The defendant in this case is Mariano Millan-Vasquez, known to everyone as "Chano." However, despite its success in cocaine and methamphetamine, La Familia Michoacana's power was curtailed by yet another splinter group, The Knights Templar. Los Zetas This wasnt the first time such a tragedy had visited San Fernando. Tomas Yarrington, former governor of Tamaulipas, is currently facing multiple drug trafficking and money laundering charges in the United States. Then come the Zetas, with no background in narcotics, and they start chopping peoples heads off, Grayson said. Rather than prioritizing corruption like its competitors, Los Zetas has The cartels brutal murders came to a head under the leadership of Miguel Angel Trevino Morales. These are the top ten distressing facts about Los Zetas you dont want to know. You have to keep up with the Joneses. 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. As La Familia Michoacana expelled Los Zetas, they took territory across Guerrero, Morelos, Guanajuato, Queretaro, Jalisco and Mexico City. In 2017, the Mexican government extradited Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn, a Cartel leader who dismembered six-year-old girl Then, learn about the Mexican boys forced to eat human flesh as a cartel initiation. This is a unique and distressing fact about the deadly gang. Captured: Sept. 26, 2012 The way in which the killers carried De Leon will serve time in jail after pleading guilty to a marijuana charge. Los Zetas cartel members and San Fernando Massacre suspects being presented to the press on June 30, 2011. 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. The rescue was made possible by an anonymous tip about gunmen bringing victims into a house in the Villas de la Fe neighborhood. However, according to Insight Crime's profile, the cartel's influence has been compromised by arrests and infighting, limiting their territory to Tijuana, a vital smuggling city on the US-Mexico border. On Tuesday, Rodriguez testified about a bloody massacre involving more than 300 people. He sent soldiers into San Fernando after the massacre to protect migrants and Mexican families, but they soon withdrew unlike the cartels. When it was In fact, CNNreported that Cali mobsters even invested in four 500-pound bombs, which they intended to somehow drop on Pablo Escobar. WebThe Los Zetas used improvised weapons like knives, rocks, and burning mattresses. The LA Times found that from January 1988 to November 1991, drug traffickers killed up to 219 people in this area, disposing of their bodies in rivers. Follow @NewsHourWorld Her work has been featured in various national and international media outlets, including the Guardian, PBS, NPR and Marie Claire. "[The government] told me not to go asking questions about my son. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. 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. Months after the casino attack, 49 decapitated bodies were dumped on a Monterrey highway (via Insight Crime/The World). The irony of this scenario is that the training they received was supposed to prepare them for counterinsurgency and counter-narcotics operations. With countless reports emerging of mayors and cops across Mexico collaborating with the cartels, it appears tragically unsurprising that many who knew the truth were either put into hiding or killed to keep them quiet. Attorney Jeff Blackburn, a crusader for the innocent, fought injustices across Texas in his improbable, utterly original, and often profane life. Sadist Los Zetas Cartel Set Brutal Standard in Drug War SAN ANTONIO, Texas - In San Antonio today, a federal judge sentenced 34-year-old Marciano Millan Vasquez, a high ranking member and a former sicario for the Los Zetas drug cartel, to seven consecutive life imprisonment sentences for committing and aiding and abetting the commission of numerous murders and other acts of violence, The import of this for the American people is that no matter what measures the US government takes to destroy the vast network of drug smuggling within the country, the effort may be fruitless, as it is no longer a case of fighting a foreign entity. Graphic from a 2011 NDIC national drug threat assessment. Picture taken from a TV screen showing Miguel Angel Trevino Morales by Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images. When Osiel Cardenas Guillen took over as the leader of the Gulf Cartel, it was in the midst of a violent turf war. Since 2011, there have been numerous scandals exposing the collusion between politicians and drug cartels. Mexico's largest and most powerful drug gangs are the Zetas and the Sinaloa cartel. Jeffrey Morris is a researcher and freelance writer with a passion for history and rarities. The criminal indictment claims that the former governor took bribes from drug cartels in exchange for official protection. Former governor Humberto Moreira was also singled out by former Mexican President Felipe Calderon has having protected Los Zetas in his state. In April 2019, CJNG killed 14 people in Minatitlan, a Zetas territory. The cartel member he spoke with was Jose Luis Rodriguez. Jair Cabrera/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesTributes to the 2011 San Fernando Massacre. Its origins are traced toEl Milenio, a group that was allied to the Tijuana cartel. The cartel can trace its roots to the 1960s and '70s, when farming families entered the marijuana business. The military gunned four Zetas members down, before capturing nine others and finding five abducted passengers inside the ranch. // ]]>. Mexicos National Human Rights Commission estimated that 20,000 migrants were abducted in 2010, alone. 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. The Gulf's cocaine business started when they brokered a deal with the Cali cartel, which was looking for new routes from Colombia to the United States. The Most Brutal Execution Methods Used by Mexican Cartels A rival of the Sinaloa cartel, the Juarez group has been responsible for thousands of murders across its territory, which included 21 states at the height of its power. Violence committed by the Juarez cartel is rife, especially from its La Linea faction, which has fighting the Sinaloa in Chihuahua City, contributing many deaths to the city's high 2020 murder rate (via FOX59). Elizabeth Shell It had only been a year since officials in the Mexican city found 72 victims of the Los Zetas drug cartel buried in the dirt. The eventual split between the groups was described by theCongressional Research Serviceas"most violent in the history of organized crime in Mexico. 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. 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. The 2011 San Fernando Massacre was both disturbing and, tragically, far from a one-off occurrence. The Los Zetas cartel gunmen even executed the family dog. The video shows four women on their knees in a field, their hands tied behind their backs. 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. Get our latest in-depth reporting straight to your inbox. He frequently supervised killing experiments wherein new recruits were ordered to kill people with a machete or sledgehammer. His evil career was so incredibly successful that he made Forbes' billionaire list from 1987 to 1993. 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 CJNG split from the Sinaloa Cartel after the killing of Ignacio Coronel, a capo whose death caused a power vacuum(via Insight Crime). This time around, the horrific body count eclipsed all expectations with 193 people rotting in 47 mass graves. Groups like Los Zetas have also been known to operate abroad, buying raw materials from Argentina and operating in Asian countries like Malaysia. Islas suspects the kidnappings and brutal murders are a warning to smugglers who havent paid their dues to the Zetas. Killed: Oct. 7, 2012 An armored police vehicle carrying Los Zetas member dgar Huerta Montiel in June 2011. 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. 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. Information obtained from authorities points to the victims being at the wrong place at the wrong time. He said that they spoke over the phone every day. 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. Yarrington is reported to have allowed the Gulf and Los Zetas cartels to operate in his state without hindrance in return for bribes. Arson investigation underway after cars catch fire at west Houston apartment complex, Mother of 15-year-old shot at a house party wants someone held accountable, Houston forecast: Grab your jacket as you head to the rodeo, it's a cool and breezy Friday, Damage reported throughout North Texas area during severe weather. Most harrowing of all was the forensic evidence. Men were beaten, hacked apart, flung from windows, hanged, and decapitated. Instead, they were raped and beaten to death or vanished into a new life as cartel soldiers. 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. WebLos Zetas is a powerful Mexican drug cartel that has made special use of fear to achieve its business goals. WebCartel Del Golfo interrogation 4 Zetas these bastards have admitted to raping women,killing women, killing kids. This radio communication technology has given them a edge over Mexican law enforcement agencies for years. Los Zetas is a Mexican drug cartel known for its sophisticated crime machine and brutality. 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. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano (aka The Executioner) 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. 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. The Gulf cartel is among the oldest cartels in Mexico and has held varying degrees of power since its origins in 1984, according toInsightCrime. The FBI and the IRS eventually built a case against Morales and others, leading to his arrest. Writing for the Los Angeles Times, William R. Long dubbed the Cali cartel as "Colombia's Gentlemen Cocaine Traffickers." Traditionally, Mexican cartels like Los Zetas only grew and manufactured drugs in Mexican territory and other less advanced countries where government officials were collaborators or incapable of disrupting their operations. There were only a few bullet casings at the scene, but one sledgehammer and bodies showing blunt trauma to the head. After learning about the 2011 San Fernando Massacre, take a look at 33 photos of the Mexican drug war. In this pivotal year, Zetas occupied territory in 405 Mexican municipalities, which Insight Crime found was more than double that of their biggest rivals. She specializes in reporting on immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border. 4 They recovered deleted material, which included death threats from the defendant and information regarding Zetas operations. [6] Mexican drug cartels are currently operating in 47 countries around the world, including Colombia, Guatemala, and others. However, despite these smaller groups' threat to the Guerrero and Morelosstates, the Beltrn-Leyva Organization is merely a trace of its former self. 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. 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). Example video title will go here for this video. The winners got to become Zetas recruits, while the losers got death. Whatever the motivations, the mass killings show just how little control the federal government exerts over Tamaulipas. Reyna discovered that his son's co-worker and girlfriend were also missing. Photos, illustrations and other art may be available for syndication but must be confirmed. He said that the Zetas commanders ordered the killings because there was a government informant in the group. There is a popular consensus that Los Zetas is the most brutal and inhuman drug cartel in history. 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. 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. Locals also reported of the many corpses found in the Cauca River, which runs through Cali. Eventually, this group broke away to become a drug cartel of their own, which is now the notorious 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. !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); 10 Atrocities Committed By Mexican Drug Cartels - Listverse 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. Then, on April 21, 2011, police arrested San Fernandos police chief and got a little closer to the truth. 2011 San Fernando massacre Victims were piled on top of one another haphazardly before the cartel used a backhoe to cover up their resting place. The rest of us agreed.". [2] It is a fact that some of the cartels initial members were elite Mexican troops who were trained in the early 1990s by Americas 7th Special Forces Group. Worse than any horror film: Inside a Los Zetas cartel kitchen Unlike some of its fragmenting rivals, CJNG's power is forecast to grow despite government pressure on their front companies and bank accounts. 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. Curiously, no bus line reported their buses or passengers missing. De Leon said that he didn't voluntarily start working with the cartel; he was kidnapped and forced to participate. 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. // Zetas 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. WebSoon after the murder, Guzman became known as Z-1, and would become the founder of Los Zetas, literally The Zs: an organization that began as an elite security detail and would evolve across 12 years to become one of Mexicos most powerful criminal organizations. Mexico's CJNG Following The cartels have now moved beyond drug violence to murdering busloads of civilians, and the government seems incapable of stopping it. They also acted as lookouts for the cartel and turned a blind eye to their illegal activities. Thank you. These types of brutal dealings by Los Zetas originally a bodyguard group for another cartel upset the status quo. Earlier in life, he was trained in a Mexican Special Forces unit to fight drug-trafficking organizations. 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. Facebook beheading video: Who was Mexico's Jane Doe? - BBC 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. 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. WebTubutama Gun Battle On July 1, 2010, Sinaloa Cartel gunmen clashed with their rivals from the Beltran Leyva and Los Zetas Cartel leaving more than 20 dead near the rural town of [4] The cartel recruits in US prisons and also courts street gang members for its drug trafficking activities in Mexico and the U.S. Insight Crime catalogued the numerous violent acts of this period, including the cartel's failed assassination of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in 1993, which went awry when the gunmen erroneously targeted the car of a Catholic cardinal, shooting him to death. 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". 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. He said that cartel members kidnapped him again and held him captive for 13 days until he found the money. The following facts also illustrate the reality that an immediate defeat of the drug cartel may be far from feasible. 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. 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. Notifications can be turned off anytime in the browser settings. Los Zetas is a criminal gang that manufactures and smuggles illegal drugs like cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and marijuana, among others. 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. 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. 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). You cannot underestimate the capabilities of a cartel whose founding fathers were trained by the U.S. military. 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. You can contact her at [emailprotected]. He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. In 2015, U.S. law enforcement discovered a marijuana field in Texas with a market value of $2 million. A former Mexican drug cartel kingpin who dismembered a six-year-old girl with an axe in front of her parents has been sentenced to seven consecutive life terms in a US prison. 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. Their wanton murders leave most civilians in silence. Among the first deaths in the conflict was Edgar Guzman, El Chapo's son. It would occur to many as an unacceptable surprise that Los Zetas recruits members in the United States. It was found in Webb County, near the border city of Laredo. Initially, the group was led by Osiel Crdenas Guilln, who recruited around 30 alumni from Mexico's special forces. Los Zetas called Mexico's most dangerous drug cartel Only in 2014 was this dynamic officially exposed in a memo from the Mexico Attorney Generals Office on the 2010 San Fernando Massacre, the 2011 San Fernando Massacre, and the recovery of 49 human torsos in 2012. Busloads of people were declared missing in 2011 when their luggage went unclaimed in Reynosa and Matamoros. 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. Elizabeth Shell. Based in the western state of Jalisco, CJNG was founded by Nemesio Oseguera Ramos, whose ongoing leadership has placed him on Mexican and American most wanted lists, both of which offer millions of dollars for information. All Rights Reserved. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty ImagesSan Fernando woman Alma Miriam Ruiz holding a photo of her daughter Dalia missing since 2010. The gunmen used a large hammer to break down the door before storming the house shooting indiscriminately at the women and children inside. At times [he inflicted] the cruellest of pain, forcing relatives to watch their loved ones murdered before he turned his blades on them, said Mr Durbin. However, in the late 1990s/early 2000s, a set of El Milenio lieutenants rebelled and created their own cartel. 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). 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. 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 first time [I was kidnapped], they took me with a group of about seven people. Originally a security detail for the Sinaloa cartel, BLO seceded in 2008 and a fierce conflict ensued. De Leon is now cooperating with authorities. 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. First it was people with money, then it was anyone. 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. The group was originally made up of 34 Mexican Special Forces soldiers. WebLos Zetas have also carried out multiple massacres and attacks on civilians and rival cartels, such as: the 2010 San Fernando massacre (24 August), where 72 migrants were found The handful of passengers lucky enough to be rescued confirmed their captors intended to recruit them. He was arrested by the Mexican Navy in 2012. Consequently, several Mexican cities such as Los Cabos, Tijuana, and Acapulco have recorded some of the highest murder rates in the world, according toStatista. In the same month, heavily armed gunmen fired upon Omar Garcia Harfuch, Mexico City's public security secretary, injuring him and killing two bodyguards and a passerby (via Insight Crime). Former Zetas members testified Tuesday, claiming the cartel is responsible for a bloody massacre in Piedras Negras in 2011. The last time Reyna saw his son was Sept. 11, 2011. 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. Authorities investigating the massacre reported numerous hijackings of passenger buses on Mexican Federal The Sun Los Zetas is indeed the worst Mexican drug cartel in history. Even the Sinaloas are now decapitating people, he said. Alberto Islas, a Mexico City security analyst whos advised corporations in Tamaulipas, offers a more plausible and chilling motive for the massacres: Its just business. They told me to stop doing that," Reyna said in court. 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.