Founding member of Zetas drug cartel dubbed 'Z-9' is shot dead in gun battle with Mexican army

Galindo 'El Mellado' or 'Z-9' Mellado Cruz was killed in a hail of gunfire

He was original member of Los Zetas, a group of paramilitary deserters

Officials in Tamaulipas have not publicly confirmed the death

But a U.S. law enforcement official and a local official both said he had

An undated handout of Galindo 'El Mellado' or 'Z-9' Mellado Cruz, thought to have died in a gun battle with Mexican army troops

One of the founding members of Mexico's notorious Zetas drug cartel is believed to have been killed in a shootout with government troops, it was revealed today.

Galindo 'El Mellado' or 'Z-9' Mellado Cruz is thought to have died in a hail of gunfire during a raid at his hideout in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas.



Mellado was an original member of Los Zetas, a group of paramilitary deserters that grew into one of Mexico's largest and most feared drug cartels.

It emerged as a group of enforcers for the Gulf cartel, but the two groups then split in 2010 and became bitter rivals. Mellado sided with the Gulf Cartel.

So far, officials in Tamaulipas have not publicly confirmed Mellado's apparent death in the Las Fuentes neighborhood of Reynosa.

But a U.S. law enforcement official and Tamaulipas law enforcement official, both not authorized to speak publicly, said they have received information that points to the slaying of the former Zeta.

Mellado had been a key target of U.S. law enforcement agencies in recent years for his role as a leading figure within the Gulf Cartel, the U.S. official said.

On Friday evening, the Tamaulipas government issued a news release briefly describing a firefight where a gunman and a Mexican soldier died, confirming the deaths of four other gunmen in another firefight.

The news release doesn't identify those killed, one of whom is believed to be Galindo, the Tamaulipas official said.

Mexican soldiers 'had gone out to get him, but his people put up a fight and things got bad very, very quickly,' the official said in Spanish.

While Galindo and his men fought with authorities, Gulf Cartel gunmen set off a series of blockades and threw road spikes throughout the city's main avenues in order to slow down military reinforcements, he said.

Suspected gang members are rounded up in Monterrey, Mexico

CRACKING DOWN ON THE CARTELS: MEXICO'S DRUG ARRESTS In March, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, the leader of the Knights Templar Cartel,was killed in a shootout in western Mexico. He led the La Familia cartel when he supposedly perished in a two-day gunbattle with federal police in December 2010 in Michoacan, his home state. No corpse was found then, however.

Last July, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, 40, head of the Zetas Cartel, was intercepted with two lieutenants in a pick-up truck near Nuevo Laredo. Mexican officials said he had eight guns and $2m (£1.3m) in cash. Trevino Morales, infamous for his brutality, was wanted on both sides of the border for ordering massacres and running drugs on a global scale. He took control of the Zetas following the death of group founder Heriberto Lazcano in October 2012. He was known was known as 'Zeta-40'. It followed the death in October 2012 of Heriberto Lazcano, the previous leader of Los Zetas, who was killed in a shoot-out with the Mexican marines. Longtime Mexican drug cartel boss Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzmán was captured at a beach resort in February, just days after he escaped the clutches of police by fleeing through an elaborate series of tunnels near his Culiacan home. In March, a Mexican judge denied Guzman an injunction against any extradition to the United States. Guzman faces organised crime and drug trafficking charges in five different Mexican federal courts. Guzman was arrested after 13 years as a fugitive since escaping from prison. He is being held in Mexico's highest-security prison.



Tamaulipas became one of the arenas for fighting between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas and was one of Mexico's most violent states.

But the state had calmed somewhat by 2012, before violence re-ignited in recent weeks.

The only known photograph of Mellado comes from his days in the Mexican army, showing a young man with thick eyebrows, large cheeks and slicked back hair, wearing a white shirt and black coat.

Other than the small black-and-white photograph, little was known about Mellado's current appearance.

According to information released by the Mexican army, Mellado signed up for military service September 1, 1992 and requested his discharge May 1, 1999, which was granted.

The U.S. official said after leaving the military, Mellado joined the Gulf Cartel as one of the first members of a new enforcement wing that would evolve into the Zetas.

Originally made up of former military and federal police, the Zetas earned a name for their fighting skill and their ruthlessness, carrying out various executions in Mexico and South Texas.

In early 2010, the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas split up, setting off a bloody war that has lasted for more than four years.

According to the U.S. law enforcement official, during that split, Mellado Cruz sided with the Gulf Cartel managed to avoid public attention. Still, he has been a key figure in controlling the area just south of Starr County, commonly known as La Ribereña.

Reynosa in recent days has seen the return of regular firefights between warring factions from the Gulf Cartel, who are vying for control of the city.

Tamaulipas government figures show the recent firefights in Reynosa have claimed 23 lives, including two uninvolved civilians, two federal police officers, one soldier and 18 gunmen.

As a result of the perceived lack of security in Reynosa due to the constant firefights, on Saturday — which is Mother's Day in Mexico — the border city's residents took to social media to voice their discontent by sending out expletive-laden messages to the accounts of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Tamaulipas Governor Egidio Torre Cantu.