Head of Zetas Splinter Group 'Cartel X' Arrested in Durango

"MX" for Borderland Beat

Mario Otoniel Garza Méndez is known by his aliases 'Tony Mendez' and 'X19'

Durango state authorities confirmed that they arrested Mario Otoniel Garza Mendez (age 24), the leader of a little-known criminal group called Cartel X and/or Los Xs. This criminal group is a spin-off cell made up of former members of the Zetas Vieja Escuela (ZVE) and Northeast Cartel (CDN).

Garza escaped from a juvenile prison in Guemez, Tamaulipas, last month. Even though he was an adult when he escaped, Garza was convicted of murder when he was a minor. At that time, he was a CDN member and was known by his alias 'El Soberano'.

However, he left the CDN when they kidnapped him. Garza was tortured and left for dead, and then joined forces with Jesus Gilberto Acuña Jurado ('El Cholo') and formed the Cartel X. They began recruiting CDN and ZVE deserters.

The Cartel X is fighting the ZVE, CDN, and various Gulf Cartel (CDG) factions for control of Tamaulipas, particularly Ciudad Victoria. Cartel X started off in meth sales but they later got involved in extortion, kidnappings, and gangland attacks.

Borderland Beat reported last July that cartel members set fire to three Grupo Bimbo trucks and attacked their facilities with firearms after the company refused to extortion money. Investigators later found out that this attack was carried out by Cartel X and that many of them were minors.

Cartel X have a strong presence in Chihuahua and have smuggled narcotics to the U.S. through the El Paso–Juárez corridor with the assistance of local smugglers. They also sell drugs in Chihuahua in black plastic bags marked with the letter X.

Reports have mentioned they have ties to La Linea, the former armed wing of the old Juarez Cartel, and with Gente Nueva, a cell of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Sources: Excelsior (1); (2); Marquesina; Furia Negra; Epocaviolenta; Borderland Beat archives