The “bosses” arrested during the EPN government
In September 2018, in the final stretch of the Peña Nieto government (2012-2018), federal authorities boasted that they had neutralized 110 of the 122 priority targets of that administration: 93 were arrested and 14 killed for violently resisting the actions implemented for their arrest.
During the Peña Nieto administration, the federal government prioritized the generation of strategic and tactical intelligence for the dismantling of organized crime organizations.
According to an investigation by Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI), the arrests that took place during Peña Nieto’s six-year term hit 12 different cartels, mainly The Zetas (36 arrested); the Sinaloa Cartel (27 arrested) and the Cartel of the West (17 arrested).
Among the “bosses” who were arrested or killed during EPN’s six-year term are:
Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, the “Z-40”
Treviño Morales, known as “Z-40,” identified by federal authorities during the government of Felipe Calderón as the leader of the criminal group “Los Zetas,” was arrested by federal agents in July 2013 during a Navy operation in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.
The drug lord was riding in a pick-up truck, accompanied by two men.
In January 2024, a federal judge halted the extradition to the United States of the former leader of the “Los Zetas” cartel, who is currently imprisoned in the Federal Social Readaptation Center Four ‘Noreste’ in El Rincón, in Tepic, Nayarit.
Ines Colonel Barriers
In April 2013, Inés Coronel Barreras, father of Emma Coronel Aispuro and father-in-law of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, was arrested in Agua Prieta, Sonora.
He was accused of crimes against public health in the form of production, storage and trafficking of marijuana in the Sinaloa Cartel. Coronel Barreras was involved in the production of marijuana in the mountains of Durango and coordination of its trafficking in the municipalities of San Luis Río Colorado, Cananea and Agua Prieta in Sonora.
In 2017 he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Mario Nunez Meza, “M-10”
In May 2013, federal authorities announced the arrest of Mario Núñez Meza, accused of leading a cell of the Sinaloa Cartel in the north of the country and of allegedly being behind “hundreds” of deaths in Durango and Chihuahua.
The “M10” served as a key lieutenant of “El Chapo” in Chihuahua and Durango, where he initially founded the organization Gente Nueva, which unleashed a bloody and prolonged war against the Juarez Cartel.
In December 2019, he was extradited to the US and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Joel Enrique Sandoval Romero, “The 19th”
In February 2014, the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) reported the arrest in Sinaloa of Joel Enrique Sandoval Romero, “El 19”, alleged head of security for Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
“El 19” was considered one of Zambada’s main operators, whose main function was to coordinate the drug lord’s security.
Jesus Pena Gonzalez, “The 20”
Seven days after the arrest of “El 19,” in February 2014, members of the Navy arrested Jesús Peña González, known as “El 20,” who is considered the person responsible for the security of “El Mayo” Zambada.
“20” was arrested in Culiacán, Sinaloa, in possession of bananas and cucumbers stuffed with cocaine and marijuana.
In March 2017 he escaped from the Aguaruto Prison and to date nothing is known about his whereabouts.
Peña González allegedly belonged to the criminal gang “Los Ántrax”, whose leader, José Rodrigo Aréchiga Gamboa, “El Chino Ántrax”, was accused of being the head of security for the Sinaloa Cartel.
Serafin Zambada Ortiz
In November 2013, Serafín Zambada Ortiz, son of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, was arrested in Nogales, Arizona.
Zambada Ortiz was charged with conspiring, along with others, to bring into the United States more than 500 grams of methamphetamine and five kilograms or more of cocaine.
“El Mayo’s” youngest son pleaded guilty in September 2014 and in March 2018 Judge Dana M. Sabraw sentenced him to 66 months in prison.
Zambada Ortiz was released in September 2020. The young man did not serve his full sentence; he was imprisoned for only 58 months.
Serafín Zambada recently reappeared at his father’s procedural hearing in the US, which took place on August 3.
Gonzalo Inzunza, “El Macho Prieto” (Killed)
In December 2013, one of the Sinaloa Cartel’s most wanted collaborators, Gonzalo Inzunza, “El Macho Prieto,” was killed in a confrontation with federal forces in the municipality of Puerto Peñasco, Sonora.
“El Macho Prieto” worked as the cartel’s chief hitman, under the tutelage of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the cartel’s two top leaders.
Mario Armando Ramirez Trevino, known as “The Bald One” or “X-20”
Mario Armando Ramírez Treviño, “El Pelón” or “X-20”, leader of the Gulf Cartel, was captured in Río Bravo, Tamaulipas, in August 2013.
Ramírez Treviño, wanted by the US justice system and accused of drug trafficking, took over the leadership of the Gulf Cartel after Eduardo Costilla, “El Coss”, was arrested in 2012.
In 2017, “X-20” was extradited to the US to face drug trafficking conspiracy charges.
Dionisio Loya Plancarte, “The Uncle”
Dionisio Loya Plancarte, alias “El Tío”, one of the main leaders of the criminal organization Los Caballeros Templarios, was arrested in January 2014 in Morelia, Michoacán.
“El Tío” is accused of organized crime and drug trafficking and was linked to 14 cases for his probable participation in criminal acts. Together with Servando Gómez Martínez, alias “La Tuta”, he was linked to the execution of 12 Federal Police agents in July 2009.
Ruben Oseguera Gonzalez, “El Menchito”
Rubén Oseguera González, “El Menchito”, son of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho”, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was first arrested in January 2014 in Jalisco, but released in October 2014. In June 2015, Mexican authorities recaptured him.
In February 2020, he was extradited to the US, where he is accused of being the leader of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG) and has been linked to at least 100 murders.
Daniel Fernández, the “Pelacas”
On February 12, 2014, Daniel Fernández, known as “Pelacas,” was arrested. He is the alleged person responsible for the kidnapping of Diego Fernández de Cevallos and the leader of a criminal cell in Aguascalientes.
“El Pelacas” maintained his operations with the support of Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho”, leader of the CJNG, and since 2010 he set up an operations center in Aguascalientes and Puebla.
Servando Gomez Martinez, “La Tuta”
In February 2015, halfway through President Peña Nieto’s six-year term, the founder of the criminal groups “La Familia Michoacana” and later “Los Caballeros Templarios” was arrested on the outskirts of Morelia, Michoacán.
He had at least five arrest warrants against him, 13 preliminary investigations and was accused of having paid 100,000 pesos a month to various elements of the police corporations in exchange for protection.
In June 2019, he was sentenced to 55 years in prison for the kidnapping of a businessman in August 2011.
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman
On January 8, 2016, Joaquin Guzman Loera ‘El Chapo’ was captured for the third time.
Peña Nieto reported through his official social networks that, six months after the escape of the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, he had been recaptured in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, after he escaped from the maximum security prison of Altiplano, in Almoloya de Juárez, in the State of Mexico, on the night of July 11, 2015.
On January 19, 2017, “El Chapo” was extradited to the United States, hours before Donald Trump’s inauguration as president.
On February 12, 2019, a federal jury sentenced the drug trafficker most wanted by Mexican and U.S. authorities to life in prison plus 30 years.
Damaso Lopez Nunez, “The Lawyer”
Damaso Lopez Nunez was the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel after the capture of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in 2016.
López Nuñez was born in Eldorado, Sinaloa, in February 1966. He is currently 58 years old and is imprisoned in the Canaan Penitentiary, in Pennsylvania, United States.
He was deputy director of the maximum security prison of Puente Grande, in Jalisco, when “El Chapo” was in prison.
This person allegedly established a network of guards who helped organize the drug trafficker’s escape in 2001. After that, “El Licenciado” joined the Sinaloa Cartel.
He was arrested in May 2017 in Mexico City and extradited to the US in July 2018 to testify against Guzmán.
Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, “The Viceroy”
Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, one of the leaders of the Juarez Cartel, was sentenced in September 2021 to 28 years in prison.
‘El Viceroy’ was born in October 1962 in Guamachilito, Sinaloa. He is accused of 46 charges by the Federal Court of the Western District of Texas (leading a criminal organization, importing and distributing cocaine and marijuana, money laundering and ordering murders).
He was arrested in October 2014 in Torreón, Coahuila, along with his bodyguard Jesús Dimas Contreras Sánchez.
In 2015, Vicente Carrillo was ordered to be formally imprisoned for drug trafficking, but in 2016 he won an injunction, although the following year a judge again ordered the drug lord to be formally imprisoned.
“El Viceroy” is the brother and successor in power of the Juarez Cartel of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, “The Lord of the Skies,” who died in 1997 during surgery in Mexico City.
