Mexican Military Arrests Dangerous Border City Cartel Boss

Authorities in Mexico arrested a top leader of the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas. The arrest comes as that criminal organization has been linked to numerous disappearances and mass killings with considerable impunity.

Known in the underworld as “La Bola,” Alberto Monsivais Trevino was one of the acting top leaders of the CDN-Los Zetas until his arrest. Under his leadership, the criminal organization was linked to a large number of abductions and ransom kidnappings by cartel gunmen, as well as numerous attacks on military forces in the streets of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. As Breitbart Texas reported, the CDN-Los Zetas operate an armed wing known as Hells Troops that patrol the city in convoys of armored trucks.

The arrest took place this week during a raid by Mexico’s National Guard in the ritzy Praderas neighborhood in the border city of Nuevo Laredo. While Mexico’s federal government has not released any statements or official information on the raid and arrest, a search of Mexico’s national detentions confirmed that he was in federal custody on a federal organized crime warrant.

Monsivais Trevino is the nephew of the CDN-Los Zetas supreme leaders Miguel Angel and Omar Trevino Morales, also known as Z-40 and Z-42. The Zetas leaders are currently jailed in Mexico and are fighting extradition to the U.S. on drug charges. Despite being in prison, the Trevino Morales brothers continue to have control over the cartel.

It remains unclear how the recent arrest will affect the criminal organization, as power has historically flowed within the Trevino family.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.