Alleged Message from Z40 to a Town near Monterrey, Nuevo Leon

"HEARST" and "Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

A message allegedly from Miguel Treviño, alias “Z40”, the jailed Zetas leader, is being shared online. The message focuses on Juarez, a town located outside of the city of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.

The WhatsApp Message

On June 24, 2023, the cartel news Twitter account DemonioTtv posted an image which was already being shared in local groups on WhatsApp, a popular messaging service.

The image depicts a message directed to the population of Juarez, a municipality that lies within the greater Monterrey metropolitan area in Nuevo Leon.

The message is allegedly from Miguel Treviño Morales, alias “Z40”, the leader of the now defunct cartel group, los Zetas. 

Z40 was arrested by Mexican Marines (SEMAR) in July 2013 in Anahuac, Nuevo Leon. He's been serving time in prison ever since that arrest. He's currently in federal prison (CEFERESO) #15, located in the state of Chiapas. 

In the WhatsApp message, Z40 allegedly speaks on behalf of the Northeast Cartel (Cártel del Noreste, CDN), one of the groups which splintered out of the fractured remains of los Zetas. Other splinter groups include Zetas Vieja Escuela (Old School Zetas) and Sangre Nueva Zeta (Zetas New Blood). 

CDN is the splinter group with the most direct ties to Z40 and his relatives in the Treviño family, having recently been led by Z40's nephew Juan Gerardo Treviño Chavez, alias "El Huevo", so it makes sense that Z40 might speak on their behalf if he were to send a message. 

Narco message reads as follows, as translated by Sol Prendido:

This message goes out to the citizens of Juarez, Nuevo León and the authorities who support the Rodos NCI who make a living off of killing innocent civilians, women and children regardless of the consequences of their actions. 

Anyone who is caught paying a fee to this gang will be considered a direct and objective military enemy for our company. All the individuals with the following names and nicknames who have anything to do with this matter need to start thinking about the consequences.  

Because we are going to destroy everyone mentioned. You have 24 hours to leave the town of Juarez, Nuevo León. We’re producing the names of the instigators of violence within this municipality. And if the authorities won’t do anything about this we will. The culprits are as follows:

• El Arnold Puertos
• El Pikin Puestos
• Adrian alias El Ronco from Napoles (Napoles, Nuevo León)
• Jairo alias Cuco - leader for Los Rodos who orders the homicides
• Antonio from the Vistas del Río neighborhood, the grandson of Hector Puertos Aladdin from the Praderas de San Francisco neighborhood
• El Pelos from the Vistas del Río neighborhood, he’s in charge of the Los Rodos gang
• La Cotorra from the Vistas del Río neighborhood
• Moy from the Vistas del Río neighborhood
• Toño alias Payaso Fomerrey 131
• Julian, the brother of El Rodó
• Mamasito from Guadalupe, Nuevo León
• The hitman Alex Mirador from San Antonio street in the San Gabriel neighborhood
• La Doña, mother of Alex the dope distributor
• The hitmen Valdo and Diego

All of these individuals have been identified, their addresses located, their vehicles detected, etc, etc. We will allow the authorities to do their jobs. They wanted the responsible perpetrators for the homicides, fee collectors, car thefts, and kidnappers in the city of Juarez, Nuevo León. Well, we’ve pointed out everyone responsible here. 

The townspeople are fed up and we are in charge. The Barredora came down on everyone here. You will all get out of our way. Otherwise you will be killed off. The same goes for the Sinaloa faggots who are fucking up in Juarez, Nuevo León. We’re gonna find out just how fucking hardcore you filthy fucks who kill innocent civilians really are. You clowns have been dispatched here just to get yourselves captured or killed. As it is, you guys can’t even control your stank ass city. 

Sincerely,

Cartel del Noreste & the true father of all these young bucks.

That’s Z-40 for all you dogs out there.

The end has come for all the turncoats here.

The Context of Z40's Larger Situation

Z40 is currently in the aforementioned Chiapas prison but he has previously served time in multiple high profile prisons in Mexico, including one near Juarez, Chihuahua, where he developed alliances with Linea inmates and time in Puente Grande, Jalisco, where he allegedly tried to kill CJNG figure La Vaca. 

Many people wonder if Z40 will ever be extradited to the US. 

The US indicted Z40 back in 2009 in New York on conspiracy to distribute cocaine charges and, again, in 2010 in Washington.

In January 2014, after Z40's arrest, a federal court in New York indicted him on charges of conspiracy to commit homicide. This indictment always to have been the biggest push by the US to get Z40 extradited but it ultimately did not result in an extradition. 

So, could Z40 be extradited in the future? Sure. However, as of right now, there appears to be more US focus on the extradition of Rafael Caro Quintero and Ovidio Guzman. 

Funnily enough, it turns out that Z40's nephew Huevo was born in the US, so when Huevo was arrested in March 2022, he didn't undergo an extradition process, he was simply (and quickly) deported back to the US.

Huevo's cousin Juan Cisneros Treviño, aliases "La Sombra" and "El Juanito", is believed to currently be leading the group. 

It is under Juanito's tenure that we've seen a renewed CDN push in the Monterrey area. Just recently CDN left a similar narco message, which read as follows, as translated by Sol Prendido: 

This territory belongs to CDN. This will be the fate of all human smugglers who are working with the CDG, Sinaloas, and Rodo NCI. We have you guys located and already know that you work in the things previously mentioned.We have everyone located. This goes to: Pocho, Guevara, La Toska, Marcos, Tadeo, Gerardo Zambada, and Gallo. All independent dealers still have an opportunity to fall into formation with us here. 

Yours truly, CDN

Was it Actually from Z40?

The bigger question with the previous WhatsApp image is, do we really think Z40 was involved in writing this message? Do we think he gave anyone permission to add his name to it?

Or was this an overzealous local CDN leader who wanted to invoke the name of Z40 merely to add weight to their threatening message? A local CDN leader might have realized through name dropping Z40, their narco message was guaranteed to get more media coverage, so they could bring down more heat (law enforcement pressure) on the rivals they name.

That being said, if media coverage was really what they were after, hanging a series of narco banners within Monterrey would have been more effective than sharing an image in WhatsApp groups because images shared on chats like that rarely pique the interest of traditional news sources.

Maybe its better to evaluate the content of the message and see if it fits what we know about Z40.

Z40 is native to Tamaulipas but he has strong ties to the state of Nuevo Leon as well. Monterrey is one of the largest cities in Mexico and acts as a highly valuable market. The greater Monterrey area is controlled by several local groups, most of which are working on behalf of national organizations, and there are some recent rumors that CDN recently sent in fresh forces to San Pedro Garza.

Even if Z40 is interested in the cartel happenings in the state, it's unlikely that he knows all names and details of such relatively low-level local people mentioned in the message. At some point in the text, individual hitmen were named. That level of specificity could come only from people intimately involved in the cartel scene of the area, so at the very least we can rule out the possibility that Z40 wrote the message himself.

But did he, maybe, give a CDN leader permission to use his name? It's possible, however, we should keep in mind that Z40 chose to say nothing publicly when Huevo was arrested. He said nothing when it was revealed that the DEA was tracking Trevino family parties (as part of their investigation into Huevo).

Through all his various moves between federal prisons, some of which were reportedly filled with rivals, Z40 has – as far as we know – sent no public messages. So the question is perhaps, is it likely that extortion by this random list of CDN rivals in Monterrey is the one time he decided to break his silence?

The Names on the List and in the Region

Regardless of who exactly wrote this message, several prominent cartel figures from the region are referenced. The text is primarily focused on threatening people working for Joel Rodolfo Ramones Barda*, alias “El Rodó”. 

He leads the cartel group Nueva Cartel Independiente de Nuevo Leon (New Independent Cartel of Nuevo Leon) which is often shortened to “NCI” or the hitmen are simply called “Rodos”, in reference to their leader. He manages to lead the group despite being behind bars because he is currently imprisoned in the nearby Apodaca prison.

Rodo’s corruption of the local prison system and the names of the prison wardens who enable him are constantly called out in narco messages in Monterrey however prison conditions are apparently unchanged because even after years of messages, it’s still being brought up regularly in narco banners.

Rodo's NCI currently works under the Sinaloa Cartel - Mayo faction. 

The narco message mentions Rodo’s brother, calling him simply “Julian”. There's almost nothing on Julian or any of the men mentioned on the list. 

The only scrap of information to be found is an older, May 2020 article by El Porvenir article which describes his brother as “Julián César”.

And who's the CDN leader in the Monterrey area who had a hand in writing this message against Rodo's people? It's currently unclear but they are likely in some way associated with (or had contact with) Nestro Donaldo Nunez, "El Fantasma". 

El Fantasma was a cartel figure who was recently arrested in May 2023. Some allege that he was the CDN plaza boss for northern Nuevo Leon. 

Sources: DemonioTtv, El Porvenir, El Norte, My San Antonio

* Please Note: Joel Rodolfo Ramones Barda is sometimes misspelled as “Barba” in certain narco messages. It is currently unclear what the correct spelling is.

Ramones Barba “El Rodo” is not to be confused with another Monterrey cartel figure Rodolfo Hinojosa, who also went by the alias “El Rodo”.  Hinojosa was a rapper from the group Low Barrio 1613 and broke off to form his own splinter cell group from Los Billys but was later killed in 2020. 

Further Reading 

The DEA Began Tracking El Huevo At A Treviño Family Party Back in November 2021

Remains & Threats from El Rodo to Gulf Cartel in NL

CDS El Mayo Troops Show Support for El Rodo's Independent Cartel in Nuevo León