“But kidnapping is only one of the ways that the Zetas have diversified. They have also branched out into extorting bars and discos; taxing shops; taking money from prostitution rings; stealing cars; robbing crude oil and gasoline; getting money from migrant trafficking; and even pirating their own Zetas-labeled DVDs of the latest blockbuster movies. Drug-trafficking organization is no longer a sufficient term for them; they are a criminal paramilitary complex.” ViolenceCrimeTerrorismMexicoWar On DrugsKidnappingInsurgencyDrug CartelsNarcosRacketeering Book:El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency Source: El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency
“Poor migrants may seem an odd target for a kidnapping. Surely they have no money. That is why they risk their lives migrating. But even poor people have relatives with savings, and the Zetas can often get $2,000 from kidnapping migrants. If you multiply that by ten thousand, you get $20 million—truly kidnapping en masse.” ViolenceCrimeTerrorismMexicoWar On DrugsKidnappingInsurgencyDrug CartelsNarcos Book:El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency Source: El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency
“The San Fernando massacre is a landmark in the Mexican Drug War. It surely woke up anyone who still doubted the existence of a serious armed conflict south of the Rio Grande. But for those following the mass attacks on migrants, it was a tragedy waiting to happen. San Fernando began just like all the rest of the mass kidnappings. Zetas gunmen stopped the victims at a checkpoint and abducted them, in this case from two buses. The group featured many of the usual Central Americans, but was atypical in that it also had large numbers of Brazilians and Ecuadorians. The Zetas marched the prisoners to the San Fernando ranch, which is in Tamaulipas state, just a hundred miles from the U.S. border. After a long, hard journey, the migrants were closer than ever to their destination. Then something went wrong, and the Zetas decided to murder everybody. The pure scale of death shocked the world. The seventy-two corpses were piled haphazardly around the edge of the breeze-block barn, arms and legs twisted over one another, waists and backs contorted. There were teenagers, middle-aged men, young girls, even a pregnant woman. This horror could not be ignored.” ViolenceCrimeMurderTerrorismMexicoWar On DrugsKidnappingInsurgencyDrug CartelsNarcos Book:El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency Source: El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency