Breitbart Texas obtained exclusive access to a series of Mexican intelligence files which indicate a leadership shakeup in the Cartel Del Noreste (CDN) faction of Los Zetas. The shift is also tied to the recent incursion into the border city of Miguel Aleman, setting off two days of gun battles.

Earlier this year, terrorist Hector Raul “El Tory” Luna Luna managed to take control of Los Zetas-CDN throughout most of northern Mexico. El Tory is responsible for the 2008 grenade and shooting attack at the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. Upon his release from prison in 2018, he took control of Los Zetas-CDN from Juan Jesus “El Huevo” Gerardo Trevino, the nephew of the cartel’s ultimate leader, Miguel Angel “Z40” Trevino Morales, who is currently behind bars.

New intelligence accessed by Breitbart Texas notes that El Huevo managed to regain control of Nuevo Laredo and maintains Los Zetas-CDN’s strike teams commonly known as “La Operativa.” Despite the shift in power, El Tory and Huevo appear to collaborating, new intelligence states.

El Tory controls the areas south of Nuevo Laredo into most of Nuevo Leon, including large parts of the Monterrey Metro. El Tory also controls the areas west of Nuevo Laredo to the Colombia International bridge, while El Huevo’s is primarily centered around Nuevo Laredo and its international ports of entry. Though Nuevo Laredo is controlled by El Huevo, El Tory has used the city as a refuge when he needed to leave Monterrey.

This week, CDN-Los Zetas forces moved west into the border city of Miguel Aleman to take control of Gulf Cartel turf. The fighting lasted for two days using heavily armored vehicles, machine guns, and explosives. Intelligence revealed that the attack on Miguel Aleman was ordered solely by El Huevo, who took advantage of the removal of a highway checkpoint previously operated by federal authorities.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.

Tony Aranda from Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report.