HomeNewsAnalysisWhat do the Zetas and McDonald's Have in Common?
ANALYSIS

What do the Zetas and McDonald's Have in Common?

MEXICO / 5 DEC 2011 BY JOHN BAILEY EN

The best way to think about the Zetas drug gang may be as a franchise like McDonald's, where independent contractors can pay a fee to operate under the group's brand name.

The media often reports that "alpha" cartel is fighting "beta" cartel to take control of the plaza, or that "gamma" cartel members were detected in Central America, Europe or Australia. This poses the question of how these organizations operate and how they evolve over time. The question is important because the nature of the organization of a criminal gang affects the ways in which it can influence society and the political system. It also dictates the strategies that the government can use to confront these groups.

The problem is that in academic circles there is very little useful information about how drug trafficking organizations operate and how they are organized. Mexico's security forces arrest hundreds of suspects every year but it is obvious that these arrests do not produce much useful intelligence on the organization of these criminal groups. In addition, we have yet to see a turncoat of the level and depth of the Italian Joseph Valachi and his detailed confessions about the Mafia's criminal activities.

Without solid information, we have to work with hypotheses. The conventional academic wisdom is that trafficking organizations are typically more like networks than hierarchies. The networks are composed of different kinds of organizations, some of which may be hierarchies or loose alliances between friends or business associates. One advantage of networks is that the member organizations, or nodes, can be replaced and new connections can be easily constructed to replace the previous ones. Governments constantly attack a network just to see how new nodes replace the previous ones. A disadvantage of networks, from the perspective of drug traffickers, is their dynamism and complexity: an ever-changing network is difficult to handle. Also, nodes have ample space to maneuver freely.

This brings us to the Zetas. The myth about the emergence of this organization states that a group of Mexican Army elite forces defected and joined the ranks of the Gulf Cartel and became its armed wing. The training and military discipline of the Zetas gave them a degree of hierarchy and competence.

However, my opinion is that the Zetas have evolved over time due to pressure from government forces and battles with other drug cartels. Despite continued defections from the government security forces, it is more difficult for the Zetas to recruit specialists with high levels of training and discipline.

This is where a "franchise" model is useful. A franchise is a mechanism in which different businesses may join under a recognized quality brand name. The McDonald's corporation operates only about 15 percent of its restaurants, while the rest are handled by independent contractors who pay fees to the parent company.

In a model of this kind, the more entrepreneurial "Zetas" can "apply" to operate in a particular plaza and pay fees to the lead organization for the use of their name. Or a gang can independently negotiate a franchise with the relevant Zeta node. In addition, Zetas franchisees typically diversify into activities such as extortion or kidnapping to earn additional profits.

In addition to the problems posed by a complex network, the Zetas franchise faces additional challenges because of counterfeiters. Given the chaos of criminal competition, virtually anyone can claim to be a Zeta without taking many risks. Unlike the Sicilian mafia, which is a strong monopoly, the Zetas "brand" is easily falsifiable. Thus, an extortionist can exert additional influence over their victims by claiming to be affiliated with the Zetas, and runs a relatively low risk for doing so.

Finally, governments can confront these networks only by adopting the same type of organizations, i.e. networks. Thus, the key is to create highly mobile and fluid coordinating mechanisms. It is easier said that done.

John J. Bailey directs the Mexico Project at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. This article is reprinted with permission from Borderland Beat, which translated it from a Spanish version published by El Universal.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

CONTRABAND / 18 MAY 2022

Cattle from Mexico and the Central American nations of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua help feed the domestic beef markets of…

JALISCO CARTEL / 14 JAN 2022

Criminal organizations in the state of Michoacán are experimenting with ever-greater firepower as they wage war over hotly contested territory.

ARMS TRAFFICKING / 7 MAR 2022

Authorities in Mexico recently seized an historic amount of high-powered weapons and ammunition in a northern border state, laying bare…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

All Eyes on Ecuador

2 JUN 2023

Our coverage of organized crime in Ecuador continues to be a valuable resource for international and local news outlets. Internationally, Reuters cited our 2022 Homicide Round-Up,…

WORK WITH US

Open Position: Social Media and Engagement Strategist

27 MAY 2023

InSight Crime is looking for a Social Media and Engagement Strategist who will be focused on maintaining and improving InSight Crime’s reputation and interaction with its audiences through publishing activities…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Receives Great Reception

27 MAY 2023

Several of InSight Crime’s most recent articles about Venezuela have been well received by regional media. Our article on Venezuela’s colectivos expanding beyond their political role to control access to…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report Continues

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.