The Treviño Morales Clan

Borderland Beat:  by Vato- a timely repost

 

Once the governments of Mexico and United States declared Heriberto Lazcano dead, the Zeta leadership passed to Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, "El Z-40", "La Mona", or "El Muerto". He is part of an extensive Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas,  family, made up of 13 brothers, of whom at least six have been involved in drug trafficking in the last 15 years. In intelligence files from both countries and court files from the United States, Proceso found  revealing facts on the life, criminal activities and the tragedy that surrounds the Trevino clan.

  Anabel Hernandez (proceso.com.mx) -- El Z-40 was born June 28, 1973, in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, a Zeta bastion for more than a

decade. His parents are Rodolfo Trevino, who was already 49 years old when Miguel Angel was born, and Maria Arcelia Morales, then 34. 
 

Boyhood home in Dallas Texas

The Trevino Morales couple procreated an extensive family: Juan Francisco, aka Kiko Ozuna (1955), Arcelia, Chelo (1957), Irma (1959), Alicia (1961), Rodolfo (1963), Maria Guadalupe (1964), Jose (1966), Ana Isabel (1968), Jesus (1970), Miguel Angel (1973), Oscar Omar, "Alejandro" or "El 42" (1976), Cristina (1978) and Adolfo (1980).
 

According to information from government intelligence agencies, Mexican as well as U.S.,  Maria Arcelia Morales was alive up to 2007; today she would be 74 years old.  She lived in Nuevo Laredo, had a passport to visit some of her children and grandchildren who live in the United States and had a Lincoln Navigator wagon registered in her name.
 

The Trevino criminal history began 19 years ago, with Juan Francisco, aka "Kiko Ozuna", the oldest son of the Trevino Morales couple.  On December 29, 1993, in a random inspection by the U.S. customs service, Juan Francisco's vehicle was stopped and he twice denied he was carrying more than $10,000 in cash. When they searched the car, they found $47,984.00, which was confiscated.

That year, the DEA and the Border Patrol had begun an investigation into the trafficking of tons of marihuana from Nuevo Laredo into Texas, but they only had a few pieces of the puzzle. According to criminal case file No. 3:95-CR--189-R, in the Northern District Court in Texas, of which there is a copy, in October 1994, the United States government charged Juan Francisco Trevino, another Trevino by the name of Armando

 -- it's not known if they are related--, Abraham Padilla (Benny), Abel Lopez, Fernando Quiroz (Vanna), Hipolito Ortiz (Polo), Oscar de Leon (Pelon), and Edel Isaac with criminal enterprise for possession of more than 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lbs) with the intent to distribute. At that time, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales was only 21 years old.

 On October 18, 1994, Juan Francisco Trevino, Armando Trevino and Pedro Sanchez appeared before a magistrate and, based on the law then in effect, asked for a speedy trial which should have been held within 70 days after they voluntarily appeared in court.

On May 26, 1995, Juan Francisco filed a motion to dismiss the charges against him for violating his right to a speedy trial. On June 15, 1995, a court of original jurisdiction held a hearing and dismissed the charges that had been filed in October, 1994.

Kiko Ozuna believed he would be freed from prison immediately. He didn't know that some days prior, on June 7, the prosecution had filed new charges against him for another conspiracy to distribute more than a ton of marihuana in the United States. While he was waiting for a speedy trial, the DEA obtained sufficient evidence to convict him. As in the majority of these cases, the agency accomplished this through accomplices that went into the informants and protected witness program. Those statements completely sunk Juan Francisco.

Everardo Ramirez, introduced as a government witness by the prosecution, testified in court that an individual with the surnames Tovar Ozuna introduced him to Juan Francisco Trevino, who offered him employment. The work consisted of transporting marihuana from Nuevo Laredo to Dallas. Ramirez's first duty was to store the weed in his house for several days then take it to the house of Pablo de Luna.

"The following month, at the request of Tovar Ozuna, Ramirez agreed to store and deliver marihuana that was to be transported to Dallas. Tovar's job was to bring the marihuana across the (Rio Grande) river for Juan Trevino and (take it) to Ramirez. For his part, Ramirez would take it to Pablo de Luna's house, where it was stored and then transported using a business on the border," states the court file.

Ramirez testified that he had participated in trafficking marihuana from Nuevo Laredo to Dallas about three times a month for a year and a half. He added that the largest load he stored was 600 lbs (272 kilograms) and that on U.S. territory they transported the drug on Suburban station wagons, using private roads on a large ranch to avoid police checkpoints. Frank Staggs, owner of the ranch, testified that the ranch caretaker was Armando Trevino. 

Miguel Treviño Morales aka Z40 after his arrest yesterday

  Continued on next page

Everardo Ramirez also testified that he would go to a hotel in Dallas to meet with Jose Trevino Morales, the brother of Juan Francisco, who was in charge of paying him for his services. It took the United States government years to detect and stop Jose's criminal activities, who, 17 years later, turned out to be the head of the Zeta money laundering network in the United States through the quarter horse racing business.

Another key prosecution witness was Joe Chavez, who worked for Kiko Ozuna. In  December of 1993, he approached DEA Special Agent Armando Ramirez and offered to become an informant. "He had a feeling this thing (the criminal network) was going to collapse," the court file points out. On January 24, 1994, Joe tipped off the DEA special agent about a marihuana shipment that was going to be delivered to Dallas on January 26. Agent Ramirez, working undercover, helped Joe Chavez load more than 463 kilograms (about 1,019 lbs) of marihuana on a Suburban (parked) next to a mobile home in Laredo.

When the load got to Dallas, (law enforcement) agents were waiting and they arrested Riky Trevino and Abel Lopez. "Chavez testified that the marihuana that was seized was destined for, or belonged to, Francisco Trevino Morales," states the court file. That was enough for the oldest of the Trevino brothers to lose all hope of getting out of prison.

 On December 1, 1995, Kiko Ozuna was sentenced to 22 years in prison, which will be completed in 2017, when he is 62 years old.  He was sent to a prison close to Laredo, and, according to the terms of the sentence, when he is released he will be on supervised probation for five years "with normal conditions and with four additional conditions."

Juan Francisco Trevino Morales is still in prison. His younger brother, Miguel Angel, followed in his footsteps and surpassed him, becoming the leader of one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the continent, the Zetas, which last year the Barack Obama administration classified as a "global menace" comparable to the Camorra in Italy, the Yakuza in Japan and the Circle of the Brothers in Russia.    

Proceso updated the original post adding the following..thank you Zac for the translation:

Z-40"

The first traces of Miguel Treviño Morales criminal career date from the year 2000. At that time he was in charge of retail drug selling at colonia Hidalgo in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, "as well as carrying out kidnappings, disappearances and executions of people who didn´t pay their rescue", noted intelligence reports.
 

He first worked with Arturo Sauceda Gamboa (El Karis), Omar Lorméndez Pitalúa (Commander Pita), Iván Velázquez Caballero (el Talibán) and Mateo Díaz López (Commander Mateo). Pitalúa was arrested in 2005, Diaz López in 2006 and Velázquez Caballero in September 2012, while Sauceda Gamboa is now dead, killed in a Reyosa shootout.

His rise in the criminal world was fast. According to a FBI document from 2005 under the title “Los Zetas, a new threat to the United States”, Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales was already one of the "key players" of the Gulf Cartel in Nuevo Laredo at that time. The document specifies that he worked with Los Zetas, then the cartel's armed wing.

After Arturo Guzmán Decena, killed in 2002, and Heriberto Lazcano, killed by the Navy of Mexico last October, Miguel Ángel became the first capo of Los Zetas who did not come from a military background, but directly from the criminal world, which does not mean that he lacks training or ignores military tactics.

According to the study conducted by the FBI, the members of the Special Forces who left the army to join organized crime, trained the others of the criminal organization (who did not), in addition to allying with 30 former militars of the Kaibiles, anti-guerrilla special force of Guatemala, internationally known for their bloody and inhumane practices.

According to the same document, Los Zetas established training camps in a ranch located "between Villa Hermosa and Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas", and Z 40 debuted in the criminal world in Nuevo Laredo, where the criminal group first applied surveillance system with video cameras and lookouts.

According to the aforementioned report of the FBI, at least since 2005 the U.S. Government had information about the Zetas operating in Coahuila, specifically in Piedras Negras. The report mentions that in 2005 the leader of Los Zetas in Piedras Negras was a drug trafficker called Fernando Villarreal, identified as Z-40, alias used by Miguel Treviño Morales.

 

"According to the McAllen Intelligence Center, Los Zetas operate in the area with the approval of Rafael Macedo de la Concha, Attorney general of Mexico," says the document.

The first preliminary inquiry against Z-40 dates from 2001, one more in 2003, and five others were opened in 2005. In one of these,176/DGDCSPI/05, Miguel  Treviño Morales is identified by a woman as the man who forced her husband to drive a trailer loaded with cocaine.

Information provided by Mexican intelligence agencies states that on April 28 2005, during a meeting between officials from the FBI and the Mexican Government, the name of Miguel Treviño, Z-40, was revealed for the first time as an important member of Los Zetas.

The US Government currently has several criminal charges against him, one of them in the South Texas District Court (08-cr-00244), in which there are 47 charges against him that could mean more than 200 years’ incarceration. The most recent one was opened in May 2012 by the Prosecutor of the West Texas district for conspiring to launder money for Los Zetas through the purchase, training and breeding of racehorses in the United States.

 

Z 40 is the leader of the criminal organization considered as the most bloodthirsty one in Mexico

"Big Daddy Cartel" (above)

Not only Juan Francisco and Miguel Angel have linked their lives to organized crime. According to information obtained from criminal records and intelligence agencies, his brothers José, Oscar Omar (Alejandro), Jesús and Adolfo are or have been involved with drug trafficking.

 José was born on October 23, 1966, and has been living legally in the United States for years. He was a prosperous horse breeder and trainer until he was arrested with his wife Zulema on his ranch in Lexington, Oklahoma on June 12, 2012. In the criminal lawsuit 12-cr-00210, opened in the West Texas District Court, he was accused of laundering money for Los Zetas through the companies Tremor Enterprises, Tremor Enterprises LLC, Zule Farms and 66 Land LLC, all engaged in the business of horses.

This case, uncovered in June 2012, was a feast for the international press, since horses acquired with money from los Zetas won important races in that country, Z 40 was shareholder of the companies and co-owner of the horses.

José gave his horses names related to drug trafficking: Corona Cartel, Coronita Cartel, Morning Cartel, Number One Cartel, A Snowy poster and Big Daddy Cartel, the latter was the most valuable of all, according to the case records. If years of buoyant business did not catch the attention of the authorities, the names should have done it.

In the criminal case on money laundering it was established that Miguel Angel Treviño gave dirty money to his brother José and his sister-in-law Zulema so they would take care of purchasing, training and feeding the horses, as well as enrolling them in races.

The prosecution claims that Z 40 is directly responsible for the trafficking of cocaine from South America to the United States. Back then Lazcano was still alive so Miguel Angel Treviño was considered one of the two leaders of Los Zetas.

"Z 42", Jesús and Adolfo

The name of another Member of the Treviño clan involved with drug trafficking came up in the same money laundering case: Oscar Omar, alias Alejandro or Z 42, who was supposedly killed by the Mexican Navy in Zacatecas on October 23, 2012,, but the rumor was never confirmed.. (He will most likely inherit the role of premier leader)

Oscar Omar Treviño was born on June 6, 1976 and, according to the criminal file in which he appears as a co-defendant, is a high rank Zeta accused of trafficking  drugs and illicit money in the United States. He is also involved in the dealings with horses and transferring funds for that business.

This was not the first criminal record of Z 40´s brother in the US. In 2008, a criminal file opened against him at the South Texas District Court, 08-cr-00244, accused Omar of being part of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas at least since 2001. (Juan is incarcerated in US Federal Prison and has a release date of March 2014)  The prosecution says that Z 42 introduced marijuana and cocaine from Nuevo Laredo into United States and he has rented homes in Laredo, Texas, to be used as safe houses by hit men.

 

(See the video I posted of Reta (below) and Cordona)

Regarding Jesús Treviño Morales, reports state that he was born on October 4, 1970, and that he used to pose as an engineer or contractor to hide his illegal activities.

In 2004 he was riddled with more than 50 shots from AK-47 in Nuevo Laredo. His body was found in a lot in Paseo Colón and Tamazunchale Street, according to reports from the local press.

Intelligence reports say that Jesús had been put in control of a cell of Los Zetas "but he didn´t follow the new rules for the cartel" so he was killed by the members of the same criminal organization.

 The youngest of the Treviño Morales brothers, Adolfo, was killed on January 18, 2006, when he was 26 years old. His body was abandoned next to a swing in a park in Nuevo Laredo.

Z 40 has a brother named Rodolfo, 10 years older than him, who works in cargo transports. He has no criminal records. In family photographs he appears next to Miguel Ángel and José.