The capture of the top man in the current structure of the Zetas drug cartel leaves one question remaining — Who will take the helm of the fearsome criminal group? Mexico’s National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido said currently there is no one within the structure of the cartel with the clout or power to assume command of Los Zetas.
Omar Trevino “Z-42” Morales, the now former leader of the Zetas, was recently arrested by Mexican authorities. His true power came from his brother, the fearsome jailed capo Miguel Angel “Z-40” Trevino Morales, and it’s impossible to predict who will rise to power, Rubido said in a televised interview in Mexico’s Carlos Loret De Mola.
Mexico’s claim about the Zetas not having a second in command appear to be at odds with a news article by Alfredo Corchado, the Mexico bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News.
Corchado’s piece claims that another of the brother from the Trevino Morales clan is the likely candidate to take over the cartel. Described as a previously deported alien from the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo, 60-year-old Juan Francisco Trevino Morales worked as a Dallas area bricklayer. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for marijuana distribution in 1995 which he completed last year and has since been deported.
Breitbart Texas attended a law enforcement intelligence briefing on drug cartels early last year. The analyst providing the presentation claimed that Omar Trevino Morales was a figure head and lacked the fierceness of his brother, the fearsome Z40. In that briefing, the intelligence analyst claimed that a man known as Z-43 was the person that ran the day to day operations of the Zetas. The man also described the Morales Trevino family as a very large one with deep roots in the Laredo area. The family has multiple brothers, cousins and nephews on hand to help out the organization. The family approach under the Morales leadership was a big change from a military type structure where command flowed by merit. The power now flows through family ties.
Jose Trevino, another of the Morales Trevino brothers is currently serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison following his conviction for using high end race-horses in Lexington Oklahoma to launder money for Los Zetas.