In this
Spanish name, the first or paternal
surname is Rejón and the second or maternal family name is Aguilar.
Jesús Enrique Rejón Aguilar (a.k.a. Z-7, El Mamito)[1] is a former leader of the Mexican criminal organization known as
Los Zetas.[2][3] He was wanted by the governments of Mexico and USA until his capture on July 4, 2011 in
Atizapán de Zaragoza, a Mexico City suburb.[4]
Biography
Rejón Aguilar was born in Sabancuy,
Carmen Municipality, Campeche, Mexico, in 1976.[5] On April 3, 1993, Rejón Aguilar entered the Mexican Army in his home state of Campeche and in 1996 was assigned to Special Forces Airmobile Group (
GAFE). In 1997, he was assigned to the Mexico's Federal Attorney General's Office (PGR) in the cities of
Reynosa and
Miguel Alemán in
Tamaulipas. In 1998 he was assigned to Saltillo,
Coahuila. He deserted the army in February 1999 and in March the same year, at the invitation of
Arturo Guzmán Decena, known as "The Z1" was integrated into the group of 14 former soldiers who founded
Los Zetas as the armed wing of the
Gulf Cartel.[6][7]
Rejón Aguilar oversaw the paramilitary training of new recruits[8] and then oversaw
Gulf Cartel trafficking activities in the state of
Coahuila along with
Alejandro Treviño Morales. Rejón Aguilar is responsible for multi-ton shipments of
marijuana and multi-kilogram shipments of
cocaine from Mexico to the United States.[2][9] In 2004, Rejón Aguilar coordinated a failed raid on the maximum security prison 'El Altiplano', as he attempted to liberate his boss
Osiel Cárdenas Guillén.[10] According to government documents, his plan consisted of using 3 helicopters and over 50 Zeta members to liberate Cárdenas Guillén.[11] In 2007 Rejón Aguilar was assigned to the streets of
Nuevo Laredo and
Miguel Alemán under the command of
Miguel Treviño Morales, where he remained until early 2009.
After the split between the
Gulf Cartel and
Los Zetas in 2010, Rejón Aguilar was assigned as the regional coordinator in the states of central and northern Mexico.
Kingpin Act sanction
On 24 March 2010, the
United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned Rejón Aguilar 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.[12] 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.[13]
Capture
Mexican authorities had posted a $30 million peso (US$2.3 million) bounty for Rejón Aguilar,[14] while the United States posted in July 2009 a US$5 million bounty.[2][3][15] On July 4, 2011, police captured Rejón in a Mexico City suburb without firing a shot.[4][16]
Rejón Aguilar was
extradited to the United States on 11 September 2012 for drug trafficking and organized crime charges,[17][18] pleading guilty for conspiracy to traffic large sums of narcotics to the U.S. in February 2013. He faces a mandatory 10-year sentence and a maximum sentence of life in prison.[19]