MONTERREY, Nuevo Leon — The ruthless Mexican drug cartel known as Los Zetas was forced to engage in damage control to protect its image after a Breitbart Texas report linked them to a recent massacre in multiple bars in Monterrey, Mexico. The exclusive Breitbart Texas report specifically identified the Cartel Del Noreste (CDN) faction of Los Zetas as being responsible for the massacre. Los Zetas responded to the report by hanging narco-banners in the region where the brutal slayings occurred.
Though Los Zetas did not mention Breitbart Texas by name, this outlet was alone in mentioning the cartel and the fact that as part of the investigation, authorities were looking at corrupt police in relation to the case.
Monterrey is a large metropolitan area approximately 200 miles south of the Texas border and is one of Mexico’s main industrial and manufacturing areas. Most of the major cartels have a presence in Monterrey since the region provides various routes to and from the Texas border. Headquartered in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, the CDN faction of Los Zetas maintains a large presence in Monterrey since the bustling city and industrial area provides cover for the criminal organization’s shipments and operations while the bars and other local businesses offer added sources of income and money laundering opportunities.
Over the weekend, suspected members of the Cartel Del Noreste (CDN) hung three narco-banners where they tried to distance themselves from a savage attack in various bars near Monterrey that killed more than 12 people. Authorities revealed at the time that extortion and the fight over the street-level drug markets are being considered as key elements in the investigation.
A few hours after the attack, Breitbart Texas published exclusive information provided by law enforcement sources revealing that the CDN would be one the suspected organizations behind the brutal attacks in and around Monterrey; while another part of the investigation looked at “independent” criminals with alleged ties to corrupt authorities.
Soon after, Nuevo Leon State Prosecutor Gustavo Adolfo Guerrero revealed the criminals used two teams of gunmen to attack six different bars. The violence is believed to be tied to the collection of extortion money and the street-level sale of drugs. Authorities did not reveal the identities of the victims–nor the likely suspects.
Soon after the release of the official version of events, unknown men presumably tied to the CDN placed three narco-banners in Monterrey where they publish photos and identify some men they claim to be extorting businesses in the area; one of the men identified is an officer with the Nuevo Leon ministerial police.
“These are the people responsible for the collection of ‘piso’ (extortion funds) in downtown Monterrey, they collude with Arturo Cisneros and Johny, an agent of the ministerial police, Guadalupe Castillo Nava aka ‘La Daniela’ and his wife who claim to be from the CDN, but we are not tied to those thieves and extortionists — CDN OPERATIONS GROUP.”
The CDN faction of Los Zetas was identified as one of Mexico’s most violent criminal organizations responsible for fierce gun battles near the Texas border. Los Zetas began as an enforcement wing of the Gulf Cartel–famous for publishing gory execution videos and mass executions of innocent victims often incinerated or buried in clandestine, mass graves.
In early 2016, Breitbart Texas published the result of a three-month investigation revealing that from 2011 to 2013, Los Zetas were responsible for the kidnapping, murder, and incineration of more than 300 victims–including women and children–from the rural town of Allende in Coahuila; a crime that remains largely unpunished.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by Tony Aranda from Nuevo León.
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