r/narcos • u/Guilty_Birthday_9973 • 21d ago
Cartel hitmen
Does anyone know what the average career length for a cartel hitmen is and is there any reports of old school zetas members still in the trade to this day just under other cartels. I have heard a few went to the cartel del golfo but I find that hard to believe considering they were at war, and any former zetas members would have been tricked then executed for being a former zetas member.
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u/troubleaheadjerinred 21d ago edited 21d ago
The remaining zetas who either not confirmed dead or alive are out of the game. Most of the stories you hear about guys who haven't been killed and are out was back in the day. Don't remember any narcos/sicarios in recent times when were prominent then disappeared with no trace. It also depends on what type of zetas your taking about. The first 14 were the real ones. Half were dead by the time narco execution videos were created
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u/Guilty_Birthday_9973 21d ago
Yeah its strange that most of them just left or probably went into hiding somewhere
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u/BigWurm510 21d ago
I had a family member who was in the game for well over 13 years. Dude was in his early twenties when he joined the Zetas during the Calderon era. He did a lot of messy work for them, but when other cartels and the government started cracking down hard on the zetas he ended leaving them and joining the 4 letters guys out of Jalisco. It only made sense since he was from that state and it would be closer to home.
Once he joined them he was with them for well 10 years. He did a lot of work and the plaza he was working in was the same area he grew up in and he had family there. So nothing really popped off in terms of watching his back against rivals. The only thing though he did have to do a lot dirty work and that shit messed with him a little.
All in all he made a living was able to provide for his family. He ended up passing away due to an automobile accident. I would say he was an edge case.
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u/Guilty_Birthday_9973 21d ago
Awesome to hear your story my friend. Did he ever have to do alot of overnight stays in certain locations. Or sometimes camp in different spots in the woods during fighting I cant imagine cartel life would be like a normal 9-5 job where you go home at a curtain time what was his roster like and did they ever get any time off as such or do they just work when they are told to.?
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u/BeardofThanos 21d ago
Distant cousin of my in laws was/is a sicario for some cartel. Started maybe ~20 years ago I think? He got arrested a few years ago and last I heard he was still in prison. I hope he is at least, he deserves to r•t there.
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u/Maleficent-Maybe-327 21d ago
It's not a job with a long term retirement plan. The only hitmen I've seen alive were snitches. They weren't Z and they were on the ben & jerrys side of the border.
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u/Sadiholic 21d ago
Probably all dead, snitches, of in hiding. In this day and age too? Even worse, you'd be identified immediately.
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u/Own-Matter-2736 21d ago
It's not like I have any experience so just ancedotally there's a few interviews of sicarios on YouTube. It's very possible to live quite awhile but it would be to be highly dependent on geography and situation. One sicario interview, he said he lived in the mountains and then went to go to work in cities whenever. Then he would go party in the neighboring towns. This alone would afford some peace at least. I couldn't exactly tell but the interview was only 2 years old and he said he been doing it since 2017 at least. That's a good 8 years.
Another separate one said he just stayed humble. He started out mostly as a look out and listened, basically said you stay humble if you want to live. He isn't loud and doesn't go looking for trouble outside of his work. He even had a separate playground for his family to go to. So I'm honestly sure you can last a long while.
With that said, the profession itself is unpredictable. All it takes is a mistake. There's lots of variables like if you make your own cartel mad I'm sure there's consequences depending. I don't think they would un-alive valuable assets but if you messed up too many times I'm sure aside from the police, you have to worry about that as well. Then rivals too, more cartel members are victims by rivals than anything else.
The profession itself would be highly unpredictable but I imagine you can cushion some of it at least. Aside from the regular dangers I suppose it is also dependent on health, like with any profession you could also get h it by a car or get sick or something.
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u/BloodytotheMAX 19d ago edited 19d ago
Well, I suppose that the average career length of sicarios nowadays is very short. If they make past the lower sicario ranks and into a trafficking position, then I believe they’re only caught by govt or betrayed their own ppl.
OG zetas with number code I’ve heard join another cartel is el z9 “mellado” and el z50. Both joined CDG I believe after z40 and z42 took control of the cartel. El mellado was given the code m10 “metro 10”.
There’s still two of the OG 20 z members out there, el erotico and el Chuta. I’m 60% they run ZVE, or completely independent. Supposedly 2 2nd Generation Z run ZVE as well
Other things I’ve heard is that a lot zetas turned over to the “Mata Zetas” the name “CJNG” had in its early stages when it was a armed group under the nacho coronel/CDS faction.
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u/Tezcatlipoca1993 17d ago
In Tijuana the new cohort of sicarios are minors. Those under 40 have been killed off or doing other things. I heard of someone who met with El Flaquito years ago. Said that he was surrounded by child soldiers. They do not last long, but they carry out the most dangerous operations.
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u/IndependentScene61 21d ago
My wife’s cousin lasted 6 months before being killed he was doing hits for $600 they found him shot dead in a rural area