Mexico running out of drug cartel big fish

Mexico City (AFP) - One by one, the Mexican government is taking down the country's most notorious drug cartel capos, leaving very few recognizable names on the most wanted list.

Big fish with nicknames such as "El Chapo," "La Tuta," "Z-40," "El H" and "El Viceroy" have been captured since President Enrique Pena Nieto took office in December 2012.

Zetas drug cartel leader Omar Trevino, alias "Z-42," joined the motley crew of captured capos Wednesday when he was arrested in a wealthy suburb of the northern industrial hub of Monterrey, leaving his gang without a clear successor.

His arrest came just five days after the last known leader of the Knights Templar gang, Servando "La Tuta" Gomez, was detained by police in the western state of Michoacan.

The Gulf, Juarez, Arellano Felix and Beltran Leyva criminal organizations have also seen several honchos captured or killed in recent years.

Ninety of Mexico's 122 most wanted men have now been taken out of action, many blamed for the murderous mayhem that has left 100,000 people dead or missing since 2006.

The government is far from declaring victory, however, as analysts say the high-profile arrests have created smaller, vicious splinter groups that torment the population through murder, kidnapping and extortion.

- The last 'old-time capo' -

The most powerful drug trafficking organization, the Sinaloa cartel, appears to be an exception, standing strong despite last year's capture of supreme boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, security experts say.

Compared to a multinational company that can smoothly switch bosses, its new "CEO" is said to be 67-year-old Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who is now the most famous Mexican drug lord still on the loose.

"He's the only old-time capo that remains. He's highly respected (within the cartel) and, quite frankly, he's the glue that kept the Sinaloa cartel together," Mike Vigil, a retired chief of international operations at the US Drug Enforcement Administration, told AFP.

"The only organization that is still functioning with great potency is the Sinaloa cartel, and the reason for that being is that when they captured Chapo, the guy that took over was Zambada," he said.

After El Mayo, one of the most well-known drug lords in Mexico is another Sinaloa veteran, Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno, "El Azul," but a US security official told AFP that it is unknow if he is still "alive or dead."

The succession within the Zetas was not as smooth.

Trevino was never able to exert full control over the organization following the arrest of his brother, Miguel Angel Trevino, "Z-40," in 2013, "due to his extremely violent profile," said National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido.

The latest arrest was "a blow to the heart of this criminal organization, so I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up dissolving," Rubido told the Televisa channel, warning that a power struggle may ensue.

Infighting has hit former Zetas allies, the Gulf cartel, causing an uptick in deadly gunfights in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas this year.

Of 18 Gulf and Zetas names on the government's "recompensas" (rewards) website, only two remain free.

"What often happens with these criminal organizations is that when the head is taken off, usually it's the chief of hitmen or the business manager who take over," said Javier Oliva, security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

- Shadowy figures -

The Juarez cartel, enemies of the Sinaloa group, was further weakened after its leader Vicente "El Viceroy" Carillo Fuentes was captured last year.

The government identifies Juan Pablo Ledezma as the cartel's "second in importance" after Carillo Fuentes, and says he "controls all the illicit activities" out of the northern city of Chihuahua.

Another once powerful clan, the Arellano Felix crime family, was severely weakened with last year's arrest of Fernando Sanchez Arellano.

His mother, Enedina, is considered the group's financial chief.

"I don't think she's a big fish. She still has control but of a small organization," Samuel Gonzalez, a former anti-drug prosecutor, told AFP.

Another shadowy figure still on the loose is Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, "El Mencho," leader of the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel.

But to reduce violence, Gonzalez said, the government must take down every level of the cartels, not just leaders.

"As in any organization, the replacement process takes place quickly when a capo falls," Gonzalez told AFP. "The important thing for violence to go down is to take away control of territory and markets."