154-675: Edelio López Falcón (1965 – 6 May 2003), commonly referred to as El Yeyo , was a Mexican suspected drug lord and former high-ranking member of the Gulf Cartel , a criminal group based in Tamaulipas , Mexico. Prior to his involvement in drug trafficking, López Falcón owned a flower business in Miguel Alemán . He was part of the cartel during the 1990s and was a trusted enforcer of the former kingpin Gilberto García Mena . López Falcón's role in
308-508: A Vicente Fernández music concert inside a cockpit arena in Guadalupe, Nuevo León . At around 4:00 am, approximately fourteen gunmen from the Gulf Cartel's former paramilitary group Los Zetas stormed the arena searching for him. Authorities confirmed that the gunmen were carrying AK-47s and .38 calibre firearms, identified themselves as members of the army, and ordered people to stay on
462-418: A Rolex watch, a gold ring and necklace, and a business card from a McAllen-based construction company. When news of the murder was made public, it was not known that the victim was López Falcón and/or a suspected crime boss. Preliminary reports described the victim as a businessman from Monterrey; rumors the businessman was a crime boss, likely López Falcón himself, began circulating. Mexican authorities doubted
616-464: A U.S. citizen because he also had an American birth certificate, although Mexican authorities claimed the certificate was "fraudulent." He also had an official birth certificate that claimed García Ábrego was indeed born in Mexico. According to The Brownsville Herald , García Ábrego went into the courtroom grinning and talking animatedly with his lawyers who helped him translate his words from Spanish into
770-537: A US$ 2 million bounty for his arrest. The former leader of the Gulf Cartel, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, was captured in the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, on 14 March 2003, in a shootout between the Mexican military and Gulf Cartel gunmen. He was one of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives , which was offering $ 2 million for his capture. According to government archives, this six-month military operation
924-450: A checkpoint to search for suspicious vehicles and individuals with drugs or weapons. They questioned drivers about their destination and purpose of their travel, and were wary of vehicles with license plates other than Tamaulipas' and of luxurious vehicles. A wake and mass were held on 12 May; his sister said López Falcón would be buried in Roma on 14 May. At the morgue and funeral, his family asked
1078-610: A drug cartel based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas , Mexico, was founded in the 1930s by Juan Nepomuceno Guerra . Originally known as the Matamoros Cartel (Spanish: Cártel de Matamoros ), the Gulf Cartel initially smuggled alcohol and other illegal goods into the U.S. Once the Prohibition era ended, the criminal group controlled gambling houses, prostitution rings, a car theft network, and other illegal smuggling. It grew significantly in
1232-514: A flower business in Miguel Alemán. He later joined the Tamaulipas-based criminal group the Gulf Cartel and worked as a smuggler under the kingpin Gilberto García Mena ("El June"). López Falcón and García Mena worked with the drug trafficker Fidel Hinojosa ("El Choco"); Ricardo Garza Manríquez, the former Miguel Alemán Public Security Department head; and Zeferino Peña Cuéllar ("Don Zefe"),
1386-591: A hospital where rival drug members were being treated, and was also blamed for the massacre of the Cereso prison in 1991, where 18 prisoners were slain—both in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Following Ábrego's 1996 arrest by Mexican authorities and subsequent deportation to the United States, a power vacuum was left and several top members fought for leadership. Humberto García Ábrego, brother of Juan García Ábrego, tried to take
1540-518: A legitimate businessman. He was tasked with ensuring his new organization had political support and protection from the police, especially because they were operating in a locale they were not originally from. To gain political support in northern Mexico, López Falcón's new leaders tasked him with finding an influential politician to support them. López Falcón reached out to the National Action Party (PAN) politician Mauricio Fernández Garza , who
1694-617: A low profile. In the late 1990s, López Falcón encountered problems with García Mena, who sought the support of the cartel's leader Osiel Cárdenas Guillén to oust him. López Falcón broke ties with the Gulf Cartel and forged alliances with the Sinaloa , Milenio , and Juárez cartels. The Gulf Cartel reportedly blamed López Falcón for the April 2001 arrest of García Mena and plotted to kill him. He fled to Nuevo León , where he established his center of operations. López Falcón survived an attempt on his life
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#17328763206281848-479: A massive law enforcement effort to crackdown on the leadership structure of the Gulf Cartel. Both the Mexican and U.S. government increased their efforts to apprehend Cárdenas Guillén. Before the standoff, he was regarded as a minor player in the international drug trade, but this incident catapulted his reputation and made him one of the most-wanted criminals. The FBI and the DEA mounted numerous charges against him and issued
2002-502: A month later but he was killed in Guadalajara in May 2003. His murder remains unsolved, but investigators believe his killers were probably members of Los Zetas , the Gulf Cartel's former paramilitary group. López Falcón, who is commonly referred to by his nickname El Yeyo, was born in Miguel Alemán, Tamaulipas , Mexico, in 1965. Before becoming involved in drug trafficking, López Falcón owned
2156-475: A new era of drug trafficking in Mexico, and little did Cárdenas know that he was creating the most violent drug cartel in the country. Between 2001 and 2008, the organization of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas was collectively known as La Compañía ( The Company ). One of the first missions of Los Zetas was to eradicate Los Chachos, a group of drug traffickers under the orders of the Milenio Cartel , who disputed
2310-458: A ranch in Monterrey, Nuevo León . He was quickly extradited to the United States where he stood trial eight months after his arrest. García Ábrego was convicted for 22 counts of money laundering , drug possession and drug trafficking. Jurors also ordered the seizure of $ 350 million of García Ábrego's assets — $ 75 million more than what was previously planned. Juan García Ábrego
2464-520: A ranch owned by García Mena, and a property in Camargo, where they seized 345 kg (761 lb) of marijuana. The Army also set up a checkpoint in front of López Falcón's estate but did not raid it. The PGR confirmed the drugs were not linked to the traffickers for whom they were searching and one person was arrested in the operation. The operation lasted less than a day; the federal troops returned to their barracks before midnight. Local authorities supported
2618-412: A restaurant in Guadalajara, Jalisco . The gunmen sat at a table close to López Falcón, who was having breakfast with horse breeder Óscar Alejandro Coker Preciado and an unidentified woman. López Falcón finished his food and chatted for over an hour afterwards. When he ordered the check, the gunmen stood up and began walking towards the restroom. On their way, they passed next to the table where López Falcón
2772-456: A turf war with Los Zetas in the city of Ciudad Mier, Tamaulipas , resulting in the exodus of more than 95% of its population. Banners written by Los Zetas, the Gulf Cartel's former armed wing, appeared all across Mexico, celebrating the death of Cárdenas Guillén. United States President, Barack Obama , called the President of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, congratulating him and the Mexican forces for
2926-628: A woman arrived at the restaurant moments after the murder to inspect the scene but investigators could not link her with López Falcón. At the scene, investigators discovered two .45 pistol bullet casings. According to the PGR and SEDENA, their main line of investigation was that López Falcón was killed by members of Los Zetas on Cárdenas Guillén's orders. They suspected Jesús Enrique Rejón Aguilar ("El Mamito"), Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano ("El Lazca"), Luis Alberto Guerrero Reyes ("El Guerrero"), and/or Óscar Guerrero Silva ("El Winniepooh") may have participated in
3080-713: Is a circle of experts who believe that the start of the Mexican Drug War did not begin in 2006 (when Felipe Calderón sent troops to Michoacán to stop the increasing violence), but in 2004 in the border city of Nuevo Laredo , when the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas fought off the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Negros. In 2002, there were three main divisions of the Cartel, all ruled over by Cárdenas and led by: Jorge Eduardo "El Coss" Costilla Sanchez , Antonio "Tony Tormenta" Cárdenas Guillen , and Heriberto "El Lazca" Lazcano Lazcano . Upon
3234-511: Is currently serving 11 life terms in a maximum security prison in Colorado, U.S. In 1996, it was disclosed that García Ábrego's organization paid millions of dollars in bribes to politicians and law enforcement officers for his protection. It was later proven after his arrest that the deputy attorney general in charge of Mexico's federal Judicial Police had accumulated more than US$ 9 million for protecting García Ábrego. García Ábrego's arrest
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#17328763206283388-407: Is unclear which of the two – the Gulf Cartel or Los Zetas – started the conflict that led to their break up. It is clear, however, that after the capture and extradition of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, Los Zetas outclassed the Gulf Cartel in revenue, membership, and influence. Some sources reveal that as a result of the supremacy of Los Zetas, the Gulf Cartel felt threatened by
3542-630: The Federal Investigation Agency (AFI) and the PGR to Guadalajara. They were planning to increase security in Jalisco and Nuevo León to prevent a violent response from organized crime groups. López Salinas was the suspected successor to López Falcón; authorities believed a turf war between his faction and those aligned with Cárdenas Guillén was a possible aftermath. The UEDO also took Coker Preciado to Mexico City for questioning. Coker Preciado confirmed to investigators that there were two gunmen in
3696-626: The Juárez Cartel , the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel and the Tijuana Cartel. Osiel Cárdenas' brother, Antonio Cárdenas Guillén, along with Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez ( El Coss ), a former policeman, filled in the vacuum left by Osiel and became the leaders of the Gulf Cartel. The death of Antonio allowed for Costilla Sánchez to become the co-leader of the Gulf Cartel and head of the Metros, one of
3850-651: The Mexican Army 's elite Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales (GAFE) to form part of the cartel's armed wing. Los Zetas , as they are known, served as the hired private mercenary army of the Gulf Cartel. Nevertheless, after the arrest and extradition of Cárdenas, internal struggles led to a rupture between the Gulf and the Zetas. In 1997 the Gulf Cartel began to recruit military personnel whom Jesús Gutiérrez Rebollo , an Army General of that time, had assigned as representatives from
4004-635: The Monterrey Cartel (Spanish: Cártel de Monterrey ) to the national press in mid-2001. This media strategy was also employed to help ease the increasing law enforcement pressure the Gulf Cartel was experiencing in Tamaulipas following the arrest of García Mena and to help refocus their efforts against Cárdenas Guillén's turf competitors. Federal and state officials later stated that the Monterrey Cartel did not exist. On 13 May 2001, López Falcon attended
4158-482: The Reynosa plaza; Arturo Basurto Peña, alias El Grande , and Iván Velázquez-Caballero alias El Talibán took control of Quintana Roo and Guerrero ; Alberto Sánchez Hinojosa, alias Comandante Castillo , took over Tabasco . However, continual disagreement was leading the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas into an inevitable rupture. On 18 August 2013, Gulf Cartel leader Mario Ramirez Trevino was captured. In 2007, Cárdenas
4312-679: The Secretariat of Health approved López Falcón's transfer; his corpse was flown from Miguel Hidalgo International Airport in Guadalajara to General Lucio Blanco International Airport in Reynosa. The body was then transported to the U.S. and sent to a funeral home in Rio Grande City, Texas , where it was prepared for burial. At Roma–Ciudad Miguel Alemán International Bridge , the Mexican Army set up
4466-583: The Texas Department of Public Safety , López Falcón was a legal U.S. resident and lived at a house in Houston with a female named Yolanda and a male named Roberto Pérez López. Security forces suspected that López Falcón used Houston as a safe haven; he had a criminal background in Houston where he was identified as an illegal people smuggler. On his Texas driver's license, his name was listed as Adelio López Falcón. He
4620-628: The supermax prison he is in. Nearly $ 30 million of the former drug lord's assets were distributed among several Texan law enforcement agencies. In exchange for another life-sentence, Cárdenas agreed to collaborate with U.S. agents in intelligence information. The U.S. federal court awarded two helicopters owned by Cárdenas to the Business Development Bank of Canada and the GE Canada Equipment Financing respectively. Both of them were bought from "drug proceeds". It
4774-601: The 1970s under the leadership of kingpin Juan García Ábrego . By the 1980s, García Ábrego began incorporating cocaine into the drug trafficking operations and started to have the upper hand on what was now considered the Gulf Cartel, the greatest criminal dynasty in the US-Mexico border . By negotiating with the Cali Cartel , García Ábrego was able to secure 50% of the shipment out of Colombia as payment for delivery, instead of
Edelio López Falcón - Misplaced Pages Continue
4928-482: The Armed Forces and brought more than 30 army deserters to form part of Cárdenas' new criminal paramilitary wing. They were enticed with salaries much higher than those of the Mexican Army. Among the original defectors were Jaime González Durán , Jesús Enrique Rejón Aguilar , and Heriberto Lazcano , who would later become the supreme leader of the independent cartel of Los Zetas. The creation of Los Zetas brought
5082-515: The English language. Hours after the judge told García Ábrego that he was going to spend the rest of his life in prison, the death penalty was out of the question for the prosecutors. According to the factual documents presented in court on 8 May 1998, the Matamoros-based criminal syndicate of the Gulf Cartel was responsible for trafficking tremendous amounts of narcotics into the United States from
5236-491: The Forensic Medical Service in Jalisco, where authorities expected his family members to reclaim it. They wanted to interview his relatives about the case. On 8 May, a man who identified himself as López Falcón's nephew telephoned the morgue asking how to reclaim the body but he did not arrive in person. Another man called the morgue asking for similar details; he grew angry at staff and told them he would forcibly take
5390-516: The Gulf Cartel after Cardenas' extradition. Lieutenants that were once loyal to Cárdenas began following the commands of Lazcano, who tried to reorganize the cartel by appointing several lieutenants to control specific territories. Morales Treviño was appointed to look over Nuevo León ; Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez in Matamoros; Héctor Manuel Sauceda Gamboa , nicknamed El Karis , took control of Nuevo Laredo; Gregorio Sauceda Gamboa, known as El Goyo , along with his brother Arturo, took control of
5544-518: The Gulf Cartel are known for intimidating the population and for being particularly violent. Although its founder Juan Nepomuceno Guerra smuggled alcohol in large quantities to the United States during the Prohibition era, and heroin for over 40 years, it was not until the 1980s that the cartel was shifted to trafficking cocaine , methamphetamine and marijuana under the command of Juan Nepomuceno Guerra and Juan García Ábrego . The Gulf Cartel,
5698-475: The Gulf Cartel controls territories and imposes its own rules—often violent and bloody—over the population. And in doing so, they inherently become a "competitor" with the state, who also claims sovereignty over its territories. Like other drug trafficking organizations, the Gulf Cartel also subverts government institutions, particularly at state and local levels, by using their large profits to bribe officials. The Gulf Cartel has important cells operating inside
5852-452: The Gulf Cartel experienced several major blows from law enforcement crackdowns, including the arrests of some of Cárdenas Guillén's lieutenants such as García Mena, Adán Medrano Rodríguez , Rubén Sauceda Rivera , and José Manuel Garza Rendón . Authorities believed Cárdenas Guillén's possible successors were Peña Cuéllar, Víctor Manuel Vázquez Mireles , Gregorio Sauceda Gamboa , and Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez . They reiterated that one of
6006-530: The Gulf Cartel has with the prison gangs in the United States have also raised concern to American officials. Reports mention that Mexican drug cartels operate in more than 1,000 cities in the United States. In 2013, high ranking Gulf Cartel member Aurelio Cano Flores became the highest cartel member to be convicted by a U.S. jury in 15 years. In January 2020, high-ranking U.S. Gulf Cartel member Jorge Costilla-Sanchez pleaded guilty to an international drug trafficking conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana into
6160-857: The Gulf Cartel kidnapped López Falcón's associate García Sánchez in Monterrey; he was tortured and killed, and his corpse was abandoned in Nuevo Progreso, Tamaulipas , a few days later. Killings and attacks between the Gulf Cartel and López Falcón's faction continued in Nuevo León through the rest of the year. The escalating dispute between both groups led to additional military deployments of the Mexican Armed Forces in Tamaulipas and Nuevo León. In late 2002, authorities seized multiple drug shipments reportedly owned by López Falcón's group. On 9 October 2002, former Tamaulipas State Police chief Carlos González Pamatz
6314-415: The Gulf Cartel to end the war with Los Zetas, and bring back the "old school" ways when they were together. In June 2020, InSight Crime journalist Victoria Dittmar claimed that the Gulf Cartel had undergone "fragmentation" at some point in time. Los Pelones emerged as an independent cartel during this fragmentation as well. However, remnants still exist in Tamaulipas. Strawperson A straw man
Edelio López Falcón - Misplaced Pages Continue
6468-617: The Gulf Cartel to fully cut ties with López Falcón and his group. López Falcón forged an alliance with the Sinaloa Cartel, Milenio Cartel , and Juárez Cartel , which operated as a triangle organization. In 2000, the Attorney General's Office (PGR) confirmed an alliance between López Falcón and Arturo Beltrán Leyva , a kingpin who had ties with the drug lords Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Ignacio Coronel Villarreal . According to information provided by United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), López Falcón also worked closely with
6622-475: The Gulf Cartel to seek for an alliance with the Sinaloa Cartel and La Familia Michoacana; in addition, Stratfor mentioned that these three organizations also united because they hold a "profound hate" for Los Zetas. Consequently, Los Zetas joined forces with the Beltrán Leyva Cartel and the Tijuana Cartel to counterattack the opposing cartels. On 10 November 2014, a document from the Mexican government
6776-478: The Gulf Cartel's front, López Falcón also sided with Dionisio Román García Sánchez ("El Chacho"), a former state police officer and head of a Nuevo Laredo-based smuggling group known as Los Chachos. Los Chachos had an alliance with the triangle organization López Falcón worked with and helped them smuggle drugs in Tamaulipas. Los Chachos also helped López Falcón's group fight off the Gulf Cartel's forces in their turf. In his new role, López Falcón continued to pose as
6930-529: The Gulf Cartel. They began to organize kidnappings ; impose taxes, collect debts, and operate protection rackets ; control the extortion business; securing cocaine supply and trafficking routes known as plazas (zones) and executing its foes, often with grotesque savagery. In response to the rising power of the Gulf Cartel, the rival Sinaloa Cartel established a heavily armed, well-trained enforcer group known as Los Negros . The group operated similar to Los Zetas, but with less complexity and success. There
7084-632: The INS bus scam, García Ábrego had a "special deal" with members of the Texas National Guard who would truck tons of cocaine and marijuana from South Texas to Houston for the cartel. Garcia Abrego's reach became known when a United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent named Claude de la O, in 1986, stated in testimony against García Ábrego that he received over US$ 100,000 in bribes and had leaked information that could have endangered an FBI informant as well as Mexican journalists. In 1989 Claude
7238-607: The Lobos (The wolves) were established in Laredo. The infighting between the Metros and the Rojos of the Gulf cartel began in 2010, when Juan Mejía González , nicknamed El R-1 , was overlooked as the candidate of the regional boss of Reynosa and was sent to the "Frontera Chica", an area that encompasses Miguel Alemán , Camargo and Ciudad Mier – directly across the U.S.–Mexico border from Starr County, Texas . The area that Mejía González wanted
7392-521: The Mexican Army Special Forces to become the military armed-wing of the Gulf Cartel. His goal was to protect himself from rival drug cartels and from the Mexican military, to perform vital functions as the leader of the most powerful drug cartel in Mexico. Among his first contacts was Arturo Guzmán Decena , an Army lieutenant who was reportedly asked by Cárdenas to look for the "best men possible." Consequently, Guzmán Decenas deserted from
7546-436: The Mexican Army raided the property a few days later in search of López Falcón, and continued their searches in Monterrey to arrest him and several of his associates, including Mario Ramírez ("La Gata") and René García Solís ("La Pata de Garra"), Raymundo's sibling. The attack was reportedly carried out on López Falcón's orders because René was linked to Peña Cuéllar. The gunmen mistook Raymundo's estate for René's. On 13 May 2002,
7700-473: The Mexican drug cartels are believed to have deals with the mafia groups of Europe. The Gulf Cartel and other Mexican drug trafficking groups are active in the northern and western parts of Africa. Although cocaine is not grown in Africa, Mexican organizations, such as the Gulf Cartel, are currently exploiting West Africa's struggling rule-of-law caused by war, crime and poverty, to stage and expand supply routes to
7854-410: The Mexican government forces on 5 November 2010, in the border city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Government sources claimed that this operation—where more than 660 marines, 17 vehicles, and 3 helicopters participated—left 8 dead: three marines, one soldier, and four gunmen, including Antonio Cárdenas. Other sources mention that one news reporter was also killed in the crossfire. This military-led operation
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#17328763206288008-566: The Mexican government to capture him. In 2010 he was finally sentenced to 25 years in prison after being charged with 22 federal charges ; the courtroom was locked and the public prevented from witnessing the proceeding. The proceedings took place in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas in the border city of Brownsville, Texas. Cárdenas has been isolated from interacting with other prisoners in
8162-536: The Mexican military, and bettors from across Mexico. Authorities suspected his horse-breeding business was a money laundering front and that he used a strawperson to manage it. One of López Falcón's last public appearances was on 22 June 2000 when he was seen at the opening of a restaurant in Monterrey; nine pictures of the event were leaked to the Monterrey-based newspaper Diario de Monterrey two years later. López Falcón appeared with multiple people, including
8316-558: The Milenio Cartel kingpin Armando Valencia Cornelio . López Falcón was reportedly the Milenio Cartel's main intermediary in Monterrey, Nuevo León . Investigators also believed López Falcón allowed the Milenio Cartel to smuggle drugs from Nuevo Laredo to Texas. Intelligence reports, however, indicated Valencia Cornelio did not fully trust López Falcón because he believed he was a law enforcement informant. To defend himself from
8470-417: The Monterrey Cartel. On 3 June 2001, a picture of López Falcón sitting in the arena's seats was published by the Monterrey-based newspaper El Norte . A few days later, an anonymous citizen issued a memo to the PGR and El Norte with pictures of López Falcón accusing him of being in public places in Miguel Alemán with armed men and that local authorities did nothing to stop him. Authorities suspect this memo
8624-575: The Nuevo León governor Fernando Canales Clariond . Other attendees included the Santiago mayor Eduardo Manuel García Garza and the priest Alejandro Leal, who conducted the inauguration blessings. López Falcón was with his girlfriend María Eugenia Garza Díaz, the daughter of the restaurant owner. When López Falcón was not attending his businesses in Tamaulipas, he spent his time in Texas, where he reportedly continued to run drug trafficking activities. According to
8778-501: The PGR offices in certain states across Mexico. After his imprisonment a short time later, Jorge Madrazo Cuéllar created the National Public Security System (SNSP), to fight the drug cartels along the U.S.–Mexico border. After Osiel Cárdenas Guillén took full control of the Gulf Cartel in 1999, he found himself in a no-holds-barred fight to keep his notorious organization and leadership untouched, and sought out members of
8932-485: The PGR was taking over the case and placing it under federal jurisdiction; the case would be headed by the Specialized Unit Against Organized Crime (UEDO), one of the PGR's former branches. State officials requested the PGR's assistance on the case because of López Falcón's criminal profile and his alleged involvement in drug trafficking, a crime that falls under federal jurisdiction. The UEDO said
9086-511: The US$ 1,500 per kilogram they were previously receiving. This renegotiation, however, forced Garcia Ábrego to guarantee the product's arrival from Colombia to its destination. Instead, he created warehouses along the Mexican's northern border to preserve hundreds of tons of cocaine; this allowed him to create a new distribution network and increase his political influence. In addition to trafficking drugs, García Ábrego would ship cash to be laundered , in
9240-627: The United States each month. His luck ended in November 2000 when he was captured in Tampico , Tamaulipas and imprisoned in La Palma . After Medina Garza's arrest, his cousin Adalberto Garza Dragustinovis was investigated for allegedly forming part of the Gulf Cartel and for money-laundering, but the case is still open. The next in line was Sergio Gómez alias El Checo , however, his leadership
9394-429: The United States, approved executions, and signed forms to allow the purchase of police forces. And while his brother Antonio Cárdenas Guillén led the Gulf Cartel, Cárdenas still made vital orders from La Palma through messages from his lawyers and guards. The arrest and extradition of Cárdenas, however, caused for several top lieutenants from both the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas to fight over important drug corridors to
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#17328763206289548-410: The United States, especially the cities of Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo , Reynosa , and Tampico —all situated in the state of Tamaulipas. They also fought for coastal cities Acapulco, Guerrero and Cancún, Quintana Roo ; the state capital of Monterrey, Nuevo León, and the states of Veracruz and San Luis Potosí . Through his violence and intimidation, Heriberto Lazcano took control of both Los Zetas and
9702-424: The United States, where he was sentenced to 25 years in a prison in Houston, Texas for money laundering, drug trafficking and death threats to U.S. federal agents. Reports from the PGR and El Universal state that while in prison, Cárdenas and Benjamín Arellano Félix , from the Tijuana Cartel, formed an alliance. Moreover, through handwritten notes, Cárdenas gave orders on the movement of drugs along Mexico and to
9856-580: The United States. The Gulf Cartel is believed to have ties with the 'Ndrangheta , an organized crime group in Italy that also has ties with Los Zetas. Reports indicated that the Gulf Cartel was using the BlackBerry smartphones to communicate with 'Ndrangheta, since the texts are "normally difficult to intercept". In 2009, the Gulf organization concluded that expanding their market opportunities in Europe, combined with
10010-474: The United States. With the arrest of one of García Ábrego's traffickers, Juan Antonio Ortiz, it became known the cartel would ship tons of cocaine in the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) buses between the years of 1986 to 1990. The buses made great transportation, as Antonio Ortiz noted since they were never stopped at the border. It also became known that, in addition to
10164-480: The United States—in Mission , Roma , and Rio Grande City —for example, and their presence is expanding. Thomas A. Shannon , a U.S. diplomat and ambassador, stated that criminal organizations like the Gulf Cartel have "substantially weakened" the institutions in Mexico and Central America, and have generated a surge of violence in the United States. The U.S. National Drug Threat Assessment mentioned that
10318-487: The accusations by posting their own banners throughout Tamaulipas. They pointedly noted that they had carried out executions and kidnappings under orders of the Gulf Cartel when they served as their enforcers, and they were created by them for that sole purpose. Also, Los Zetas mentioned that the Gulf Cartel also kills innocent civilians, and then blames them for their atrocities. Nevertheless, other sources also reveal that Antonio Cárdenas Guillén, brother of Osiel and one of
10472-489: The alias El Yeyo. He said he did not recall this man's last name. Policemen suspected he was referring to López Falcón. Calzada García was paid US$ 4,000 to transport the drugs; he said he was told to collect the vehicle filled with drugs at a shopping center in San Pedro Garza García and drive it to Reynosa , where he initially brokered the deal and received the vehicle's keys from El Yeyo. Rodríguez Madrigal said she
10626-455: The arena. He left the premises escorted by his gunmen and by merging with the crowd of concert attendees. He did not suffer any injuries. Outside the premises, Los Zetas shot at multiple vehicles and injured a bystander but they failed to kill their intended target. Authorities initially suspected García Mena ordered the attack as retaliation for López Falcón's alleged involvement in his arrest. Other authorities suspected Cárdenas Guillén ordered
10780-537: The armed wing of the entire Gulf organization. The first mention of Los Escorpiones on the media was in 2008, when El Universal wrote an article about some "protected witnesses" from the Gulf Cartel who denounced the alliance between the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel and Los Zetas to the Mexican authorities, and that the Gulf Cartel had created Los Escorpiones to stop and balance the growing hegemony of Los Zetas. However, his brother Osiel Cárdenas Guillén disapproved
10934-474: The arrest of García Ábrego. Further theories put forward to allege the arrest of García Ábrego was to satisfy U.S. demands and meet certification, from the Department of Justice (DOJ), as a trade partner, the vote set to take place on 1 March. García Ábrego was apprehended on 14 January 1996, and Mexico shortly after received certification on 1 March. Upon his capture outside the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León,
11088-700: The arrest of the Gulf Cartel boss Cárdenas in 2003 and his extradition in 2007, the panorama for Los Zetas changed—they started to become synonymous with the Gulf Cartel, and their influences grew within the organization. Los Zetas began to grow independently from the Gulf Cartel, and eventually a rupture occurred between them in early 2010. On 9 November 1999, two U.S. agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and FBI were threatened at gunpoint by Cárdenas Guillén and approximately fifteen of his henchmen in Matamoros. The two agents traveled to Matamoros with an informant to gather intelligence on
11242-402: The attack and that they escaped the crime scene in a white vehicle. Eyewitnesses said López Falcón's killers were dressed in white and walked away from the scene after killing him but most were unable to provide investigators with physical descriptions of them. The policeman at the bank said he saw the gunmen; he was the only person who provided the PGR with this information. Some eyewitnesses said
11396-427: The attack because he saw López Falcón as a threat to his hegemony and wanted to eliminate the competition on his turf. Investigators stated the Gulf Cartel was tracking López Falcón's whereabouts in Nuevo León and were reportedly close to killing him at his home in Monterrey days prior. Upon discovering that López Falcón was planning to attend the event that night, the Gulf Cartel mounted an operation against him. Prior to
11550-405: The attack, López Falcón was a relatively unknown crime boss outside his area of influence. Los Zetas was also a newly formed group within the Gulf Cartel and was not well known outside Tamaulipas. The attack catapulted to fame both Los Zetas and López Falcón to national attention. Among politicians, the incident raised worries about the presence of drug lords in Nuevo León and the alleged existence of
11704-491: The body if they did not give it to him. This incident alarmed authorities, and forced them to guard the morgue and López Falcón's body using security forces from Guadalajara metropolitan area , the Jalisco State Police, the PGR, and AFI, until further notice. On 9 May, López Falcón's sister traveled from Roma, Texas , to Guadalajara to confirm the identity of the corpse. She was accompanied by her two attorneys to start
11858-472: The body reclamation process. The UEDO interviewed his sister before meeting with the Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences, who gathered her blood samples and conducted DNA tests on the body. The test results were expected to be ready in one or two weeks, and Jalisco authorities stated that the corpse would not be given to relatives until their family link was confirmed. The PGR were responsible for setting
12012-412: The business. According to Mexican security forces, López Falcón was not known to be a violent criminal leader. He reportedly avoided ordering murders, preferring to focus on drug trafficking and his other interests, which included promoting ranchera music and entertainment, cockfighting, managing his restaurant chains, and equestrianism and horse breeding. His affinity for breeding fine horses earned him
12166-401: The cartel was managing drug shipments from Tamaulipas to the United States. Security forces believed López Falcón was not a violent crime boss; he preferred to indulge in his personal interests, which included promoting music and entertainment, managing his restaurant chains, and running his horse-breeding business. After joining the cartel, he continued to pose as a legitimate businessman to keep
12320-414: The cartel, and that would tighten relations with Colombia and straighten the Gulf Cartel's path, something quite difficult with Antonio Cárdenas as co-leader. Los Escorpiones, also called Grupo Escorpios, ( The Scorpions ), was believed to be the mercenary group that protected Antonio Cárdenas Guillén , the former leader of the organization. According to reports by the Mexican government, Los Escorpiones
12474-410: The conflict between them was when Samuel Flores Borrego, alias El Metro 3 , lieutenant of the Gulf Cartel, killed Sergio Peña Mendoza, alias El Concorde 3 , lieutenant of Los Zetas, due to a disagreement for the drug corridor of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, whom both protected. Soon after his death, Los Zetas demanded the Gulf Cartel to hand over the killer, but they didn't, and observers believe that triggered
12628-509: The date when the body would be given to López Falcón's family. After the DNA tests, his sister returned to Texas and awaited the notification from Mexican authorities. The police thought his family would hold a wake in Miguel Alemán or Mexico City, and that López Falcón would be buried in Guardados de Arriba , a rural community in Miguel Alemán where his wife, who died in the 1990s, was buried. On 11 May,
12782-497: The drug corridors of Tamaulipas with the Gulf Cartel in 2003. This gang was controlled by Dionisio Román García Sánchez alias El Chacho , who had decided to betray the Gulf Cartel and switch his alliance with the Tijuana Cartel ; however, he was eventually killed by Los Zetas. Once Cárdenas consolidated his position and supremacy, he expanded the responsibilities of Los Zetas, and as years passed, they became much more important for
12936-452: The drug lord was flown to Mexico City where U.S. federal agent took him on a private plane to Houston , Texas. Wearing slacks and a striped shirt, García Ábrego was immediately extradited to the United States where he was interviewed by an FBI agent, and confessed to have "ordered people murdered and tortured", bribed top Mexican officials, and smuggled tons of narcotics into the United States. His prosecutors, however, tried García Ábrego as
13090-460: The drug trafficking organizations like the Gulf Cartel tend to be less structured in U.S. than in Mexico, and often rely on street gangs to operate inside the United States. The arrest of several Gulf Cartel lieutenants, along with the drug-related violence and kidnappings, have raised concerns among Texas officials that the drug war in Mexico and the drug cartels are taking hold in Texas . The strong ties
13244-522: The euro strength against the U.S. dollar, justified establishing an extensive network in that continent. The main areas of demand and drug consumption are in Eastern Europe, the successor states of the Soviet Union . In Western Europe, the primarily increase has been in the use of cocaine. Along with the market in the United States, the drug market in Europe is among the most lucrative in the world, where
13398-846: The existence of this mercenary group, since he had created Los Zetas, the parallel version of Los Escorpiones, and they had turned against the organization. El Universal reported that Mexican authorities identified the gunmen that were engaging in confrontations against the troops in Matamoros, Tamaulipas as members of the Los Escorpiones group. Along with Antonio Cárdenas, the following members of Los Escorpiones were killed: Sergio Antonio Fuentes, alias El Tyson or Escorpión 1 ; Raúl Marmolejo Gómez, alias Escorpión 18 ; Hugo Lira, alias Escorpión 26 ; and Refugio Adalberto Vargas Cortés, alias Escorpión 42 . The arrests of Marco Antonio Cortez Rodríguez alias Escorpión 37 and of Josué González Rodríguez alias Escorpión 43 —the two who were hospitalized after
13552-484: The former head of the Miguel Alemán Municipal Police. In the Gulf Cartel, López Falcón was reportedly responsible for coordinating drug trafficking shipments from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas , to the United States. In 1999, the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA) identified López Falcón as a rising drug smuggler. Security forces suspected he kept a low-profile status and posed as a businessman. He used
13706-496: The ground. The gunmen entered the arena and fired their guns into the air to create confusion among the attendees and force López Falcón to flee outside, where the gunmen planned to kill him. Surveillance videos captured López Falcón in the front seats of the event sitting next to a blond woman. He was able to leave before the gunmen entered the arena after his bodyguards alerted him of the presence of armed men outside. López Falcón had at least twenty bodyguards posted inside and outside
13860-495: The growing force of their enforcer group and decided to curtail their influence, but eventually failed in their attempt, instigating a war. According to narco-banners left by the Gulf Cartel in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and Reynosa, Tamaulipas, the reason for their rupture was that Los Zetas had expanded their operations to include extortion, kidnapping , assassinations, theft, and other actions with which it disagreed. Unwilling to stand for such abuse, Los Zetas responded and countered
14014-414: The gunfights. Although not confirmed, KVEO-TV , several online sources and witnesses, along with one law enforcement officer who preferred to keep his name anonymous, mentioned that more than 100 people died that day in Matamoros. The death of Antonio Cárdenas Guillen also caused a spiral of violence in Reynosa, Tamaulipas a number of days after he was killed. Moreover, his death also generated
14168-616: The incident occurred. According to police reports, the attack may have been ordered by López Falcón as vengeance after he discovered Peña Cuéllar had started the rumor that López Falcón was responsible for García Mena arrest. Security forces suspected that by framing López Falcón, Peña Cuéllar wanted to earn a high-ranking position within Cárdenas Guillén's chain of command. García Mena had originally framed López Falcón as his informant and blamed him for his capture. On 20 November 2001, López Falcón's bodyguard Juan Martínez Torres ("El Banano")
14322-729: The increasingly lucrative European illegal drug market. The rumors of the broken alliance between the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas began on blogs and mass emails in September 2009, but it remained pretty much the same throughout that year—a rumor. But on 24 February 2010, hundreds of trucks marked with C.D.G , XXX , and M3 (the insignias of the Gulf Cartel) began to hit the streets of northern Tamaulipas. The clash between these two groups first happened in Reynosa, Tamaulipas and then expanded to Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros. The war then spread out through 11 municipalities of Tamaulipas, 9 of them bordering
14476-403: The infighting could have been caused by the suspicions that the Rojos were "too soft" on the Gulf cartel's bitter enemy, Los Zetas. When the Gulf cartel and Los Zetas split in early 2010, some members of the Rojos stayed with the Gulf cartel, while others decided to leave and join the forces of Los Zetas. InSight Crime explains that the fundamental disagreement between the Rojos and the Metros
14630-445: The investigation would also include the charges of illegal possession of military-exclusive firearms and organized crime involvement against the suspects. They were expecting Jalisco authorities to open a separate homicide case under state jurisdiction. Federal authorities asked state officials to withhold information about the case from the public and recommended secrecy in the investigation. The federal government dispatched troops from
14784-493: The largest faction in the Gulf cartel, firefights broke throughout Tamaulipas and drug loads were stolen among each other, but the Metros managed to retain control of the major cities that stretched from Matamoros to Miguel Alemán, Tamaulipas. Some experts have found it difficult to argue that the Gulf Cartel does not impose a direct threat to the state since they "do not seek political change", and that they only want to be left alone with their business. Observations indicate that
14938-403: The late 1990s. The differences started after López Falcón began diversifying the Gulf Cartel's portfolio and started smuggling cocaine to the U.S. from Tamaulipas. García Mena primarily smuggled marijuana through this corridor. García Mena sought support from Osiel Cárdenas Guillén , the top leader of the Gulf Cartel, to try to oust López Falcón. López Falcón sided with López Salinas and sought
15092-481: The lead of the Gulf Cartel, but ultimately failed in his attempt. He did not have the leadership skills nor the support of the Colombian drug-provisioners. In addition, he was under observation and was widely known, since his surname meant more of the same. He was to be replaced by Óscar Malherbe de León and Raúl Valladares del Ángel, until their arrest a short time later, causing several cartel lieutenants to fight for
15246-512: The leadership of their current head, Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano. Other sources, however, mention that the Gulf Cartel began looking to form a truce with their Sinaloa Cartel rivals, and Los Zetas did not want to recognize the treaty settlement, which led them to act independently and eventually break apart. On the other hand, other sources reveal that Los Zetas separated from the Gulf Cartel to ally with Beltrán-Leyva Cartel , which led to conflict between them. Other sources mention that what initiated
15400-457: The leadership. Malherbe tried to bribe officials $ 2 million for his release, but it was denied. Hugo Baldomero Medina Garza , known as El Señor Padrino de los Tráilers (the lord of the Trailers), is considered one of the most important members in the rearticulation of the Gulf Cartel. He was one of the top officials of the cartel for more than 40 years, trafficking about 20 tons of cocaine to
15554-460: The local police to control attendees' access; visitors were eventually allowed to visit López Falcón's services but the police did not allow the media to access the area. Multiple corrido and mariachi songs were composed for López Falcón and played during his funeral. Gulf Cartel The Gulf Cartel (Spanish: Cártel del Golfo , Golfos , or CDG ) is a criminal syndicate and drug trafficking organization in Mexico, and perhaps one of
15708-596: The major targets was López Falcón, who they regarded as one of the top-three Gulf Cartel leaders in the past two years. They said unlike other gangs like Los Chachos, López Falcón had the operational capacity to confront the Gulf Cartel. The Army and the PGR thus refocused their efforts to apprehend him; they feared he had become one of the leading drug lords in northern Mexico and south Texas. They also suspected he no longer lived in Tamaulipas and had relocated to Nuevo León, where he reportedly owned several money laundering fronts. On 6 May 2003, two gunmen murdered López Falcón in
15862-460: The measures carried out by the Army and the PGR, and stated that they expected more secret operations to be carried out in the area in light of the growing presence of organized crime activity in northern Mexico. On 4 August 2001, a shootout between López Falcón's and López Salinas' gunmen broke out outside a cockfighting arena in Reynosa. According to police reports, the gunmen got into a verbal dispute at
16016-409: The method the gunmen used to kill López Falcón was one not usually used by Tamaulipas-based criminal groups. The police did not discard the possibility López Falcón may have been betrayed and killed on orders of the Milenio Cartel's leadership circle, or by members of Los Texas , a Nuevo Laredo-based gang that was a rival to both López Falcón and the Gulf Cartel. López Falcón's corpse was first kept at
16170-555: The mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, and García Ábrego was given eleven life sentences in prison. During the four-week trial, 84 witnesses, ranging from "law enforcement officers to convicted drug smugglers", confessed that García Ábrego smuggled loads of Colombian cocaine on planes and then stored them in several border cities along the Mexico–United States border before being smuggled to the Rio Grande Valley . In addition, it
16324-529: The millions. Around 1994, it was estimated that the Gulf Cartel handled as much as "one-third of all cocaine shipments" into the United States from the Cali Cartel suppliers. During the 1990s, the PGR (Procuraduría General de la República), the Mexican attorney general's office, estimated that the Gulf Cartel was "worth over US$ 10 billion." García Ábrego's ties extended beyond the Mexican government corruption and into
16478-401: The mobilization of the soldiers, marines, and federal police forces. The street confrontations generated a wave of panic among the population and caused the publication and broadcast of messages through social networks like Twitter and Facebook, reporting the clashes between authorities and the cartel members. When the Mexican authorities reached the spot where Antonio Cárdenas ( Tony Tormenta )
16632-551: The money. On 22 September 2000, the Gulf Cartel carried out an armed attack against López Salinas in Miguel Alemán. He was not injured in the attack but his chauffeur Héctor Arias was wounded. The attack was presumed to be carried out on García Mena's orders. Five days later, six gunmen were arrested in Ciudad Camargo, Tamaulipas , following an anonymous tip provided to the Tamaulipas State Police . In their confession to
16786-440: The murder. A police officer guarding a nearby bank heard the gunshots; he thought a bank robbery was underway and called for reinforcements. The Guadalajara Municipal Police were the first to arrive at the scene; they discovered López Falcón's body sitting next to his table. When he died, López Falcón had with him four cellphones, a push-to-talk device, US$ 1,260 and MXN$ 6,200 in cash, several credit cards, his Texas driver's license,
16940-416: The murder. Before joining organized crime, these men were members of the Mexican Army's Special Forces Airmobile Group (GAFE) and were hired by Cárdenas Guillén as part of his security circle. Another line of investigation suggested López Falcón may have been killed by a gambling group within the horse-racing or cockfighting industries; he was known for gambling millions on these sports and the police believed
17094-526: The nickname "El Señor de los Caballos" (English: The Lord of the Horses). López Falcón was one of the wealthiest people in Miguel Alemán; he owned multiple properties, including an estate known as The Bougainvilleas (Spanish: Las Bugambilias ), where he hosted the city's anniversary parties and multiple horse-racing events. García Mena and the Miguel Alemán mayor Raúl Rodríguez Barrera sometimes attended these events. Other invitees included local officials, members of
17248-506: The oldest organized crime groups in the country. It is currently based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas , directly across the U.S. border from Brownsville, Texas . Their network is international, and is believed to have dealings with crime groups in Europe, West Africa, Asia, Central America, South America, and the United States. Besides drug trafficking, the Gulf Cartel operates through protection rackets , assassinations, extortions , kidnappings , and other criminal activities. The members of
17402-450: The operation in Matamoros, and reiterated his effort against organized crime. After this incident, there was a huge division of opinions over the fate of the Gulf Cartel. Some experts believed that the death of Antonio Cárdenas would be dreadful for the Gulf Cartel, and that Los Zetas would overthrow them and eventually take control of Tamaulipas. Others explained how his death allowed Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez to take full directive of
17556-543: The operations of the Gulf Cartel. Cárdenas Guillén demanded the agents and the informant to get out of their vehicle, but they refused to obey his orders. The incident escalated as Cárdenas Guillén threatened to kill them if they did not comply and as his gunmen prepared to shoot. The agents tried to reason with him that killing U.S. federal agents would bring a massive manhunt from the U.S. government. Cárdenas Guillén eventually let them go and threatened to kill them if they ever returned to his home turf. The standoff triggered
17710-471: The parking lot of the arena after the Bobby Pulido music concert ended. Three people were injured in the attack. Authorities drew similarities with the shootout in Nuevo León months prior in which López Falcón was targeted. On 30 October 2001, approximately fourteen gunmen stormed an estate in Monterrey to kill Peña Cuéllar. One person was killed and two others were injured but Peña Cuéllar was not present when
17864-577: The police, the gunmen said they were hired by López Salinas and were from the Sinaloan cities of Culiacán and Guamúchil . They also said they were stationed in Nuevo León and ordered to make incursions into Tamaulipas. This alarmed the police of the presence of organized crime members from other turfs outside Tamaulipas. On 27 November 2000, the Miguel Alemán Rural Police chief Pablo Gaytán Mejía
18018-495: The pseudonyms Gilberto Salinas and Edelio Flores to hide his real identity. López Falcón's cousin Rolando López Salinas ("El Rolis") was reportedly his personal assistant. López Salinas acted as López Falcón's personal bodyguard and head of his security services. Murder operations conducted by López Salinas were ordered directly by García Mena; López Falcón allowed this because he preferred not to be linked to that part of
18172-444: The shootout of 5 November 2010—allowed for the Mexican forces to understand the structure of Los Escorpiones. In the late 1990s, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, the former leader of the Gulf cartel, had other similar groups besides Los Zetas established in several cities in Tamaulipas. Each of these groups were identified by their radio codes: the Rojos (The Red ones) were based in Reynosa; the Metros were headquartered in Matamoros ; and
18326-408: The shootout that day. And even after the drug lord was killed, the roadblocks continued throughout the rest of the day. The Guardian newspaper mentioned that in a YouTube video, a convoy of SUV's filled with gunmen and pickups packed with marines were seen in a chase through the streets of Matamoros, Tamaulipas. And although there wasn't any visible confrontation between the two, the intensity of
18480-500: The situation was clear through the background noises of grenade explosions and automatic gunfire. A news video from Televisa , also on YouTube, shows images from the confrontations of that day. Moreover, several bystanders also recorded the shootouts. Nevertheless, according to the newspapers The Brownsville Herald and The Monitor from across the border in Brownsville, Texas and McAllen, Texas , around 50 people were killed in
18634-411: The state of Texas. Soon, the violence generated between these two groups had spread to Tamaulipas' neighboring states of Nuevo León and Veracruz . Their conflict has even occurred on U.S. soil, where the Gulf Cartel killed two Zeta members in Brownsville, Texas on 5 October 2010. In the midsts of violence and panic, local authorities and the media tried to minimize the situation and claim that "nothing
18788-435: The successors of the Gulf Cartel, was addicted to gambling, sex, and drugs, leading Los Zetas to consider his leadership as a threat to the organization. Other reports mention, however, that the rupture occurred due to a disagreement about who would take on the leadership of the cartel after the extradition of Osiel. The candidates of the Gulf Cartel were Antonio Cárdenas and Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez, while Los Zetas wanted
18942-474: The support of rival organized crime groups. In mid-2000, López Falcón and López Salinas met with members of the Sinaloa Cartel and brokered a drug deal without the Gulf Cartel's approval. López Falcón eventually left the Gulf Cartel and formed an alliance with the Sinaloa Cartel, which promised López Falcón larger profits in exchange for allowing them to smuggle drugs in Tamaulipas. This prompted García Mena and
19096-450: The two factions within the Gulf Cartel. Mario Cárdenas Guillén , brother of Osiel and Antonio, is the other leader of Gulf Cartel and head of the Rojos, the other faction within the Gulf Cartel and the parallel version of the Metros. Costilla was often viewed as the "strongest leader" of the two, but collaborated with Antonio Cárdenas, who acted as representative of his jailed brother. However, Antonio died in an eight-hour shooting with
19250-460: The victim was López Falcón because they thought it was unusual that he was in Guadalajara, which was far from his center of operations. Investigators had information that he was hiding in McAllen. López Falcón's identity card named him by his alternate first name Adelio. Jalisco authorities suspected the victim was probably López Falcón and federal authorities did not discard this possibility. His identity
19404-400: The war. Tamaulipas was mostly spared from the violence until early 2010, when the Gulf Cartel's enforcers, Los Zetas, split from and turned against the Gulf Cartel, sparking a bloody turf war. When the hostilities began, the Gulf organization joined forces with its former rivals, the Sinaloa Cartel and La Familia Michoacana , aiming to take out Los Zetas. Consequently, Los Zetas allied with
19558-515: Was La Yeya, and that he lived in McAllen, Texas . This was the second largest drug seizure in Nuevo León in 2002 and showed the PGR López Falcón was likely operating in Monterrey and trying to take over the turf from Cárdenas Guillén. Reynosa was generally considered a turf controlled by Cárdenas Guillén. On 14 March 2003, the Mexican Army arrested Cárdenas Guillén in Matamoros. Prior to his capture,
19712-422: Was a result of more than six months of intelligence work. Milenio Television mentioned that the Mexican authorities had tried to apprehend Cárdenas Guillén twice before this incident, but that his personal gunmen had distracted the Mexican forces and allowed him to be escorted in his armored vehicle. The confrontations started around 10:00 am, and extended to 06:00 pm, around the time Cárdenas Guilén
19866-407: Was abandoned but he continued to visit the city discreetly. On 9 April 2001, the Mexican Army arrested García Mena after a week-long manhunt in Guardados de Abajo , Camargo. The Gulf Cartel suspected López Falcón plotted against him by informing Mexican authorities of his whereabouts. They also believed the way security forces raided several properties containing drugs and the house where García Mena
20020-481: Was arrested in Houston with 100 kg (220 lb) of cocaine from López Falcón's group. The following day, federal policemen stationed in China, Nuevo León , arrested suspected drug traffickers Jorge Calzada García and Patricia Rodríguez Madrigal, who were in possession of 33 kg (73 lb) of cocaine in a vehicle. In their police confession, Calzada García said he was hired by a man named Evelio or Edelio, who went by
20174-406: Was at the restaurant discussing the purchase of a pure-bred horse, which he wanted to take to one of his ranches in Texas. Coker Preciado and López Falcón had previously met in Texas and Monterrey. Coker Preciado was unharmed in the attack but suffered a nervous breakdown and was attended to by emergency staff when they arrived at the scene. The other person who was eating with them left moments before
20328-572: Was brought up that García Ábrego had previously been arrested in Brownsville, Texas for six-year-old auto theft charges, but was released later with no charges whatsoever. Two men from the Rio Grande Valley were charged before the drug lord's arrest for laundering more than $ 30 million for García Ábrego. He was also held responsible in 1984 for the massacre of 6 people in La Clínica Raya,
20482-414: Was confirmed by the Jalisco authorities on 8 May after they cross-referenced his identity cards with information federal authorities had on file. Jalisco authorities confirmed that López Falcón had no pending criminal charges in Jalisco but said he was suspected of being involved in drug trafficking in Tamaulipas and Nuevo León. The same day, Jalisco's attorney general Gerardo Octavio Solís Gómez confirmed
20636-407: Was created by Antonio Cárdenas Guillen and is composed of over 60 civilians, former police officers, and ex-military officials. According to El Universal , there are several music videos on YouTube that exalt the power of this armed group through narcocorridos . After the rupture between the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas (which until then had served as the cartel's armed wing), Los Escorpiones became
20790-405: Was even subject to allegations of corruption. It is believed the Mexican government knew all García Ábrego's whereabouts all along and had refused to arrest him due to information he possessed about the extent of corruption within the government. The arresting officer, a FJP commander, is believed to have received a bullet-proof Mercury Grand Marquis and US$ 500,000 from a rival cartel for enacting
20944-427: Was extradited to the United States and charged with the involvement of conspiracies to traffic large amounts of marijuana and cocaine, violating the "continuing-criminal-enterprise statute" (also known as the "drug kingpin statute"), and for threatening two U.S. federal officers. The standoff the two agents had with the drug lord in 1999 in the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas led for the U.S. to indict Cárdenas and pressure
21098-490: Was given to Samuel Flores Borrego , suggesting that the Metros were above the Rojos. Unconfirmed information released by The Monitor indicated that two leaders of the Rojos, Mejía González and Rafael Cárdenas Vela , teamed up to kill Flores Borrego. Cárdenas Vela had held a grudge on Flores Borrego and the Metros because he believed that they had led the Mexican military to track down and kill his uncle Antonio Cárdenas Guillén on 5 November 2010. Other sources indicate that
21252-445: Was hiding was unusually specific, which led them to believe López Falcón had betrayed them. The Gulf Cartel thus carried out a search to kill López Falcón and other aligned with his faction. To increase law enforcement and media attention against López Falcón and several of his accomplices, Cárdenas Guillén's lawyer Juan Jesús Guerrero Chapa leaked a false rumor that López Falcón was part of a new Nuevo León-based criminal group known as
21406-470: Was kidnapped in Miguel Alemán. A few days later, López Falcón's lead accountant Jaime Barrera Peña was also kidnapped; police suspected they were probably kidnapped by Cárdenas Guillén's faction. On 28 November 2001, eighteen gunmen broke into an estate owned by Gabriel Garza Rodríguez, a suspected Gulf Cartel member, in Cadereyta . The gunmen killed one of the property guards and injured two children. The PGR and
21560-485: Was killed. The intense shootings provoked the temporary closure of three international bridges in Matamoros, along with the University of Texas at Brownsville , just across the border. Public transportation and school classes in Matamoros were canceled, along with the suspension of activities throughout the municipality , since the cartel members hijacked the units of public transport and made dozens of roadblocks to prevent
21714-419: Was listed as being 1.75 m (5.7 ft) tall and weighing 83 kg (183 lb). His date of birth was listed as 26 June 1955, whereas in Mexico his year of birth was listed as 1965. The U.S. driver's license was once suspended by a Texan judge; López Falcón was released on parole and was re-issued with a new license with the same Houston address. López Falcón and García Mena began having disagreements in
21868-408: Was murdered by four gunmen, presumably on López Falcón's orders. Gaytán Mejía was reportedly a close friend of García Mena and helped facilitate his drug operations. After the attack, García Mena's henchmen killed the four gunmen. Fearing for his life, López Falcón fled Miguel Alemán and settled in Monterrey. His family fled the area after learning about his issues with García Mena. López Falcón's estate
22022-560: Was murdered on 21 February 2002. Following the assassination attempt, authorities increased their efforts to arrest López Falcón, one of the most-wanted criminals in northern Mexico. On 5 June 2001, the Mexican Army carried out a secret operation in Mier , Miguel Alemán, and Camargo to arrest López Falcón and suspected Gulf Cartel trafficker Alesio García Peña ("El Huarachón"). They raided multiple properties, including two houses in Mier tied to García Peña,
22176-446: Was not aware of the drug deal. The couple was driving a Peugeot that was bought in the state of Jalisco but had Tamaulipas license plates. Investigators began investigating a drug link between Monterrey, Reynosa, and Guadalajara. While facing a judge, however, Calzada García retracted his statement and said he did not recall the exact name of the man who hired him. He said the man's name was Edelio Ramírez or Rodríguez, that his nickname
22330-520: Was occurring", but the facts were impossible to cover up. Confrontations between these two groups have paralyzed entire cities in broad daylight. Several witnesses claimed that many of the municipalities throughout Tamaulipas were "war zones", and that many businesses and houses were burned down, leaving areas in "total destruction". The bloodbath in Tamaulipas has caused thousands of deaths, but most of shootings and body counts often go unreported. The complexity and territorial advantage of Los Zetas forced
22484-454: Was over leadership. Those who were more loyal to the Cárdenas family stayed with the Rojos, while those loyal to Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez, like Flores Borrego, defended the Metros. Originally, the Gulf cartel was running smoothly, but the infighting between the two factions in the Gulf cartel triggered when Flores Borrego was killed on 2 September 2011. When the Rojos turned on the Metros,
22638-538: Was planned and carried out in secret; the only people informed were the President Vicente Fox , the Secretary of Defense in Mexico, Ricardo Clemente Vega García, and Mexico's Attorney General, Rafael Macedo de la Concha. After his capture, Cárdenas was sent to the federal, high-security prison La Palma. However, it was believed that Cárdenas still controlled the Gulf Cartel from prison, and was later extradited to
22792-477: Was present, the gunmen received the soldiers and cops with grenades and high-calibre shots. Reports mention that Antonio Cárdenas was being protected by the Los Escorpiones ( The Scorpions ), the alleged armed wing of the Gulf Cartel and the personal army of Antonio Cárdenas, who was serving as snipers and bodyguards for him. La Jornada newspaper mentioned that over 80 SUV's packed with gunmen fought to protect Cárdenas Guillén, and over 300 grenades were used in
22946-553: Was released to the media and claimed that Los Rojos faction of the Gulf Cartel was planning to ally with Los Zetas. The potential alliance was conducted by Juan Reyes Mejía González (alias "R1"), from the Gulf Cartel; and Rogelio González Pizaña (alias "Z-2"), from Los Zetas. The latter was released from prison months earlier even though he was scheduled to serve 16-years behind bars in January. Authorities believe that González Pizaña reincorporated in organized crime and decided to join with
23100-509: Was removed from the case for unknown reasons, retiring a year later. García Ábrego bribed the agent in an attempt to gather more information on U.S. law enforcement operations. García Ábrego's business had grown to such length that the FBI placed him on the Top Ten Most Wanted in 1995 . He was the first drug trafficker to be on that list. On 14 January 1996, García Ábrego was arrested outside
23254-440: Was running for governor of Nuevo León in 2003. According to Fernández, López Falcón contacted him in early 2003 for a meeting; López Falcón once visited his office to deliver several suitcases filled with U.S. dollars. The money was reportedly intended to help Fernández finance his campaign in exchange for his political support and permission to operate in Nuevo León should Fernández win the election. Fernández said he did not accept
23408-604: Was short-lived when he was assassinated in April 1996 in Valle Hermoso , Tamaulipas. After this, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén took control of the cartel in July 1999 after assassinating Salvador Gómez Herrera alias El Chava , co-leader of the Gulf Cartel and close friend of him, earning his name as the Mata Amigos (Friend Killer). As confrontations with rival groups heated up, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén sought and recruited over 30 deserters of
23562-432: Was sitting and shot him from behind. Investigators confirmed López Falcon was shot three times in the head at point-blank range and died at the scene. According to investigators, López Falcón arrived at the restaurant after being dropped off by someone else. He had no bodyguards with him. Authorities requested the closure of the restaurant until further notice so evidence from the crime scene could be gathered. López Falcón
23716-435: Was submitted by his rivals. Later that month, the PGR and Nuevo León authorities confirmed López Falcón did not have a pending arrest warrant or a formal indictment at a federal and state level. Both levels of government agreed to work together to formally start an investigation against López Falcón's alleged criminal activities. PGR investigator Mario Roldán Quirino opened an investigation against him. Roldán Quirino, however,
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