Borderland Beat

by Alex Marentes

  They suddenly found themselves rolling up into Nuevo Laredo sporting powerful military-style weapons, some smuggled by veterans of the Gulf War, like AR-15s and .50-caliber machine guns. People were paralyzed.

  Z-40 reached the top spot position among Los Zetas becoming a plaza boss for the Gulf Cartel, in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. His job was to prevent the penetration of the Sinaloa Cartel in to the Gulf region. It was then that Z-40 began to create his bloodthirsty reputation by orchestrating dozens of brutal executions of members from rival criminal groups. On one occasion, to send a message to some of the street drug dealers that they were stealing part of his profits, he personally turned a man into pulp that made the victim unrecognizable after pounding him with a sledge hammer and another occasion he opened the chest of a man with a butcher's knife while still alive.

  The message was clear, don't ever think about trying to conduct business in Zetas turf.

  The cruel methods of Z40 are part of the new folklore of the narco violence in Mexico, as well as their ability to escape unscathed from authorities from their attacks and shootings against rival cartels.

  Z-40 had a fundamental difference with the members of Los Zetas, he was not a military man. El Z-40 did not have a military career as was the case with all of the other 30 original members of Los Zetas.

  He was recruited by Osiel Cárdenas Guillen when he was one of his main messengers. His main valuable skill in the organization was that he spoke English, a skill that helped Osiel to conduct business in the United States. Z-40 climbed the structure and positions of the narco syndicate to become the leader of the zetas, despite the fact that at one point in his life he was washing cars to earn a living. Osiel, then top boss of the Gulf, formed Los Zetas to be his own personal bodyguards. After the creation of Los Zetas, Osiel decided to appoint Z-40 as right hand of Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, El Lazca. Various reports and analysts indicated that z-40 would become even more violent than El Lazca.

  When Z-40 was starting out in the trafficking business in Texas he met another US trafficker by the name of Mario Alvarado while deer hunting. Z-40 and Alvarado would eventually start working together, moving kilos of cocaine across the border. Some of the dope entrusted to Alvarado was seized and Alavarado ended up owing Z-40 around $500.000. Alavarado was brought in to Nuevo Laredo by Omar Trevino El 42 (brother of Z-40) and was held captive until his people in the US were able to pay most of the debt.

  Z-40 had stash houses all along the border and the trafficking business for him was flourishing. Two men who had been recruited into the Zetas as sicarios, Wenceslao Tovar and Gabriel Cardona, witnessed Z-40 beheading victims on several occasions. They claim to have attended training camps in San Fernando where Zeta recruits were forced to kill men with machetes and sledgehammers. Z-40 sent crews to Laredo, Texas that included US citizens like Cardona along with Mexican nationals.

  Z-40 had a hit list of people, some that had been already executed and some of the people who were targeted for execution. His number one target was Texas Syndicate gang member Jesus Maria Chuy Resendez. Resendez managed to escape death several times, but a lot of his people around him, that included a Nuevo Laredo cop were not so lucky. On April 2006 Resendez and his nephew were executed, it was said that they were shot about 100 times.

  After the death of Z1 in November of 2002, and the arrest and extradition to the United States of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, El Lazca, would take command of Los Zetas. El Lazca would take control of the old trafficking routes and plazas that were once under the command of the Gulf cartel. When tensions between the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas erupted leading to the breakup of both criminal organizations in March of 2010, Z-40 chose to go with Los Zetas.

  After the death of Lazca, Z-40 took command of Los Zetas extending its operations to San Luis Potosí, Durango and the Gulf coast in Veracruz, Quintana Roo and Tabasco.

  With his new power of the Zetas, Z-40 openly declared war on Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, for the control of plazas further west of Mexico.

  In May of 2012, the US Department of Justice indicted Z-40 of money laundering from drug trafficking, through the sale of racehorses. On September 5, 2013 a judge in the state of Texas, sentenced José Treviño Morales brother of Z-40, for investing 16 million dollars of drug money in the purchase and training of racehorses, as well as participating in quarter-mile races, in which they made bets. These horse races and bets were carried out throughout the southwestern United States.

  Z-40 belonged to the list of 37 most wanted criminals by the government of Felipe Calderón, had 7 arrest warrants against him and was involved in at least 12 previous investigations. He was accused of organized crime, homicide, crimes against health, torture, money laundering, carrying a firearm that was only allowed to be used exclusively by the military armed forces and police.

  Z-40 was known to be a lot more cautious than El Lazca, who, when he was killed by Mexican Marines, was guarded by only two bodyguards. Z40 was known to be super cautious, he had several security details in addition to his own personal bodyguard made up of several military experienced Zetas. Z40 had his bodyguards in the same way that Osial Cardenas wanted the Zetas to be his personal security. Except that was not the case on that day he was captured by the military.

  Francisco Dair Montalvo Recio, El Rocky, that was detained in December of 2012 in Nuevo Laredo, was a key figure in the capture of Z-40. El Rocky cooperated with Mexican authorities. This helped Marine intelligence greatly in operations against Z-40. Mainly regarding the identification of movements of Los Zetas, Z-40 in particular. The Mexican Marines obtained important information on Z-40's schedules, his routes he used regularly, addresses he frequented, the location of other members of his inner group, the number of guards he used, as well as the license plate numbers of his vehicles. El Rocky gave up important detailed information in the state of Coahuila, where many of Z-40 operatives were located.

  Following the leads provided by El Rocky, the Marines also managed to find the address of a safe house where Los Zetas kept migrants that had been abducted.

  Using a Black Hawk helicopter, Marines came upon the safe house where they found 104 migrants (91 men and 13 women) from Honduras and El Salvador, who had been ordered kidnapped apparently by people under the command of Z-40.

  To capture Z-40, elements of the Navy (Semar) had support from a “avión no tripulado” (better known as a drone), owned by U.S. agencies who had been operating these flying objects since 2004 on the border with Mexico.

  The military intelligence had precise details of Z-40 using wiretapping equipment and tracking software, called Finfisher/Finspy, and Hunter Punta Tracking/Locksys.

  The DEA provided information to the Mexican government that could establish the areas of Z-40's operations and learn about his group in areas such as Nuevo Leon, Coahuila and Tamaulipas, while the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lent one of their drones, which monitors and collects data which is then processed in databases in California, Arizona and Texas.

  In the early hours of July 15, 2013, El Z-40 was arrested by elements of the Mexican military during an operation in the outskirts of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. He was travelling on a four-wheel drive pickup truck on rough terrain when he was intercepted by military backed up by a helicopter. He was taken in custody without any rounds being fired. At the time of his arrest he was only with two men, his bodyguard and his accountant. At the time of his arrest, the military seized two million dollars in cash, eight long rifles and some 500 fully loaded magazines of ammunition of various calibers.

  The day of his arrest, Z-40 was shown on video walking freely among the military without any restrains, walking tall and proud as if he was still supreme boss of a military commando, a commando that he had commanded, Los Zetas.

  While looking at the steely eyes of Z-40 of his mug shot, it said it all. This was the face of a man who had set the standard on the extent of violence in Mexico.

  The images forever embedded in people’s min
ds; bodies hanging from bridges like piñatas, heads rolling next to mutilated arms, legs and bodies parts strewn on highways, discarded like trash, some etched with the letter Z and videotape of tortured sessions. One video went on for nearly an hour and showed a man pleading for his life as a knife cuts his head open and eventually uploaded to YouTube. Other victims were thrown into barrels of acid and dissolved into stew, menudo as some called it. And then there are the mass graves containing the remains of migrants who died with dreams of finding a better life north of the border.

  He was a madman. His pep talk consisted of one line: “If you don’t kill someone every day, you’re not doing your job.” He’d rather be feared than respected.

  The Political Factor

  It is easy for us to be judgmental when politicians or law enforcement collude with organized crime in Mexico. But imagine when brutal Mexican cartels threatened your family if you do not take a bribe or agree to look the other way or participate directly or indirectly with criminal elements. The “settling of scores” (executions for business reasons) could happen without notice at the blink of an eye.

  On September of 2009 José Francisco Fuentes Esperón, a legislative candidate in the southeastern state of Tabasco, and his family were murdered in an apparent drug cartel hit as reported by Marc Lacey for the New York Times:

  "Mr. Fuentes Esperón was shot in the neck, local news media reported, while his wife, Lilián Argüelles Beltrán, was shot in the head. Their two sons, ages 8 and 10, were asphyxiated. Mexico's violent drug cartels have increasingly taken aim at public officials. On August 20, the president of the legislature in the state of Guerrero was murdered. Last Wednesday, gunmen killed the undersecretary of public security in the state of Michoacán."

  CNN reports that "the weekend slaying was not the first time an entire family has been killed in Tabasco":

  "In February, a Tabasco police official who had arrested a drug trafficker a week earlier was killed together with his mother, wife, children and nieces and nephews. His brother, also a state police officer, was wounded, as were two others."

  Many of the politician are either executed for not playing nice or are on the payroll. Just read the Borderland Beat blog, you will find tons of examples of incidents that proves the point.

  Yes, there is a political factor. We will bust it open as we explore in more detail on the operations of the drug lords and cartels. The billions of dollars earned from trafficking drugs to the US corrupts all, from the lowest levels of government to the highest, the very top. Why water it down? There is plenty of evidence that can be traced, it always leads to some local police commander, or politician, all one has to do is just follow the money.

  The Link of García Luna with "El Mayo"

  Is it possible that the head of the Secretariat of Public Security for the federal government in Mexico, Genaro García Luna, considered untouchable and a favorite cabinet member of Mexican President Felipe Calderón, kept very close in his circle many officials accused of having links to drug trafficking, in particular that of El Mayo Zambada?

  With his powerful tentacles and his ability to corrupt and infiltrate police institutions who are supposed to be responsible for combating drug trafficking, including the Ministry of National Defense, Ismael Zambada García, El Mayo, had extensive control within the Ministry of Public Security (SSP) headed by Genaro García Luna. Some of these main collaborators were accused of being in the service of the man who is considered the top capo of the Sinaloa cartel.

  Owner of farms and haciendas, untouchable in Sinaloa, Zambada García had extensive networks of complicity in the most important areas of the PGR, as well as SIEDO, and in the SSP, where several governmental officials from the top level were being investigated for colluding with the capo.

  García Luna did not seem to be able to escape from the networks laid out in the SSP by both Zambada García and the Beltrán Leyva brothers. These two capos broke up after the arrest of Alfredo Beltrán, El Mochomo.

  This is how it's told through an investigation into the alleged links between García Luna and the cells of Zambada García and Arturo Beltrán Leyva, that was carried out by law enforcement officers who are not happy with the federal government to unify federal agencies (the decentralization of federal divisions).

  Through a field investigation and also confirmed with background information in revelations allegedly made by Garcia Luna's own escort, police agents were able to clarify an incident that occurred on October 19, 2008 in the state of Morelos. The investigation is narrated in a letter sent to the legislators of the Senate in order to exposed what they say is how dangerous it is to grant more power to the SSP, because a good portion of the high level officials are at the service of drug traffickers.

  The document details:

  On October 19, 2008, the current secretary of Federal Public Security, Genaro García Luna and his escort, composed of approximately 27 armed body guards travelling on a highway from Cuernavaca to Tepoztlán were intercepted by a top capo from a criminal cartel that was reinforced by a heavily armed commando travelling in approximately 10 armored Suburban vehicles. The escort of García Luna did nothing to repel the violent intrusion by order of García Luna himself.

  The letter adds that the security detail that was escorting García Luna were stripped of their weapons and were blindfolded for approximately four hours.

  The agents who told about the incident and whose names were omitted for fear of reprisals, maintain in the document that the voice from the top-level capo told García Luna:

  "This is the first and last warning, so that you know that we can reach you anytime we want if you do not comply with the mutual agreement." It has been rumored that the capo was none other than Arturo Beltran Leyva, but this has not been confirmed. The letter states that after the words from el capo, García Luna left with the capo abandoning his escorts to their fate, without them knowing where he went and what he did during those four long hours.

  When García Luna returned with the Capo, the sicarios returned the weapons to the bodyguards and they proceeded with the escort of García Luna. Most of the official government bodyguards, that were professionally trained to protect dignitaries and high-level politicians, felt humiliated and were not happy with how they were treated, while García Luna was complicit with the sicarios.

  And, in another point, the letter states:

  It should not go unnoticed that the secretary in question is an expert actor of deception, one should remember an incident that occurred previously that became a circus around a kidnapping of a French woman who was supposedly involved in the town of Ajusco, DF.

  This generated a mass media attention where he was able to manipulate his entire escort, making them believe that what happened was an abduction (levantón) by some drug lord, and what actually happened was a concerted meeting with that supposed capo.”

  According to the investigations carried out by the Office of the Assistant Attorney General for Specialized Investigation in Organized Crime (SIEDO), many of the officials closest to García Luna seem to be corrupted by drug traffickers. All the way from the time of Vicente Fox's administration and now with the Calderon administration, evidence has emerged that the SSP is one of the institutions most infiltrated by the Sinaloa cartel and other criminal organizations.

  For example, Édgar Enrique Bayardo del Villar, former inspector assigned to the Operations Section of the Federal Preventive Police, was presented with charges by SIEDO for allegedly colluding with Zambada García. A man who was very close to García Luna and with a salary of more than twenty thousand pesos a month ($1,000 in dollars), Enrique Bayardo went from poverty to an unprecedented wealth.

  According to the investigation of the events, where PFP agents Jorge Cruz Méndez and Fidel Hernández are also implicated, Bayardo del Villar now has two residences with a joint value of close to 4.6 million dollars.

  From one day to the next, he suddenly broke the retrains of his economic limitations and bought m
any luxurious cars like BMW, Mercedes Benz and an armored Cherokee. He spent 6.2 million dollars purchasing these vehicles and residences, all in cash.

  Another piece of this network that presumably is at the service of the brothers Jesus and Ismael El Mayo Zambada, in the first circle of trust of Genaro García Luna is Gerardo Garay Cadena, ex-Commissioner of the PFP, who on November 1, 2008 resigned his position to voluntarily put himself "at the disposal of the authorities", although he was immediately arraigned by the SIEDO.

  Investigators also center towards other officials linked to Garay Cadena.

  One of them is Francisco Navarro, head of Special Operations of the SSP, with extensive controls at the International Airport of Mexico City, recognized as one of the largest centers of operations for the import of drugs and the export of money from drug trafficking.

  Also, inside this group that according to the PGR provided protection to Mayo Zambada, is Luis Cárdenas Palominos, the right arm of García Luna, who was not arraigned but continues to be summoned to testify in front of the SIEDO. Other senior officers of the SSP and the PFP under arraignment are agents Jorge Cruz Méndez and Fidel Hernández García.

  In the complaint delivered to the Mexican Congress, in particular to the Security and Justice commissions, where the process to unify the federal police is being considered, it affirms that it will be solved within a year. Agents of the AFI assure that García Luna is incorporating the PFP and the SSP that is suspected to have criminal history and links to organized crime.

  In their complaint, the agents also address the corruption and disorder that deprive the dependency controlled by García Luna. They say that the personnel being requested to be moved from the AFI and join the Federal Police had not even served four years in their police positions and that favoritism was given to friends and personal relationship with high level officials.