Northeastern Mexico: Los Zetas

Office Of Special Investigations Dept: Such was his taste for violence that authorities say his superiors in Los Zetas tapped him to help fight a turf war in northeastern Mexico against their former partners, the Gulf Cartel, according to The Star. The organization s reach extends across the eastern half of Mexico and into Central America, which the cartels are using as a staging area for running drugs between Colombia and the United States. The Office of Special Investigations on Organized Crime, part of the Mexican Attorney General s Office, says the cartel controls more territory than any other criminal group and the early-morning perp walk in mid-January marked an inglorious end for Pepito Sarabia, considered one of Mexico s most ruthless gang leaders and allegedly responsible for an attack on two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, at least 20 kidnappings and more than 50 murders. The violence, spectacular attacks and local thuggery associated with Sarabia are the calling cards of Los Zetas, perhaps the most feared and imitated criminal organization in a drug war that has claimed more than 47,000 lives over the past five years. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.