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Monday, October 17, 2022

Los Zetas - Part I: The Formation

"HEARST" for Borderland Beat

The following is Part I of a brief overview of Los Zetas history, a story requested by readers.  


The origin of Los Zetas is more in dispute than it may appear on the surface. Two of the main authors on the subject present differing accounts of what occurred.



The discrepancies mainly surround who initiated and first poached the Army officer named Arturo Guzmán Decena, who would later go on to become “Z-1”, the first Zeta member. 




Grillo’s Version


According to the author Ioan Grillo in his book El Narco, Z-1 had worked with the leader of the Gulf Cartel, Osiel Cárdenas Guillen, prior to Z-1 ever defecting. 



Grillo says Osiel wanted to create a team of hitmen who would specifically be used to kill rival cartel leadership figures. Osiel focused on recruiting men from the special forces battalions of the Army, called Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales (GAFE), the Mexican equivalent of the US’s Army Rangers.  (El Narco pages 97-98, Buggs 2009



During this period, soldiers stationed in Tamaulipas would often take bribes from Gulf Cartel figures to look the other way when their drug smuggling loads were discovered. Grillo alleges that Z-1 and Osiel first began working together due to one of these off-the-record arrangements, while Z-1 was still in the Army. 


Even though Army soldiers were willing to take bribes from narcos, Grillo alleges that it was relatively unheard of for a soldier to fully defect to work under a narco at this time.



However, the thrust of Osiel’s pitch to entice soldiers to defect was simple: he was offering a significantly higher pay. And it worked. 


That being said some writers, such as Grillo, allege that GAFE soldiers could already live quite comfortably on their military salary. They argue that the risk inherent in becoming a fugitive was far too great for the pay to have been the only factor in the defector’s decisions. (Buggs 2009, El Narco pages 97-98)


Grillo alleges that a larger societal push towards holding the military accountable for human rights violations and corruption that was going on at the time played a significant role in the decision of this early group of defectors. 




It is generally believed that Z-1 was finally convinced  by Osiel at some point in 1997. The military record of Z-1 shows that he was recognized as having gone AWOL on September 27, 1997 and three days later he was officially discharged following a military tribunal.  (Mexican Cartels: An Encyclopedia, page 148) 


An informant later attested that Osiel asked Z-1 to create a group of the best men possible, which led to Z-1 slowly poaching military soldiers from multiple different units over the course of multiple months until he had a group of 38 defectors working under him. At this point, Z-1 anointed himself with the alias “Z1” and those under him received similar Z aliases. (El Narco pages 97-98)





Marley’s Version - Z1’s Defection and First Job for Osiel


The account presented in David Marley’s book Mexican Cartels: An Encyclopedia of Mexico's Crime and Drug Wars paints a somewhat different story. 


Marley notes that the young Z-1 was “loaned out” to the PGR anti-narcotics branch and was tasked by the military (along with nearly 350 others) to act as a convert infiltrator on the Tamaulipas drug smuggling scene. He says this assignment was how Z-1 first made contact with the narcos in the area and that Z-1 quickly began working for the narcos in earnest, rather than just playing the role of informant. 



He writes that Z-1 began doing jobs on the side for the Gulf Cartel by the age of just 22 years old and cites as evidence the first-hand account written by a fellow soldier who worked with Z-1. This differs significantly from Grillo’s version where Z-1 only took bribes to look the other way until the moment of his defection. 


Z-1 then defected in September 1997, and, according to Marley, Army high command received reports that Z-1 had been seen working as a personal bodyguard for CDG regional boss Gilberto Garcia Mena, alias “El June”, just months after his military discharge. In Marley’s version of events, El June was Z-1’s boss in the years after his defection and Osiel doesn’t enter into the equation until later. 



As a side note, contributor MX has written previously (both on Borderland Beat and as a Wikipedia editor) that a man named Zeferino Peña Cuéllar, who worked under El June, was actually one who recruit Z-1 into the CDG. 



According to Marley, Z-1 did not actively recruit soldiers from the army, but rather, the soldiers sought him out, wanting to know more about how much he was getting paid and what work for the CDG entailed. 


One of these men was 24-year-old Heriberto Lazcano, who decided to defect and work alongside Z-1 during the summer of 1998. The pair performed a number of hits for El June and gained a reputation within the CDG. 



In Marley’s version, it wasn’t until February 1999 that Osiel ever made a request of Z-1, when he asked Z-1 and Lazcano to perform a hit on a rival named Rolando Lopez Salinas, alias “El Rolys” (sometimes spelled Rolis). This hit reportedly failed and both men were forced to flee but they had shown their skill in a gunfight so contracts continued to come their way. 






The Execution of El Chava 


In June 1999, Osiel enacted a plot to kill one of the other leaders of the Gulf Cartel, a man named Ángel Salvador Gómez Herrera, alias “El Chava”. Chava was largely unsuspecting of this plot because Osiel had recently named him as the godfather to his newborn daughter that he had recently had with his current mistress, Lilianna Davila Gonzalez.



Osiel and Chava met each other in June 1999 at the port city of El Mezquital, Tamaulipas. Chava had just arrived by sea, traveling to the area in a motorboat, and Osiel offered to drive him to where they would be staying. The two men boarded Osiel’s black Dodge Durango SUV, sitting in the front seats, while one of Osiel’s gunmen sat in the backseat and Chava’s bodyguards stood outside. 



After speaking to each other for a few minutes, Osiel made a signal to the gunman in the backseat who took out his pistol and shot Chava in the back of the head, killing him, while simultaneously Chava’s bodyguards were shot by Osiel’s other gunmen. According to both Grillo and Marley the man in the backseat who pulled the trigger on Chava was Z-1. 


Chava’s body was dumped in a remote area outside of Matamoros and not discovered until several days later, in a severe state of decay due to the hot summer sun. 


This execution famously led to Osiel becoming known as the Mata Amigos or “Friend Killer”. Marley specifies that Osiel earned this title mainly because Chava’s body was so heavily disfigured by the time it was discovered and open casket funerals were considered the norm, so the hit was seen as unnecessarily cruel. 




Marley’s Version - Osiel's Request 


With Chava eliminated, Rolys was one of the only people standing in the way of Osiel having total control of the Gulf Cartel, so he ordered a second hit on Rolys in September 2000. The hit failed, but in the resulting fallout it was discovered that Rolys had been hiring hitmen out of Culiacan. This led Osiel to conclude what he had long suspected, that Rolys was working with Joaquin Guzman, El Chapo, from the Sinaloa Cartel in order to contest Osiel’s power. 



According to Marley, it is at this point, when  a CDS alliance was discovered,  that Osiel first approached Z-1 and requested that he form a hit-squad for him of “the best men”. Z-1 told Osiel that those men could only be found in the Army, so Osiel gave him the approval to recruit directly from their ranks. 


First he worked on recruiting men from the army garrison at Reynosa, then men from units he had previously worked in at Hidalgo,  and finally he pulled men from companies in his home state of Puebla. Z-1 was reportedly very charming during his recruiting efforts but he struggled with organizational and managerial skills so Osiel assigned three ex-Army officers to manage the new recruits. 



And thus, the Zetas were formed. The Z designation given as aliases to the members reportedly stemmed from Z-1’s final assignment in the military, drawing from  the PGR’s method for naming and identifying the military men they were loaned and used to help infiltrate the cartel groups.







Sources: Ioan Grillo's book El Narco, David Marley's book Mexican Cartels: An Encyclopedia, Research by Borderland Beat Contributor MX, Borderland Beat Archives

105 comments:

  1. Hey guys, this is only Part I.

    I’ll write Part II when the news slows down. As it is, there are lots of important stories going on right now that we haven’t been able to cover yet. Hope everyone understands.

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    1. Don’t forget to write the part in where the Michoacános smoke these zeta lames!

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    2. Did u guys know when zetas raided apatzingan jail they also freed MenChos brother abraham he was there cause he had killed mario caballero brother right hand to Armando Valencia and was going to get smoked

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    3. Gulf Cartel smoke them and help them michoacanos most z were from Veracruz

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    4. Thanks @Hearst!
      I was always under the impression that the Zetas were an official branch of the Mexican Army.

      I was told by a Mexican Army Ranger that the Zetas had official military uniforms and actively served side by side with the rest of the Army. Meaning they were actual soldiers payed by Mexico… and the Zetas were called as a last resort to do black ops work in Mexico including safe-guarding heroin plantations in the Chihuahua and Guerrero fields.

      When all else failed the Mexican government used the Zetas to kill civilians, sell drugs, protect fields of cannabis and poppies, and transport cocaine and methamphetamines.

      Once CDS felt threatened by the power of Los Zetas they formed a team of mercenaries and a new cartel, Los Zetas Matas.

      Boca Del Rio in Veracruz is an active sex trafficking port and historical stronghold of Los Zetas, now dead and replaced by the CJNG.

      Then you have foreign nations like Iran China and Russia sponsoring rival Cartels and supplying them with weapons, chemicals and drugs.

      The Mexican Citizen is never thought of or protected. Everybody wants to control Mexico and rape it

      Viva La Raza! 👌🏽🌈🌶

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    5. What does that rainbow emoji mean? Viva la raza and that emoji don’t go together if it means what i think it does.

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    6. Most z’s were from Veracruz hahahaha that explains why them Michoacános killed them!

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    7. 4 comments in the whining is on again?
      Mexican EMOs,la raza,motherfucker you in the U.S. sit your arse down,payoso

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    8. Mexican melitary infiltrated their GAFES on the Federal Police all over México, and some went on to become Zetas, but the melitary kept infiltrating people all over the place, before National Guard became a thing, the Zetas recruited their own associates with no military background, like Z1#2 the governor of Veracruz Fidel Herrera Beltran and some say, ricardo monreal, who became governor of Zacatecas.
      The mexican melitary avenging that years before Arturo "el Negro" Durazo Moreno was made a 5 Star General del Ejército Mexicano by presidente José Lopez Portillo, because el negro wanted to wipe his ass with the Mexican Military "cupula", por sus puros pinches webbos.

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    9. Los michoacanos probably smoked some crack dealers for the zetas. As they were over taken by chapos people in their own turf and forced to side with them. Chapos people were weaker than the zetas thats why they needed all the help they could get. If the michoacanos couldnt take on chapos what makes you think they would have been able to take on the zetas themselves. Man you kids sure take killing a no ranking drug dealer as if you killed a top mafia boss.

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  2. Load blown, great work.

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  3. I took part in the operation who brought Lazcano down, when we killed him in Coahuila. 10 days ago it was the tenth anniversary of his death. I home he is enjoying Hell, the motherfucker was even worse than Z-40

    El Cabrón de Tamaulipas

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    1. Sure and I’m Tarzan

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    2. Very true, most people assume Z-40 was force behind all the sadistic Los Zetas killings when infact it was Z-3. Most people also fail to realize when Z-3 was killed he had all but given up his leadership role in Los Zetas. He was operating 2 massive mining operations in Coahuila state that were generating so much money he happily handed over control to L-40.

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    3. He absolutely was. 2010 through 2012 was hell on earth until Lazca was killed. Z40 certainly killed a ton of people after that, but he shied away from the brazen, public violence that Lazca apparently believed in. Both the San Fernando massacres, the Casino Royal arson, and the Cadereyta massacre were ordered by Lazca, in addition to the murder of Lalo Moreira.

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    4. @11:37 I know Z-3 more than anyone. Like i said in another topic, i enlisted after the Zetas lacras took away from me a person that was extremely important to me. So the entire thing was very personal to me against the Zetas, and it became even more personal after discovering that it were four Z-3 sicarios who did that. At least they have been sent were they belong, both them and Z-3.

      El Cabrón de Tamaulipas

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    5. @11:37 the thought of the torments that he is enduring in Hell and will endure for all eternity is one of the few things in this life that bring me peace. Z-3 and his lacras ruined my life and my life’s family, they are the reason why i had to evacuate my family from Mexico. I’m the only one who stayed here,

      El Cabrón de Tamaulipas

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    6. @Cabron de Tamaulipas
      Michoacán's run Tamps since before Aramondo Valencia don’t know why they make a big deal of the zetas. Zetas tried to take to Michoacán and failed miserably. Zetas are overrated and hyped up!

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    7. Dude shut up with your michoacan bs nobody cares you sound insecure

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    8. ECdTamaulipas ya llevas tiempo tirando bala. Una pregunta si la quieres contestar. "EML" según se dió de baja por la política del mandatario, tu cómo ves las cosas?
      Mi opinión, yo veo un desmadre por la falta de acción, el matadero de inocentes por no querer enfrentar a los lacras que tienen jodidos a los más jodidos. No hay seguridad, no hay temor a ser combatidos y menos miedo a la ley de Díos.

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    9. First off, you bump your head if you think michoacanos ran Tamaulipas before, during, or after Armando Valencia (prove me wrong, show me some links, etc, anything that states that). There might have been some michoacanos with some influence there, but as far as running the state, that’s fantasy island material. And weather you like it or not, CDG/Zetas were running Michoacan for a bit. Everyone was taking orders from them. Untill CDG/Osiel sent some dude that no one respected, was ignored and not listened to. One of the Zs filled that void and they (the zetas) started doing a bunch of bullsh@&$ to ordinary citizens (rapes, unnecessary killings, etc.). That’s when the michoacanos finally started organizing to unite and form there own cartel. “One of” the main reasons La FamIlia Michoacana formed was to stop and prevent injustices against the regular population. Theey hung quite a few castrated bodies for rape offenses, even their own members(the first year or two after their formation and even after but not as common). I remember one body that they had castrated and crucified on a buildboard with a message saying “This is what happens to rapists. One of the reasons for the split (CT from LFM) was because Nazario’s people were victimizing the regular population and Chango kept telling Nazario that he needed to check his people and get them under control and he would just brush it of or try to lay blame on others. Finally Chango told him in so many words “Either you check your people or I’ll take care of it”. By that time the tension and dislike between those two was deep…..My bad, I got off topic. My point being that even though CDG/Zetas did run Michoacan for a bit, Michoacanos have never ran Tamaulipas. Maybe you were confused and said it backwards. 🤗

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    10. 11:08:
      Any information that you can share with us would be greatly appreciated. Email Hearst and help make this story better and more accurate.
      Thanks for your service and I wish you the best as you bust heads.

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    11. 4:07 My understanding was that one of the big reasons LFM and CT split up was that Chango Mendez was talking with the zetas, which Nazario and the Plancartes obviously didn't agree with. I'm wondering if you have more info on the topic? You have interesting insights

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    12. 5:58 that was after they split up regarding talks Chango had with Los Zetas. Chayo and the other three leaders: Tuta, Kike Plancarte and El Tio Dionisio, had the political pull and were sending state and federal government heat at Chango.
      @4:07 IDK about any Zetas having control over Michoacán after Tisico got arrested, his lieutenants took over the trafficking as they were natives from there and knew the land and politicos. Lets remember Los Zetas were loaned gunman who helped La Empress in their fight against Milenio, what led to their expelling and killing was they believed they were the top dogs and did what they wanted against the civilian population and some traffickers in trying to generate money. Tisico and OSC were bosses of their respective groups and also compadres, it was mutually beneficial to both of them to control Michoacán as CDG would receive merchandise from a known source of supply and also hit a rival/competitor of both groups in their plazas.
      First OCG was captured in 3/14/2003, AVC on 8/15/2003, and CARM on 10/24/2004.

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    13. Share your story bro. Still haven't decided if your 100

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    14. @4:07
      Zetas/CDG never ran Michoacán you clown quit posting lies they tried to take Michoacán and got brutally slaughtered.
      As far as Michoacános having influence and power over Tamps that shit is 💯 cartel historical facts.
      Post a picture of Ines Oseguera already and shut your habaldor ass up!

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    15. Cabron De Tamaulipas, gracias por el servico que hiciste por México y por tus seres queridos, que en paz descansen.

      Hearst, como siempre, muchas gracias por tus reportes y el tiempo que dedicas a BB. Igual para ested hermano Sol. Un saludo y un abrazo desde Los Angeles- El Nemesis.

      P.S. porfavor le dicen a la gran Chivis que se le manda un saludo, un abrazo, y que DIOS quiera que ella y su familia estén bien.

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    16. 11:08 did you use any of the favorite weapons favored by Sicario 006?

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  4. I'd like to believe those final alleged photos of Z1 are actually him, just because it fits the classic description of Z members in the late 90s/early 2000s; black jeans, black shirt, black plate carrier (which even most Mexican soldiers were not outfitted with in those days), black hat, sidearm, and either an AR-variant or MP5. It was always said that you could clearly identify early Z members in public based on them being the only ones who were outfitted like that.

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    1. There's facial recognition technology that could help identify if it's him in the pictures.

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    2. 11:43. It 100% is Z1. He has a son who is alive and can confirm its Z-1. saludos

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    3. The last pictures are Guzman Decena i actually doubt the one in the jeans which everyone knows ?

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    4. Mexican Army Lieutenant Arturo Guzman Decena had gone to the GAFES before resigning and became a policia Federal in Tamaulipas, is what happens when you hire militarized animals to become or train police, the mexican military think they own patriotism, even while doing their crimes, much like any other military, chilean, argentinians, uruguayan, paraguayan, guatemalan colombian...
      Many in Putin's army refuse to fight their Ukrainian Brothers, but he has rockets, one needs to boomerang on his head.

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    5. You know SHIT dumb ass commie crying and talking about military men in LATAM


      You forgot to mention venezuelan and cuban soldiers killing their own fellow citizens

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  5. Can anyone tell me if Sicario 006 has more military training than Z1 and the original Zeta unit?

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    1. How dare you compare 006 to any cartel members. Sicario006 is Rambo’s prodigy. He took out Vietnam, Russia and Afghanistan with his bare hand.

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    2. Sicario 006 still has flashbacks from being in Vietnam on kitchen duty.

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    3. Sicario 006's duty when he was training to be a sicario was to clean the shitters just like Roger in American Dad

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    4. Nobheads all over the yard

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    5. Sicario fought George Washington with the British and Pancho Villa.

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  6. Nice report, Hearst. No one could have done anything better than this. Thank you for all you do and also that shoutout on Don Zefe's work.

    I've been working on trying to find more info on Alejandro Lucio Morales Betancourt, the original Z-2. He was stationed in Matamoros back in 1996 and then started working with Osiel when he came back from Miguel Aleman. In 2001 he became a PGR protected witness.

    There are some print newspaper where I remember seeing pictures of him. He was suspected of running drugs since 1998 and local journalists ran a few stories. They are in Ciudad Victoria and Matamoros, in local city archives. El Chava's picture is also in the late 1980s archives. Need to go back and check them out. They've been closed / with limited access since the pandemic started.

    Thank you again and nice job with this masterpiece.

    - MX from Borderland Beat

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    1. MX!
      Always glad to hear from you. Please email me any details or corrections you can think of if you have extra time. You know this subject better than anyone.

      So interesting to hear that about the original Z-2. Also, damn, I really wanted to find a photo of Chava.

      Hey, stay safe. Everyone misses you.

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    2. Saludos MX. In your discussions with B Jeff concerning how OCG rose to prominence I think I remember the mention of support a law enforcement official played. Someone named Eloy? Do you remember the name?
      Another thing , it may just be coincidence but Don Nepomuceno was also Cardenas. That would be my guess on how the Cardenas can maintain relevance in CDG even when they weakened it with their incompetence and OCG government cooperation

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    3. @2:49 - Hi there. Yes, his name was Eloy Treviño García. He was based in Nuevo Laredo and was close to that mysterious Nuevo Laredo gangster Dionisio Román García Sánchez ("El Chacho"). Eloy was part of El Maradona's circle when he was arrested.

      The law enforcement people who were part of OSG's rise were Arturo Pedroza Aguirre and Gregorio Sauceda Gamboa ("Caramuela"). Journalist Jesus Blancornelas wrote a piece on OSG's encounter with Pedroza based on what local journalists (who were unable to write about it in Matamoros) told him. Pedroza worked closely with to the original Zetas in taking El Chacho out by tipping his location in Monterrey in 2002. I got a picture of Pedroza but none for El Chacho, unfortunately. I was told it is in local archives in Nuevo Laredo -- yet to visit.

      Other law enforcement people who were close to Osiel that you may find useful for your research were those who were involved in the FBI/DEA standoff in 1999. Some of them have familiar names (i.e. Costilla), but there are some obscure ones too:

      - Baldomero González Ruiz (alias "El Viejo Fox")
      - José Manuel Garza Rendón (alias "La Brocha")
      - Adán Medrano Rodríguez (alias "El Licenciado")
      - Alejandro Estévez García
      - Arturo Meléndez Reta
      - Saúl González López
      - Rogelio García García (alias "El Roger")

      Bjeff has a good list of the Original Metros based in Matamoros. @Bjeff, if you're reading, please share!

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    4. @Hearst - Thank you. I miss you and this community too. I've been out of the loop with day-to-day but reading up on old CDG mostly for the past year. We'll be in touch. Thanks for everything.

      - MX

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    5. @2:49 - Forgot to add. As far as my research concerns, Juan N. Guerra Cardenas and Osiel Cardenas are not related, at least not as closely. Cardenas is a Sephardic last name (quite common in Nuevo Leon/Tamps) so there is some genealogical ties but it's probably generations in the past.

      - MX

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    6. MX, I don't find it convincing that Cardenas is Sephardic which is the position of the Catholic church. It may be true of some who bear the surname but not of all.

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    7. Gracias MX. The Eloy name had me thinking of another nefarious individual.
      The Sephardic origin is interesting and confusing, do we really know where we come from and from what people? Obviously we are the present existence of ourselves but...

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    8. 4:48 - I meant Cardenas the surname, not specifically Osiel Cárdenas. I found the Cardenas surname in several Sepharad websites, but you’re right, we may never know. Now, most of the Jews who fled Europe during the Inquisition quickly adopted Christianity. Their Jewish ties were lost pretty fast as they assimilated by force over 500 years ago.

      5:08 - which other individual? And you’re absolutely right! I enjoy doing genealogy report but there are always guesses involved.

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    9. 9:42 Eloy Peralta

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    10. 10:49 - Nice, thank you. Full name is Adolfo Eloy Peralta Mora ("Yankee"). I don't know much about him. I'll add him to my list.

      -MX

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    11. Was General Lazaro Cardenas del Rio their uncle?

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    12. Nice to see useful dialog from old school forum peeps!

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    13. One more primo:
      Goyo Cardenas,
      El Estrangulador de la Capital.

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  7. Really well done. Interesting discrepancies between the two authors. Zetas are one of the most thoroughly covered groups and experts still disagree on things.

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  8. Antrax Vs Original Zetas ?
    Gente Nueva VS Original Zetas?
    Grupo Elite VS Original Zetas?
    Grupo Delta VS Original Zetas?
    Hells Angels VS Original Zetas?
    Yakuza VS Original Zetas ?
    Triads vs Original Zetas ?
    Grupo Flechas VS Original Zetas?
    Bloods VS Original Zetas?
    CRIPS vS Original Zetas?
    Delta Force VS Original Zetas?
    Devgru VS Original Zetas?


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    1. @1.26- The best way to answer all those questions is to ask- How many original Zetas are still around? How many of the other groups are still around? Unless you meant it as in: ''If a Sabre Toothed Tiger fought a Giant Shark in a Cage who would win?''. Its Apples and Oranges. (And a group of greedy thugs who thought that treating their own country like an occupied territory and terrorising ALL its citizens was a good long term strategy)

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    2. 2:38, I think he’s looking for betting lines for each of these.

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    3. La Familia Michoacána vs Original Zetas
      oh wait that did happen, they got their asses handed to them by the Michoacános!

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  9. El Bravo Aponte and his team of "Talibanes" had more elite training.

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  10. Absolutely brilliant Hearst. I never saw that second photo of Z1 confirmed (the face was blurred) but it is him. As far as the discrepencies between the two different versions are concerned they probably relied on trusted sources with completely different outlooks or who looked at the whole thing from different perspectives. The truth is probably somewhere in-between. Looking forward to the next one.

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  11. Amazing thread, I'm looking forward to the next parts! Any chance there will be info about la Chuta or Lorméndez Pitalúa?

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    1. Hello Seregalin. Sharing with you these links here that you may find useful:

      Chuta
      http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2019/12/el-chuta-paratrooper-who-became-zetas.html

      http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2021/05/notes-on-el-chuta-fugitive-zetas-founder.html

      Lormendez Pitalua
      http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2020/01/el-pita-zetas-founder-who-married-his.html

      If you need access to any of the sources below in the reference section, please comment or email Hearst. She can forward it to me.

      - MX

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    2. Hey MX! Thanks for the links, though I've read them all, these articles by Chivis, Buggs, you, Itzli and the team is what got me interested in these two guys in particular. Especially Lorméndez since he is free right now and supposedly he is linked to ZVE, so there is always the possibility of new info coming out about him, which is not the case for fugitive/dead Chuta. I hope we will get to see more of you here around the BB community again, MX.

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  12. I must say that this article is a masterpiece in bringing together the different accounts of the origins of Los Zetas in such a concise way and bringing in details and perspectives that I have failed to account for over the years.

    These early days have always been shadowy, from Z-1's joining, to the original 7 members, then becoming "El Grupo de los 14", and reaching 20 members by the time Beto Quintanilla wrote "Escolta Suicida" in 2000.

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    1. Very interesting details, Itzli. Thank you, thank you. Much appreciated.

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    2. Itzli - Do you have the list of the metros originales from Matamoros? Thank you

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  13. Excellent write up and an interesting topic. Thanks!

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  14. I mean really guys, Z-3 is alive, the DNA did not match from the sister and parents they dug up to the blood on the corpse on the photo. Z-3 was still on the DEA most wanted list until a few years ago. Z-3 was probably the one who cut a deal to save his skin. Every original Zetas were getting caught prior to the fake death from good intel.

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  15. That’s funny I just mentioned Los zetas in a comment yesterday about how ultra violence was one of their downfalls in the end

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  16. I don’t know why people keep on saying the were GAFES when there is no evidence of this. Z1 was the only one known to be GAFE. The other people were recruited because they knew Z1 and many were no longer on the military. Many were interrogated when arrested and said how they were recruited. News outlets created an illusion and now they call it facts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @8:21
      Yup Exactly 👍
      Either way original zetas got their asses handed to them by LFM when they tried to take Michoacán. They tried to go in y sas!!!

      Delete
  17. Good shit HEARST as always. Your work and all other BB contributers are appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  18. https://lasillarota.com/nacion/2019/10/29/el-ascenso-oscuro-final-de-los-zetas-fundadores-204403.html

    ReplyDelete
  19. Can I say the following? Marley is a great author and all, I read his book and often use it for verification, but a lot of his exclusive info is pretty much BB’s finding. Also, he got the original Zetas list wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  20. How full of himself must Z1 be to show up at a party like that. Probably thought he was the shit. What a fucking show off.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 10:32 - At that time Z-1 was posing as a cop/soldier. They all dressed as such and even had PGR badges and uniforms. Back then people thought the original Zetas were just crooked cops working for the cartel. After all, the Zetas were not known to exist until 2001 when original Z-2 was captured and spilled the beans.

      But this was kept strictly within law enforcement files. I believe it was newspaper La Jornada who first wrote about Los Zetas a year later or so if my memory doesn't fail me. US had some suspicion that law enforcement members were forming a group in Matamoros since the 1999 standoff, but they didn't have a formal name for them.

      - MX from Borderland Beat

      Delete
  21. Paramilitary Mafias are the most dangerous and powerful criminal organizations

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @12:23
      Especially when they wear those real tight skinny 👖 jeans they’re dangerous

      Delete
    2. 1:22 - skinny jeans in the 90s / early 2001s for a cartel member means Z-1 was way ahead of his time lol

      Delete
  22. Yep I heard about the story, In September, 1999, Z-1, Z-3 and Comandante Mateo Z-10
    disguised in Balaclavas and PGR uniforms entered the house where El Rolys was supposed to be hiding, but EL ROLYS managed to ESCAPE, and his GUNMEN started to gunfight with intruder Zetas, IN the end Z-3 managed to shot gas tank inside the house which burnt the whole House. TESTIMONY made by Comandante Mateo Z-10

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Crazy how Rolys lasted so long alive. He was killed a few years ago in MTY area. No picture of face anywhere. The only way would probably be through a relative... The guy wasn't as famous as his relative El Yeyo.

      Delete
    2. Marley had a shortened version of that same story in his book! Now I regret cutting out that detail.

      Delete
  23. El mamado era El Mero bueno de todos los milenio en Nuevo laredo y de El ni se sabe nada lo agarraron con maradona y eloy en Guadalajara..rip mamado real king of coke

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 9:28 - Cual de todos es?

      http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2020/06/armando-valencia-cornelio-founder-of.html

      Delete
    2. Javier Martinez El 22 El Mero bueno del perico

      Delete
  24. nice comment section. thanks BB, perfect to read this in my late afternoon while i drink some coffee

    ReplyDelete
  25. The cheerlleading gets pretty deep around here.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I'm more interested in z3 personal life no one knows nothing much about him and hardly any photos for a guy who died awhile ago you think more would be leaked by now ..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He did not came from a poor family. Some of the OG Zetas went to private school.

      Delete
    2. Yes rumour is his family owned a big potato farm production so they had money he didn't need cartel money he just wanted to do it

      Delete
  27. Excellent article, I can tell you that the photos of Arturo Guzman that you put at the end are 100% real, his son shared them a long time ago on his instagram page.
    You don't know something about this zetas?
    -Prisciliano Ibarra Yepiz
    -Comandante Hau
    -Proceso Arturo Muro Gonzalez

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The "Proceso" in Arturo Muro Gonzalez should be removed since it was a typo by Proceso, the original producers of the material.

      Some say he is the original El Chuta, but the dates of birth don't match with this younger-looking Arturo. The original El Chuta was an old school guy around in the Army during the 1970s.

      El Yepis was born in Sonora in 1977. Still a fugitive. I'm trying to find more info on him since forever.

      http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2021/05/notes-on-el-chuta-fugitive-zetas-founder.html

      Delete
  28. I think that some of them first killed in Chiapas during the 1993¿ Subcommandante Marcos stuff. Maybe about 100 or so rebels were killed perhaps by Zetas for sure military. I think Guzman was killed behind a popular nightcub in Matamoras.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The OG zetas killed behind a bar in Matamoros was Luis Alberto Guerrero. BB covered a story of him a couple of years back.

      Delete
  29. The circumstance indirectly leading to the formation of Los Zetas was the decision by Secretary of defense, Enrique Cervantes Aguirre, to assign military personnel in the hands of general Guillermo Álvarez Nahara, running the extinct PJF, in 1997. Several GAFES, including Arturo Guzman Decena and Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, were transferred to Miguel Aleman, controlled by El June and enforced by the police chief Zeferino Peña Cuéllar. There are records of Z3 joining PJF on June 5, 1997, and being transferred to Miguel Aleman Oct 30, 1997. April 15, 1998, Z3 and several others were arrested moving drugs to the US. I find it highly unlikely that these guys were working for Cardenas at the time, and whether they were called Los Zetas or Los 7, I dunno, but they sure had an impact of the Narco history in Mexico.

    Bjeff/LeChef

    ReplyDelete
  30. Not a complete or accurate list of Original Metros:
    Los Metros: Reynosa (Said to be named by Gordo Montelongo, police officer from Camargo)
    Metro 1 Rogelio Garcia Garcia AKA El Roger or El Flako (Maybe Lorenzo Cuellar Botello (Arrested Sep. 13, 2007))
    Metro 2 Gregorio Saucedo Gamboa AKA el Goyo AKA el Caramuela AKA el Cara Muela (Arrested Apr. 29, 2009, working for Osiel since 1997)
    Metro 3 Samuel Flores Borrego (Killed Sep. 2, 2011)
    Metro 4 Hector David Delgado Santiago (Killed Jan. 15, 2013)
    Metro 5 Ediel Lopez Garcia AKA El Muela (Arrested Sep. 18, 2013 in the US, Sentenced 18 years. Joined CDG in 2007)
    Metro 6 Juan Carrillo Resendiz
    Metro 7 Alfonso Flores Salinas, cousin of Metro 3
    Metro 8 Sergio Martinez Velasco? (Uncle of Panilo?)
    Metro 9 Jose Antonio Romo Lopez AKA La Hamburguesa, brother of el Chucho (Arrested May. 23, 2017)
    Metro 10 Galindo Mellado Cruz AKA El Mellado AKA El 10 (Originally Z-11, Killed May. 9, 2014)
    Metro 11 El Chemin
    Metro 13 Cesar Eduardo Garcia Martinez AKA El Pollo
    Metro 14 El Peque AKA Peke (Killed)
    Metro 15 Jose Luis Hernandez-Zavala AKA Picol AKA XP (Killed Apr. 27, 2014?)
    Metro 17 Oziel Guadalupe Leal Flores AKA Tachas AKA Lupito, former H17 (Killed Mar. 24, 2015)
    Metro 18 Gilberto Barragan Balderas AKA El Tocayo (Arrested May. 20, 2011)
    Metro 19 David Garza Ávila or Elías Garza García AKA El Diablo or Lokillo/Loquillo (Arrested Aug. 2, 2016)
    Metro 20 El Tampico (Killed)
    Metro 21 Wero Chuyito or Jesse
    Metro 22 Juan Carlos Avila AKA La Mierda, cousin of M85
    Metro 23 Josue Ivan Cardenas AKA El Gato
    Metro 24 Jesús Alejandro Leal Flores AKA El Simple, former H24 (Arrested Apr. 2, 2014)
    Metro 27 Eliud Leal
    Metro 28 Luis Alberto Blanco Flores AKA El Pelochas, former L28 (Arrested Aug. 30, 2018)
    Metro 31 Luis Miguel Mercado Gonzalez AKA Flaco Sierra AKA Metro 205 (Arrested Jun. 30, 2018)
    Metro 32 Joaquin Rafael Salinas Aparicio AKA Lino Salinas, (Cousin of M43, Arrested Oct. 13, 2014, released 20/21, possibly killed Jan. 27, 2022)
    Metro 33 Lauro Tijerina Murrieta AKA El Carnitas (Arrested Aug. 21, 2012)
    Metro 35 El Arin (Killed approx Feb. 14, 2017)
    Metro 36 Carlos Humerto Acuña de los Santos AKA El Mono
    Metro 38 Juan Amador Moreno Flores AKA El Negro (Arrested Jan 2014)
    Metro 42 Julian Manuel Loza Salinas AKA El Toro (Killed Apr. 22, 2017)
    Metro 43 Loza Salinas AKA Don Beto (Brother of Metro 42, killed)
    Metro 44 Boludo
    Metro 47 Primito?
    Metro 48 Quintana
    Metro 50 Chumon
    The list is too long to publish, so I'll try 50.

    Bjeff/LeChef

    Bjeff/LeChef

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good and interesting list

      Delete
    2. Good and interesting list. A couple of things I wanted to touch on...Metro4 supposedly was M3's brother from what was said. And atleast one of the last names seems to be different from other accounts. Is there something you know that puts that in question? And if there is please share. Also, isn't Boludo did? Was under the impression he got killed. Also, I thought Flaco Sierra was out? (Also, is this guy related to El Sierra?) And el Wero Jesse is rumored to have been killed a few months or so after Toro was killed? They betrayed him supposedly.....Also one more thing....Thank you for all the insight you've provided, past, present, and future (fingers crossed). I know I speak for most of us when I say it would be lovely if you were to be around more and blessed us with your info, insight, and fortunately some posts. And as for the thinks I touched on, I'm not saying your info is wrong, your expertise in this category and region blows mines out the water. I'm just trying be a little more knowledgeable in this field. Any insight or reply would be much welcomed and appreciated.

      Delete
    3. Bjeff/LeChef - Just saw your comments. I made a recent post on the original Metros with an unseen picture of Lorenzo Cuellar.

      http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2023/03/throwback-series-founding-members-of.html

      My email is there if you wanna contact me. Please comment if you want as well. Good to see you around.

      Delete

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