Los Zetas translated to The Zs in English, derives its name from its founder Arturo Guzmán Decena, whose radio code was Z1, which was a codenamed for officers of high rank in the Federal Judicial Police. The Zetas can trace their origin back to the year 1999, while during an intense war the new head of the Gulf Cartel a man by the name of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén recruited the aid of the retired army officer, mentioned above, Arturo Guzmán Decena with the hopes of maintaining order in the turmoil of his current conflict. Once Decena became established as a high ranking member of the Gulf Cartel, using the promise of greater pay and more liberty, he was able to bring over thirty deserters from the Mexican Army. Although these soldiers were not just simply your average grunt, these thirty men were highly trained members of the Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales, essentially they were Mexican Special Forces soldiers. These men were elite commandos who had received prior training from both Israeli and United States Special Forces Units, and were well versed in urban combat, weapon training, and tactical discipline. The original purpose Decena had in employing these men were mainly as bodyguards although as time progressed the roles of these men would greatly increase and so would the name of Los Zetas. When the war that Guillén inherited had finally calmed down he choose to give the Zetas a greater range of responsibility. With this greater responsibility the importance of the Zetas within the Gulf Cartel also grew. Many of these new responsibilities the Zetas received included kidnappings and extortion and acting as a sort of task force in securing drug routes. With their military background the Zetas were able to execute ... ... middle of paper ... ...such as this and the capture of the Zeta leader Miguel Treviño Morales in 2013 are surely some bright moments for the battle against the cartel. Although despite all the captures and the seizures the Zetas still maintain control over eleven Mexican states and continue their daily actions of violence and drug trafficking. The Zetas have become a formidable enemy, having grown from relatively humble origins to in 2012 being sanctioned by the States government as, along with the Russian Brothers Circle, the Japanese Yakuza, and the Italian Camorra as one of the most important transnational crime groups. Perhaps it will be impossible for the Mexican government to control the Zetas, and if the past fourteen years of the drug war have shown that may very well be the case, therefore the only option that may remain is to simply coexist with Los Zetas. in a new Pax Mafiosa.
Some teenagers are part of drug cartels because of poverty. With this current issue, teenagers are being killed and arrested every day for smuggling drugs and weapons across the border in the United States. Drug cartels started in 1980 led by Federal Police agent Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo also known as “The Godfather”. Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo increased his power by affiliating with the Colombian cartels in the 1980s, he hid out in his hometown with his family as his partners in crime however, his family was arrested for murdering
The Los Zetas cartel consists of some of the most deadly men in Mexico. Comprised and founded by rogue Mexican Special Ops soldiers they branched off from their former employers (The Gulf cartel) and are now fighting for their territory. Based in Matamoros the Gulf Cartel was the original heavy hitter of Mexico's cartels. Currently the Gulf Cartel is in an ongoing war with the Los Zetas. Lead by El Chapo the Sinaloa Cartel is the current leader of the drug trade in all of Mexico. The cartels are fighting the Mexican government for power over the country. Federal agents target cartels and are able to weaken them but just before the agents can take over a rival cartel comes in and takes the territory starting the whole process over again. The cartels act like a Hydra Kill one Head and two will take its
The Ñeta Prison Gang or “Asocacion Ñeta” originated in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico during the early 1970’s. The gang received its name from their Taino origins; when a baby was born, the parents would hold the baby up and scream “Ñeta.” The founder of the gang was Carlos Irriarte who was given the nickname The Shadow, or “La Sombra”. The gang erupted when a group of offenders wanted to stand up and defend inmate rights and call attention to the abuses they experienced by some of the other prisoners and guards. The gang also banded together in order to battle with another gang who called themselves “G’27’s” or “Los Insectos.” The Ñeta gang evolved from a maximum-security prison called “Oso Blanco.” The Ñeta gang’s leader, Irriarte, was later killed in March of 1981 after he was betrayed by the leader of the G’27’s, a fellow gang member, and a guard who was in on the plan; he was stabbed and shot. Since many of the gangs were in the drug trafficking business, his death led to a series of prison riots that ended up with the stealing of narcotics in the pharmacy. In order to seek revenge for their leader’s death, the Ñeta Gang chiseled a tunnel that eventually led straight to the cell of “Manota”, the G’27’s leader, and stabbed him repeatedly before they cut his body into 84 pieces. Although this was an obvious sign of dominance within the prison, it was also a call for attention.
The arrest of Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman was a victorious circumstance for the Mexican government, who have been closing down on his presence for the recent past years. Mexican authorities began taking down high ranked members of the Sinaloa Cartel including two of Guzman’s main associates. On February 22, 2014, the world’s most wanted man had also been captured. Although the biggest drug lord has been captured, the crime and violence left behind cannot be forgotten.
They are a national gang. Of course, the gang is not as big here as where it originated in California. However, it is considered to be one of the largest gangs in the United States. That I do remember from gang class. Also, to be accepted into the gang, one must take a beating from members. This gang is known for violence and they do not hesitate to use extreme actions when protecting their turf against rivals or the police. They are big with the selling and distribution of crack cocaine, PCP along with other drugs. Other activities would be armed robberies, auto theft, assault and murder (Cruz, 2015).
For the 71 years that the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) was in power, Mexico saw great political, social and economic upheaval. This can be seen in the evolution of the PRI party, whose reign over Mexican society came at the expense of true democracy. “A party designed for power, the PRI's mechanisms for success involved a combination of repressive measures. The party professed no specific ideology, enabling it to adapt to changing social, economic and political forces over time. It attached itself virtually all aspects of civil society, and in this way, it become the political extension and tool of the government.” In 2000, however, the PRI’s loss of its monopoly on political power and institutional corruption gave rise to inter-cartel violence that was created in the political void left after the PAN won the national presidential election. These conditions gave rise to the Zetas: a new type of cartel that changed the operational structure of previous drug cartels. The Zetas operate in a new militant structure associated with a higher brand of violence, which has led it to branch out beyond a traditional drug smuggling enterprise common under the PRI government. Simply put, the electoral defeat of the PRI in 2000 was supposed to usher in a more democratic era in Mexican politics. Instead, the PRI party’s defeat created a state of chaos that gave rise to inter-cartel violence and the birth of the Zetas cartel.
Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, is a well-known transnational criminal organization (TCO) originating from El Salvador. They are specifically targeted for its involvement in transnational criminal activities including drug trafficking, kidnapping, human trafficking, sex trafficking, and many more. It is certain that there are more transnational gangs other than MS-13, but the reality of these gangs impact society, and their neighborhoods, more than one can imagine. There are underlying realities “that make it difficult to generalize [the gangs].” The one of many underlying realities is that each neighborhood level gang group of transnational gangs, particularly MS-13, has a “great deal of autonomy in the relationship it maintains with other organizations.” The second reality factor is that gangs, especially MS-13 in El Salvador are in a state of turmoil. The third reality factor is that the gangs in Central America differ from each other in significant ways. Although most gangs are involved in human smuggling and drug retail, MS-13 has a solidified relationship with “transportista networks and are reaching out to Mexican TCOs.” These realities can be analyzed with Taussig’s notions and theoretical framework of space of death.
A gang is an organized group with a recognized leader whose activities are either criminal or, at the very least, threatening to the community. (Walker, 2011) Throughout history there have been some infamous gangs that have gotten media attention and others that have gone under the radar. One of the more underground gang structures are prison gangs. The Nuestra Familia may not be in the news as much anymore compared to other gangs, but they are nothing to be taken lightly. Prison gangs have been around since the late 20th century and only seem to be getting stronger if nothing is going to be done to prevent them. Gangs in prison have members in and out of prison. One of the more popular gangs that has been gaining steam recently is the mainly Hispanic gang La Nuestra Familia. The purpose of this paper is to write about the history of the NF, the structure in which it operates, and some good preventative tactics that could prevent prison gangs from becoming stronger.
Mexico has a long history of cartels the deaths, drugs and weapon trafficking is in all time high increasing year by year. “Mexico's gangs have flourished since the late 19th century, mostly in the north due to their proximity to towns along the U.S.-Mexico border. But it was the American appetite for cocaine in the 1970s that gave Mexican drug cartels immense power to manufacture and transport drugs across the border. Early Mexican gangs were primarily situated in border towns where prostitution, drug use, bootlegging and extortion flourished” (Wagner). They keep themselves armed and ready with gun supplies shipped from the U.S, taking control of the drug trades. The violence is spilling so out of control that they overthrew the Mexican government.
The Crips, as we learned in module 3 are one of the most notorious black or predominately African American gang founded in Southern Los Angeles, California in 1969. This gang was co-found by 16-year-old Raymond Washington and Stanley Tookie Williams III. Even before the Crips however, there was a gang known as the Hoover Groovers. The Hoover Groovers would later form an alliance with the Crips and change their name to Hoover Crips.
*Many of the juvenile gangs that have formed in the United States in recent years are reminiscent of the post -war pachucos (Paz, 14).
Joaquin Guzman was a lieutenant of the cartel when it first came to power, and took full control in the 1990s after the arrest of the preceding leader
Our team presentation focused on three Latino gangs, MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha), the Mexican Mafia and the Los Surenos gang. My part of the presentation was to provide information on the type of crime these three gangs are known to commit. The crimes committed by the MS-13 gang are varied, violent, and take place all over the country. The FBI even put together a task force called the MS-13 National Gang Task Force in December of 2004 to try to put a stop to this gang’s activities. (www.fbi.gov). Los Surenos or Sur-13, originally based in Los Angeles, has also branched out from turf wars with rival gangs to “for profit”, violent crimes across the country. The Mexican Mafia has a similar story to tell as well in regards to gang crimes, which again range from respect crimes, and retaliatory violence to crimes for profit.
Stanley Tookie Williams, generally acknowledged as co-founder of the Crips, [2] started his own gang called the Westside Crips. The Crips became popular throughout southern Los Angeles as more youth gangs joined it; at one point they outnumbered non-Crip gangs by 3 to 1, sparking disputes with non-Crip gangs including the L.A. Brims, Athens Park Boys, the Bishops and the Denver Lanes. The Crips eventually became the most powerful gang in California. In response, all of the other besieged gangs, including the Pirus, formed an alliance that later became the Bloods.
"For the commercial insurgency, border controls are perfunctory in "free trade" areas, and there is still a great demand for goods that are linked to smuggling" (PRISM Issue No 3). President Calderon's term in office has seen numerous arrests and significant cooperation with U.S. law enforcement, and intelligence activities, which has negated the freedom of movement the cartels once enjoyed. It has also prompted them to seek other venues to keep their revenue flowing. The arrests aren't without criticisms. Due to recent arrests of ...