The United States Attorney’s Office announced that it has decided not to seek the death penalty against brothers Miguel Ángel and Omar Treviño Morales, alias El Z40 and El Z42, former leaders of the Los Zetas criminal cell based in Tamaulipas, Mexico.
In a letter sent to the judge presiding over the case in the federal court in Washington, DC, Trevor McFadden, Sophia Suárez, acting chief of the Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, reported on the decision made by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“Dear Judge McFadden:
The government respectfully submits this letter to inform the court and the defense that the Attorney General has authorized and directed this office not to pursue the death penalty against defendant Miguel Treviño Morales and defendant Omar Treviño Morales,” the document filed on September 12 reads.
The Treviño brothers face multiple charges of cocaine and marijuana trafficking, racketeering, firearms possession, and money laundering in the District Court for the District of Columbia, in the United States capital.
Washington accuses them of leading a bloody criminal operation that flooded US border cities with northeastern Mexico, primarily in Texas, with drugs, where they established a corridor for marijuana and cocaine trafficking between approximately 2000 and 2011.
Their next hearing will be on October 14, and the US Attorney’s Office claims to have at least 4.9 million files related to the brothers, who led the criminal organization that emerged as an armed wing of the Gulf Cartel and later became independent to operate on their own.
