Tamaulipas Police Commander Colluded With Gulf, Zetas Cartels Released From US Prison and Resides in Texas

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat (formerly "MX")

Gilberto Lerma Plata, a Tamaulipas State Police commander and cousin of former Tamaulipas governor Manuel Cavazos Lerma, was silently released from a US prison earlier this year. His expected release date was March 2023, but he was released over a year earlier, federal records show.

Lerma-Plata started his police career in 1993 in Tamaulipas when his cousin served as Governor of Tamaulipas under the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). During his tenure Lerma-Plata served as police commander in Reynosa and Miguel Alemán, two important posts in Tamaulipas.

During the late 1990s, while still employed by the state police, Lerma-Plata started collaborating with the Gulf Cartel along with Samuel Flores Borrego (AKA Metro 3, M3, and/or M-3) and Aurelio Cano Flores (AKA El Yankee and/or El Yeyo).* Both Metro 3 and El Yankee reported to Lerma-Plata when they were police officers and eventually left the force and became top cartel figures.

According to court records, Gilberto Lerma Plata was the godfather of one of Samuel Flores Borrego's children. 

According to US investigators, Lerma-Plata received bribery payments from La Compañía (English: The Company), a name that collectively referred to the co-organization of the Gulf Cartel and its former paramilitary group Los Zetas, in exchange for immunity across Tamaulipas. Lerma-Plata distributed these payments with other police commanders in Miguel Aleman, Camargo, Valle Hermoso, San Fernando, and Ciudad Victoria, and communicated messages to them that came directly from legendary cartel boss Osiel Cardenas Guillen.

Mexican authorities also confirmed that these payments were distributed to multiple politicians in Tamaulipas. Sources consulted by Borderland Beat confirmed that the politicians were Miguel Aleman mayor Raul Rodriguez Barrera (AKA El Chupon) and ex-governor Tomas Yarrington.

Arrest and conviction

In April 2012, while crossing the McAllen–Hidalgo–Reynosa International Bridge from Mexico, Lerma-Plata was sent to secondary inspection after a US customs officer ran his information in their database. Lerma-Plata was then notified he was wanted in the US for drug trafficking and arrested. He was not aware of his US charges because they were sealed in a US District Court for the District of Columbia (DDC) federal indictment.

While Lerma-Plata's attorneys claimed that he played a minor role in the cartel, US prosecutors doubled down on his involvement and said he played an "aggressive" role within the Gulf Cartel. US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said he used violence, intimidation, and corruption to further the Gulf Cartel's agenda.

The following year, Lerma-Plata was sentenced to 151 months in prison (roughly 12.5 years) for his marijuana trafficking charges. In addition to his sentence, he was ordered to forfeit US$10 billion in drug profits. This amount was decided after the prosecution proved that this was the gross profit amount the Gulf Cartel made in sales between 2006 and 2011.

In 2019, Lerma-Plata appealed his sentence and requested it to be reduced. He was originally sentenced under a US Federal Sentencing Guideline that ranged between 151 and 188 months in prison. He was requesting for it to be revised for a range between 121 and 151 months. The reason was because the federal sentencing guidelines were changed in the US after his conviction and his defensed argued that Lerma-Plata was eligible for a new sentencing range (since his original offense fell under the 121 and 151-month range in the new revision).

Although Lerma-Plata was commended for his good behavior, his request was denied. The court said that circumstances of his crimes and the seriousness of the offenses were not enough to reduce his sentence. In addition, the court reminded Lerma-Plata that he agreed that his 151-month conviction was appropriate when he was originally sentenced.

His release in January 2022, per Federal Bureau of Prisons records, indicates that Lerma-Plata may have appealed the decision again and received a favorable outcome.

Possible whereabouts

Lerma-Plata was not deported to Mexico unlike other Mexican cartel bosses because he also held US citizenship. Sources consulted by Borderland Beat said that he was born in Brownsville, Texas, in 1962 and studied in Brownsville up until high school. Our source shared the address in Brownsville that he cited as his residence during his court hearings.

Given the severity of his crimes and the period he was involved with the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas, Lerma-Plata likely faces imminent danger in Mexico should he return. The Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas are no longer a co-organization and both groups have experienced fragmentation over the years.

Cartel members like Lerma-Plata who are released from prison or return to Mexico after several years face danger from old grudges and new criminal players. The source consulted by Borderland Beat confirmed that Lerma-Plata currently resides in Brownsville and rarely – if ever – visits Mexico. 

It is unclear if Lerma-Plata has any outstanding charges in Mexico. He did not have any charges when he was arrested in 2012, but there is a possibility that Mexican prosecutors gathered evidences against him after US authorities unsealed the indictment.

Footnote (*): The alias El Yeyo was also used by former Miguel Aleman cartel boss Edelio López Falcón.

Note: This article includes excerpts from the Wikipedia page of Gilberto Lerma Plata, which was published by Borderland Beat reporter "Morogris" in August 2019. It includes over 25 sources.

Image credit: Special thanks to HEARST for the illustrations.