Since 2011, there have been numerous scandals exposing the collusion between politicians and drug cartels. [CDATA[ What should we expect from a heartless criminal organization put together by ex-military men? Rival gang MS-13 may have the most terrifying tattoos (see featured image), but Los Zetas wins the prize for violence. In the 1990s, the aforementioned Cali cartel took the mantle from their Medellin rivals, becoming the most powerful cartel in the world. Piedras Negras, in the state of Coahuila, has a reputation as a hotbed for drug smuggling and violence. 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. [7] As usual, theyve also brought an unprecedented level of violence to the trade. So how does Morales, who came into power just last year after his predecessor was shot and killed by authorities and his Los Zetas fit into the underworld that is Mexican cartels? In fact, CNNreported that Cali mobsters even invested in four 500-pound bombs, which they intended to somehow drop on Pablo Escobar. Not only are groups like Los Zetas interested in influencing politics, but Mexican politicians are equally interested in the dividends of the drug trade. With their archenemy established, La Familia Michoacana set out to publicize themselves. The video shows four women on their knees in a field, their hands tied behind their backs. Authorities expect more violence to ensue in the coming days. However, despite its success in cocaine and methamphetamine, La Familia Michoacana's power was curtailed by yet another splinter group, The Knights Templar. He sent soldiers into San Fernando after the massacre to protect migrants and Mexican families, but they soon withdrew unlike the cartels. These are the top ten distressing facts about Los Zetas you dont want to know. Border / Cartel ChroniclesBreitbart TexasCartel ChroniclesCartel ViolenceCDNCiudad VictoriaGrupo BravoLos ZetasVieja Escuela. Tributes to the 2011 San Fernando Massacre. 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. ", The Gulf cartel's control in the northeast state of Tamaulipas has seen many violent incidents, both against rivals and each other. Rodriguez said that when he asked a commander about Reyna's son who disappeared, the commander said for him to stop asking about it, because they just finished "cooking him". Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. The Juarez cartel's expansionist ambitions have been quelled in recent years, but they retain a strong grasp on their part of the US-Mexico border, which should maintain their threat to the region for some time. The Shrinking actor talks mental health, being queer, and why the Lone Star State is the perfect home for his new play Silver Foxes. 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. 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. Today, the cartel retains a small presence in southern Mexico. Example video title will go here for this video. Consequently, several Mexican cities such as Los Cabos, Tijuana, and Acapulco have recorded some of the highest murder rates in the world, according toStatista. With nearly all of the bodies lacking identification, authorities transported them to the Matamoros morgue for family members to hopefully identify. No one charges under $2,000 these days to get into the United States and [the Zetas] get $400 to $500 for each migrant smuggled through their territory, he says. Los Zetas is a criminal gang that manufactures and smuggles illegal drugs like cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and marijuana, among others. 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. 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. With all this being said, the power and brutality of the gang seem to be waning. 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. 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. He claimed that the drugs came from the Zetas "comandantes" or commanders, which included Millan-Vasquez. They robbed stores, they broke into an auto repair shop and stole cell phones and several vehicles, all with the goal of spreading terror.". Mexico's largest and most powerful drug gangs are the Zetas and the Sinaloa cartel. 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. 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. First it was people with money, then it was anyone. The eventual split between the groups was described by theCongressional Research Serviceas"most violent in the history of organized crime in Mexico. This radio communication technology has given them a edge over Mexican law enforcement agencies for years. Photos, illustrations and other art may be available for syndication but must be confirmed. Jeffrey Morris is a researcher and freelance writer with a passion for history and rarities. Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. Unlike some of its fragmenting rivals, CJNG's power is forecast to grow despite government pressure on their front companies and bank accounts. 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. De Leon is now cooperating with authorities. Navarro from Ciudad Victoria. Lazcano was the leader of the Los Zetas cartel. A staff writer for All Thats Interesting, Marco Margaritoff has also published work at outlets including People, VICE, and Complex, covering everything from film to finance to technology. 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. The traditional cartels buy off politicians, establish traffic routes for smuggling and make money. 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. The Juarez cartel is another relatively old organization dating back to the early 1980s (via Insight Crime). 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. WebZetas behead and dismember four women from the Gulf Cartel. He said that the Zetas commanders ordered the killings because there was a government informant in the group. You have to keep up with the Joneses. Elizabeth Shell. Read more about illegal drugs and those who deal in them on 10 Atrocities Committed By Mexican Drug Cartels and 15 Notable Drug Traffickers. She was known for being the crazy white one. 2021 The Texas Observer. The cartels have now moved beyond drug violence to murdering busloads of civilians, and the government seems incapable of stopping it. With that grim context in mind, here are the most dangerous cartels to ever exist. This was back when Lazcano and Z-40 were still running the Los Zetas cartel. In 2010, Los Zetas established itself on its own terms, terrorizing the country with torture, beheadings and massacres (via Irish Times/Britannica). Get our latest in-depth reporting straight to your inbox. Learn more about Friends of the NewsHour. During their enforcer period, theUS Drug Enforcement Agency(DEA) described Los Zetas as perhaps "the most technologically advanced, sophisticated and violent of these paramilitary enforcement groups.". Thank you. Los Zetas is a powerful Mexican drug cartel that has made special use of fear to achieve its business goals. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Reyna discovered that his son's co-worker and girlfriend were also missing. De Leon said that Millan-Vasquez would smile and laugh as he performed these killings. Most are extorted and let go or sold into prostitution. All Rights Reserved. WebLos 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. Site made in collaboration with CMYK. It was found in Webb County, near the border city of Laredo. Whats distressing about the criminal organization is the atrocities they have committed in the past and the potential they possess to increase their scale of operations and perpetuate more horrors in the future. In the human smuggling business, migrants pay $100 to $200 upfront, then pay the rest once theyve reached the United States. 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. US attorney Richard L Durbin Jr told the court in San Antonio, Texas, the killer had acted "without mercy or compunction". 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. WebThe Most Brutal Execution Methods Reportedly Used By Mexican Cartels Beheading By Chainsaw. His body was stolen from the funeral home. Not only does Los Zetas control key drug smuggling routes into the United States, but it now controls much of the illicit trade of sneaking migrant workers to the US. WebIn August 2011, armed men affiliated with the Zetas cartel set fire to a casino in the Mexican city of Monterrey, killing 52 people. Gary Green and Arthur Brown Jr. are set to be killed next week by the State of Texas. Web270p Video: Notorious Mexican Los Zetas cartel boss, Moises Escamilla May, 45, who was jailed for a string of ruthless beheadings, dies in jail from coronavirus Jalisco Cartel Originally a security detail for the Sinaloa cartel, BLO seceded in 2008 and a fierce conflict ensued. 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. 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. Melissa del Bosque joined the Texas Observer staff in 2008. He created a company, Tremor Enterprises, to purchase racehorses for American contests, winning millions in prize money through fixing races and doping horses. 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. Authorities investigating the massacre reported numerous hijackings of passenger buses on Mexican Federal If you support this mission, we need your help. Since the war began, the fighting has resulted in daily kidnappings, shooting, drive by shootouts, beheadings, dismemberments and other gory executions. 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). However, in the late 1990s/early 2000s, a set of El Milenio lieutenants rebelled and created their own cartel. Los Zetas was described by the US government in 2009 as "the most technologically advanced, sophisticated and dangerous cartel operating in Mexico". The following facts also illustrate the reality that an immediate defeat of the drug cartel may be far from feasible. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? You cannot underestimate the capabilities of a cartel whose founding fathers were trained by the U.S. military. Cartel: Los Zetas Exposed by a Zetas member under a pseudonym, the details of the bus vanishings remain disputed. There is a huge consensus that Mexican drug cartels are responsible for the drug epidemic in the United States. The gunmen used a large hammer to break down the door before storming the house shooting indiscriminately at the women and children inside. Abstract. "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. Los Zetas is a Mexican drug cartel known for its sophisticated crime machine and brutality. The Zetas were notorious for their brutality, even by cartel standards. 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). 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. Then, in May, SinEmbargo reported that the cartel had destroyed a military helicopter with an RPG, killing 5 soldiers. [6] Mexican drug cartels are currently operating in 47 countries around the world, including Colombia, Guatemala, and others. [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. Then, learn about the Mexican boys forced to eat human flesh as a cartel initiation. The women have been identified as Lourdes Gregorio Garcia Amaya from Texas, Raymunda Amaya Contreras, Maria Del Rosario Carrizales Amaya, Griselda Carrizales Amaya and Maria Cirila Contreras Garcia. That's right the Wight bitch was the bad one and cut off heads with axes with her own hands. Besides drug smuggling, the cartel is involved in every facet of trade in its territory including human trafficking. Rather than prioritizing corruption like its competitors, Los Zetas has preferred to use paramilitary violence to seize territory and intimidate rivals, according toInsight Crime. Los Zetas cartel members and San Fernando Massacre suspects being presented to the press on June 30, 2011. The criminal indictment claims that the former governor took bribes from drug cartels in exchange for official protection. He made a mistake in his greedbelieving he was invincible and untouchable. According to World Atlas, Tijuana had the highest homicide rate in the world in 2020, with 138 murder per 100,000 residents. The kidnapping and murder of the SEIDO agents resembles the type of actions of another infamous Mexican crime group, the Zetas. The witness said that the commanders kidnapped him and his two superiors until they paid what they owed for the seized load of marijuana. 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 gang often kidnaps and holds poor migrants who try to operate outside the system for ransom. This savagery is nothing new. Imagine how tragic it would be for such a respected and honored organization to become an evil one like Los Zetas. The largest two graves were 10 feet deep and each held around 45 corpses. He said that they spoke over the phone every day. You have to have cartel cred being known as the meanest, most savage criminal organization in the Americas.. The military gunned four Zetas members down, before capturing nine others and finding five abducted passengers inside the ranch. 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. 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. 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. [4] The cartel recruits in US prisons and also courts street gang members for its drug trafficking activities in Mexico and the U.S. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo, A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota, Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. 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. With Americans running the organization, winning the war against Los Zetas would be much more difficult. He claimed that he was blindfolded, handcuffed, driven to random locations around Piedras Negras, stripped of the blindfold, and forced to kneel and watch these brutal murders. When prosecutors asked if De Leon feared police while en route to deliver firearms to "Chano," he said that he wasn't worried because the majority of police were bought out. 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In the past year, gunmen from Los Zetas Cartel performed unique retaliatory killings in response to their allys videotaped sexual assault behind bars. At one of the gory murders the horrific slaughter of a young girl he reportedly told her father the crime was "so you can remember me", before ordering the murder of both parents. CJNG have also committed several assassinations, including the June 2020 murder of Jalisco judge Uriel Villegas Ortiz and his wifeVernica, who were shot some 20 times, according to a El Pais report. Specific forms of torture are discussed as well as the most likely victims and perpetrators. 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). Los Zetas had begun to hijack buses along Federal Highway 101. When prosecutors asked De Leon if "Chano" was in the courtroom, the witness stood up and scanned the courtroom for close to three minutes, before pointing at Millan-Vasquez. 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). In April 2019, CJNG killed 14 people in Minatitlan, a Zetas territory. FROM brutal beheadings to violent kidnappings, the cartel wars of Cancun have unleashed horror on Mexico's Caribbean coast as gangsters wreak havoc yards away from luxury resorts. 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. Extortion, smuggling, torture, possible harvesting of human body parts. They were the victims of a brutal new evolution in Mexican cartel violence. 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. The field was linked to the Los Zetas cartel. In 2015, U.S. law enforcement discovered a marijuana field in Texas with a market value of $2 million. At least two jurors broke down in tears as they listened to Jorge De Leon Navarro describe how Los Zetas killed their prisoners. There are a handful of drug cartels in Mexico, most of which run almost like corporations. Trevino Morales became head of the Los Zetas cartel after the death of long-time leader Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano in October 2012. Mainly, Grayson notes a Zetalisation starting to occur among the other cartels. The rest of us agreed.". It was the first time the Attorney Generals Office declassified documents relating to the incidents, and proved authorities not only tolerated cartel activity but assisted it. // ]]>. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. Victims were piled on top of one another haphazardly before the cartel used a backhoe to cover up their resting place. He was recruited to Los Zetas, where he rose to commander. Graphic from a 2011 NDIC national drug threat assessment. His evil career was so incredibly successful that he made Forbes' billionaire list from 1987 to 1993. Even the Sinaloas are now decapitating people, he said. The Gulf cartel is among the oldest cartels in Mexico and has held varying degrees of power since its origins in 1984, according toInsightCrime. Alliances were formed on both sides, with the BLO allying with Los Zetas and the Sinaloa cartel working with the Gulf and Familia Michoacana cartels (via Insight Crime). 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.