each held around 45 corpses. This has led to savage fighting between some 400 splinter gangs, each killing and maiming for scraps of territory (via Business Insider). CIUDAD 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 visiting relatives. 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. 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. 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. 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This gang violence occurs in their stronghold of Ciudad Jurez, where 1,200 people were murdered in 2018. The group was originally made up of 34 Mexican Special Forces soldiers. She was known for being the crazy white one. Melissa is a 2016-17 Lannan Fellow at The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute. Jair Cabrera/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesTributes to the 2011 San Fernando Massacre. 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. Earlier in life, he was trained in a Mexican Special Forces unit to fight drug-trafficking organizations. You can chip in for as little as 99 cents a month. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Mostly Central American immigrants, they were traversing the state of Tamaulipas to cross into Texas. The kidnapping and murder of the SEIDO agents resembles the type of actions of another infamous Mexican crime group, the Zetas. 1996 - 2023 NewsHour Productions LLC. Relatives of the victims have begun a Go Fund Me campaign in order to take the bodies of Garcia and her two daughters Galilea and Mariana to South Texas for burial. De Leon said that he didn't voluntarily start working with the cartel; he was kidnapped and forced to participate. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month, Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Between January 2009 and July 2015, Millan-Vasquez was responsible for the murders of at least 29 people, according to testimony from the trial reported by local broadcaster KSAT. At least two jurors broke down in tears as they listened to Jorge De Leon Navarro describe how Los Zetas killed their prisoners. 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). The cartel can trace its roots to the 1960s and '70s, when farming families entered the marijuana business. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. Former governor Humberto Moreira was also singled out by former Mexican President Felipe Calderon has having protected Los Zetas in his state. Based in the western state ofMichoacn, La Familia Michoacana is known for its history of violence as well as its quasi-religious trappings (via Insight Crime). De Leon said that during his captivity, he witnessed Zetas commanders dismember people while they were still alive and throw the body parts into a flaming barrel. In August 2010, the Mexican military stumbled upon the bodies of 72 people bound and executed. Jalisco New Generation, often referred to as CJNG, is another Mexican cartel that emerged in 2010. Known for his brutality, one technique he allegedly favored was the guiso, or stew, in which enemies would be placed in 55-gallon drums and burned alive. Los Zetas cartel members and San Fernando Massacre suspects being presented to the press on June 30, 2011. They told me to stop doing that," Reyna said in court. WebFrom March 24 to March 29, 2011, the Los Zetas drug cartel viciously slaughtered nearly 200 Central American migrants in Tamaulipas, Mexico. You can contact her at [emailprotected]. This radio communication technology has given them a edge over Mexican law enforcement agencies for years. The CJNG split from the Sinaloa Cartel after the killing of Ignacio Coronel, a capo whose death caused a power vacuum(via Insight Crime). In the early 1990s, El Chapo steered the Sinaloa Cartel to dominance through his use of tunnel smuggling and widespread bribes. Cartel: Los Zetas The Mexican military has been trying unsuccessfully for years to dismantle an extensive network of radio antennas built and operated by the Los Zetas drug cartel. The implication of this is that Los Zetas continues to bolster its criminal operations through nontraditional and unexpected means. He said that cartel members kidnapped him again and held him captive for 13 days until he found the money. On Tuesday, Rodriguez testified about a bloody massacre involving more than 300 people. Specific forms of torture are discussed as well as the most likely victims and perpetrators. The rest of us agreed.". His evil career was so incredibly successful that he made Forbes' billionaire list from 1987 to 1993. Moreover, the extremely violent gang has made connections and collaborated with U.S. gangs all over the country since 2010. If you dont pay them, they will take your merchandise, he says. Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. 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 August 2017, the cartel kidnapped 17 people and kept them in a stash house in Nuevo Laredo. They would rape and kill the women and offer men a macabre choice. With all this being said, the power and brutality of the gang seem to be waning. 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). You cannot underestimate the capabilities of a cartel whose founding fathers were trained by the U.S. military.
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