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I. MEXICAN TRANSNATIONAL DRUG TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATIONS: The violence linked to Mexican drug cartels has flared reached unimaginable levels but still, Mexico remains a conservative to the world. Mexico is a deeply traditional country with a lot of passion and love. Although according to history It has the most corrupted politicans in South America. Additionally, Mexico is well known for it's massive narcotics industry, on the streets of every major city, the influence of drug money can be seen like for example expensive shops, big fancy houses and in the ridiculous exclusive suburbs. The narcotics business attracts a lot of people, as it's the key to wealth and abundance above everything else. The power of the drug cartels is linked to Mexico which caused a deep integrate corruption, and the strong contrasts between rich and poor in the country itself. It is no lie that the Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) remains the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States. According to Drug-Enforcement-Administration's investigations over the course of several years the Mexican TCOs have expanded their influence to different regions of the United States, showing clear signs of growth and particularly within San Andreas by using highly sophisticated command-and-control structures outside the United States; they produce, transport, and distribute illicit drugs domestically with the assistance of DTOs that are either a part of or in an alliance with the cartels. II. LOS ZETAS CARTEL: The Los Zetas was one of the largest drug cartels operating in Mexico back at the days, with their influence stretching from Central America through Mexico and into cities throughout the United States. The organization is based in the city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and had control over several other Mexican cities located along the U.S—Mexico border, including Ciudad Acuna and Piedras Negras - both located in Coahuila, Mexico. The Los Zetas used to be powerful drug trafficking organization operating out of Mexico, which funnels thousands of kilograms of cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, and other narcotics into the United States each year. Los Zetas were first established to be the lethal enforcers for another Mexican drug cartel: The Gulf Cartel. The leaders of the Gulf Cartel recruited former members of the Mexican Army Special Forces from the Grupo Aeromovil de Fuerza Especiales (GAFES) in the late 1990s. However, over time the Los Zetas broke away from the Gulf Cartel and began to operate independently. Heriberto Lazcano(Z-3) was the leader of the Los Zetas from 2004 to his death in Oct. 7, 2012. After his death, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales(Z-40) and his brother Oscar Omar Trevino Morales(aka Z-42) assumed the leadership positions. In April 2009 the President of the United States identified the Los Zetas Cartel as a significant foreign narcotics trafficker under the Kingpin Act and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Z-40 and Z-42 as specially designated narcotics traffickers pursuant to the Kingpin Act in July 2009 and March 2010, respectively. |
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III. THE DISMANTLE AND SPLIT: August 2012, a U.S. law enforcement official told the press that Miguel Treviño Morales(Z-40), the former second-in-command of Los Zetas, had reportedly taken the leadership of the cartel and displaced Heriberto Lazcano(Z-3 — the long-time leader) Due to his violent and confrontational personality, Z-40 began the process of taking over the assets of Los Zetas and removing Z-3 in early 2010. At the beginning, Z-3 was happy to have a man like Treviño Morales in his ranks, but he reportedly underestimated him and gave him too much power. The active role of Treviño Morales got him the loyalty and respect of many in Los Zetas, and eventually many stopped paying loyalty to Lazcano. Personality-wise, Treviño Morales and Lazcano are opposing figures; Treviño Morales often preferred violence, while Lazcano was a lot steadier, and preferred to keep his organization as a stable group. Lazcano reportedly wanted Los Zetas to be less of a problem for the next political administration of Enrique Peña Nieto; in contrast, "Treviño Morales was someone who wanted to fight the fight." Los Zetas are inherently an unstable organized crime group with a long history of brutal violence, with the possibility of constant internal crisis if the organization exists without it's central command. In recent times Los Zetas has become fragmented and seen it's influence diminish. As of March 2016, Grupo Bravo (Bravo Group) and Zetas Vieja Escuela (Old School Zetas) had formed an alliance with the Gulf Cartel against Cartel Del Noreste (Cartel of the Northeast). On February 9, 2018 "Vieja Escuela" faction were completely dismantled after the capture, of José María Guizar Valencia(Z-43) in Mexico City. Consequently, Los Zetas Cartel ceased to exist as whole and are divided to splinter-groups or factions that each have their own "operations, priorities and alliances" and that they rely on crime in their areas of operation for revenue. The cartel cells only took a bit from their former the Los Zetas culture and are limited on controlling territories and not allied to one another, the fractions that are confidently known to the media: Cartel de Noreste, Los Talibanes, Cartel de La Laguna, Los Dorados, Grupo Operativo Zetas, Fuerzas Especiales Zetas, Los Taxes, Cartel de San Luis Potosi Nueva Generation, Cartel de Los Alemanes, Los Zacatecas. IV. LOS ZACATECAS: Los Zacatecas, also known as Cartel de Los Zacatecas, is fraction of Los Zetas. Spawned straight after the dismantle of the "Vieja Escula" faction, develops as an independent clan with very strong former "Z" leadership. Zacatecas factions are specified in drug-trafficking, human-trafficking, weapons-trafficking, murder, torture, rape, kidnapping, racketeering, extortion, ransom, video piracy. They produce, transport, and distribute illicit drugs domestically with the assistance of DTOs that are either a part of, or in, an alliance with the cartel. Cartel de Los Zacatecas is the new uprising threat in the United States. Outspreading their rein within cliques and profoundly asserted deep roots in the Los-Santos' criminal world — collected close associations with notable famous hordes within San-Andreas. Additionally, numerous obscure characters have been spotted around Los Santos with coordinated tattoos, the sources affirmed that there probably as of now several possess being constrained by the Zacatecas group. Their Influence and appearance started to develop further especially in the valley of East Los Santos. Although their routes for trafficking are unknown, and whether they have begun working with the Sinaloa Cartel or Cartel Arellano-Félix (CAF) it is suspected that Los Zacatecas are an independent organization. If this is deemed truth, it could mean that Los Zacatecas are working with La Comisión del Pacífico Norte also known as La Unión; a suspected coalition that was formed by narco-traffickers from several different cartel clans to work together in peace under the same treaty. La Comisión del Pacífico Norte has been known to have bosses from Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Zacatecas, Guerrero and Michoacán cartel affiliated clans and cells within it, meaning this coalition is more than just a name. Although we have yet to discover if Los Zacatecas themselves hold a chair within this coalition, if they do then it would suggest they’re one of the major organizations in San Andreas who make dominant decisions when it comes to the drug trade. |
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V. 'Z' FOR ZACATECAS OR LOS ZETAS? This has been a major controversy—ever since articles got observed for the operatives in San-Andreas. From what we can tell; the Los Zacatecas cell owns very similar traits to Los Zetas Cartel, and have even claimed allegiance to them several years ago in Mexico. But in the modern-day considering Los Zetas' dominant force of power has sort of vacuumed, we can make a proud assumption that Los Zacatecas are to be considered an independent-clan at the moment, with their Los Zetas traditions. The reason for them having very similar traits to Los Zetas would only mean one thing, that their allegiance claims to the cell years prior would be a set-in-stone confirmation that Los Zacatecas could have been a cell within a cell; Los Zetas, that eventually grew out and became an entire clan of it's own over time. |
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All rights are reserved to the Drug Enforcement Administration, and published articles in this document received from journalists who are involved in helping with some of these mentions from publicization to media and private publicization to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
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