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Friday, October 20, 2023

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.

39 comments:

  1. An article on how many zetas are alive and free would be great. It amazes me mostly all the original zetas were capable of being the leader of a cartel of their own. When you hear stories on Winnie Pooh, El Erotico, Efrain Torres with just a couple of zetas were able to break comrades out of prison on multiple occasions. Thats bad ass.

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    Replies
    1. Why were they all discharged on November 26 1999

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    2. @311 — clearly there was a “plan” for them..

      Z-23 said that the gov secretly sent 400 guys to Israel and Iran for secret training and guess who was part of that group?

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    3. I wish I had an answer to that question, definitely stands out that 2 discharged on November 16 and 3 on the 26th. It's a weird cluster.

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    4. Of the OG zetas listed above...those that are still alive are ( El chuta, calva vera, El tlapa, and Z10 Lormendez Pitalua " Coma Pitalua" Also a zeta that is still alive and went dark after Z42 got arrested in 2015 is El Contador.

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    5. @3.53. You make it sound like a movie, instead of terrified underpaid prison guards dropping their weapons and the others shooting into the air because they all know what's coming, and when. The myth of The Company preceded them to the point they rarely needed to use the violence they were famous for. They could have tap-danced in, and tap-danced out.

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    6. @8.47. Those are just the men whose fate is unknown.

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    7. Itzli no lo vas a creer pero este 2023 a inicios un sujeto abrió su canal de Youtube llamado gafe coleccionista todo parece indicar que es el chocotorro zeta 23 el está en una foto porque la subió en un video con Daniel Pérez Rojas y el dice que es su tocayo también el mostró varias fotos en el básico del curso gafe y tiene su diploma el se llama Daniel Enrique Márquez Evires y a él le dijeron que era el chocotorro en unos comentarios

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  2. El Amarillo in charge of the la Amarillas rancho communications, that's a coincidence

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  3. Chingon el reporte Itzli!

    Esta vivo o muerto ese Mellado? Ese vato tenie o tenia 9 vidas. Van como 2 o 3 veces que lo reportan muerto. No se si creerlo, pero 2 personas me an dicho este año que lo vieron en Ciudad Victoria. Estará muerto el compa o tiene un pacto?

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  4. Se me antoja una caguama bien helada y escuchar musica de Beto Quintanilla .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Y despues un buen pipaso de cricri.

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    2. Nomas.los.nacos.hacen.eso.beer y musica.de Quintanilla

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  5. El Flanders was killed in Reynosa around the time El Gringo Mike was killed. Flanders along with Mellado stayed with CDG Reynosa when the zetas-golfos war started in 2010.

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    Replies
    1. El Gringo fue asesinado en 2013 y el Flander cayo contra la Marina en la obrera en 2014

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    2. Oye Toon
      Es verda que el Gringo habia salvado al famoso Azul de Sinaloa?
      Cuando venia de la 53 carretera llegando a Valle Hermoso
      Les tenian una emboscada mario pelon x20
      Y el Gringo les informo y dio apoyo pa salvar al azul
      Por que hiba nomas azul in pocas camionetas
      Supuestamente x20 por muy poquito se lo vieda quebrado

      Quien vieda creido que el mentado azul andarea en tanto peligro
      Ni usando nuna de sus avionetas
      Estarea tan caliente Tamps en ese tiempo pa que ni el anderia en avion

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  6. Is el zefe related to Pancho Cuellar who ripped z40 off and triggered the Allende massacre?

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    Replies
    1. Even coughing the wrong way in front of 40 could trigger a massacre.

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  7. Throwback: el comandante bebes execution/torture video.

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  8. Good read .. Scottish Zeta been MiA

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  9. Nice article🇺🇦👍

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  10. Some of those little known about Z members were nabbed early on by LFM. The rest got caught by Michoacanos guiding other cartels. That's why Zs had to go form far from Michoacan. Once they started killing the weak nortenas they all wanted to join Michoacan to be able to stand a chance. If it werent for Michoacan zetas would have ruled mexico. Your welcome.

    Semper Fi

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    Replies
    1. Dudes whole identity is tell other people Michoacan runs the drug trade

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  11. What happened to El Commandante R 1 ?

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    Replies
    1. Las I heard he working for cds but that was 10 years ago.

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  12. Zeferino Pena Cuellar hehehehehy I have question.Why is so little know about death abd funeral of z1 and nothing we know about his family,his girlfriens where is his resting place.Interwiew with his mom.or sister or dad....somethung more

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  13. Whatever happened to El Chuta

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    1. Edgar Octavio Ramos El chuta (that was his actual name and not Jorge Perez) was a Fed from AFI. He was moving coke for Zetas and BLO in Cancun.

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  14. Why are they still glorifying these barbaric coked out savages? With all the damage they did to mexico and it's people?

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    Replies
    1. Because at least they stuck to cocaine and not synthetic garbage like the Pacific cartels do. I rather have Zetas who only move coke and terrorize central/south american illegals than sinaloans. They were a neccesary evil. Even a US army officer told me that back in 2009.

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    2. @916 what in INCREDIBLY ignorant thing to say. You think Zetas "only move(d) coke and terrorize(d) central/south americans?" You and your US army officer are obviously ignorant of the kidnapping, extortion, murder, forced displacement, etc. that occurred here. It's amazing how informed some of you think you are because you read some blogs smfh

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  15. Estoy aquí / Alive. Sigan escribiendo sobre mi obra. Jamás sabrán algo.

    ReplyDelete

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