In a world of betrayals and violence, where the fall of a kingpin is typically lauded by Mexican media, the death of a feared drug lord flew under the radar much like his legendary operations.
The name Hector Delgado sounds unremarkable, the nickname Metro-4 or M4 inspired fear on both sides of the border.
Described as tall, slim, dark and coldblooded, Delgado was known in Mexico as a ruthless enforcer, while law enforcement officials in the U.S. side were well aware of the man’s reputation and his disregard for borders when scores needed to be settled.
The body of Delgado was found Jan. 15, just days after he had disappeared, said a Tamaulipas law enforcement official who asked not to be identified, citing security concerns. He was believed to have reached his late 30s upon his death.
“There was some confusion because on that day there had been a firefight and another member of rank in that criminal organization was wounded and died at the hospital,” the official said in Spanish.
A U.S. intelligence official unauthorized to speak to the media confirmed the death of Delgado, adding that he has since been buried beside his brother in Matamoros.
Mexican authorities have not released any information relating to the death of Delgado.
The nickname for Delgado stemmed from his origins in the Gulf Cartel, where at the beginning he was part of the Matamoros enforcement wing known as the Metros — a radio signal which was assigned based on the city they worked in, the Tamaulipas official said.
“In the beginning, that’s how you knew where they were from, Metros were from Matamoros, Rojos were from Reynosa, Lobos were from Laredo and so forth,” the official said. “As things changed, the names stayed but they were all over the place.”
Delgado was born and raised in Matamoros and as time went by his position in the organization grew.
But unlike some of his fellow Metros, like Metro-2 (Gregorio Sauceda) or Metro -3 (Samuel Flores Borrego), who became famous plaza bosses,
Delgado always remained in the shadows working the enforcement side while staying below the radar of authorities.
Delgado had been the plaza boss of Reynosa and one of the closest allies of de-facto Gulf Cartel boss Mario ”Pelon or X-20” Ramirez, who has been trying to exert control of the organization which has been involved in an internal struggle since 2011, the Tamaulipas official said.
On one side, the forces loyal to the family of legendary kingpin Osiel Cardenas Guillen continue to face off against the men who had been loyal to Jorge Eduardo “El Coss” Costilla. Cardenas is serving a 25-year sentence in a U.S. prison, while Costilla awaits trial in a Mexico.
The struggle between the two factions has upset the Gulf Cartel’s allies in Sinaloa, who have been helping them since 2010 to fight the Zetas — once working as the Gulf Cartel’s elite ex-paramilitary enforcers.
While gunmen and traffickers with the Sinaloa Cartel continue to work in Tamaulipas, they have lost trust in their Tamaulipas counterparts and have been more and more reluctant to help them, the law enforcement official said.
MEXICAN HERO?
Many citizens of Reynosa have grown tired of drug dealers and their regular shootouts with authorities, but for a brief time in September and October 2012 they were thankful to Delgado for his role in keeping the famously corrupt Reynosa transit police at bay.
Not tasked with any public safety role, but merely acting as traffic enforcers, the transit police in Reynosa and Matamoros — better known as transitos — are notoriously corrupt, working as lookouts for the Gulf Cartel, a source outside law enforcement with direct knowledge of criminal activity said.
“They are totally useless and corrupt,” Joel Hernandez said in Spanish.
The Reynosa businessman has no ties to criminal activity and recalled the brief respite he had during the time.
“They will pull you over for any excuse they can think of and extort you by scaring you with having your vehicle impounded or arrested,” Hernandez said. “It was a good break that we had. Later on I heard the rumor of why they had been punished and it felt good to know that someone put them in their place.”
For about six weeks, Delgado ordered the transit police to do all of their patrolling on foot as a way to punish them for pulling him over, the source outside law enforcement said. The cartel boss had been riding in a beaten up car to avoid detection from Mexican military personnel.
“He had been driving a small, beat-up car to not raise suspicion of the military and as he was heading toward Rio Bravo, he was stopped by the transitos who tried to extort him,” the source said. “At first they didn’t believe who he was so he called his people who showed up and disciplined the transitos. Feeling offended, he punished them all.”
FEARED IN THE U.S.
In mid 2011, the Texas Department of Public Safety issued a memo to its troopers and other law enforcement agencies, warning them about orders given by M-4 to fire upon U.S. law enforcement if they tried to stop certain shipments key to the Gulf Cartel.
In other DPS memos, the agency warned of various attacks on U.S. soil that were in one way or another attributed to a figure identified only as M-4.
At the time the memos were issued, DPS director Steve McCraw wouldn’t discuss details of the memos leaked to The Monitor, saying that the contents were for law enforcement eyes only.
When the Gulf Cartel went through an internal split in September 2011 that continues to languish today, Delgado was identified by U.S. law enforcement officials as the man who had ordered the recovery of various drug loads stolen from the organization.
In October 2011, then-Hidalgo Police Captain Robert Vela confirmed that Delgado, who was one of the bosses in Reynosa behind the kidnapping of a man who was rescued by his department at the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge.
The man, who was never identified by authorities, was rescued from the trunk of a car driven by an underage teen. Investigators were able to track two men who were charged with aggravated kidnapping.
Delgado was also identified by Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino as the man who had ordered the Partido Revolucionario Mexicano prison gang to carry out a simultaneous operation similar to the one in Hidalgo to recover a substantial drug load.
The kidnapping turned deadly when Deputy Hugo Rodriguez and his partner Manuel Morales pulled over a sand-colored pickup where two kidnappers had stuffed their victims in the back of the truck.
Rodriguez was shot multiple times, but along with Morales, the deputies were able to kill one of the gunmen and seriously wound the other.
The shooting was the first incident that Trevino called spillover violence — a term he had long before challenged compared to other local and state law enforcement officials.
“It doesn’t necessarily kill the snake,” the sheriff said Saturday of the cartel boss’ death. “It’s almost like they are Medusa. As long as we demand, somebody is going to supply.”
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Ildefonso Ortiz covers courts, law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at iortiz@themonitor.com or at 956-683-4437.
