Senior member of Zetas drug cartel captured Villanueva, nicknamed the "Tsar of Piracy," is accused of orchestrating attacks on schools, media outlets and military bases in Matamoros in the crime-ridden northeastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexican authorities said. Mexican officials announced on Wednesday that more than 50 alleged members of the feared Zetas drug cartel, including two active duty policemen, women and children, had been arrested in the northern state of Nuevo Leon. Trevino, who is still at large in Mexico, is accused of presiding over a vast money laundering operation that hid millions of dollars of drug proceeds in an American horse racing and breeding syndicate. The Zetas are believed to have come into existence in the 1990s, founded by deserters from the Mexican special forces hired as hit men for the powerful Gulf cartel. The original group trained new members - including rogue soldiers from the Kabiles, a feared special forces branch of the Guatemalan military - and became known for its ruthlessness, particularly for beheading their victims. They split from the Gulf cartel in recent years, sparking bloody turf wars as they set up their own trafficking operations. Their Mexican strongholds include the eastern region of the Gulf of Mexico, and parts of the northern border states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon.