Sergio Peña Mendoza, also known as Sergio Peña Solís and Antonio Santiago López (born 25 January 1973) is a Mexican suspected drug lord and a former leader in the criminal group Los Zetas, then the armed side of the Gulf Cartel. He was apprehended in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, on 14 March 2009.La Policía Federal captura a Sergio Peña Mendoza, alias “El Concord” presunto operador de “Los Zetas” en Reynosa. Secretaría de Seguridad Pública. Mexico City, Mexico. Press Release 120/09. 14 March 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2012.La Policía Federal captura a Sergio Peña Menoza, alias "El Concord" presunto operador de "Los Zetas" en Reynosa. Noticias ABC Mexico. Retrieved 10 March 2012.

The government of Mexico had listed Peña Mendoza as one of its 37 most wanted drug lords and offered the equivalent of over $2 million USD ($15 million Mexican pesos) for information leading to his capture.Univision. México ofrece millonarias recompensas por 37 líderes del narco. English title: Mexico offers rewards in the millions for 37 drug lords. Retrieved 18 February 2011.Se buscan. Alfredo Méndez. La Jornada. 24 March 2009. p. 4. Retrieved 10 March 2012.

Status Sergio Peña Mendoza was believed to be the new leader of the Los Zetas group in Reynosa, Mexico, after the former leader Jaime Gonzalez Duran (aka El Hummer) was arrested in the later part of 2008. Peña Solís was known as "El Concord" and used several aliases, including the names of Rene Carlos Solis and Arturo Sanchez Fuentes.La Policía Federal captura a Sergio Peña Mendoza, alias “El Concord” presunto operador de “Los Zetas” en Reynosa. Secretaría de Seguridad Pública. Mexico City, Mexico. Press Release 120/09. 14 March 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2012.Zetas leader SERGIO PEÑA MENDOZA arrested with stolen truck and guns. Narcotic News. Reynosa, Mexico. 14 March 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2012.

Arrest Peña Mendoza was 39 years old at the time of his capture.La Policía Federal captura a Sergio Peña Mendoza, alias "El Concord" presunto operador de "Los Zetas" en Reynosa. Noticias ABC Mexico. Retrieved 10 March 2012. He was arrested after he tried to flee a police checkpoint in a stolen truck with Texas license plates. He was carrying a false ID card, and was in possession of an AK-47 rifle.La Policía Federal captura a Sergio Peña Mendoza, alias “El Concord” presunto operador de “Los Zetas” en Reynosa. Secretaría de Seguridad Pública. Mexico City, Mexico. Press Release 120/09. 14 March 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2012.

Charges According to authorities, Peña Mendoza was recently a leader in the drug cartel organization in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas where he was responsible for bribing the police in the cities of Chiapa de Corzo, Tuxtla Gutierrez, and San Cristobal de las Casas. It has been reported that, when previous Zeta leader of the city of Reynosa Jaime Gonzalez Duran was arrested, Peña Solís was sent to Reynosa to lead drug trafficking activities across the border and to fight against police measures to stop the trafficking of illegal drugs.La Policía Federal captura a Sergio Peña Mendoza, alias “El Concord” presunto operador de “Los Zetas” en Reynosa. Secretaría de Seguridad Pública. Mexico City, Mexico. Press Release 120/09. 14 March 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2012.

Kingpin Act sanction On 24 March 2010, the United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned Peña Mendoza 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. 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.

2006 prison escape In 2003, Mexican authorities issued an arrest warrant against Peña Mendoza for drug trafficking and subsequently apprehended him and put him into custody. But, on 13 June 2006, Peña Mendoza escaped from prison with the assistance of Jaime González Durán, alias "El Hummer". Following his escape from prison, Peña Mendoza was involved in the murder-executions of the tactical head of police and a police officer in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas. Mexican police also charged him with the 25 July 2008 killing of businessman Marcos Arcia of San Cristobal De Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico.La Policía Federal captura a Sergio Peña Mendoza, alias “El Concord” presunto operador de “Los Zetas” en Reynosa. Secretaría de Seguridad Pública. Mexico City, Mexico. Press Release 120/09. 14 March 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2012.

Business partners Peña Mendoza had an alliance with Miguel Angel Trevino Morales (aka Z-40), Daniel Perez Rojas (aka El Cachetes, which means The Cheeks), Iván Velázquez-Caballero and Sergio Basurto Pena. Peña Solís is a suspect in the failed attempt to free Zeta member Perez-Rojas who was sent to prison in Guatemala.La Policía Federal captura a Sergio Peña Mendoza, alias “El Concord” presunto operador de “Los Zetas” en Reynosa. Secretaría de Seguridad Pública. Mexico City, Mexico. Press Release 120/09. 14 March 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2012.

Reported death In early 2010, Mexican media reported that a man identified as Sergio Peña Mendoza — using the alias "El Concord" and described as Los Zetas' representative in Reynosa under leader Heriberto Lazcano — had been killed, despite having been in federal custody since his March 2009 arrest. El Universal described the killing as an unresolved precursor to the violent rupture between Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel, noting that his re-emergence as an execution victim in the same city where he had been captured could not be readily explained by federal authorities. The same report stated that, when asked for an update on his legal status, the Attorney General's office was unable to confirm the circumstances and had only an unverified account of his death. Other accounts of the Los Zetas–Gulf Cartel split attribute the killing to Gulf Cartel enforcer Samuel Flores Borrego, alias "El Metro 3," describing the death of "El Concord" as a flashpoint that fueled the alliance's collapse.

The killing is cited as a direct catalyst for the collapse of the alliance between Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel. At the end of 2010 Los Zetas broke the peace they had maintained with the Gulf Cartel because of the death of Sergio Peña Mendoza — referred to in that report as "El Concord" — which triggered a dispute over the territories controlled by Gulf Cartel leaders Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez ("El Coss") and Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén ("Tony Tormenta"). El Universal similarly described the killing as an unresolved precursor to the break between Los Zetas leader Heriberto Lazcano ("El Lazca") and his former allies El Coss and Tony Tormenta. The rupture is widely regarded as the start of the broader Los Zetas–Gulf Cartel conflict of 2010, which reshaped organized crime in northeastern Mexico for years afterward.

See also List of Mexico's 37 most-wanted drug lords

External links PHOTO of Sergio Peña Mendoza. (Source: http://www.pgje.chiapas.gob.mx/masbuscados/# ) "Los Mas Buscados." Procuraduria General de Justicia del Estado de Chiapas. Tuxla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico

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