From ‘Mata Zetas’ To Key Allies: The CJNG’s Changing Relationship With The Gulf Cartel

On the Mexican criminal chessboard, the pieces have been moved according to certain interests that have allowed the four-letter cartel to establish a presence in the east of the country.

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) has not only consolidated its position as the first criminal organization to establish a presence in each of the 32 states that make up the Mexican Republic, but it has also achieved what was unthinkable decades ago: collaboration between criminal groups from the Pacific and Gulf regions.

Decades ago, when the Guadalajara Cartel and the Gulf Cartel began laying the foundations for the lucrative drug trafficking business, both the border corridors with the United States and the most important territories within the states became coveted by both criminal organizations.

Although the distribution of territories was largely determined by their geographic location, the emergence of other criminal groups, as well as the arrest or killing of their leaders, began to reshape the Mexican underworld, leaving in its wake not only violence but also alliances that currently dictate the dynamics of organized crime in the country.

The ‘Zeta Killers’ and the Origin of the CJNG

In July 2010, amidst the so-called War on Drugs and the split between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Beltrán Leyva Cartel, the Mexican Ministry of National Defense (Defensa) reported a death that would forever change Mexico’s criminal landscape: that of Ignacio Coronel Villarreal.

Nacho Coronel, as he was better known, was identified as one of the leaders of the drug trafficking organization headed by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. This was hardly surprising, as his role proved crucial in the formation of La Federación, a conglomerate of cartels that operated along the Pacific route under the Sinaloa leadership.

“Nacho Coronel directed criminal activities for his organization in western Mexico, encompassing the states of Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit, and part of Michoacán, controlling cocaine trafficking,” the statement issued by the Ministry of Defense noted.

Thus, in its expansionist efforts, the Sinaloa Cartel sent Ignacio Coronel to negotiate with local criminal groups that had already established themselves in the area years earlier, such as the Milenio Cartel in Michoacán and Jalisco, where a young Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, was already active.

Óscar Orlando Nava Valencia, better known as El Lobo (The Wolf), was in charge of leading the Milenio Cartel during the period when the criminal organization aligned itself with the Sinaloa Cartel. However, according to InSight Crime, even then, El Mencho and his brother-in-law, Abigael González Valencia, were already commanding cells dedicated to cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking.

“At the time of Nacho Coronel’s death, El Lobo had already been captured, and the Milenio Cartel had suffered a series of internal fractures, splitting into two factions: La Resistencia (The Resistance) and Los Torcidos (The Twisted Ones),” explains the aforementioned think tank.

The first criminal group accused the second of having betrayed Óscar Orlando Nava Valencia, leading to a confrontation for control of drug trafficking in Jalisco. At the head of Los Torcidos were Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, and Erick Valencia Salazar, El 85. The initial funds to form their own criminal group were supplied by Abigael González Valencia, according to reports from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Los Torcidos not only took on the task of fighting La Resistencia, but also extended their struggle to other rival criminal organizations that also had interests in controlling the criminal economies of the area, as was the case with the Knights Templar and Los Zetas in Michoacán.

The fact…

The Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas

In the late 1990s, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén—then leader of the Gulf Cartel—recruited a group of elite soldiers who had deserted from the Mexican Army to form a violent armed wing whose mission was not only to keep him safe but also to guarantee the expansion of his criminal organization.

During the first decade of the 2000s, Los Zetas had forged a criminal empire in eastern Mexico based on terror and violence never before seen in the country. Not content with the territories they already controlled, they sought to penetrate areas dominated by the Sinaloa Cartel.

“Faced with the continued incursion of Los Zetas into territories controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel—such as Durango and Jalisco—the Sinaloa Cartel responded at different times by sending hit squads to contest control of some of the most important cities held by Los Zetas, such as Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo […] For the material implementation of this strategy, they used groups known as Mata Zetas (Zeta Killers), which were part of the remnants of the Milenio Cartel under the command of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias El Mencho, and the González Valencia brothers, alias Los Cuinis,” recounts a report from the Mexican government.

At that time, El Mencho and his subordinates remained aligned with the Sinaloa Cartel, so they placed the operational muscle of the Mata Zetas at its service to wrest control of key territories, such as some municipalities in Veracruz, from the violent armed wing of the Gulf Cartel.

One of the most brutal episodes of this process occurred in September 2011 when an armed group abandoned the bodies of 35 people inside two pickup trucks on Adolfo Ruiz Cortines Boulevard in Boca del Río. The massacre was attributed to the Mata Zetas.

According to the Mexican government report, the Sinaloa Cartel failed to consolidate a strong presence in Veracruz due to two factors. The first relates to the dynamics and power that the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas already held in the state, and the second to the split of the Mata Zetas, who concentrated their efforts in the Pacific region, this time under a new name: the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The fact…

Criminal fragmentation

At this point in history, Los Zetas went from being the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel to becoming a cartel in its own right, challenging them for control of the main territories in the northeast. On the Pacific coast, the nascent CJNG also established itself as a fierce rival of the Sinaloa Cartel and any other criminal group that interfered with the building of its criminal empire.

From enemies to partners: the CJNG and the Gulf Cartel

Northeastern Mexico, which for decades was under the yoke of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas, began to change in the early 2000s. Videos circulating on social media showed trucks bearing the initials of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) foreshadowing a new shift in Mexican organized crime.

By 2023, InSight Crime had confirmed how Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes’ criminal organization had begun operating in border areas and corridors of Tamaulipas.

Among the evidence that the four-letter cartel was establishing a permanent presence in the state were the supply, prices, and seizures of drugs. Anti-narcotics agents consulted by the think tank reported that methamphetamine seizures increased from 42 kilograms between January and March 2022 to 127 kilograms during the same period in 2023, representing a growth of over 200%.

“These seizures and the collapse in wholesale prices indicate a massive influx of these drugs across the border into this region of South Texas […] For U.S. agents, the drop in prices and the increase in seizures pointed to a more powerful and larger organization: the CJNG,” notes an InSight Crime report.

Years later, U.S. investigations confirmed what few expected: an alliance between the four-letter cartel and Los Metros, a splinter group of the Gulf Cartel that continues to operate in Tamaulipas, specifically in Reynosa.

In its latest report, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) identified Los Metros as an operational arm of the CJNG in northeastern Mexico, responsible for providing protection and transportation for the criminal organization’s shipments smuggled across the border.

In that same vein, in May 2025 the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against three Mexican citizens and two companies involved in a drug trafficking and fuel theft network linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The newly added members of the Treasury Department’s blacklist were brothers César, Álvaro, and Remigio Morfín Morfín. César, known as Primito, was identified as the leader of a CJNG cell in Tamaulipas and also as the former leader of a Gulf Cartel faction.

“Álvaro Noé Morfín Morfín, Primito’s older brother, is also involved in drug trafficking. He played a leadership role within his Gulf Cartel faction and helped forge its alliance with the CJNG. In 2021, he and Primito were included on the list of the 10 most wanted criminals who threaten peace and development in Texas and Tamaulipas,” the Treasury Department elaborated regarding the brothers.

” In addition to these links, U.S. investigations revealed how the Jalisco New Generation Cartel’s partnership with the Gulf Cartel transformed Houston, Texas, into an operational hub from which they coordinate drug distribution to at least five U.S. states.

A recent report by journalist Angel Hernández for MILENIO details how, since 2019, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel has built a network of local distributors who have boosted the shipment of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl through a border corridor and a city that, years earlier, had been solely under the control of the Gulf Cartel.

Although the two organizations were rivals decades ago, their alliance now dictates the criminal dynamics in northeastern Mexico, where other criminal groups continue to seek to wrest control of territories and trafficking routes. Their operations are also being monitored across the border by authorities.

Source: Milenio