 On the night of 10 March 2013, rival factions within the Gulf Cartel clashed when gunmen loyal to Ramírez Treviño and henchmen of Miguel "El Gringo" Villarreal, another high-ranking drug trafficker, battled in a three-hour gunfight in Reynosa, paralyzing the avenues and streets of the city while the Mexican Armed Forces missed most of the fighting. When the melee ended, the Mexican government initially confirmed two civilian deaths, but unofficial reports suggested that around 40 Gulf Cartel gunmen were reportedly killed; the number may possibly be higher, considering that the cartel members were reported to have carried away the corpse of their fallen comrades in their vehicles. In the shootout, unofficial reports claimed that El Gringo's ally, Jesús García Román (El Puma), was killed. And that high-ranking Gulf Cartel leader Sergio Ortegón Silva (Comandante Cortez), who heads the faction known as Los Ceros (The Zeros), confronted El Gringo and his forces.
