[14] "MX" for Borderland BeatEnrique 'Kike' Cardenas was the son of Gulf Cartel leader Homero Cardenas Guillen ('El Orejon' and/or 'El Majadero'). Juan Nepomuceno Guerra Cárdenas (July 18, 1915 – July 12, 2001) was a Mexican crime lord, bootlegger, businessman and smuggler who founded the Gulf Cartel, a drug trafficking organization.He is often considered the "godfather" of U.S-Mexico border cartels. Previously, the Zetas, whose leaders came from the special forces of the Mexican army, had been a mercenary group in the employ of the Gulf cartel. The Gulf cartel (Spanish: Cártel del Golfo) was a Mexican drug trafficking organization and one of the country's oldest drug cartels.. Enrique 'Kike' Cardenas was the son of Gulf Cartel leader Homero Cardenas Guillen ('El Orejon' and/or 'El Majadero'). His father reportedly died of a heart attack in 2014. Alleged Gulf Cartel Leader Killed in Reynosa. [11] [12] [13] On 26 September 2012, Iván Velázquez Caballero was captured by Mexican security forces, bringing the total captured or killed so far to 24. The Gulf Cartel controls most of the cocaine and marijuana trafficking through the Matamoros, Mexico corridor to the United States. A leader of the Zetas drug cartel, Raúl Hernández Lechuga was captured on 12 December 2011, which brought the total to 23 captured or killed so far. Now they became an autonomous organisation. The Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas operated under the name of “The Company.” Costilla-Sanchez became the leader of The Company for several years following the arrest of Osiel Cardenas in 2003 and before Costilla-Sanchez’s arrest in September 2012. Antonio Cárdenas Guillén, or “Tony Storm”, is a deceased Mexican drug lord, who served as a co-leader of the Gulf Cartel. Following the 2003 arrest of Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, it is believed the Sinaloa Cartel moved 200 men into the region to battle the Gulf Cartel for control. More than 30 ex-soldiers were hired by the leader of the Gulf Cartel in the 1990s but, as mentioned above, they broke away and formed their own operation in 2010. Los Zetas evolved from a small group of deserters from the Mexican Special Forces, hired by Osiel Cardenas-Guillen for his personal security, into a ruthless security force for the entire Gulf Cartel. Alleged Gulf Cartel Leader Killed in Reynosa. According to the American and Mexican drug enforcement and police authorities, Antonio was one of the most dangerous men in North America. The Nuevo Laredo region is an important drug trafficking corridor into Laredo, Texas, where as much as 40% of all Mexican exports pass through into the U.S.