MEXICO CITY (AP) — A U.S. indictment unsealed Wednesday in the District of Columbia claims that the leader of one of Mexico’s most violent gangs continued to run an offshoot group, the Northeast Cartel, from inside a Mexican prison.
Miguel Angel Treviño Morales, alias “Zeta 40,” was a founder and leader of the notorious Zetas cartel. He has been in a Mexican prison since his arrest in 2013.
Together with the killing of the Zetas' other top leader in 2012, the old cartel, which spread terror throughout Mexico with bloody massacres, basically fell apart.
The indictment says the new Northeast Cartel was created and run by Treviño Morales and his brother Omar — who was arrested in 2015 — as a successor organization to the Zetas. The brothers allegedly got their relatives to run day-to-day operations for the new gang.
Those accusations represent a grim comment on the lack of security at Mexican prisons, where inmates can often hold large numbers of relatively unsupervised meetings with lawyers and relatives, allowing them to pass messages to the outside.
The defendants renamed the Zetas to “Cartel Del Noreste” or CDN, according to the indictment, which adds they ”continued to control the Cartel and installed various family members to operate the CDN after their incarceration."
The new indictment accuses the brothers of drug, conspiracy, money laundering, criminal enterprise and other offenses that could get them up to life in prison. The U.S. has filed a request for the extradition of Miguel Angel Treviño Morales, but it has been held up for about a decade by court appeals.
Drug lords in Mexico usually fight extradition tooth and nail, in part because they can continue to run their gangs if they stay in Mexican prisons.
In 2022, one of those relatives who allegedly ran the day to day operations of the CDN cartel, Juan Gerardo Treviño — whose alias was “El Huevo” or “The Egg”— was captured and deported to the United States because he apparently had U.S. citizenship, thus avoiding the long route of extradition.
The CDN cartel dominates the border city of Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas.
Like the Zetas, the Northeast gang is ruthlessly violent. It regularly carries out violent shooting attacks on army patrols there, and just last week one soldier was killed there in a shootout.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said earlier this week that “Nuevo Laredo is where criminal groups have carried out the most attacks on the army and the National Guard.”
U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza of the Western District of Texas, said the Treviño Morales brothers had committed “horrible atrocities.”
"For decades, these individuals have controlled one of the most violent drug organizations in Mexico, committing and directing the commission of horrible atrocities against our neighbors, the people of Mexico, and also in the United States,” Esparza said.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
FILE - This file photo shows a mug shot, released on July 15, 2013 by Mexico's Interior Ministry, of Zetas drug cartel leader Miguel Angel Trevino Morales after his arrest in Mexico. (AP Photo/Mexico's Interior Ministry, File)
Azerbaijan on Thursday observed a nationwide day of mourning for the victims of the plane crash that killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured as speculation mounted about a possible cause of the disaster that remained unknown.
Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer 190 was en route from Azerbaijan's capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus on Wednesday when it was diverted for reasons yet unclear and crashed while making an attempt to land in Aktau in Kazakhstan after flying east across the Caspian Sea.
The plane went down about 3 kilometers (around 2 miles) from Aktau. Cellphone footage circulating online appeared to show the aircraft making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball. Other footage showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the rest of the aircraft lying upside in the grass.
On Thursday, national flags were lowered across Azerbaijan, traffic across the country stopped at noon, and signals were sounded from ships and trains as the country observed a nationwide moment of silence.
Speaking at a news conference Wednesday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that it was too soon to speculate on the reasons behind the crash, but said that the weather had forced the plane to change from its planned course.
“The information provided to me is that the plane changed its course between Baku and Grozny due to worsening weather conditions and headed to Aktau airport, where it crashed upon landing,” he said.
Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said that preliminary information indicated that the pilots diverted to Aktau after a bird strike led to an emergency on board.
According to Kazakh officials, those aboard the plane included 42 Azerbaijani citizens, 16 Russian nationals, six Kazakhs and three Kyrgyzstan nationals. Russia's Emergencies Ministry on Thursday flew nine Russian survivors to Moscow for treatment.
As the official crash investigation started, theories abounded about a possible cause, with some commentators alleging that holes seen in the plane's tail section possibly indicate that it could have come under fire from Russian air defense systems fending off a Ukrainian drone attack.
Ukrainian drones had previously attacked Grozny, the provincial capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, and other regions in the country's North Caucasus. Some Russian media claimed that another drone attack on Chechnya happened on Wednesday, although it wasn't officially confirmed.
Osprey Flight Solutions, an aviation security firm based in the United Kingdom, warned its clients that the “Azerbaijan Airlines flight was likely shot down by a Russian military air-defense system.” Osprey provides analysis for carriers still flying into Russia after Western airlines halted their flights during the war.
Osprey CEO Andrew Nicholson said that the company had issued more than 200 alerts regarding drone attacks and air defense systems in Russia during the war.
“This incident is a stark reminder of why we do what we do,” Nicholson wrote online. “It is painful to know that despite our efforts, lives were lost in a way that could have been avoided.”
Asked about the claims that the plane had been fired upon by air defense assets, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “it would be wrong to make hypotheses before investigators make their verdict.”
Kazakhstan’s parliamentary Speaker Maulen Ashimbayev also warned against rushing to conclusions based on pictures of the plane’s fragments, describing the allegations of air defense fire as unfounded and “unethical.”
Other officials in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have similarly avoided comment on a possible cause of the crash, saying it will be up to investigators to determine it.
Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Aida Sultanova in London, contributed to this report.
In this photo provided by Azerbaijan's Presidential Press Office, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev holds a meeting in Baku, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024 following an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 plane crash. (Azerbaijani Presidential Press Office via AP)
St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov lays a bunch of flowers at the Consulate of Azerbaijan in the memory of victims of the Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer 190 that crashed near the Kazakhstan's airport of Aktau, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
Flowers and portraits are placed at the Consulate of Azerbaijan in the memory of victims of the Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer 190 that crashed near the Kazakhstan's airport of Aktau, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
In this photo taken from a video released by the administration of Mangystau region, a part of Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer 190 lies on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (The Administration of Mangystau Region via AP)
Azerbaijan's national flag at half-mast in the memory of victims of the Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer 190 that crashed near the Kazakhstan's airport of Aktau, is seen in the center of Baku, Azerbaijan, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aziz Karimov)
In this image taken from video released by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service, rescuers transport wounded passengers from a medical plane after the Azerbaijani Airline crashed, near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, upon their arrival at the Zhukovsky airport outside Moscow, Russia, on Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo taken from a video released by the administration of Mangystau region, rescuers prepare to carry a wounded passenger near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, Thursday, Dec. 26 , 2024, after a plane of Azerbaijani Airline crashed. (The Administration of Mangystau Region via AP)
In this photo provided by Azerbaijan's Presidential Press Office, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, center, holds a meeting following an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 plane crash, in Baku, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (Azerbaijani Presidential Press Office via AP)
In this image released by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service, rescuers carry a wounded passenger near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, Thursday, Dec. 26 , 2024, after a plane of Azerbaijani Airline crashed. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this image released by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service, rescuers prepare to carry a wounded passenger near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, Thursday, Dec. 26 , 2024, after a plane of Azerbaijani Airline crashed. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo released by Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry Press Service, rescuers work at the wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lays on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo released by Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry Press Service, rescuers work at the wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lies on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Kazakhstan's Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)
The wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lays on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Azamat Sarsenbayev)
In this photo taken from a video released by the administration of Mangystau region, the wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lies on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (The Administration of Mangystau Region via AP)
In this photo taken from a video released by the administration of Mangystau region, the wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 lies on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. (The Administration of Mangystau Region via AP)
