Mexican Cartel's Boss of Bosses

According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Juárez Cartel is a powerful Mexican drug trafficking cartel based in Juárez, Mexico

The cartel has most recently transformed itself into the Golden Triangle Alliance, or La Alianza Triángulo de Oro, because of its leaders in three Mexican border states: Chihuahua, Durango and
Sinaloa. Until 2004 the organization was headed by Juan José  Esparragoza Moreno, also known as El Azul. In late 2004 control of the cartel was assumed by Ricardo Garcia Urquiza until his
arrest in Mexico City during November 2005.[1]

International bridge looking toward Ciudad Jua

At its height, the Juárez cartel was assumed to be responsible for some 50 percent of illegal drugs that pass through Mexico to the United States. It rose in the past decade to become one of the hemisphere's - if not the  world's - most powerful crime organizations. Some US sources estimate the cartel's income reached as high as $200 million a week under former boss Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who mysteriously died in July 1997.[2]

The Juárez Cartel was featured battling the rival Tijuana Cartel in the 2001 motion picture Traffic. Members of the cartel were implicated in the mass murder site in Ciudad Juárez that was
discovered in 2004 and has been dubbed the House of Death.

The US government reports that Juan Jose Esparagossa Moreno is now on the DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Office of Foreign Assets Control Listings of Blocked Persons, Specially Designated
Nationals, Specially Designated Terrorists, Specially Designated Global Terrorists, Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers.  25 July 2007 ...
25 July 2007
 
Esparagossa Moreno now controls the enforcement arm of the rogue Mexican commandos known as the Los Zetas, said a high ranking Mexican army officer, who wants to remain anonymous.

As previously reported by the Laguna Journal these same officials say of the Los Zetas that they were the elite "special forces" of the Mexican military, trained in the U.S. at the School of the Americas
at Fort Benning, Georgia and sent to "wipe out" Gulf Cartel one of the most powerful Mexican drug cartels. Investigators say the feared bands of ex-military elite forces are not only operating in Mexico but also Texas and other parts of the United States unchecked. These rogue Mexican commandos are blamed for dozens of killings along the U.S.-Mexico border and has carried out hundreds of drug-related slayings as far north as Dallas Texas. A sign that the group is extending its deadly operations from Mexico into U.S. cities, U.S. law enforcement officials said.

These men, They're known as "Los Zetas former members of the Mexican army who defected to Mexico's so-called Gulf drug cartel in the late 1990s. But instead of bringing down the cartel they went
to work for them. It is believed that Esparagossa Moreno paid them millions to convert them to front and be the enforcers for his organization.

These guys operate like a military well trained and with precision," said Arturo A. Fontes, an FBI special investigator for border violence based in Laredo, in south Texas. "They have their hands in everything and they have eyes and ears everywhere. I've seen how they work, and they're good at what they do. They're an impressive bunch of ruthless criminals." Dallas and federal officials said that since late
2003 eight to 10 members of Los Zetas have been operating in north Texas, maintaining a "shadowy existence" and sometimes hiring Texas criminal gangs, including the Mexican Mafia, M-13 and Texas Syndicate, for contract killings. The Texas Syndicate is a prison gang that authorities
blame for several murders nationwide. Some U.S. officials suggested that Los Zetas at the direction of Esparagossa Moreno and others participated in other slayings, including the killing of women in Juarez.
Since 1993, more than 320 women have been killed, 93 of them believed to be victims of rape-slayings, and scores more are missing, many of them believed dead, according to Amnesty International.

It is now believed by the Mexican Federal Police that Esparagossa Moreno not only controls most of the drug business in Mexico. Still other officials believe Esparagossa Moreno  may not only have connections with Russian mafia but also has Al-Qaeda and other terrorist contacts and many fear he maybe helping them breach the U.S. borders. He is now wanted by the FBI. on
drug charges in Texas.

Juan Jose Esparragoza-Moreno FBI Crime Alert 
The U.S.-Mexico border is becoming like a war zone.  

The feds in El Paso recently alerted law enforcement throughout the country, warning them that Mexican commandos are now working for drug cartels.
 

El Paso, along with its sister city of Ciudad Juarez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, comprise the largest bi-national metropolitan area in the world. Here, in the sun-swept, mountainous desert ofTexas's westernmost corner, is El Paso, the state's fourth-largest city. Built between two mountain ranges on the shores of the Rio Grande, the city is an urban history book, with chapters dedicated
to Spanish conquistadors, ancient highways, gunfighters, border disputes, and modern sprawl. El Paso's rich history is a result of its geography

Most Americans are shocked to learn where the commandos were trained.

A memo from the Justice Department warns that Mexican commandos were trained by U.S. forces, but switched sides. They are now using their deadly skills to work for the drug cartels often with the Mexicanarmy.

A recent Intelligence Bulletin meant for law enforcement that we were able to obtain says,” Los Zetas are responsible for hundreds of violent drug-related murders in Mexico. It goes on to say they've
executed journalists, murdered people in Dallas, El Paso, McAllen and Laredo, Texas. They even detained two DEA agents and recently they've shot at Border Patrol agents, County sheriffs
and according to at least one witness the US National Guard.

Picture of the border between Arizona, on the left, and Sonora, on the right.

At the Texas and Arizona borders with Mexico agents are already seeing a major increase in murder and other violence.
 
Perfecting their commando training, Los Zetas are known to be extremely violent killers and have been blamed for an outbreak of violence along the Mexican border for some years now, with no real resistance from the US Government. The Los Zetas effort to control the U.S.-Mexico border from Nuevo Laredo to Tijuana has left scores of people dead and even prompted U.S. officials
to warn tourists traveling to Mexico.

Federal agents stationed at the El Paso Criminal Intelligence Center told local law enforcement, "that Not only did Los Zetas receive some early military training but they developed their own internal training as well increasing their violence far beyond their own original capabilities."
 
U.S. Customs agents, US Boarder Patrol and county Sheriff’s all along the boarder from California to east Texas have been involved in shootouts with an enemy they had not seen before. According to a sheriff’s deputy “ these guys are equipped with automatic weapons, 50 Cal machine guns, M-60’s, infrared technology body armor, Humvee’s and state-of-the-art communications, they say it is a combination of Los Zetas, Mexican police and Mexican military all working for Esparagossa Moreno.
 
Humvees have armament carriers that can provide mounting and firing capabilities for the MK19 grenade launcher, the M2 heavy machine gun, the M240G/B machine gun and M249 SAW.
The new Humvees were originally also referred to as Hummers, though that term was later reserved for a civilian SUV based on the Humvee.

 Another U.S. law enforcement official agreed to speak on condition of anonymity. He says from the Maras to the Zetas warring, corruption and death is what is going on in Mexico. In the southern state of Tabasco, a commando group allegedly led by the Zetas attacked a police station after a reputed Zeta leader was arrested but not before nearly freeing the prisoner. Once-rare beheadings anddismemberments - with warning notes sometimes left on the victims - now occur almost daily in the cartels' turf wars.
 
Some analysts have suggested that former Guatemalan anti-guerrilla forces called Kaibiles and Central American gang members, or Maras, are now doing some of the dirty work for the Mexican narcos.

 According to reports in The Dallas Morning News in Apatzigan, Michoacan, the police force allegedly was purchased by the Nuevo Laredo-based Zetas, the former enforcement arm of the Gulf cartel, according to federal officials. An elite corps of 60 local officers was specially trained and equipped earlier this year to defend their new bosses against members of the rival Sinaloa cartel. Federal police moved in and took the local force into custody.
 
Even U.S. government officials are not except from the drug lords cash influence. Cash on the border is king. In Laredo, Texas, a senior US Border Patrol agent was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison recently for allowing drug traffickers to move cocaine and marijuana through South Texas checkpoints. Juan Alvarez, 36, had pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to bribe a public official and conspiracy to possess cocaine and marijuana with the intent to distribute. Prosecutors alleged that Alvarez and his brother, Jose Guadelupe Alvarez, 39, who got 17 ½ years, received more than $1.5 million from traffickers in return for letting 70,000 pounds of pot and an unspecified quantity of cocaine pass unmolested through the Hebronville checkpoint a few miles north of the US-Mexico border. These brothers were caught, how many others are on the take where Cash really is king.

In Acapulco, where the Zetas are fighting the dominant Sinaloa cartel, gunmen have killed dozens of people, including the head of security for Mayor Felix Salgado and a military intelligence officer responsible for major drug seizures.

A reporter for the El Paso times reported that in Ciudad Juarez, assailants gunned down Marcos Arturo Nazar Contreras, chief of the Chihuahua State Agency for Investigations in Ciudad Juarez, firing more than 30 bullets into his vehicle. He had been appointed by state Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez, who has waged an aggressive campaign against drug traffickers during her tenure.

Adding to the expanding climate of terror is the dramatic rise in kidnappings, particularly in border towns such as Nuevo Laredo, a major trade gateway to Texas.

"There is a sign of real desperation as drug traffickers try to find ways to subsidize their operations," a U.S. law enforcement official said on condition of anonymity. "They have a lot of overhead costs that have to be covered, and express kidnappings provide fast cash. Express kidnappings involve brief detentions and ransoms that can be paid quickly.

Three to five kidnappings were reported to occur daily in Nuevo Laredo.

And while drug cartels are expending more resources in central and southern Mexico, they continue their violent activities in northern border states, such as Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Chihuahua

In Monterrey, the 31-year-old son of a former police commander Nuevo Laredo on the Mexican Side was gunned down in his Hummer SUV, bringing to 35 the number of drug killings this year in the state of Nuevo Leon, local Mexican police said.

"We're seeing little Nuevo Laredo’s spread throughout Mexico, said the U.S. law enforcement official, referring to the violence.

Now that there is a clear boss at the top the drug cartel wars among themselves are expected to turn down in intensity.  However a Justice Department bulletin warns: The dangerous and violence to US law
enforcement is expected to spill over the Mexican border into the United States and law enforcement agencies in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Southern California can expect to encounter
Los Zetas in the coming months and years.

The violence plaguing the border towns has led to dire warnings issued by the State Department saying that drug- traffickers are on the hunt for US citizens.
 
Many of the U.S. county sheriff’s complain that their deputies are out gunned and out manned by the drug traffickers and represent a real threat to law enforcement all along the US Mexican border according to a south Texas sheriff recently appearing on the national Glen Beck show.

The military training comes in handy with the arms Los Zetas carry, including 9mm weapons and infrared technology - all parts of an armory equivalent to an American special Forces unit A team. Drug money pays for it all.  The Los Zetas arsenal could make the group attractive to other
groups, like al-Qaeda or the Mara Salvatruchas. According to one of there own jailed members during an interview said, he, been told there are some of the Maras and al-Qaeda inside the organization. The phenomenon of the Maras, is a violent Central American gang that originated in Los Angeles
and has become a nightmare in the region.

While Los Zetas are a problem for both Mexican and American authorities, according to U.S. border law enforcement they also claim to be working with drug dealers all across the United States.
Their work includes cold-blooded killings. They told us they knew of a hit on two men outside a Rio Grande City restaurant, and the murder of two men watching a cock-fight in Starr County.
 
Law enforcement including Sheriff’s, Police Chiefs and regular concerned citizens along the Mexican American border say the US Government is doing very little to support and protect our
hundreds of miles of borders. And say Los Zetas are operating with immunity and doing what ever they like without and repercussions.

They want something done and right now it is already completely out of hand and is dangerous for there kids and everyone else. More than ever, an effective fight against drug trafficking and
terrorism requires interagency cooperation, said current and formerlaw enforcement officials, who added that the failure of ICE and the DEA to share notes, or talk to each other, constitutes a security risk.

The Mexican Secretary of Defense Galván said, "We'll win this fight." In no way, never, are they (narco traffickers) going to win this battle. We have a united front composed of all the sections of the executive branch and we are surely already tipping the balance in our favor.Galván, speaking to the senate, warned that "this fight will not be won in a day" and that it might take years to reach the goal of crushing the drug cartels once and for all.

Galván emphasized that law enforcement was approaching ever closerto the bases of the drug cartels, as evidenced by the narco traffickers' violent reactions against civilian government and civil service employees. Those actions included the attempted assassination of a federal deputy
 in Nuevo Laredo recently.

PRI deputy Horacio Emigdio Garza Garza was hit by three bullets in a drive-by shooting. His driver / bodyguard was killed. Garza is also a two-term ex-mayor of Nuevo Laredo.
 
On Oct 22, 2007 the Bush administration released the National Southwest Border Counter narcotics Strategy whereby United States federal agencies along the Southwest border are coordinating their efforts to implement 68 objectives under this new strategy in the following areas: intelligence
collection and information sharing, interdiction at and between ports of entry,aerial surveillance and interdiction of smuggling aircraft, investigations and prosecutions and countering financial crime. It is estimated that U.S. is spending$1.9 billion to implement this strategy in addition to funds being requestedfor the Security Cooperation Initiative. On October 2, 2007 John Walters,Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy said that thisbalanced strategy will serve as an effective response against violentdrug trafficking organizations that work to undermine democracy and rule of law.
 
See also
Gulf Cartel
Tijuana Cartel

Amado Carrillo Fuentes
Los Zetas
 
Sources:
National Border Patrol Council
Federal Bureau of Investigation,
U.S. Marshals Service
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Customs Enforcement and Bureau of Customs Border Protection
U.S. Coast Guard
U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher
U.S. Justice Dept.
U.S. Border Patrol
Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General
Pima County Sheriff's Dept.
US Army Defense Intelligence Agency’s
Mexican Army Officer
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA),
El Paso Times
Dallas Morning News
El Paso Journal
Secretary of Defense, Guillermo Galván:


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