At the time of his capture last week, Miguel Angel Treviño, the notorious leader of the Zetas Mexican cartel, had built a criminal business empire that stretched from the Southwestern United States to Central America. Treviño, better known as Zeta-40, had $2 million in cash and eight fire arms with him when he was detained on July 15 in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Given his violent tendencies, it was surprising to many that he did not put up any resistance.
The illegal nature of the Mexican cartel’s activities
makes it difficult to estimate their leaders’ wealth. But a 2009 indictment
against Treviño by the U.S. Eastern District of New York may offer some
insights into his fortune. According to the 16-page indictment, which charges
Treviño with 11 criminal counts, the Zetas assumed responsibility for the safe passage
of the Gulf Cartel’s cocaine and other drugs moving through Mexico into the
United States. In addition, the Zetas collected a tax, or “piso,” from drug
trafficking organizations seeking to transport drugs through areas under the
Gulf’s control. Around 2007, the Zetas split from the Gulf Cartel and under the
leadership of Heriberto Lazcano (killed by Mexican authorities in 2012) and
Treviño Morales, they became the largest players in the border region, the most
profitable turf.
If convicted, the court will seek $2 billion in criminal
forfeitures for six of the 11 counts filed against him. This amount is derived
from property and proceeds obtained from the criminal activities Treviño is
charged with and that cannot be located, have been sold, deposited with a third
party, or placed beyond the jurisdiction of the court. The $2 billion in money
judgment requests does not necessarily mean Treviño may be a billionaire, but
rather that the Court would rather err on the side of too large when estimating
the value of his property in order to allow themselves to seize everything that
he owns.
The New York Court stated that Treviño was the “principal
administrator, organizer and leader” of the Zetas, obtaining “substantial
income and resources, in excess of $10 million in gross receipts” in a twelve
month period for the “manufacture, importation and distribution of cocaine”
alone. According to Stratford, a private intelligence firm based in Texas, the
Mexican cartels can buy a kilogram of cocaine for $2,200 or less in South
America and sell it for $24,000 or more to their associates in the United
States. U.S. counternarcotics officials report that the Mexican cartels are the
largest players in the global cocaine trade, with billions of dollars in
profits.
The Zetas also collect large amounts of money from 16
different lines of business, including human trafficking, kidnapping,
prostitution, pirated merchandise, weapons trafficking and immigrant smuggling.
Authorities believed that the Zetas are responsible for the kidnapping or
illegal detention of tens of thousands of migrants, demanding ransoms of $3,000
each. The Zetas are also suspected to have stolen and smuggled $46 million
worth of oil from Pemex, Mexico’s State owned oil monopoly, to sell it to U.S.
refineries.
In a separate 2012 indictment in the Western District of
Texas, Treviño was charged with channeling $16 million to his brother in the
United States to buy, train, and race horses. José Treviño, his brother, was
found guilty of money laundering in May. The Texas indictment said that Miguel
Angel coordinated the “receipt of bulk currency shipments into Mexico from the
United States.”
Treviño’s arrest was welcomed by the Obama
Administration. He is suspected of ordering the assassination of ICE agent
Jaime Zapata in 2011 and other American citizens in Northern Mexico. President
Obama said that Treviño’s detention shows that the Mexican administration “is
serious about continuing” to fight the drug cartels. The DEA called Treviño,
“the head of the notoriously violent and vicious Zetas cartel” and a “wanted
man for years.” It is expected that at some point the U.S. government will
request Mexico for Treviño’s extradition.
Experts believe that the weakening of the Zetas that
could result from Treviño’s incarceration, might strengthen former billionaire
Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa cartel and the Zetas main
criminal adversary.
**Dolia Estevez, Contributor: I’m a native of Mexico who
lives and works in Washington D.C. as a Foreign Correspondent. From 1989 to
2005, I was bureau chief for El Financiero, Mexico’s leading financial
newspaper. I covered the NAFTA negotiations. My reporting scooped most of my
Mexican and American colleges. I also reported on the impact on the markets and
Washington of extraordinary events in Mexico like the collapse of the peso, the
armed uprising in Chiapas, the assassination of a presidential candidate,
political corruption, the end of the one party system and the war on drugs.
Currently I give live commentary for Noticias MVS, Mexico’s #1 radio station,
and I am a contributor to Poder Magazine. My new book, U.S. Ambassadors to
Mexico, the Relationship Through their Eyes, published by the Woodrow Wilson
Center, looks into three decades of bilateral relations from the unique
perspective of Washington’s men in Mexico. Follow me on twitter: @DoliaEstevez
or write me: mexicobillionaire@gmail.com