On 2 September 2011, Flores Borrego was found dead along with a local police officer on the outskirts of the border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas. The two men were first stripped to their underwear, severely beaten, tortured and then shot dead; their corpses were then left on the bed of the Ford Lobo along with a message against the cartel faction Flores Borrego commanded – Los Metros.
The Mexican authorities never confirmed it, but the execution-style killings bore the signs of an internal adjustment within the cartel, and sources outside of law enforcement confirmed that Juan Mejía González (El R-1) and Rafael Cárdenas Vela (El Junior) were responsible for Flores Borrego's assassination.
Rafael Cárdenas Vela (a.k.a. El Junior, El Rolex) is the nephew of Antonio and Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, two men who at one time led the Gulf Cartel.
The death of his uncle Antonio aka Tony Tormenta, on November 2010 created an internal division in the Gulf Cartel, but Cárdenas Vela managed to become the regional boss of the cartel in Matamoros on March 2011. Amid the turmoil, Cárdenas Vela began to have problems with the drug lord Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez and his henchmen. Fearing for his own life, Cárdenas Vela fled to the state ofTexasand managed the operatives of the cartel behind the scenes. But his career came to an end on 20 October 2011 when federal agents arrested him in Port Isabel, Texas.
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| Tony Tormenta |
Stratfor released a report on 3 November 2011 where they mentioned that the drug lord must have been living tough times in his position because his uncle Osiel Cárdenas Guillén is believed to have cooperated with the U.S. authorities as a protected witness. Cárdenas Vela was believed to be part of Los Rojos, a faction of the Gulf cartel that is loyal to the Cárdenas family and headed by Juan Mejía González, alias El R1.
El Juniors uncle, Tony Tormenta is believed to have begun his drug trafficking career during the late 1980s, rising through the ranks of the Gulf Cartel and becoming its leader after the arrest of his brother Osiel Cárdenas Guillén on 14 March 2003.
Costilla Sanchez's faction may have tipped off U.S. authorities instead of killing him. There has not been any confirmation that Los Metros was responsible for the tip to U.S. authorities, but even if it was not, it will benefit from the hit taken by its intra-cartel rivals with the loss of their leader.
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| El X-20 aka Pelón |
Despite being a powerful leader in the Gulf Cartel, his rude actions "burned many bridges in the organization." A source outside law enforcement but with direct knowledge of the situation stated that Cárdenas Vela was "very hardheaded and impulsive," which made him have many enemies in the organization. "(Some of the) comandantes were glad he is gone.
Antonio Cárdenas Guillén became the co-leader of the Gulf Cartel, along with Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez, alias El Coss, after the extradition of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén.[6] El Coss was often viewed as the "strongest leader" of the two, but collaborated with Tony Tormenta, who acted as representative of his brother in jail.
However, Tony Tormenta died in an eight-hour shooting with the Mexican government forces on 5 November 2010 in the border city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Government sources claimed that this operation—where more than 660 marines, 17 vehicles, and 3 helicopters participated—left 8 dead: three marines, one soldier, and four gunmen, including Antonio Cárdenas Guillén.
According to , KVEO-TV, several online sources and witnesses, along with one law enforcement officer who preferred to keep his name anonymous, mentioned that more than 100 people died that day in Matamoros. The death of Tony Tormenta also caused a spiral of violence in Reynosa, Tamaulipas a number of days after he was killed. Moreover, his death also generated a turf war with Los Zetas in the city of Ciudad Mier, Tamaulipas, resulting in the exodus of more than 95% of its population.
Los Escorpiones, also called Grupo Escorpios, (The Scorpions), was believed to be the mercenary group that protected Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén, the former leader of the organization. According to reports by the Mexican government, Los Escorpiones was created by Tony Tormenta and was composed of over 60 civilians, former police officers, and ex-military officials.
Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez (El Coss) before his capture was among Mexico's most-wanted drug lords. The last days of Costilla Sánchez's leadership began on September 3rd 2012, when several banners were reportedly put up in Ecatepec, State of Mexico, accusing the capitan of the Mexican Naval Infantry, Marina Efraín Martínez Talamantes, of protecting Costilla Sánchez.
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| El Coss |
Nine days later, Costilla Sánchez was arrested in an operative where not a single shot was fired. The anonymous source said that the Navy arrested him because the accusations were starting to gain some weight, while others said that once the Navy was done "using Costilla Sánchez" to their advantage, they "betrayed him" so that his capture could serve as a symbolic medal for the Navy and the administration of Felipe Calderón.
The sources stated that before his arrest, Costilla Sánchez himself was allegedly also seeking to forge an alliance with Miguel Treviño Morales (Z-40), one of the leaders of Los Zetas, the former armed wing of the Gulf Cartel.
Up to this point the CDG had a pact in place with the Zetas arch rivals CDS (Sinaloa Cartel), Costilla was the one that was able to join with El Chapo, they intended to unite CDG & CDS but a faction of the CDG was not in agreement, this faction was the Metros led by M3, at that time when he refused to cooperate, they ordered the execution of M3, Los Metros and Mario Pelon (X20) decided to fight back and that is when the internal conflict started within the CDG.
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| Héctor Delgado Santiago aka El Metro 4 |
The Players in CDG
Los Rojos are made up of: Kalimanes (People of Commander Sierra), Scorpions (People of Costilla) Group XW (Commanded of Commander Wicho at least until his capture, now they are under the command of XW-2) Los R's under the command of R1, Los X's commanded by Coss, Los Ciclones loyal to Los Cardenas until the capture of Osiel's nephews who now form part of the member XW, this group operates together with CDS, they joined so that CDS can control all of Tamaulipas leaving CDG out who are now Los Metros.
Samuel Flores Borrego (a.k.a. El Metro 3) was a high-ranking lieutenant of the Gulf Cartel. He was a former state judicial policeman who protected the ex-leader of the Gulf cartel, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén. Upon his arrest, Flores Borrego became the right-hand man of Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez (El Coss), the former leader of the criminal organization.
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| Juan Reyes Mejía González El Quique |
Mario Armando Ramírez Treviño, alias El X-20 and Pelón, is a high-ranking lieutenant in the Gulf Cartel. He reportedly became the regional boss of the cartel in Reynosa, Tamaulipas after the death of the drug lord Samuel Flores Borrego alias El Metro 3 in 2 September 2011.
The gunfight allegedly began after M4 was reported killed last month by another leader of the CDG who was identified only by “El Gringo.” According to the VT report, M4 was executed shortly after getting into a dispute with another leader known as “El Comandante Cortez” forcing “El Comandante Gringo” to join the armed assault, in an attempt to take over the split faction of the CDG in Reynosa.
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| El Gringo CDG |
Mejía González is often accredited as the "second-in-command" in the Gulf organization. He is responsible for controlling the flow of cocaine from Central America and South America to the drug corridors between Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa, Tamaulipas. On March 2008, Mejía González was indicted in Washington, D.C. and placed as one of the most-wanted fugitives by the U.S. government.
The infighting in the Gulf Cartel refers to a series of confrontations between the Metros and the Rojos, two factions within Gulf Cartel that engaged in a power struggle directly after the death of the drug lord Samuel Flores Borrego in September 2011.
The first postings began around 19,00, which alerted social news followers of multiple roads blocks, car chases and a gun battle that included several grenade and bazooka blasts that lasted for 45 minutes.
The gun-battles spread throughout Reynosa, including the area of La Cima where a circus performance was interrupted by a gunfight that resulted in several injuries to innocent people and some circus animals. In the neighbourhood of Morelos, movie goers remained inside the theatre for several hours to escape the gun-battle.
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| CDG Factions |
One of the Facebook (FB) users posted a comment on VT accusing El Gringo of crossing sides and joining Los Zetas. Both Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel have been feuding for several years in an attempt to take control of the multi-million drug cartel border town routes.
The Sinaloa drug cartel headed by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera has also been trying to take control of the state of Tamaulipas in order to control the routes headed into the U.S.
The CDG was able to send reinforcements to Reynosa from nearby cities, small towns or municipalities they control and more blood shed between the CDG factions and Los Zetas is expected to escalate.
Police sirens and ETM ambulances could be heard going into the CDG battle scene. The Mexican military did not arrive on the scene until 01.00 several and only then did the battle between the CDG factions temporarily die down. For about 3 hours, gunfire, grenade explosions and convoys of armed combatants were seen and reported through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
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| RPG Damage |
Not surprisingly, main stream media in Mexico refrained from reporting the incidents. After a 72 hour bloody shoot-out that raged on Sunday night in the Tamaulipas city of Reynosa, many reports are consistently claiming that both el Gringo and El Puma were killed in the conflict.
In a news release, the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office, known as the PGJE, confirmed that the two slain bystanders were a taxi driver and a teenager who was riding a vehicle with his father. The release confirms one person was injured and seven gunmen arrested, and it states that authorities seized 22 vehicles that were used in the melee, but it doesn't mention any gunmen dying.
The Tamaulipas law enforcement agent called the new release issued by his superiors an insult to common sense.
“There were four trucks filled with bodies that (members of organized crime) picked up,” the official said. “That is not counting the (bodies) that were left behind.”
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| War Zone |
A Tamaulipas law enforcement official, who asked to not be named citing security reasons, confirmed that the death toll was about three dozen, however the exact figures were not known because cartel gunmen picked up their own people’s bodies during the struggle.
The Tamaulipas State Attorney General (PGRE) reported that on Sunday a young child was killed by a stray bullet and his father was seriously injured. Also, that the body of a taxi driver was found with a fatal bullet wound to the neck. Seven suspects were taken into custody and 22 vehicles were confiscated, according to the PGRE. Last week at least 60 homicides were reported in the region within 84 hours.
The state and federal government have remained mute about the clash and inadequately, if not misleadingly, reported, that only two deaths occurred. This while reports persisted of the death of at least 60 people, all members of organized crime, were found in four trucks.
There is a scary new reporting policy forming in Mexico. Beginning with the announcement of President Enrique Peña Nieto that the Calderon style of reporting will cease. No more video footage or still shots of military and police operations and captures and presentations.
While on-line coverage of the shoot-out in Reynosa has become common knowledge, mainstream news media have remained mum about it, said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, chair of the Government Department at the University of Texas at Brownsville.
“This has me very worried because this blackout is coming from both sides,” Correa Cabrera said. “Not only are we seeing organized crime shushing the media but now we are seeing the government at all levels put a lid on the media where you now have virtually no mainstream coverage of a battle of this magnitude.”
Some journalists across Mexico have stopped covering the drug war entirely after their colleagues have been threatened, kidnapped, or killed. Since 2000 more than 160 journalist have been killed or are missing. That is five times more than journalist killed in Iraq and three times more journalists killed while covering military conflicts worldwide since 1933.