Top Cartel Del Noroeste Leader Will Remain In Prison After Being Arrested Close To The Border

A top leader at the Cartel del Noroeste (CDN) will remain in pre-trial arrest after being captured this week, a Mexican judge determined. Concretely, Ricardo "N," also known as "El Ricky" will remain behind bars for at least a month until his next hearing. He is being held at the Altiplano prison, a maximum security facility that has held other top drug lords such as Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán.

Arrested on Monday, "El Ricky" has been charged with carrying firearms exclusively used by the Army. Authorities have detailed he has led several attacks on law enforcement, including one on the Mexican Army on August of last year, where two soldiers were killed and five others sustained injuries. He is also being investigated for extortion and homicide, as well as an attack on Nuevo Leon law enforcement where six officers were killed.

Information confirmed by Infobae Mexico said El Ricky was a high-ranking member of the Cartel del Noroeste, led by Juan Cisneros Treviño alias "Juanito Treviño," an alleged family member of Miguel Ángel and Omar Treviño Morales, former leaders of the criminal group known as "Los Zetas."

According to official accounts, Ricardo "G" was arrested by members of the National Guard in the municipality of Nuevo Laredo at around 7:46 a.m. on Monday. After he was captured, cliques loyal to him began a series of shootings and organized road blocks around the area. The situation led the airport to suspend flights, with the U.S. consulate in the city issuing an alert saying that it had "received reports of multiple gunfights throughout the city."

What is the Cartel del Noroeste?

According to specialized outlet InSight Crime, the criminal group known as Cartel del Noroeste emerged from the remnants of the Zetas and it has long controlled the border city of Nuevo Laredo.

Since at least 2019, the CDN has been in constant clashes with other Gulf Cartel and Zetas cliques, as well as parts of the Sinaloa cartel and the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG).

The criminal group has made of Nuevo Laredo its stronghold. And according to government officials, the Cartel del Noroeste is the "law and order" around the region.

"The [Northeast Cartel] decides what's permitted and what isn't," a government official who works with at-risk youth in a neighborhood controlled by the group detailed to the outlet.