Instead, he created warehouses along the Mexican's northern border to preserve hundreds of tons of cocaine; this allowed him to create a new distribution network and increase his political influence. The buses made great transportation, as Antonio Ortiz noted since they were never stopped at the border.
In Claude was removed from the case for unknown reasons, retiring a year later. He was the first drug trafficker to be on that list. In addition, he was under observation and was widely known, since his surname meant more of the same. One of the first missions of Los Zetas was to eradicate Los Chachos, a group of drug traffickers under the orders of the Milenio Cartel , who disputed the drug corridors of Tamaulipas with the Gulf Cartel in They began to organize kidnappings ; [ 72 ] impose taxes, collect debts, and operate protection rackets ; [ 73 ] control the extortion business; [ 74 ] securing cocaine supply and trafficking routes known as plazas zones and executing its foes, often with grotesque savagery.
On 9 November , two U. The two agents traveled to Matamoros with an informant to gather intelligence on the operations of the Gulf Cartel.
The agents tried to reason with him that killing U. The standoff triggered a massive law enforcement effort to crackdown on the leadership structure of the Gulf Cartel. Both the Mexican and U. Before the standoff, he was regarded as a minor player in the international drug trade, but this incident catapulted his reputation and made him one of the most-wanted criminals. Both of them were bought from "drug proceeds".
It is unclear which of the two β the Gulf Cartel or Los Zetas β started the conflict that led to their break up. They pointedly noted that they had carried out executions and kidnappings under orders of the Gulf Cartel when they served as their enforcers, and they were created by them for that sole purpose.
