Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano - Death

Death

On 7 October 2012, the Mexican Navy responded to a civilian complaint reporting the presence of armed gunmen in Progreso, Coahuila. Upon the navy's arrival, the gunmen threw grenades at the patrol from a moving vehicle, triggering a shootout that left Lazcano and another gunman dead and one marine slightly wounded. The vehicle was found to contain a grenade launcher, 12 grenades, possibly a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and two rifles, according to the Navy. The Navy managed to confirm his death through fingerprint verification and photographs of his corpse before handing the body to the local authorities. However, before the Navy could make an official announcement of his death, several heavily armed and masked gunmen, presumably under orders of Miguel Treviño Morales, stormed the funeral home where his body and that of the other man involved in the shooting lay. Homero Ramos, Coahuila's state prosecutor, said: "A masked, armed group overpowered the personnel, took the bodies and forced the owner of the funeral home to drive the get-away vehicle."

At the time of his death, Lazcano was 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) tall and not 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in), as previously estimated by the authorities.

The Mexican Navy did not identify Lazcano until his body was snatched from the funeral home in Sabinas, Coahuila, a testament that the drug lord had managed to maintain a low-profile behavior. At first, the Navy thought that the two gunmen killed in the shootout were low-level criminals, which explains why they were allowed to be taken to the funeral parlor. Once the bodies were taken, the police matched the fingerprints and photos with those of Lazcano. He was able to be identified because when Lazcano was in the military, his fingerprints were presumably on file; he also spent some time in jail early in his career, and his prints might have been taken there. It is not surprising, however, that Lazcano was not identified immediately, given that there were very few pictures of him. The fact that he had also spent some time in Guatemala and overseas, and that the Navy was responding to a civilian tip that there were armed men at a baseball game, made his finding unexpected. His entourage was also uncharacteristic for a major drug trafficker, although it is quite common for cartel leaders to travel in small groups to avoid attracting unnecessary attention. Unlike other drug traffickers, Lazcano was elusive and turned his back on opulence and power to keep a low-profile status. He was one of the most secretive drug lords in Mexico mainly because he had been trained in military intelligence.