Yarrington's accusations of his criminal activities began in November 2011, when the slain body of a businessman and rancher named Alfonso Peña-Argüelles was publicly displayed in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. Along with the body was a message left by Los Zetas accusing Peña-Argüelles' brother of laundering money for Yarrington. On 30 January 2012, the Attorney General of Mexico issued a communiqué ordering the past three governors of Tamaulipas – Manuel Cavazos Lerma, Eugenio Hernández Flores, and Tomás Yarrington – to remain in the country because they were being investigated for possible correlation with the Mexican drug cartels. After a court case in San Antonio, Texas, the U.S. federal agency known as the DEA accused Yarrington of laundering money for Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel from 1999 to 2004, his time as governor. This information was obtained after Antonio Peña-Argüelles, an alleged high-ranking drug cartel member, was arrested and claimed that Yarrington had "direct personal relationship with Zeta leaders." In addition, Yarrington was accused of plotting the assassination of Rodolfo Torre Cantú, the former candidate for governor in Tamaulipas' 2010 elections; the ambushed that killed Torre Cantú was allegedly carried out by Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez, the supreme leader of the Gulf cartel. According to the DEA's protected witness, Torre Cantú was assassinated because he affected the interests of a construction company that the Gulf cartel was sponsoring. Moreover, "Excélsior" notes that Torre Cantú was also killed because he did not have a good relationship with Yarrington and did not guarantee agreements with the cartels. However, Egidio Torre Cantú, the brother of Rodolfo, took his place and became the governor of Tamaulipas after his assassination, and allied with the Mexican Armed Forces to combat the cartels in hopes of avoiding what happened to his brother.