US sanctions Mexican cartel CDN’s horse-racing, business network

MEXICO CITY, Oct 13 (Reuters) – The US Treasury Department on Tuesday sanctioned four people and 11 entities tied to the Cartel del Noreste (CDN), targeting a business network spanning horse racing, construction, trucking and the energy sector that Washington says helped finance the Mexican criminal group.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called it the agency’s largest action to date against CDN’s financial machinery, highlighting the cartel’s persistence in using horse racing to launder money.

• Designated individuals include Pablo Cesar Guajardo Alvarez, alias “Takia,” the accused CDN plaza boss in Nuevo Laredo and a former leader of the cartel’s sicarios.

• Nuevo Laredo businessman Gamaliel Garza Garcia, involved in horse racing in both the US and Mexico, and his son were sanctioned alongside nine companies, including a quarter-horse racing stable, construction firms and fuel and gas businesses that Treasury said operated in support of the cartel.

• The action comes as US officials have raised concerns about cartel-linked horse smuggling across the US-Mexico border. Reuters reported last month that trafficked horses, which are often destined for racing in the US, continue moving through illegal crossing routes also used for drugs and migrants.

• Also targeted was Club La Molienda, a horse racetrack, restaurant and bar in Mexico’s Tamaulipas state, that Treasury said is controlled by CDN and serves as a hub for the group’s horse-racing activities.

• Tamex, a Nuevo Laredo-based trucking company, was sanctioned after authorities seized two cocaine shipments totaling 52 kg hidden in trailer brake drums linked to the firm.

• Treasury said cartel-linked front companies spent $16 million on US quarter-horse racing operations and laundered more than $22 million between 2008 and 2012, leading to the seizure of 455 horses.

• CDN was founded by brothers Miguel Angel and Oscar Omar Trevino Morales, who were transferred to the US in 2025 to face drug trafficking, racketeering and money-laundering charges. The group is a successor to Los Zetas.

(Reporting by Natalia Siniawski, editing by Cassandra Garrison)