Criminal Career
Miguel Treviño was born on 18 November 1970 in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas but grew up in a large family with six brothers and six sisters in Dallas, Texas. As a teenager, he began to work for Los Tejas, a gang that controlled most of his hometown's crimes. He was arrested as a teenager in Dallas, where some of his family members now reside. He was never in the military, but he was hired in the 1990s by Los Zetas, the paramilitary wing of the Gulf Cartel, for his experience moving contraband across the border. Around 2005, Treviño Morales became the regional boss of Nuevo Laredo and was given the responsibility to fight off the incursions of the Sinaloa Cartel that were attempting to take control of the smuggling routes in the area. While in power, he orchestrated a number of assassinations in the United States by hiring young American citizens across the border.
With Treviño's help, Los Zetas have taken on sideline operations that go beyond narcotics trafficking: human smuggling, extortion, and gunrunning. In November 2007, the city of Laredo, Texas issued an arrest warrant for Treviño in connection with a 2006 double homicide in Texas, and the U.S. Department of Justice also released an indictment against Treviño for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine into the United States. In 2008, Miguel Treviño and Heriberto Lazcano, the two leaders of Los Zetas, forged an alliance with the Beltrán Leyva brothers. Government sources said the organization, along with Beltran Leyva's, were fighting for control against 'La Federacion' (The Federation), an alliance of drug trafficking organizations led by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán and by Ismael Zambada García, former allies of Beltrán Leyva.
Treviño Morales also acts as a cartel 'gate-keeper' and collects the 'piso' (tariff) at all drug plazas controlled by Los Zetas. He is currently in charge of the highly lucrative Nuevo Laredo plaza, across the border from Laredo, Texas. He bribes and intimidates officials to help maintain control, and puts down challenges violently. Treviño invokes such fear, very few local journalists dare to write about him. Treviño Morales has a violent and fearsome reputation. When getting rid of his victims, Treviño Morales favors a torture method known as the "guiso" (cook-out), where people are stuffed into an oil barrel, doused with gasoline, and then set on fire alive. His violent behavior helped him gain "the notoriety of a cult figure." Reports say that he would escape unharmed from gun battles, avoid making any alliances with anyone, dismember his victims while they were still alive and dump them in dozens, and "seemed unafraid to die." Reports from within the organization claim that Treviño Morales enjoyed driving around the city in a car and pointing at people randomly and saying, "kill this one and kill that one." Under Treviño Morales' leadership, Los Zetas are considered by the DEA to be highly sophisticated, advanced, and the most dangerous criminal organization operating in Mexico and the hemisphere.
Read more about this topic: Miguel Treviño Morales
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