The signature crimes of the most violent drug cartel in Mexico are its beheading and dismemberment of rival gang members, military personnel, law enforcement officers and public officials, and the random kidnappings and killings of civilians who get caught in its butchery and bloodletting.
But this disparate band of criminals known as Los Zetas is no longer just a concern in Mexico. It has expanded its deadly operations across the southwestern border, establishing footholds and alliances in states from New York to California. Just last year, federal agents tied a cocaine operation in Baltimore to the Zetas.
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Sheriff Gonzalez said U.S. authorities on the border are outgunned and outmanned by drug smugglers armed with automatic weapons, grenades and state-of-the-art communications and tracking systems. He said drug profits have allowed the cartels, particularly the Zetas, to develop “experts” in explosives, wiretapping, countersurveillance, lock-picking and Global Positioning System technology.
“Their violence has emboldened them and they are expanding to cities all across the United States,” he said. “Our own country needs to stop them at the border. We know they’re coming, we just don’t want to admit it. Instead, we continue to say the border is more secure than ever, when we all know that is absolutely not true.”
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The ‘Executioner’
The reputed leader of the Zetas is Heriberto “The Executioner” Lazcano-Lazcano, an original member of the Grupo Aeromovil de Fuerzas Especiales, or the Air Mobile Special Forces Group, the elite special forces operation within the Mexican army initially assigned to fight the drug cartels.
Lazcano-Lazcano is described by law enforcement officials on both sides of the border as one of the most violent members of the gang. He is sought in the U.S. and Mexico on charges of murder and drug trafficking, and the State Department has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
He was named in separate indictments in 2008 and 2009 in federal court in Washington, D.C., for conspiring to import cocaine and marijuana into the United States — charged as a result of “Project Reckoning,” a 15-month undercover operation targeting Mexican drug gangs in the U.S. The operation resulted in the seizure of 20,000 kilograms of cocaine, hundreds of weapons and $71 million in cash.
U.S. authorities said Lazcano-Lazcano has a vast arsenal at his disposal, including helicopters, armored vehicles, AK-47 assault rifles, AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, MP-5 submachine guns, 50-mm sniper rifles, shoulder-fired missiles, grenade launchers, bazookas, armor-piercing ammunition, plastic explosives, dynamite and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Gang members wear body armor and ballistic helmets, and launch attacks in military uniforms and military-style vehicles.
The Zetas, seeking to grab a larger portion of the $25 billion cocaine, heroin and marijuana market in the United States, are estimated to have between 1,000 and 3,000 hard-core members and 10,000 loyalists across Mexico, Central America and the United States. Authorities said the gang has organized a sophisticated supply and distribution network operating through established territories.
“The Zetas are quite diversified and they are good bookkeepers,” Mr. Grayson said. “They will go where they can make money and will do what they have to do to make it happen.”
Discredited - Mark Steyn - National Review Online
