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Sunday, March 13, 2011

PATH OF DESTRUCTION | RISE OF THE ZETAS

dallasnews.com

The Dallas Morning News

Zetas Dallas presence grows

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North Texas gun shop. In response to the shooting, U.S. law enforcement officials led a massive sweep throughout the country and Latin America against Mexican cartel suspects. Dallas-based agents arrested 57 people and seized more than $2 million in cash, gold and other property. Dallas is no longer a world away from the border, said Jeffrey Stamm, assistant special agent in charge of the Drug EnAdministrations forcement Dallas office, describing the Dallas area as a key base for the Zetas and other cartels. We are close enough to be the command-and-control center. Over several months, a team of Dallas Morning News journalists examined the Zetas role in the multibillion-dollar illegal drug trade, interviewing dozens of law enforcement officials and others with knowledge of the group in Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala and Texas. Among the findings, presented in a three-day series of reports beginning today: I The Zetas have built alliances with gangs in Central America, particularly Guatemala, adding to the violence and corruption afflicting that region and further empowering those groups to spread lawlessness and terror among the population. The Zetas also have gained control of large pieces of land in Guatemala, compromising border security and facilitating smuggling, and have made inroads into Colombia, gaining direct access to producers and smugglers. I The Zetas have become one of the most brutal and powerful criminal organiza-

tions in Mexico, wresting territory from rival groups and corrupting, intimidating and coopting law enforcement authorities, politicians and others, especially along the border with Texas. I The impact of the Zetas and other criminal groups in North Texas is on display daily in Dallas drug courts, where addicts struggle to repair their damaged lives and step away from the criminal lifestyle that almost always accompanies their drug use.

Dallas connections
The Zetas presence in Dallas, first documented in The News in 2005, has continued to grow because of the areas confluence of bustling highways, a busy international airport and the familiarity of a large Hispanic immigrant community. Its leaders are known to have relatives here, authorities say. But the organization is hardly local. Over the years, through violence and networking, it has extended its reach throughout Mexico and into Central and South America. In 2009, President Barack Obama named the Zetas a Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker Kingpin organization, reserved for the worlds most dangerous drug organizations. The reach of Mexican organized crime spreads across the globe, said expert Edgardo Buscaglia, who has advised the United Nations on drug policy and teaches at the Autonomous Institute of Technology of Mexico in Mexico City. Theyre powerful, deadly and have proven theyre capable of paralyzing governments, including regions throughout

File 2010/The Associated Press

Sisters Wendy Serrano (left) and Karen Serrano mourned their brother, Henri Francisco Serrano, during his funeral in Quezaltepeque, El Salvador, in September. He was among 72 migrants found slaughtered in August in eastern Mexico; a survivor of the massacre said the attackers identified themselves as Zetas.

Mexico. Calling them [simply] drug traffickers is no longer accurate. Theyre some of the worlds most powerful organized crime members. The Zetas are known for bringing an especially brutal brand of violence to the borderlands just south of Texas. In August, after gunmen massacred 72 migrants, mostly from Central America, a survivor of the bloodbath said the killers identified themselves as Zetas. You have Mexican cartels, and then you have terrorists, said a U.S. federal agent with expertise in gathering intelligence on the Zetas, speaking

on condition of anonymity. The Zetas are terrorists, not a cartel. The Zetas have transformed two Mexican states bordering Texas, Tamaulipas and Nuevo Len including the key industrial city of Monterrey into a bloody war zone as they have battled their former employers, the Gulf cartel, for control of the territory, law enforcement officials say. Journalists have been killed or intimidated into silence. Police officers have been killed and corrupted. Politicians have been slain. Entire communities have been evacuated as resi-

dents flee for their lives. Such wholesale bloodletting doesnt yet characterize the Zetas presence in North Texas, although several recent killings carried the hallmarks of cartel violence. But here, as in Mexico, competition among cartels could take a turn for the worse, authorities say. Im not going to predict street violence and turf battles on the streets of Dallas, said Stamm of the DEA. There is a fair bit of caution with these organizations to not mess where they eat in the U.S. distribution markets. But certainly there is a power struggle.

Its anybodys guess how thats going to end, and how much more violence will occur along the way. Currently, the Zetas are pitted against a confederation of rival groups, known as Narcos Unidos, which joined forces in an effort to counter the growing power of the Zetas, authorities say.

Military roots
The Zetas originated as the Mexican militarys version of

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A widening reach
Often using brutal force, the Zeta organization has widely expanded its presence in Mexico, extended its reach into Central and South America, and moved north into Dallas and other U.S. markets. The violence has involved battles against competing cartels, as well as enforcement within the Zeta drug gang.

Dec. 5, 2004: A gunman opens fire on three suspected drug traffickers playing pool in a garage in Oak Cliff, killing one and wounding two. It is the first Dallas killing attributed to the Zetas.

Texas

Aug. 24, 2010: Authorities find the bound bodies of 72 immigrants, mostly from Central and South America, near the town of San Fernando, Mexico, in the worst-ever massacre by a Mexican drug gang. A migrant who escaped the slaughter says the gunmen identified themselves as Zetas.

Mexico
Feb. 15, 2011: Gunmen fatally shoot a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and wound another after forcing their U.S. government vehicle off a heavily traveled federal highway near Santa Maria del Rio, Mexico. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, says the gunmen were members of the Zetas. December 2010: Guatemalan President lvaro Colm declares a state of siege in Alta Verapaz province to challenge the Zetas control of the area. In response, men identifying themselves as Zetas force local radio stations to broadcast a message threatening war in shopping malls, schools and police stations.

Guatemala

Venezuela

Jan. 22, 2011: A car bomb explodes as police are responding to a tip about a body in the car, killing one officer and wounding three in Tula, Mexico, about 50 miles north of Mexico City. Police blame the Zetas.

2010: With the major Colombian cartels defeated, Mexican drug gangs have moved in. Taking advantage of the porous border near Ccuta, Colombia, the Zetas use Venezuela as a springboard to send drugs north, U.S. and Colombian officials say.

Colombia

Troy Oxford/Staff Artist

A18 M 03-13-2011 Set: 19:53:13 Sent by: alozoya@dallasnews.com News

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