Borderland Beat

by Alex Marentes

  Outside of the home, they found four bodies. Cautiously, and with their weapons drawn, the troops continued inspecting the exterior and found two more gunmen, wounded and unconscious, but alive.

  Inside the house only one body was found, riddled with bullets and with two weapons by its side. The body was identified as Don Alejo Garza Tamez, the owner of the ranch and a highly respected businessman in Nuevo Leon.

  Upon further inspection of the interior, marines found weapons and ammunition at every window and door. This allowed them to reconstruct how, just hours prior, the battle had played out.

  Marines searched for more bodies inside the house, but none were to be found. It seemed hard to believe that one person, armed only with hunting rifles, had caused so many casualties on the attackers.

  Dozens of spent shells and the smell of gunpowder gave proof of the tenacity of the man who fought to the end in defense, of not only his ranch, but his dignity.

  In the end, it was deduced the man had created his own defense strategy to fight alone, placing weapons at every door and window.

  The story began that fateful Saturday morning, when a group of armed gunmen went to deliver an ultimatum to Don Alejo Garza Tamez: He had 24 hours to turn over his property or suffer the consequences.

  Using the diplomacy, he had acquired over nearly eight decades of life, Don Alejo flatly announced that not only would he not be surrendering his property, but that he'd be waiting for them.

  When the men had left, Don Alejo gathered his workers and ordered them to take the day off, he wanted to be alone.

  He dedicated the rest of the day taking stock of his weapons and ammunition and creating a military fortress style defense strategy for his home.

  The night of Saturday the thirteenth was long and restless, much like his past hunting adventures; Don Alejo woke up early. Shortly after 4 a.m. the motors of various trucks could be heard entering the property from a distance.

  Marines who investigated the scene could only imagine how it was that morning. Armed men, their impunity secured, confident they'd soon be owners of yet another property. Nobody, or almost no one, could hold out against a group of heavily armed gunmen.

  Only Don Alejo.

  The trucks entered the ranch and took up positions surrounding the house. The gunmen got out of their trucks, fired shots in the air, and announced they came to take possession of the ranch. They were expecting the terrified occupants to run out, begging for mercy with their hands in the air.

  Things didn't go as expected. Don Alejo welcomed them with bullets. The entire army of gunmen returned fire. Don Alejo seemed to multiply, he seemed to be everywhere. The minutes would have seemed endless to those who had seen him as easy prey. Various gunmen were killed on sight. The others, in rage and frustration, intensified the attack by swapping out their assault rifles for grenades.

  When everything finally fell silent, the air was left heavy with gunpowder. The holes left in the walls and the windows attested to the violence of the attack. When they went in search of what they had assumed was a large contingent, they were surprised to find only one man, Don Alejo.

  The surviving gunmen did not take over the ranch. Thinking the military would arrive at any moment, they decided to run. They left behind what they thought were six dead bodies, but two of their gunmen had survived.

  Shortly after, the Marines arrived and methodically reconstructed the events. A lone rancher, a man who worked a lifetime to be able to enjoy the fruits of his labor such as his ranch, had defended it to his death.

  In the last hunt of his life, Don Alejo surprised the group of assassins who wanted to impose the same law on his ranch that they had on the State, the law of the jungle.

  The marines who were present will never forget the scene. A 77 year old man, who before death, took out four gunmen, fighting the same as any of the best trained soldiers, with dignity, courage, and honor.

  Tracking El Lazca

  As I had previously reported, Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano "El Lazca", top leader of Los Zetas was presumed to have been killed by the Mexican military on October 7, 2012. However, between 2008 through his capture in 212 there was a huge manhunt for El Lazca in the Gulf region of Mexico.

  El Lazca was for the Federal Government the most difficult target to locate, one among a list of the most wanted criminals. On his long trips, he usually travelled alone, with a backpack on his shoulder and traveling by bus, avoiding airplanes. It was said that when Lazcano traveled alone, the only person that accompanied him was usually the most trusted Zeta named Pedro Vázquez Torres, aka El Perro. When arriving at a city under his control, he would use a public cellular to give notice of his arrival and immediately afterwards, El Perro would gather about 30 vehicles full of sicarios to provide El Lazca with escort all day and night.

  He would use the cover among the masses of people to hide, but he also took the time to protect the air waves of his network of electronic communications, to prevent his immediate circle of people around him or other third parties from notifying authorities in real time of his location. In the investigation of Casino Royale, for example, it was learned that they acquired electronic devices to create static signal that blocked his communication for miles around.

  Trust was huge thing for El Lazca and he did not tolerate any betrayal from any of his people under any circumstances.

  "El Lazca has cost us more work in trying to locate his whereabout, it has been very difficult, even more than with El Chapo Guzmán," had said the head of SIEDO, Cuitláhuac Salinas, in an interview in 2008.

  When Erick Cárdenas Guízar, "El Orejón", was arrested in Veracruz he told the PGR that El Lazca was very safe from rival cartels or authorities when he made public appearances. "El Lazca was always escorted by 30 suburban type vehicles and in each vehicle were about 5 heavily armed sicarios," El Orejón had said.

  The first documented case of an attempt to capture El Lazca was on December 5, 2008, when Lazcano was at the ranch El Atorón in the Potosí municipality of Santa María del Río.

  At 6:00 in the morning the Federal Police raided the ranch and captured two of the caretakers, as well as El Lazca's private secretary Víctor Hugo López Valdez, El Chiricuas, along with his assistant Pablo Gómez Solano, El Paguas, who had an arsenal of high caliber weapons in the courtyard of the main house.

  El Paguas testified that he was brought in to the ranch because Lazcano wanted to see him. He was there with the people of El 40, Miguel Treviño, but he did not know why Lazcano wanted to see him. Lazcano had been at the ranch when El Paguas arrived.

  According to police information, Lazcano managed to flee through the thick brush surrounding the ranch and survived three days without eating in the remote areas of the country, a practice that he would later employ in his paramilitary training centers in several states of the Northeast of the country.

  After surviving, El Lazca ordered the execution of all those who had heard about their meeting at the ranch. He thought that someone that had knowledge of his movements had snitched the information to authorities. He disbanded his inner circle of trusted people, because he could no longer trust them. Authorities continued to track his locations. El Lazca was tracked in Monclova through intelligence from Mexico and the US and was suspected of living in the city of San Luis Potosí. He was tracked travelling constantly in the border of the state of Coahuila, many times to meet with Miguel Treviño Morales "El Z-40" where they would sometimes go hunting for deer.

  But El Lazca remained elusive, always ahead of the authorities.

  In Coahuila, more than in any other part of the Mexican region, Lazcano was being tracked since 2010. In the state of Coahuila, he would end up avoiding capture three other times. The first one occurred on February 16, 2010, when the Mexican Marines surrounded a house in Brisas del Valle, a residential neighborhood in the northern sector of the city of Monclova where El Lazca presumably owned a house. The military was unable to pinpoint the exact location of the house from the c
oordinates nor were they able to detain anyone.

  The second time was on May 18, 2011, in a shootout between the military/federal police against armed men in the northern part of Monclova. Several buildings were damaged from gunfire during the confrontation with heavy weaponry. Casualties were reported but El Lazca managed to escape unharmed while his sicarios were engaging the military in the confrontation. El Perro was instrumental in numerous cases when he led his gunmen under his control to engage the military to facilitate the escape of El Lazca.

  The last known time that El Lazca managed to escape from the authorities was at a party at a recreational center on Highway 57 north of the Monclova. El Lazca was there celebrating a woman's birthday, presumably his girlfriend. The popular band "Banda Jerez" was detained by the PGR along with waiters and other staff who had provided service at the party.

  In August of 2011, two Cubans appeared before the cameras of Univision claiming that they had detained Lazcano on the high seas and that they handed him over to the DEA, an agency that did not want to pay them the 5 million dollars in reward. That was actually reported in some of the media in Mexico and in the US. that proved to be false.

  Some police sources reported that El Lazca had some kind of unknown disease that had left him out of circulation for some time and that prevented him from moving more easily in order to control the daily tasks of his organization. There were also many reports in the media (US and Mexico) of rumors on the streets in the Gulf region that El Lazca was dead. Not until 2012 when he was actually killed after the military was finally able to track him down, catching him by surprise and killing him in a shootout. El Perro was not at his side, something that surprised a lot of people and started a rumor that perhaps El Perro was not the most trusted Zeta he had after all.

  According to Mexican federal sources they had El Lazca's fingerprints on record because he had been detained in 1998 and was imprisoned in the Santa Adelaida Prison in Matamoros, where he was eventually released a short time after.

  The body of El Lazca was stolen from the funeral home, never to be seen again. It was said that the body was stolen by orders from Miguel Treviño Morales, El 40, a good personal friend of El Lazca, although they had their differences toward the end of the Lazca’s and El 40’s regime of Los Zetas.

  The name of El Perro, the one who had initially showed unwavering loyalty to El Lazca by protecting him and defending him with his own life, would come to my attention once again while reporting on the Borderland Beat blog.

  Pedro

  It was in the early part of October 2011 that I received an email on the address borderlandbeat@gmail.com.

  “From: pedro

  To: buggs2001@gmail.com

  Date: Sat, Oct 1, 2011 at 2:08 PM

  Subject: DEA fugitive

  Buggs I have addresses cell numbers home numbers autos bus address hangout for above fugitive wanted by us marshal office if interested to speak with me email address is (removed). Home number (removed) ill be able to explain once we speak via phone. Pedro”

  He went by the name of Pedro and he told me he had a lot of information about organized crime, including Mexican classified documents, pictures and telephone transcripts. I have a Google phone number that I ended up providing it to Pedro so we can talk on the telephone. Pedro wasted no time calling me. He told me he could send me a lot of information that might be useful to me in reporting about organized crime in Mexico. He told me that he needed to keep his identity secret for security reasons related to him, family and associates. Pedro told me I could use this information to share it on the Borderland Beat blog. I got tons of documents and photographs. Most were marked as classified from Mexican Naval Intelligence. Most of the documents I could not make any sense, I was not certain what they were, but I did notice some that peeked my interest. One was about someone that went by the name of “El Perro.”

  Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2010 13:13:00 -0500

  Subject: El Perro Pedrito

  To: NCAR23

  El Perro, jefe de 20 escoltas del Lazca, primer cinturon de seguridad.

  Pendientes.”

  “El Perro, boss of the 20 body guards of Lazca, first line of security.”

  The email included pictures, some were of military personnel that had deserted from the military and were marked as classified by Mexican Naval Intelligence. Looking at the documents it was concluded that El Perro was no other than Pedro Vasques Torres. It appeared to be a Mexican soldier that had apparently deserted the Mexican army and joined the forces of the Zetas under Heriberto Lazcano.

  There was a certificate from the Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional (SEMAR) with Pedro Vazques Torrez’ name and picture of him. The certificate stated: “For having completed the basic training of special forces, forming part of the 4/0 squadron, during the period from March 22 to May 1999 in the special forces training institute.”

  I was a little confused and just because of his name was Pedro I asked him if El Perro was him. Sometime people that have a name of Pedro are nicknamed Perro. Pedro respond that he was not the “Perro” in the documents.

  “Date: Sun, Oct 9, 2011 at 3:01 AM

  Subject: Re: VERY IMPORTANT INFO El Perro Pedrito

  No buggs no its not me lol I happen to have many Mexican classified documents, lets talk via phone ill explain further just give me window time when to call.

  pedro”

  I was not certain if these documents were legitimate and was not sure what to do with them. It appeared that the Mexican government knew more about Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano alias “Lazca” personal security detail and might be closing in on him. I spoke to Pedro and he confirmed my suspicion. He told me that the Mexican government, with the help of the US, was closing in on Lazca. His next correspondence led me believe that Mexico was very close to capturing Lazca.

  Date: Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 11:55 PM

  Subject: LAZCA NEXTEL 10-15-11

  “this is the ID number of the nextel radio of Lazca and his 25first belt of bodyguards. He is located right now in the mexican stateof San Luis Potosí. 52 * 135051 * 1 Lazca personal nextel id

  52 * 135051 * 2 This is El Perro personal nextel id

  " " 3

  " " 4

  " " 5

  26

  This kind of people changes very often his communication radios, so we have to move fast.”

  This appeared to be a conversation from agencies that had information on the whereabouts of El Lazca and were trying to expedite an operation. It included cellular frequencies and their location. Pedro kept updating me with the location of El Lazca and his personal escort El Perro, as he was moving from location to location. It was apparent that Mexican official with the help of the US were moving closer to him.

  It was clear that someone close to the inner circle of El Lazca was filtering the ID numbers of the Nextel cellulars used by El Lazca and his inner circle. The Mexican and US authorities were tracking the locations of El Lazca using this information. There was no evidence that actual locations of El Lazca were leaked directly, but with this information related to the Nextel communication equipment, authorities (especially us intelligence) could very easily identified locations of the equipment.

  This information gave me great concern, primarily because it dealt with a covert operation that dealt with extremely sensitive information related to the top capo of the Zeta Cartel. I was not sure if the information was legitimate, but I was curious to find out.

  I had contacts in Monterrey and Matamoros who had sources in the Naval Intelligence, and I sent them the documents of Vasques Torres to confirm their validity. They got back to say that their sources who were in official governmental capacity could not confirm or deny their validity, but they were concern on how the documents were obtained. They indicated that some of the documents appeared to be official and classified documents, but would not be able to confirm their authenticity because they were classified documents. Both contacts became concerned for their safety and d
id not want to push matters further. This information was very important because it dealt with Heriberto Lazcano, the top boss of the Los Zetas.

  I never acted on any of this information related to El Lazca that was obtained by Pedro in October of 2011 or posted anything about this on Borderland Beat. Frankly, I did not feel comfortable with this information, as it was based on an active operation. I did not want to be responsibility for what might happen if this information became public at this point in time. Later on, I discovered that Pedro was also providing this same information to other blogs and journalists. Much later, after I had moved on to other topics, this became apparent in an article published on Borderland Beat by “Armchair” on February 26, 2013 titled “The Man who Turned on Lazca”

  By ACI - Borderland Beat

  “In 2010 Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano was in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. His movements were being traced through a corrupted Nextel number. The only reason this is known is because of a man named Pedro Vazquez Torres ' el perro' or the dog. El Perro was part of Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano inner ring of security. It was said he rarely ever left Lazcano’s side but on the day of his death El Perro was absent. While the accounts of what occurred that day differ widely, the following is what is believed to be true.

  On October 7, 2012, Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano was attending a soccer game in the town of Progreso, Coahuila. As Lazca was watching the game he had little clue as to what was taking place around him. A contingent of Mexican Marines moved in on Lazca’s location, surrounding the entire area.

  The Mexican Government claimed someone had called in a tip about gunmen at a baseball game. This has been hard for many to believe. Some have speculated that perhaps he was set up by Z-40, another powerful leader of the group. While I cannot say for certain, I have confirmed what I believe is closest representation of the truth. Lazca was turned in by his inner ring of security, possibly with the green light from Los Zetas.