Tales of Los Zetas: Los Zetas Viejos

 "Itzli" for Borderland Beat. 

A look at the web of corruption that aided the rise of Osiel and additional recruiting of soldiers into Los Zetas.

The Rise of Osiel

In early July 1999, less than two years after taking control of the Cártel del Golfo (CDG, Gulf Cartel), Salvador “El Chava” Gómez Herrera was found dead. Rumors immediately emerged that his close cartel associate and “compadre” Osiel Cárdenas Guillén was behind the killing, which led to Osiel being called “El Mata Amigos”, literally “the friend killer”, from that point forward.

Some allies of “El Chava Gómez” were eliminated as well. For instance, it was reported that two cousins of “El Chava Gómez” were killed on July 2 and four of his associates were found dead with their hands bound behind their bodies in the trunk of a car on July 4. Others survived, as it  appears that some associates were not targeted and allowed to continue operating in the organization.

In the course of just over four years, Osiel went from a petty criminal that had just been released from prison to leader of one of the largest Mexican drug cartels and it appears that his rise to power was aided by ties to corrupt officials. As discussed in Tales of Los Zetas: Los 7, Osiel spent time in Miguel Alemán, Tamaulipas, where he grew close to the regional head of the CDG, Gilberto “El June” García Mena and it would be noted by the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR, Attorney General’s Office) in 1997 that Osiel corrupted members of the police and military. The most notable examples of this has been Los Zetas, in particular Los 7 and El Grupo de 14, many of whom had been stationed in Miguel Alemán as agents of the Policía Judicial Federal (PJF) police force, but there were notable others. 

El Chupón

Raúl Antonio “El Chupón” Rodríguez Barrera was once a member of the PJF who rose to become deputy director (subdelegado) in the northern zone of Tamaulipas. Following the seizure of over seven tons of cocaine at a Tamaulipas checkpoint and subsequent allegations that part of the drugs were “lost”, “El Chupón”' was fired from the PJF due to his suspected ties to drug traffickers.

Nevertheless, “El Chupón” was elected mayor of Miguel Alemán in October 1998, a position he served for two years, beginning in 1999. Ties between “El Chupón” and the CDG appear to have been strong; for instance, he named Zeferino “El Zefe” Peña Cuéllar, a close associate of “El June” and possibly the true founder of Los Zetas, as police director in the city. 

On December 12, 1998 Armando Meléndez Sánchez, an activist for the “Lucha Social” political group, whose candidate Leobaldo Garza ran against “El Chupón” in the October election, was killed in Miguel Alemán and “El June”/“El Zefe” had suspected connections to the killing. It should be noted that a state police commander who would later be accused of collaborating with the CDG, Gilberto Lerma Plata, would assign two agents to investigate the murder. Their names were Ramiro “El Pelos” Rangel and Samuel Flores Borrego; both would go on to join the CDG, with Samuel Flores Borrego being well known as one of the founding members of the Los Metros group of the CDG.

It appears that the killing of Armando Meléndez Sánchez was somewhat covered up by authorities. The building used by officials that were investigating cartel related crimes in Miguel Alemán was shot up by gunmen on March 9, 1999; two weeks later Hermenegildo Segovia was killed, allegedly due to the pressure he was mounting on officials to investigate the death of his brother-in-law, Armando Meléndez Sánchez.

The Police Directors

The ties that Osiel Cárdenas Guillén had with corrupt officials also included a pair of police directors. As mentioned in Tales of Los Zetas: The Restructuring of 1999, PJF agent Jaime Rajid Gutiérrez Arreola was killed in March 1999. Carmen Oralio Castro Aparicio, a coronel who was director of the PJF in Tamaulipas, was fired on June 29, 1999 for his suspected involvement in the killing of Jaime Rajid Gutiérrez Arreola and a warrant that was issued included Osiel, himself, and a mix of four current and former agents. It should be noted that in one version of events, Jaime Rajid Gutiérrez Arreola had discovered the presence of Salvador “El Chava” Gómez Herrera and Osiel Cárdenas Guillén in a PGR vehicle and sought to arrest them. 

Another police director that was suspected of having ties to Osiel was the head of the Tamaulipas state police, Arturo Pedroza Aguirre, who became a prominent figure during the administration of Tamaulipas governor Tomás Jesús Yarrington Ruvalcaba (February 5, 1999 to December 31, 2004). Among the accusations made against Arturo Pedroza Aguirre is that he had assigned Gregorio “Goyo” “El Caramuela” Sauceda Gamboa to protect Osiel. “El Caramuela” was a former Tamaulipas Ministerial Police agent who became an important part of the CDG by 1996 and was said to have recruited police officers to work for the CDG, one example being María Antonieta “La Generela” Rodríguez Mata.

The Standoff & Fallout

On the afternoon of November 9, 1999 two agents from the United States, DEA agent Joe DuBois and FBI agent Daniel Fuentes, were conducting an investigation of the CDG in Matamoros, guided by an informant, who traveled with them in the back seat. Once they drove past a home belonging to Osiel Cárdenas Guillén a vehicle began following them.

Shortly thereafter, multiple vehicles cut off their path and Osiel personally confronted them along with an entourage of over a dozen individuals, leading to a tense standoff before Osiel reluctantly let them go. The list of those who allegedly participated in this event is a virtual who’s who of the CDG at the time, including Baldomero “El Viejo Fox” González Ruiz, José Manuel “La Brocha” Garza Rendón, Adán “El Licenciado” Medrano Rodríguez, Rogelio “El Roger” García García, Víctor Manuel “El Meme Loco” Vázquez Mireles, Jorge Eduardo “El Coss” Costilla Sánchez, Antonio Ezequiel “Tony Tormenta” Cárdenas Guillén, Gregorio “Goyo” “El Caramuela” Sauceda Gamboa, Juan Carlos “El JC” de la Cruz Reyna, and Rogelio “El Kelín” González Pizaña. It does not appear that any members of Los Zetas participated in this event, though it is possible that some were present but unidentified by the two agents.

Thereafter, Osiel is said to have went into hiding at the La Amarillas ranch in China, Nuevo León along with “”El Viejo Fox”, “El Coss”, and “El Meme Loco”, along with “El JC”, who apparently went from being part of the cell of “El Roger” to that of “El Meme Loco” around this time.

Prior Zetas Viejos

In the early part of the history of Los Zetas its members were solely made up of former members of the Mexican military. These soldiers turned cartel members are often called Los Zetas Viejos to distinguish them from later members who often did not have a military background.

The very fact that Los Zetas Viejos had deserted from the military opens the door to researching each individual’s desertion date and use this to tentatively place them as members of Los Zetas at specific points in time, although this is certainly more of a working theory than definitive proof.

By using this process, the original group of defectors known as Los 7 appear to be Arturo Guzmán Decena, Raúl Lucio “El Lucky” Hernández Lechuga, Heriberto “El Lazca” Lazcano Lazcano, Ernesto “El Traca” Zataraín Belíz, Jaime “El Hummer” González Durán, Alejandro Lucio Morales Betancourt, and, quite possibly, Hugo Ponce Salazar. 

The second group of defectors that were added on to the original seven to become El Grupo de 14 appears to be Gustavo “El Erótico” González Castro, Efraín “El Chispa” Teodoro Torres, Mateo Díaz López, José Ramón “El Cholo” Dávila López, Luis Alberto “El Guerrero” Guerrero Reyes, Raul Alberto “El Alvin” Trejo Benavides, and Jesús Enrique “El Mamito” Rejón Aguilar.

Furthermore, additional recruiting took place in 1999 that appears to be part of a restructuring of Los Zetas which included Rogelio “El Guerra” Guerra Ramirez, Miguel Angel “El Parra” Soto Parra, Galdino “El Mellado” Mellado Cruz, Braulio “El Gonzo” Arellano Dominguez, Nabor “El Dévora” Vargas García, and Luis “El Rex” Reyes Enríquez.

Additional Zetas Viejos

Based upon the known desertion dates, it seems that there were about 20 members of Los Zetas around the time of the killing of Salvador “El Chava” Gómez Herrera and there may have been a two month pause in recruiting as Osiel Cárdenas Guillén took control of the CDG. At least nine others would appear to have been recruited thereafter:

1. Raúl Hernández Barrón- Nicknamed “El Flanders”, he was born on February 4, 1977 in Poza Rica, Veracruz. According to government records he joined the military on September 1, 1993. Later, he requested to be discharged from active service and be placed in the reserves, which was granted on September 1, 1999.

2. Victor Nazario Castrejón Peña- He was born on May 5, 1972 in Iguala, Guerrero. According to government records he joined the military on September 1, 1988 and retired from active duty on September 30, 1999.

3. Flavio Méndez Santiago- Nicknamed “El Amarillo”, he was born on May 11, 1975 in San Miguel Aloápam, Oaxaca. According to government records he joined the military on October 16, 1993 and later requested to be discharged, which was granted on July 4, 1997, which predates other members of Los Zetas. However, he did not join Los Zetas until sometime in 1999, adopting the code name Z-23. According to the declaration he made following his arrest, “El Amarillo” was the twenty-third member of Los Zetas, which would place him joining Los Zetas around this timeframe, quite possibly in the wake of the Matamoros standoff as “El Amarillo” said he monitored the conversations of Los Zetas to make sure the location of Osiel was not discussed.

4. Carlos Vera Calva- Nicknamed “El Vera”. According to government records he joined the military on October 11, 1989 and later requested to be discharged, which was granted on November 16, 1999. He would go on to adopt the code name Z-18 and/or Z18-HK18, though some sources refer to him as Z-7 instead.

5. Sergio Enrique Ruiz Tlapanco- Nicknamed “El Tlapa”. He was born on October 8, 1972. According to government records he joined the military on March 6, 1988 and later requested to be discharged, which was granted on November 16, 1999. He would go on to adopt the code name Z-44, which may indicate that he joined Los Zetas at a later point in time than his discharge date would imply.

6. Omar Lorméndez Pitalúa- Nicknamed “El Pita”. He was born on January 18, 1972 in Tultitlán, Mexico state. According to government records he joined the military on July 21, 1991. He eventually deserted and was officially discharged on November 26, 1999. He would go on to adopt the code name Z-8 and/or Z8-HK37, though some sources refer to him as Z-9 or Z-10 instead.

7. Daniel Perez Rojas- Nicknamed “El Cachetes”. He was born in Moyuta, Guanajuato in 1976 or 1977. According to government records he joined the military on May 23, 1997. He eventually deserted and was officially discharged on November 26, 1999. 

8. Óscar Eduardo Guerrero Silva- Nicknamed “El Winnie Pooh”. According to government records he joined the military on January 28, 1992 as an infantry soldier and was promoted to corporal in 1993. He eventually deserted the military and was officially discharged on November 26, 1999. He would go on to adopt the code name Z-6 and/or Z6-HK14, though some sources refer to him as Z-8.

9. Gonzalo Cerezano Escribano- Nicknamed “El Cuije”. According to government records he joined the military on April 25, 1992. He eventually deserted and was officially discharged on May 11, 2000. He would go on to adopt the code name Z-17 and/or Z17-HK38, though some sources refer to him as Z-18 instead.

At this point there may have been a pause in recruitment for Los Zetas as there are no documented desertion dates until May 2001, although there are some individuals that are considered Zetas Viejos whose desertion dates are unreported, such as Daniel Enrique “El Chocotorro” Marquez Aguilar, Héctor “El Caballo” Robles Duarte, Germán  “El Tatanka” Torres Jiménez, and Alfonso “El Cañas” Lechuga Licona, whom may have joined in this timeframe or earlier.