Mexican drug lord, alias 'Z-40,' who was leader of the criminal organization known as Los Zetas. Considered a violent and dangerous criminal, he was one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords until his arrest in July 2013.
Treviño Morales began his criminal career as a teenager, working for Los Tejas—a local gang from his hometown. His fluent English and experience of moving contraband along the U.S.–Mexico border enabled him to be recruited in the late 1990s by the drug lord Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, who headed the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas. Around 2005, he was appointed as the regional boss of Los Zetas in Nuevo Laredo and was given the task to fight off the forces of the Sinaloa Cartel, which was attempting to take over the lucrative drug trafficking routes to the United States. After successfully securing these routes in Nuevo Laredo in 2006, Treviño Morales was moved to Veracruz and appointed as the Zetas leader in the state after the death of the drug lord Efraín Teodoro Torres. Two years later, his boss Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano sent him to Guatemala to wipe out his competitors; after completing the task successfully, he appointed Treviño Morales as the national commander of Los Zetas in 2008. In 2010, Los Zetas gained their independence from the Gulf Cartel, their former allies, and both organizations went to war with each other.
As the national commander of Los Zetas, Treviño Morales earned a notorious reputation for intimidating officials and citizens throughout Mexico. The Mexican authorities believe that he is responsible for a significant part of the violence in Mexico, including the murder of 72 migrants in 2010 and the massacre of 193 people in 2011. A common torture method of his was known as guiso (stew), in which victims would be dumped into oil barrels, doused with gasoline and burned alive. Following the death of his boss Lazcano Lazcano in October 2012, Treviño Morales became his successor and the top leader of Los Zetas drug cartel amid an internal power struggle within the organization.
Mexican Marines arrested Treviño Morales on 15 July 2013 in the state of Nuevo León without a single bullet being fired. At the time of his capture, the Mexican government was offering up to a 30 million pesos (US$2.3 million) reward for information leading to his arrest. The United States Department of State was offering up to US$5 million for information leading to his arrest and conviction. Authorities on both sides of the border believe that he was succeeded by his younger brother Omar Treviño Morales, a man who was also on the most-wanted list.
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