 After Los Zetas leader Miguel Treviño Morales (alias Z40) was arrested in July 2013, the authorities speculated that Ramírez Treviño was planning to lead the Gulf Cartel into new grounds by retaking the turfs controlled by Los Zetas, their former allies, in northeastern Mexico. With a new armed squad known as Los Deltas (a parallel version of what Los Zetas was for the Gulf Cartel prior to their separation), the drug lord was planning to fight off Los Zetas at a border area known as "La Frontera Chica," which encompasses Miguel Alemán, Camargo and Ciudad Mier – directly across the U.S-Mexico border from Starr County, Texas. Other crime specialists believed that Ramírez Treviño stood a chance of reunifying the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas as they were in early 2010.
