Four people with ties to a powerful Mexican drug cartel that controls a horse racing track sitting across the Rio Grande River from Laredo, Texas, have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury, the agency announced Tuesday.
The four individuals are linked to the Cartel del Noreste’s quarter horse racing network, which operates out of Club La Molienda—a racetrack restaurant and bar just outside Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. The cartel’s two founders, Miguel Angel “Z-40” Trevino Morales and Oscar Omar “Z-42” Trevino Morales, were arrested by Mexican authorities in 2013 and 2015, respectively.
However, the two men maintained control of the criminal organization by using corrupt attorneys and other associates to continue to oversee cartel activities, the treasury said.
