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Thursday, February 16, 2012

Gulf Cartel Boss Exploits Turmoil in Northeast Mexico

U.S. Open Borders
The shifting balance of power in northeast Mexico has been bad news for the Gulf Cartel, which has seen its influence decline, but a new report from Proceso suggests that one Gulf leader, known as “El Coss,” has benefited from the changing landscape.

The 2010 split between the Gulf Cartel and their erstwhile armed wing, the Zetas, has triggered hundreds of killings in the northeastern states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, which the two groups previously ruled as, essentially, a single organization. The Zetas, whose expansion and violent tactics made them notorious even prior to the split, emerged with a larger share of the territory. They have since expanded, now operating in far-flung states like Jalisco, and have even popped up in Sinaloa.

In addition to fighting with the Zetas, the Gulf bosses have also been battling among themselves. As the Proceso article indicates, Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sanchez, alias “El Coss,” was piqued at having risen no higher than third-ranking member of the group following the arrest and extradition of former leader Osiel Cardenas in the 2000s. According to an anonymous source, Costilla Sanchez has since focused on setting his rivals up to be arrested or killed by government forces, allowing him to emerge as the overall leader of the group.

While the Gulf Cartel is a diminished force, it retains control of a number of significant border regions, most notably Reynosa and Matamoros, and continues to battle it out with the Zetas in other cities around the region, such as Monterrey and Tampico. Indeed, while its territory has been reduced, the Gulf’s level of control in the areas that remain under its dominion seems to have hardened, despite the ongoing battle with the Zetas.

According to Proceso, this is due to the links between Costilla Sanchez and high-level elements in the military. The anonymous source whose account was the basis for the story says that, in exchange for millions of dollars, army and marine commanders essentially give Costilla Sanchez free rein to operate in Mexico’s northeastern region, and attack his enemies as needed. Under Costilla Sanchez, the Gulf Cartel’s previous ruling clique has been displaced, thanks in large part to military pressure. Most notable was former leader Ezequiel “Tony Tormenta” Cardenas, Osiel’s brother, who was killed in a shootout with marines in 2010.

However, the fact that the entire article rests on the version of a single anonymous source, and has not been confirmed by any independent voices speaking on the record, raises suspicions. The idea that Costilla Sanchez’s rise would be fueled by corrupt military officers is certainly not implausible, but if his enemies were looking to make life difficult both for him and for the military units operating in Tamaulipas, feeding falsehoods to reporters would be an easy way to do so.

The following is an InSight Crime translation of extracts from the Proceso article:

Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sanchez, “El Coss,” has stealthily managed to remain outside Felipe Calderon’s “war on drugs” and, entrenched in Tamaulipas along the US border, he has watched as the Cardenas Guillen clan has fallen apart.


Betrayals and internal purges in the Gulf Cartel during the past year have little by little given him control of the group, which is now in alliance with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, of the Sinaloa Cartel.


His old allies accuse El Coss of betrayal, and of having handed in to the marines and the army the main members and collaborators of the family that turned the Gulf Cartel into one of the foremost criminal organizations in the country. The incorporation of elite army deserters who turned into the Zetas, as an armed wing, played a huge part in this achievement


“He has bought the protection of the federal government and has handed the Cardenas Guillen families and its closest collaborators over the marines”, the source said.


In various meetings with this reporter, he explained that with the fall of Osiel Cardenas Guillen — detained in 2003 and extradited four years later — the leadership of the Gulf Cartel fell onto the shoulders of his brother Antonio Ezequiel, “Tony Tormenta.” He was supported by Samuel Flores Borrego, “El Metro 3,” the second man in the criminal structure, who was made plaza boss in Reynosa. Although he was a confidant of Cardenas, Costilla Sanchez ended up third in the hierarchy.


“El Coss betrayed the Cardenas Guillens and El Metro 3 with the goal of taking over the Gulf Cartel. He made a deal with the commanders from the marines and the army in exchange for them not touching him and gave them, as a reward, houses with a lot of money,” he says. And he warns that “a war is coming” for control of the Gulf Cartel.


Costilla Sanchez, who since 2008 is facing two drug trafficking indictments in the United States under the aliases of “El Coss,” “El Double X” or “Double Ex,” is now identified by his old allies as “El Judas.”


According to the witness’ version, the conflict began in 2010, when Costilla Sanchez sought an alliance with Nazario “El Chayo” Moreno Gonzalez, then the boss of the Familia Michoacana. El Coss sent his brother-in-law, Ezequiel Campos Ramos, alias “El Chacho,” and his nephew, “El Pato” Campos, to carry out the negotiation.


The pact consisted of El Chayo — who was killed by marines in December of that year in Apatzingan — sending gunmen to Reynosa to combat the Zetas in exchange for allowing the Familia Michoacana to pass drugs through a highway known as the Ribereña. Tony Tormenta and El Metro 3 did not go along with the plan.


The Ribereña is crucial to the passage of drugs in northeastern Mexico. It connects Reynosa to Nuevo Laredo, to the entrance to Texas, and movement toward southern and central Mexico. The communities that surround cities like Diaz Ordaz, Miguel Aleman and Camargo, in the path of the Ribereña, have turned into enclaves for organized crime, particularly the zone known as Brecha de Lucio, near Diaz Ordaz, which lies along the route to Monterrey.


[El Coss] has brought men from the Guatemalan regions of Peten, Alta Verapaz, and Coban, who work for him as hitmen and “cooks” to disappear enemies. But above all, the source says, he counts on the support of the armed forces, especially the marines, to do away the Cardenas Guillens.


In one of the meetings, the witness said that last August, El Coss had handed over 30 million pesos, equivalent to one month of salaries for his criminal structure, so that the marines and the army would carry out faked patrols and their troops would avoid passing by the sites where drugs cross to the other side of the Rio Grande.


According to this version, the payment was in exchange for informing El Coss about the operations of soldiers and marines so that his men wouldn’t run into them. When the payment was made, the witness added, on the radios that the organization provides you could hear the irritation of the gunmen because they did not receive their salary that month. As a consequence, kidnappings and robberies increased in the region.


Payments like this allow the capo to move around Matamoros without anyone doing anything to him, according to information from the source.

27 comments:

  1. i read the article...all bullshit. im from reynosa and everyone knows the judas is Juan reyes aka R1 who was kicked out of the gulf cartel and running for his life and joined the caballero templarios. El coss has ALWAYS been the main leader not third in line as the article suggests. Metro tres took orders directly from el coss. This article is pure make-believe. If you think el coss is the bad guy, look up a guys videos on youtube my the nicename: mexicocity123. that guy is guardi for the CDG. Double X is and always will be the topdog

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    1. Bullshit!! Coss was an always was the man, Tony second an Metro third in line.. An R1 was somewhere close... But r1 killed 3 over own greed.. Fuck r1!! Puro CxDxG... Metros run thiis shit, directly from the word from Coss, things aint as they seem.. El Jr, turned his pussy ass in bcuz he was scared of all the conflict.. Plus the hoe was in The U.S all the time while his squads were fighting for the turf.. Panochudo!! Puro CxDXG.. Desde Reynosa y el Valle De Texas.. La compañia se la riffaaaaaa... 'XX' Señor d respetoooo......

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  2. 9:32 really? i didn't know R1 left CDG. i thought he was still with them. so he is with the CT? crazy stuff, S**t changes all the time i guess.

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    1. El R1? He joined CT? That's crazy I never would have thought that

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  3. kicked out of CDG?? you gotta be kidding me?? No one is kicked out, more like eliminated in that business.

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  4. This article says very little. The only thing known from what i've heard is that Coss did in fact betray Tormenta. however, what remains unclear, are the reasons for R1's so-called betrayal. Was R1 not in accord with CDG strategy in the fight versus the Z? In 2010 it seemed that R1 was the main guy in charge of the mission against the Z, and it was the R's and Lafamilia doing a lot of the damage and killing if zetas in La frontera chica. Did Coss frame him, with the death of M3, which would seem likely. @9:32, what are your sources in saying that R1 joined the CT? A lot of this breakdown seemed to happen with the Capture of R2, and El Tocayo... I guess we will never really know what happened.

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  5. R1 is still with the gulf idiots he just went his own way cause he's loyal to the guillen's!!! Listen to the new corrodes about him he's still cdg and one crazy unstoppable motha with his R's mathafukas!!! Attn: C.D.G. R53

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    1. Puro CxDxG.. Los Metros rifan ala escuela de El Señor Metro 3... Guste o no... Coss dice pizo alos Rs poe judaiitas!!! CxDxG! Los M's, Reynosa Tamaulipas...

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  6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoeAgW8zYYk&feature=youtube_gdata_player.....that video tell you everything my bby people! It explains why the golfas hesitate to fire there weapons against la marina cause la marina has helped Las golfas gain plazas in Tamps.San Fernando wasn't lost TO golfas it was lost to la marina n yet Las golfas think there the big shit but there nothing but some sinaloenses nut huggers letting them come in into tamps. It explains also why they send the CTS to la riberna and fight cdg war poor michoacanos they send them to Tamps just to die while Las golfas hiding in reynosa n matamoros.Cmon golfas if you guys are real tamaulipecos you would handle shit like real men don't hide behind innocent people then you guys complain like bitches why they kill them!!les duele la verdad golfas.but check out the video people if you have any common sense and knowledge ya gonna realize this story is true

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    1. Los Michoacanos les partieron la madre a los zetas ahah and you know its true LFM and CDG kicked them the fuck out everyone knows it ahah

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  7. El coss is a fucking CRAZY gangster lol woohoo

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  8. Funny how R1 was never mentioned either as he was the reason for the infighting. He had M3 killed I heard. Sounds like maybe he was the snitch lol. But just because the snitch (whomever) has an agenda doesn't mean the story isn't true. Always have to read between the lines.

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  9. Don't worry people at the end the zetas will all killed because they do not have the federal goverment in their pokets as simple as that there is no criminal organization that can survive with out help from the goverment sure they have local and state govenment help but not the biggest one the federal government and sinaloa does so. Guess who's going to win war at the end

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  10. the Z have the AFI support. In Zacatecas, AFI=zetas

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  11. Map is not right CDG controls way more plazas in tamps The zetas only control nuevo laredo and a few towns

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  12. It sound true I heard r1 was very close too ex golfo leaders in michoacan that are now CT the plancarte cousins I think

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  13. I don't know what happened to BB translators but there was a good story about el Coss on Historias del Narco

    http://www.historiasdelnarco.com/2012/02/el-pacto-de-el-coss-ejercito-y-marina.html

    http://www.historiasdelnarco.com/2012/02/el-pacto-de-el-coss-ejercito-y-marina_07.html

    http://www.historiasdelnarco.com/2012/02/el-pacto-de-el-coss-ejercito-y-marina_4510.html

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  14. Maybe before asking the us to fight this war, you might wanna ask us to stop arming these people so the war wouldn't keep escalating. Divide and conquered, arm 2 cartels let em rise to the top and then make em fight to fuck up Mexico in order to interveen without having to justify it, and only say is a threat to our interest and national security. Don't believe me loom at fast and furious and the operation.before that can't recall the name. Maybe im just over reacting which i hope but historians and us enforcement officers have before brought light to darkness in situations like the one Mexico is in.

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  15. Anybody know what happened to the girl who was with el junior when he got arrested ?I heard it was his baby momma and she and the baby went home after his arrest only to get a bullet in her head and the baby kidnapped?

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  16. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaZB_glqXZg&feature=related


    this guy mexicocity123 is real CDG....watch and learn from those videos if u want real insight

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  17. @ 6:23 you're stupid, this is not a novela

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  18. We? Have you ever served in any branch of the US Armed Forces? If you DID NOT then stfu!

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  19. Metro 3 was planning a "tregua" with the z and that did noy go well with r1 and the CDG. They did what had to e done and the real traitor is metro3. R1 was the main one moving againts the z , some one ratted him out in the big bust in aleman and many of his right hand men crossed to roma tx, since then no one knows r1s where abouts.... Or they are keepIng it a big secret

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  20. Thats right patna, alot of idiot comments because they heard it from a corrido,nobody really knows wat happens within the cartels,everybody just assumes and guesses!da dea gets its info thru snitches and inerrogations from captured members but even they get it wrong, so please if ur gonna assume just say dats wat ur doing dnt make it sound like it hard fact becuz of somme corrido or some guy dat lived there whose cousin knew somebody.,..etc!!!!

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  21. We pay the taxes for OUR military, so yes the first comment is right...WE (us military) would make these little trained wanna be rambo sicarios. Each citizen of the USA can say out military...we are one we actually support our military unlike other countries who praise sicarios, cartel death squads as if they are heroes...pathetic.

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  22. CDG,Z,CT,FAMILIA MICHOACANA,BELTRAN LEYVAS,CARTEL JUAREZ ETC, ITS THE SAME TRASH THAT NEEDS TO GET BURNED.

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