video transcript

(ROUGH CUT ONLY - NO REPORTER NARRATION) Mexican marines announced on Sunday (September 9) that a suspected Zeta drug gang boss had been captured in the northern state of Coahuila. Juan Carlos Morales Gonzalez, also known by the alias Milton Monserrat de la Rosa or his nicknames "El Peluche" or "Peluchin" was apprehended on September 7 in the border city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, across the Rio Grande from the town of Eagle Pass, Texas. In a statement, Mexico's Navy said that Morales Gonzalez is a founding member of the Zetas who is most likely directly in contact with Zeta bosses Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano "El Lazca", Miguel Angel Trevino Morales "Z-40" and his brother, Omar Trevino Morales, "Z-42". During the arrest, marines seized 100 small bags of marijuana, seven larger packages of marijuana, an AK-47, a pistol, as well as ammunition, $1,300 dollars, $10,400 pesos (800 U.S. dollars), a car and communications equipment. Formed in 1998 by 14 former Mexican soldiers, the Zetas have grown to command more than 10,000 gunmen from the Rio Grande, on the border with Texas, to deep into Central America. Their rapid expansion has displaced Mexico's older cartels in many areas, giving them a dominant position in the multi-billion-dollar cross-border drug trade, as well as extortion, kidnapping and other criminal businesses.