Throwback Series: The Founding Members of Los Metros Faction of the Gulf Cartel

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat

Graphics by "HEARST"

Los Metros faction of the Gulf Cartel (Cártel del Golfo, or CDG) started from a group of local and state policemen based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, in the late 1990s.

Los Metros are one of the main factions of the now-splintered Gulf Cartel, a criminal group based in northeastern Mexico. They have long dominated the Reynosa border area, but few sources and information exist covering its early years and founding members.

In this report, Borderland Beat will cover the early history of Los Metros, which dates back to the late 1990s when Osiel Cárdenas Guillen was head of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas.

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The Gulf Cartel Leaders The US Should Target for the Matamoros Attack

"HEARST" and "Morogris" for Borderland Beat 

A review of the top five Gulf Cartel figures who are likely responsible for the kidnapping and killing of Americans last week in Matamoros. 

This is a continuation of our previous stories covering the kidnapping of the Americans, the potential motivation, and the Gulf Cartel's later apology message.

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Plaza Chief "El Escorpión" killed in CDG internal struggle

Lucio R. Borderland Beat  material from Facebook, VXT and Valor tamaulipeco,

Yesterday morning, the body of Lazaro Martinez Rodriguez. Aka "El Escorpión", was discovered outside a Madero, Tamaulipas nightclub, “Viento Rodeo”.  

With the body was found a narco cartulina with a message. Martinez-Rodriguez was once policía ministerial in Nuevo Laredo and later Tampico. After moving to Tampico, he worked alongside kidnapper, torturer enforcer, Francisco Javier Peña Ruiz "K21", allegedly using the police station for torturing  kidnapping victims, subsequently becoming plaza chief of Madero.

The killing is the result of an internal CDG conflict according to the message, which identifies the deceased as plaza chief of Madero.  Conflict has heightened in Tampico, Madero and Altamira, in an internal control struggle, after the fall of “EL Chive”.  

Rumor has it that it was El Escorpión who betrayed  Silvestre Haro Rodriguez, ( El Chive) which led to his arrest.   El Chive, was chief of the Gulf Cartel plaza in metropolitan area of Tampico, Madero and Altamira.    

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