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Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Head of Zetas Splinter Group 'Cartel X' Arrested in Durango

"MX" for Borderland Beat

Mario Otoniel Garza Méndez is known by his aliases 'Tony Mendez' and 'X19'

Durango state authorities confirmed that they arrested Mario Otoniel Garza Mendez (age 24), the leader of a little-known criminal group called Cartel X and/or Los Xs. This criminal group is a spin-off cell made up of former members of the Zetas Vieja Escuela (ZVE) and Northeast Cartel (CDN).

Garza escaped from a juvenile prison in Guemez, Tamaulipas, last month. Even though he was an adult when he escaped, Garza was convicted of murder when he was a minor. At that time, he was a CDN member and was known by his alias 'El Soberano'.

However, he left the CDN when they kidnapped him. Garza was tortured and left for dead, and then joined forces with Jesus Gilberto Acuña Jurado ('El Cholo') and formed the Cartel X. They began recruiting CDN and ZVE deserters.

The Cartel X is fighting the ZVE, CDN, and various Gulf Cartel (CDG) factions for control of Tamaulipas, particularly Ciudad Victoria. Cartel X started off in meth sales but they later got involved in extortion, kidnappings, and gangland attacks.

Borderland Beat reported last July that cartel members set fire to three Grupo Bimbo trucks and attacked their facilities with firearms after the company refused to extortion money. Investigators later found out that this attack was carried out by Cartel X and that many of them were minors.

Cartel X have a strong presence in Chihuahua and have smuggled narcotics to the U.S. through the El Paso–Juárez corridor with the assistance of local smugglers. They also sell drugs in Chihuahua in black plastic bags marked with the letter X.

Reports have mentioned they have ties to La Linea, the former armed wing of the old Juarez Cartel, and with Gente Nueva, a cell of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Sources: Excelsior (1); (2)Marquesina; Furia Negra; Epocaviolenta; Borderland Beat archives

16 comments:

  1. Note to readers: There used to be an old Gulf Cartel faction under Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sanchez ('El Coss') that was known as Los X. That group is different than the one mentioned above.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Animo Sicsrios !

    Cartel X ? What is next ? The Justice League ?

    Mejor ponganse a estudiar y trabajar, este negocio es para hombres de pelo en el pecho . El buisness is for men with hair in their chest. Real brave men who dont fear death .
    Arriba Culiacan Sinaloa.

    #qepdelbravo
    #qepdelr5
    #quepdelm1

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yea foo take your own advice 🤫

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    2. I imagine a chubby 30 year old dude living in his moms basement impersonating a sicario everytime i read 006 posts. Fanboy no way you are on the streets. too busy refreshing BB to talk shit #mariposa

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    3. 10:08 i agree with you, what is next? Grupo flecha? 🤣

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    4. X k bravo que chingue a su madre ese wei x el murieron mandy y goyo x lavar le el coco al 20 x eso piso al pero

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    5. @11:28 Sicario 006 is a joker with too much free time on his hands.

      Delete
  3. I wonder why Chihuahua groups are helping them.

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    Replies
    1. Cash rules everything around me....

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    2. Same way you have independents operating in plazas all over. You just need a connect to supply you and a group to pay taxes to. My guess is that they went to Chihuahua to get away from the Tamaulipas border plazas—if these guys are former ZVE/CDN/CDG, I don’t see any of those groups allowing these guys to pay a piso to use the plaza.

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    3. Better question is how and why does he have links to both La Linea, as well as Gente Nueva..

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  4. Quite a pedigree for a kid who can barely grow facial hair.

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  5. These guys remind me of the Gallo gang from New York back during the heyday of the mob in the US.

    A small, yet ballsy, young group of killers who are pretty much warring against everyone and their mothers.

    As you can assume, things didn’t end too well for the Gallos..

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  6. what ever group Left him for dead at one time
    ha they are in trouble
    thought double tap was to make sure guess they felt sorry for this kid or was a rat

    ReplyDelete
  7. No eye brow waxing where he’s going.

    ReplyDelete

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