Rewards offered for Gulf Cartel, Zeta leaders
The U.S. government announced $50 million in rewards Monday for information leading to the arrest of several top leaders of the Matamoros-based Gulf Cartel and their drug smuggling partners, the Zetas.
In what federal officials described as a “coordinated attack,” several other Obama administration departments also unveiled measures aimed at targeting the organizations including:
>> federal indictments in New York and Washington D.C. against members of both groups;
>> a Houston-based task force and hotline charged with collecting tips from the public;
>> and a Treasury Department designation freezing the assets of four of the criminal syndicates’ top men.
“We have learned that the most effective way to disrupt and dismantle a criminal organization is to prosecute their leaders and seize their funding,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer in a statement. “Today’s coordinated actions … will serve not only to bring these individuals to justice, but also to significantly slow the flow of cash that is so vital to cartel operations.”
Among those to receive Treasury’s designation under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Act on Monday are members of the triumvirate that allegedly leads joint efforts between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas, who collectively refer to themselves as “The Company.”
The distinction allows federal investigators to seize all assets the trio has within U.S. jurisdiction and makes it a federal crime for U.S. citizens or companies to conduct business transactions with them.
Because each of the three alleged leaders lives along the Texas-Mexico border, the designation could have a significant impact on their pocketbooks, law enforcement officials said.
Jorge Eduardo “El Cos” Costilla Sanchez, the alleged head of the Gulf Cartel, is believed to live in Matamoros or Reynosa, while his Zeta counterpart – Heriberto “Lazca” Lazcano Lazcano – has addresses in Matamoros and Miguel Alemán, the Treasury Department said. Ezequiel “Tony Tormenta” Cardenás Guillén, the third member of the leadership group, is also believed to be living in Matamoros.
The fourth man to receive kingpin designation Monday – Miguel “Zeta 40” Treviño Morales – is purportedly based in Nuevo Laredo and managed Zeta operations there during the bloody 2005-2006 turf war with the rival Sinaloa Cartel.
Monday’s announcement comes one month after a federal court in Washington D.C., unsealed a superseding indictment against 19 Company leaders.
The 27-page document details how the organization evolved after the extradition of alleged former Gulf kingpin Osiel Cardenás Guillén and how its day-to-day operations are run.
The Zetas, once just the cartel’s enforcement wing, took advantage of the power vacuum left by Osiel Cardenás’ removal and began smuggling drugs in their own right.
Now operating as two separate trafficking entities, the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel coordinate drug shipments together via boats, planes and cars from Central and South America through Mexico and into the United States, according to the indictment.
The Company allegedly uses a sophisticated record keeping program for tracking shipments, employment, payroll and bribes paid to law enforcement officials. Coordinating efforts through local plaza bosses, the organization collects a piso – or tax – on all illicit contraband moving through cities under their control, the document states.
Federal officials offered $5 million rewards each Monday for 10 Company officials, including the plaza bosses of Reynosa, Miguel Alemán and Camargo. The men allegedly reported straight to the leadership triumvirate, Justice Department officials said.
So far, investigators have seized more multiple tons of cocaine and marijuana linked to the new organization in busts in Mexico, Panama and the United States.
Osiel Cardenás, Ezequiel’s brother, remains in U.S. federal custody in Houston where he is awaiting trial on 17 counts of conspiracy, drug smuggling and attempting to kill a U.S. federal agent.
Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.
