Los Zetas
Sinaloa Cartel
Knights Templar Cartel
Jalisco New Generation Cartel
Los Zetas (pronounced: [los ˈsetas], Spanish for "The Zs") is a Mexican criminal syndicate. Considered by the US government to be "the most technologically advanced, sophisticated, efficient, violent, ruthless, and dangerous cartel operating in Mexico", the organization has expanded beyond the traditional purview of drug trafficking and also runs profitable sex trafficking and gun running rackets. The origins of Los Zetas date back to the late 1990s when commandos of the Mexican Army deserted their ranks and began working as the enforcement arm of the Gulf Cartel. In February 2010, Los Zetas broke away from their former employer and formed their own criminal organization.
Their brutal tactics, which include beheadings to terrorize their rivals and intimidate them, torture, and indiscriminate slaughter, show that they often prefer brutality over bribery. Los Zetas are Mexico's largest drug cartel in terms of geographical presence, overtaking their rivals, the Sinaloa Cartel. Los Zetas also operate through protection rackets, assassinations, extortion, kidnappings and other activities. The organization is based in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, directly across the border from Laredo, Texas.
As of December 2016 Los Zetas Group (Groupo Bravo) & Zetas Vieja Escuela (Old School Zetas) formed an alliance with the Gulf cartel to fight against Cartel Del Noroeste (Cartel of the Northeast).
The group's name Los Zetas is given after its first commander, Arturo Guzmán Decena, whose Federal Judicial Police radio code was "Z1", a code given to high-ranking officers. The radio code for Commanding Federal Judicial Police Officers in México was "Y" and are nicknamed Yankees, for Federal Judicial Police in charge of a city the radio code was "Z", and thus they were nicknamed as the letter in Spanish, "Zetas".
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