Los Zetas

Los Zetas began as the enforcement arm of the Gulf Cartel, formed from deserters of Mexico’s elite GAFE special forces, many of whom had been trained by the US military at Fort Bragg and the School of the Americas. They evolved from hired muscle into an independent cartel, and in the process transformed the entire Mexican drug trade by introducing military tactics, escalating violence to unprecedented levels, and pioneering diversified criminal portfolios beyond drug trafficking.

Their rise forced every other cartel to militarize in response, permanently changing the “rules of the game.” Their eventual fragmentation followed the same pattern as the Guadalajara Cartel before them: consolidation, disruption by state action, fragmentation into successor organizations.