"[4] When the leader Arturo Beltrán Leyva was gunned down and killed by the Mexican military in December 2009, many within the cartel deserted and left to form an independent criminal organization with Edgar Valdez Villarreal, known as La Barbie.

[5][6] The drug gangs clashed just a few miles across the international border with the U.S. state of Arizona – an area notorious for being a smuggling route for narcotics and human trafficking.

[7] Reportedly, Meza Flores and a drug trafficker called Arnoldo del Cid Buelna (known in the criminal world as El Gilo) were the ones that carried out the surprise ambush attack on the gunmen of the Sinaloa Cartel.

However, the operation left two soldiers dead and twelve of his gunmen killed, including his right-hand man Omar Alfonso Rubio (alias "El Chonte").

[15] His last known residence was in the state of Nuevo León, where he was reportedly seen with some of his family members at a youth basketball game in San Pedro Garza García on January 19, 2013.