US Accuses Treviño Brothers "Z-40" & "Z-42" with Leading CDN Cartel from Prison

 "Socalj" for Borderland Beat

The last major leaders of the Los Zetas Cartel were imprisoned in Mexico over a decade ago.

Recent extraditions have all largely been those figures from the Sinaloa, CJNG and various other cartels across Mexico. Z-40, arrested in 2013, has still not been put on trial for any crimes in Mexico. He has been under preventive detention for over 10 years in Mexico. But US authorities accuse Miguel Angel "Z-40" Treviño-Morales and his brother of still running the cartel's remnants the Cartel Del Noreste or CDN from prison in mexico.

The indictment was filed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, where it alleges that “the drug trafficking organization known as Los Zetas, and its successor organization, the Cartel del Noreste (CDN), engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise; drug trafficking conspiracy; firearms offenses; and international money laundering conspiracy,” according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to the indictment, the Treviño Morales brothers, ages 51 and 48, “allegedly assumed control of Los Zetas after more than a decade as members of the violent drug trafficking organization.

“The Zetas previously served as an armed militaristic wing for the Gulf Cartel to maintain control of drug trafficking routes throughout Mexico. Since becoming leaders of Los Zetas in 2012, which they later renamed the Cartel del Noreste, the defendants have typically continued their history and pattern of using extreme violence to control large swaths of northern Mexico, including along the U.S. border,” the Justice Department adds.

He also notes that after the arrest of Miguel in 2013 and Omar in 2015, “they continued to control the CDN through various means, including installing several family members to direct operations at their command.”

“Miguel and Omar Treviño Morales are presumed to be personally responsible for committing dozens of murders and directing murders, kidnappings and acts of torture by members of Los Zetas and the CDN to promote and protect the Cartel’s drug trafficking activities and enrich its members,” the document reveals.

Both are currently imprisoned in Cereso Number 12, in Ocampo.

Massacre in Guatemala

In 2007, "Z-43" began trafficking drugs from Colombia through highways in Guatemala and Puebla.

In 2011, the Guizar-Valencia faction spread terror in Guatemala. During his command, several massacres occurred; for example, one of the worst massacres in Petén, where gunmen dismembered 27 peasants on a coconut farm, a massacre that was attributed to Los Zetas.

Source DOJ, DEA, Riodoce