Nationality Mexican Occupation Los Zetas leader Name Rogelio Pizana | Other names Z-2
El Kelin Predecessor Arturo Guzman Decena | |
Born 1 March 1974 (age 50) ( 1974-03-01 ) Mexico Successor Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano | ||
Rogelio Gonzalez Pizana (born 1 March 1974), commonly referred to by his alias Z-2 and/or El Kelin, is a Mexican former drug lord and one of the founders of Los Zetas, a criminal organization originally formed by ex-commandos from the Mexican Armed Forces. Unlike the rest of the founders of Los Zetas, however, he did not serve in the Mexican Armed Forces before joining the drug trade.
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Criminal career
Rogelio Gonzalez Pizana was born in Mexico on 1 March 1974. In the late 1990s, the Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cardenas Guillen, fearing his rivals, decided to form an elite armed squadron to protect his back. The group, which became known as Los Zetas, was mostly composed of former members of the Mexican Armed Forces. Some of the members, including their founder Arturo Guzman Decena (alias "Z1"), deserted from the Mexican Special Forces Grupo Aeromovil de Fuerzas Especiales (GAFE) to work for the drug lord. Gonzalez Pizana was the second-in-command of Los Zetas, just behind Guzman Decena. The third-in-command was Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano (alias "Z3"). Los Zetas, under the command of the three men, led covert operations in northern Mexico to decimate rival drug cartel members and to consolidate the Gulf Cartel as the leading criminal organization on the Gulf of Mexico.
Kingpin Act sanction
On 24 March 2010, the United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned Gonzalez Pizana under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (sometimes referred to simply as the "Kingpin Act"), for his involvement in drug trafficking along with fifty-three other international criminals and ten foreign entities. The act prohibited U.S. citizens and companies from doing any kind of business activity with him, and virtually froze all his assets in the U.S.
Arrest and sentence
He was arrested by federal agents and members of the now-extinct Policia Federal Preventiva (PFP) in Matamoros, Tamaulipas on 29 October 2004. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison on 21 January 2014.
Release
On 30 August 2014, Gonzalez Pizana was released from prison. This occurred because a court in Guadalajara, Jalisco decided to change his original 16-year sentence given by a court in Toluca, State of Mexico with a new one. The new sentence was of 6 years and 3 days in prison (prison time he had already served since his arrest). Despite his release, the DEA still maintains an open investigation on Gonzalez Pizana for his involvement in drug trafficking and for threatening two U.S. federal agents in Matamoros in 1999.