[57][60][70] After the arrest of Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn and his son Ovidio Guzmn Lpez, the cartel is now headed by old-school leader Ismael Zambada Garca (aka El Mayo) and Guzmn's other sons, Jess Alfredo Guzmn and Ivan Archivaldo Guzmn Salazar. [82][83] Flix Gallardo divided up his Federation by 1987, just two years after the capture and murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena Salazar when the threat from American law enforcement became much more pressing. [45] The dead included Roman Catholic Cardinal Juan Jess Posadas Ocampo. [206][207] The two women were later revealed to be Guzmn's personal chefs, who had traveled with him to multiple safe houses. [87] The Sinaloa Cartel is "a confederation of criminal organizations based on regional culture, and deep, shared blood ties that have been generated during decades of endogenous practice. NPR's reporters interviewed dozens of officials and ordinary people for the journalistic investigation. [15] The Nuevo Laredo region is an important drug trafficking corridor into Laredo, Texas, where as much as 40% of all Mexican exports pass through into the U.S. By Kristina Davis. I have been trying to find the Sponsored by Adidas video but I can't ever seem to track it down. [155], The Sinaloa Cartel has operations in the Philippines as a trans-shipment point for drugs smuggled into the United States. The western Mexican state of Sinaloa is home to the country's most powerful and bloody drug cartel. News outlets in Mexico are reporting contradictory stories about whether the Jalisco and Sinaloa Cartels are friends, enemies or something in between. 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. [149] To coordinate operations in the southeast US, Atlanta has emerged as a major distribution center and accounting hub and the presence of the Sinaloa Cartel there has brought ruthless violence to that area. El Chapo and his partner, Hctor Luis Palma Salazar, remained in the Sinaloa area. A DEA agent in the same trial alleged that Fierro-Mendez had contacts with a Mexican military officer. In the latter part of the 1970s, the various families branched into moving cocaine for Colombian and Central American traffickers, and shifted their operations to Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco. The most extensive database on organized crime in the Americas. Canadians in Mexico's northwest are being advised to take extra care amid an outbreak of violence following the arrest of Sinaloa drug cartel leader Ovidio Guzman, a son of jailed kingpin Joaquin . "El Chino ntrax," was among three found Saturday inside a BMW X-5 sports utility vehicle registered to his sister, El Sol de . ", "Mexico's Sinaloa gang grows empire, defies crackdown", "Unraveling Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel", "Inside Mexico's Most Powerful Drug Cartel", "Where 7 Mexican drug cartels are active within the U.S.", "Mexican traffickers making New York a hub for lucrative and deadly fentanyl", "Inside the Sinaloa Cartel's Fentanyl Smuggling Operations", "Drug Users Are Nostalgic for 'Old-School Heroin' as Fentanyl Takes Over", "Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller: Season 1 Episode 2: Fentanyl", "Cartels Take to Social Media to Peddle Deadly Fentanyl Pills, DEA Says", "Fentanyl Overdose Deaths Climb in Washington, and Cartels Are to Blame, Feds Say", "San Diego: The epicenter of fentanyl trafficking", "The DEA says drug cartels are putting fentanyl in candy to sell to kids. Flix Gallardo, following his imprisonment, bestowed the Guadalajara Cartel to his nephews in the Tijuana Cartel. A report from Mexico's National Intelligence Center (Centro Nacional de Inteligencia - CIN) identified three Mexican companies supplying both cartels with these chemicals. When the jet landed at the Tijuana airport, both police and military units failed to cordon off the aircraft and the gunmen escaped. In 2019 he was found guilty on various charges, including drug trafficking. US pressure forced Mexican authorities to act, and the leaders of the cartel fled. [205] The raid on the ranch was met with heavy gunfire and Guzmn was able to flee. He is considered to be the first generation of major Mexican drug smugglers of marijuana who marked the birth of large-scale Mexican drug trafficking. One YouTube video sympathetic to the Sinaloa Cartel opens with white lettering: "This is what happens to all my enemies." A singer launches into an up-tempo song against a montage of images: slain . L ast year on Valentine's Day, the drug lord Joaquin " El Chapo " Guzman was designated Chicago's Public Enemy No. As of 2013, the Sinaloa Cartel continued to dominate the Sonora-Arizona corridor, which extends for nearly 375 miles. [79], Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo, who co-founded the Guadalajara Cartel between 1978 and 1980, from then on; controlled much of Mexico's drug-trafficking corridors along the United States border throughout the 1980s, only to be rivaled by the Gulf Cartel which controlled some of eastern Mexico's drug trade. [25] The cartel however also appears to still have major methamphetamine operations in cities throughout the U.S., such as in San Diego and Atlanta. . A drug cartel in Mexico is forcing members into cannibalism after videos online have emerged which show gang members eating body parts of enemies. Many of its members are related by birth or by marriage. The money it generates has left its imprint on the relationships between narcos and young women . Drug busts in DC area, 7 states linked to Sinaloa cartel; drugs, guns, $5.4 million seized. On January 8, 2016, however, Mexican officials announced that Guzmn had been captured in Los Mochis, Sinaloa. It was discovered as Mexican and San Diego officials were discussing the creation of a cross-border airport between Tijuana and Otay Mesa which would have undermined the drug tunneling operations in the area (see History of the Cross Border Xpress). [108][65] And despite their fierce rivalry, the Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels are reportedly sourcing precursor chemicals from the very same suppliers to produce fentanyl. Working closely with the Honduran Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros, the men came into contact with Colombia's Medelln Cartel. [115] This has also subsequently led to the border city of San Diego reportedly becoming the epicenter for fentanyl trafficking in America due to its proximity to the border, according to local news reports. But theres one problem: hes, Last week, InSight Crime published an analysis of the role of Amsterdams Schiphol Airport as an arrival hub for cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico. In recent times, the cartel has also moved further away from smuggling MDMA and even heroin, while increasing smuggling of cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine. In December 2013, three suspected members of the cartel were arrested in Lipa in Batangas province in the Philippines with 84 kilograms of methamphetamine.[156][169]. As the country's criminal landscape continues to grow more fragmented, it's unclear if and how traditional cartels will be forced to adapt. The body of Jose Rodrigo Arechiga Gamboa, a.k.a. These Special Forces-trained cartel members had recently demanded to be transferred. [65] Despite trafficking various types of illicit substances, the cartel's operations seem to mostly favor the trade of cocaine and opioids, particularly in a distribution hub like Chicago, where demand for methamphetamine is relatively low. The Arellano Flix brothers set up camp in Tijuana. [65][66][67] Similarly to methamphetamine, raw fentanyl production and distribution is incredibly profitable. Although Colombia, Bolivia and Peru have traditionally been the most notable South American countries in the cocaine trade, in recent times; Venezuela as well as Ecuador have stepped up their involvement in the trade, with the Venezuelan organization Cartel of the Suns poising concern to authorities abroad as well as the increase in the size of recent cocaine seizures in Ecuador. Trading sex for cosmetic surgery in Mexico's narco capital As shown by image 3 Drug Trafficking Tunnel, in 2006 the unpermitted development allowed the building of a 2,400-foot (730-meter) drug "super tunnel" originating from the former Ejido Tampico and adjacent to the Tijuana airport's runway. . The Father and son video is pretty fucked up.The reaction of the kid seeing his Dad (or whoever it is in relation to him) decapitated is so hard to watch. Wednesday, May 26th 2021. Sinaloa cartel, international crime organization that is among the most-powerful drug-trafficking syndicates in the world. [94], On 24 June 2020, Zambada was revealed to be "sick with diabetes," and that Zambada reportedly gave El Chapo's sons more influence over the Sinaloa Cartel. [164], On 11 May 2010, Alfonso Gutirrez Loera, cousin of Joaqun Guzmn Loera, and 5 other drug traffickers were arrested after a shootout with Federal Police officers in Culiacan, Sinaloa. A son of Sinaloa cartel kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court Friday to being a leader in the global drug . The shipments were mostly bought from the Sinaloa Cartel and at times from the Beltrn-Leyva Cartel, and it is assumed that both cartels threatened the Flores crew with violence if they bought from other rival drug organizations. [159][160], On 25 February 2009, the U.S. government announced the arrest of 750 members of the Sinaloa Cartel across the U.S. in Operation Xcellerator. Sinaloa Cartel - GlobalSecurity.org A cartel leader and hitman fond of videotaping torture sessions and decapitating likely dozens of enemies has gone missing from a federal prison in Florida, where he was serving a 49-year sentence. It was established in Mexico during the late 1980s as one of a various number of subordinate plazas" operating under a predecessor organization known as the Guadalajara Cartel. The Sinaloa cartel was once led by the notorious drug boss known as Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn. An inside look at Mexico's Sinaloa cartel - EL PAS English Edition Key cities along the corridor include the Mexicali plaza, San Luis Rio Colorado plaza, Sonoyta plaza, Nogales plaza, and the Agua Prieta plaza. The battles between these organizations began almost immediately. That state was long involved in the illegal drug industry as home to marijuana and poppy crops, and it was also the birthplace of numerous drug traffickers, including Hctor Luis Palma Salazar and Joaqun Guzmn Loera, who was known as El Chapo (Shorty). Territory: The west, mainly the Tierra Caliente region. Vi ctims were seen with their hands above their heads . The reasons for "disappearing" cartel enemies varies. Sinaloa Cartel. [69], As of 2023, the Sinaloa Cartel remains Mexico's most dominant drug cartel. Given that El Chapo's conviction in the United States in 2019 landed him in prison for the rest of his life, El Mayo, the only remaining member from the Sinaloa Cartel's old guard, and El Chapo's sons, Joaqun Guzmn Lpez, Ovidio Guzmn Lpez, Ivn Archivaldo and Jess Alfredo, who are also known collectively as "Los Chapitos," are now left to head the general direction of the cartel's operations while it retains its horizontal structure. The leader of the CJNG, Nemesio Oseguera, the Mencho, was a hitman of Orlando the Lobo Nava Valencia, ringleader of the extinct Millennium Cartel, which in turn was the . Barron had received intelligence that Guzmn would be arriving in a white Mercury Grand Marquis town car. [69] The cartel has also been known to use blind mules, particularly for the smuggling and transporting of fentanyl into and throughout the U.S., oftentimes with the mules not even knowing what they're trafficking. [163], On 20 August 2009, the DEA broke up a large Mexican drug operation in Chicago, and uncovered a major distribution network operated by the Flores crew led by twin brothers Margarito and Pedro Flores that operated there. CJNG and the Nueva Plaza Cartel fought over the years to . Explainer: Mexico's week of bloodshed. What is going on? [145], In January 2008 the cartel allegedly split into a number of warring factions, which is a major cause of the epidemic of drug violence Mexico has seen in the last year. 4 Nuevo Laredo Massacres. Shannon, Elaine (1988). The Sinaloa Cartel's central bond is blood. ', "Why the Jalisco Cartel Does Not Dominate Mexico's Criminal Landscape", "Mexico nabs son of drug lord 'El Chapo' before Biden visit", "After months of "internal war", el Mayo Zambada lost control of the Sinaloa Cartel to the children of el Chapo", "Rumors Allege That CDS Has Called a Truce in the Chapitos vs Mayo War", "Dismembered Torso Placed Near Jalisco - Colima Border", "Dispute Breaks Out For Control Of Maritime Traffic In Guatemala And Peru Between CDS And CJNG", "Jalisco Cartel Sets Off Alarm Bells Along Mexico-Guatemala Border", "CJNG Fighting CDS for Teocaltiche, Jalisco", "Reconceptualizing the Illegal Narcotics Trade and Its Effect on the Colombian and the Mexican State", "United States of America v. Felipe de Jesus Corona Verbera", "Sinaloa Cartel Succession in Mexico: More Political Intrigue than Violence", "Mexican Drug Cartels: Government Progress and Growing Violence", Major Mexican Drug Trafficker's Assets in U.S. Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn - Wikipedia Mexican Cartel Violence: None Dare Call It Terrorism Mexico Arrests Ovidio Guzman, Son of 'El Chapo' and Sinaloa Cartel Palma Salazar was arrested in 1995. [68] The cartel has reportedly responded to this phenomenon of mass overdose deaths in the U.S. by making multicolored fentanyl pills (so as not to be confused with real oxycodone pills which are typically blue) as well as multicolored fentanyl powder so that it isn't accidentally (or intentionally) mixed in with other white substances like cocaine, according to Business Insider and other sources who interviewed operatives from the cartel. The Drug Enforcement Administration considers them to be "the biggest, most powerful drug cartel of all time". Son of Sinaloa Cartel kingpin pleads guilty in San Diego Mexican security forces captured on Thursday drug cartel leader Ovidio Guzman, a son of jailed kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, triggering a wave of violence ahead of a visit by U.S. President . [202] Guzmn had a close call in early October 2015, several days after the meeting with Penn and Kate del Castillo. From this strategic point, the cartel distributes their product at the wholesale level to dozens of local street gangs, as much as 2 metric tons a month, in a city with over 117,000 documented gang members. 1: 'El Chapo', "Probing Ties Between Mexican Cartel And Chicago's Violence", "Mexico drug cartel actively operating in Philippines, says Duterte", "Ejecutan en Chetumal a Juan Ulises Galvn Carmona, operador de El Chapo Guzmn", "Is the Jalisco Cartel Winning the Battle for Mexico's Caribbean? According to court documents, the DEA had struck agreements with the cartel's leadership that would ensure that they would be immune from extradition and prosecution in the US and would avoid disrupting the cartel's drug operations in exchange for intelligence which could be used against other drug cartels. Vicente Zambada was responsible for coordinating multi-ton cocaine shipments from Central and South American countries, through Mexico, and into the United States for the Sinaloa Cartel. It's cheap to produce since it is entirely synthetic and can be clandestinely manufactured since unlike marijuana, opium/heroin and coca; it requires no farming, cultivation, sunlight or irrigation. LOS ZETAS CARTEL Founded: 1999 Originally part of: Gulf Cartel Allies: Beltrn-Leyva Cartel, Jurez Cartel, Tijuana Cartel Enemies: Sinaloa Cartel, Gulf Cartel, La Familia Cartel PRESENCE Controls over 11 states, the Zetas have the largest territory in Mexico Also, Zetas have a presence in the U.S.A. & Guatemala WANTED "EL LAZCA" OR . As shown by image 2 Ejido Tampico, from 1970 to 2000, the occupied land at the Tijuana airport remained relatively undeveloped. . Both were associated with the Sinaloa Cartel. [143], By 2005, the Beltrn-Leyva brothers, who were formerly aligned with the Sinaloa Cartel, had come to dominate drug trafficking across the border with Arizona. An inside look at Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. CJNG, which routinely faces off with its No. Barbaric killings, amputations, ruthless extortion: The alarming rise At one point, Guzmn reportedly carried a child on his arms "obscuring himself as a target". [99][100][101][102] As of 2021, due to the high profit margins of its cocaine trafficking networks, the Sinaloa Cartel is currently the most active Mexican cartel in Colombian territory and partners with the National Liberation Army (ELN), dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and the neo-paramilitary gang, Clan del Golfo, whom it purportedly helps finance. The cartel has also recently increased their migrant smuggling operations in border regions. [130] As prior drug tunnels, it crossed under the U.S.-Mexico border into a warehouse on Otay Mesa in San Diego with the capacity to move multi-ton loads of narcotics. It also currently deals in the fentanyl trade to a large extent, distributing both raw fentanyl powder as well as counterfeit "M30" pills designed to look like authentic oxycodone but which are in-fact, just pressed with fentanyl or other chemicals. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Cartel De Sinaloa - Sinaloa Relations Sinaloa notably gained territory from both the Tijuana and Jurez cartels, solidifying its position as one of the worlds most-powerful drug syndicates. [51][4] It also has a notable presence in a number of other regions in Latin America, such as Colombia; as well as in cities across the U.S.[6][25] The United States Intelligence Community generally considers the Sinaloa Cartel to be the largest and most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world, making it perhaps even more influential and capable than Pablo Escobars infamous Medelln Cartel of Colombia was during its prime. YouTube. [84] By the mid-1990s, according to one court opinion, it was believed to be the size of the Medelln Cartel during its prime and has continued to grow to become one of the worlds largest criminal syndicates with widely diverse international connections. According to reports at the time, it was responsible for the majority of illegal drugsnotably marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetaminesthat were smuggled from Mexico into its northern neighbour, and in 2015 U.S. officials claimed that Sinaloa controlled the drug markets in almost every state. [3][needs update] The cartel is primarily involved in the smuggling and distribution of South American (primarily Colombian) cocaine, Mexican marijuana, methamphetamine and fentanyl, as well as Mexican and Southeast Asian heroin into the United States. By around the year 2000, Zambada became recognized as one of the biggest and most powerful drug lords in Mexico, having built strong distribution networks from Colombia to the United States. Guzmn have one close associate, Ismael Zambada Garca. The Sinaloa Cartel has been waging a war against the Tijuana Cartel (Arellano-Flix Organization) over the Tijuana smuggling route to the border city of San Diego, California. On 11 July 2015 "El Chapo" escaped from a maximum security prison, which is his second successful jailbreak from a maximum security facility in 14 years. Sinaloa cartel launches violent response as Mexico recaptures El Chapo [82][83][85][1], During this time, Sinaloa was considered to be at a major disadvantage since they were forced to move much of their drug product through the Tijuana corridor, which often put them directly into conflict with the Arellanos. [80], Second generation Sinaloan traffickers such as Rafael Caro Quintero, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo, Ismael Zambada Garca and Avils Prez' nephew Joaqun 'El Chapo' Guzmn[81] would claim they learned all they knew about 'narcotraficantes' while serving in the Avils organization. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. [61] It is currently the majority supplier of illicit fentanyl to North America, with most, if not all of the cartel's heroin now also being mixed with fentanyl or related chemical analogues to increase the heroin's potency in a more cost-effective manner. The former Ejido Tampico also continued to expand its unpermitted development and more drug tunnels were discovered operating within its boundary to warehouses located on Otay Mesa in San Diego, California. Such information ensured Loya-Castro was immune from prosecution while also keeping the DEA concentrated on Sinaloa's rivals and away from their leadership. The latest family member to escape apprehension El Chapo's son, Ovidio Guzmn Lpez managed his own feat of government humiliation this week, when cartel henchmen forced a patrol of at . In 1999, the Tijuana airport was privatized and became part of a 12 airport network known as Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacfico (Pacific Airport Group). Cartel operatives say it's 'actually the opposite. The cartel's most powerful contacts have traditionally been in the National Action Party (Partido Accin Nacional - PAN), which, according to some sources, helps account for its growth in the last decade. Also quoted was a Mexican reporter who claimed hearing numerous times from the public that the military had been involved in murders. Battles between the Sinoloa and Los Zetas cartels have left a bloody legacy in the streets of Nuevo Leon. Sinaloa Cartel has Infiltrated Arizona Government- Kari Lake Victory Stolen The Sinaloa Cartel is a powerful and violent Mexican drug trafficking organization based in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. El Chapo fled to Guatemala where he was arrested two weeks later. Brutal but Futile: Venezuela's Anti-Gang 'Mega-Operations', MS13s Mexico Program Key to El Salvador Gang Negotiations, Peace Leaders in Putumayo, Colombia Bet Their Lives on Coca Crop Substitution, Pablo Escobar and the Real Criminal Story of the Cocaine Bear, Haitis Rural Gangs Threaten Food Production as Hunger Crisis Looms, Venezuelan Migrants Remain Easy Prey for Organized Crime, China Producers Cashing in on Online Sale of Fentanyl Precursors, In the Riviera Maya, Cartel Extortion Schemes Know No Limits, Failed Kingpin Strategy at Heart of New US-Mexico Security Plans, InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press, World Looks to InSight Crime for Mexico Expertise. Along with the captured suspects, 16 assault rifles, 3 grenades, 102 magazines and 3,543 rounds of ammunition were seized. According to reports, Ismael (El Mayo) Zambada Garca, one of the cartels original members, and Guzmns sons assumed control of the organization, which remained incredibly powerful. The remaining factions established bases in various parts of Mexico. In fact, apart from the state of . It was around this period in the early 1990s when Guzmn gave more control of the cartel to freelance trafficker Ismael Zambada Garca (a.k.a. The cartel's current leader, Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn, is public enemy number one in both Mexico and the United States. The rivalry between the two cartels dates back to the Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo setup of Palma's family. [25], Pedro Avils Prez was a pioneer drug lord in the Mexican state of Sinaloa in the late 1960s. [119][16], Despite its measured and challenged presence in Mexico however, the Federation is also well known for its large and widespread international presence and its many transnational criminal operations and partners. [9][86] The war between the Sinaloa and Tijuana cartels was supposedly at its worst from 1992 to the year 2000 with family members of some of the cartel's leaders living in fear or everyday like it was their last, as stated by Zambada's wife at the time. "Sinaloa, think of Chapo, Chapo Guzmn and his kids, Mayo Zambada. To accomplish this task he used every means available: Boeing 747 cargo aircraft, narco submarines, container ships, go-fast boats, fishing vessels, buses, rail cars, tractor-trailers and automobiles. The PAN's Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon launched numerous offensives against trafficking organizations, and some major leaders have been captured, including Osiel Crdenas Guilln, head of the Gulf Cartel, and Benjamin Arellano Flix, head of the Tijuana Cartel. El Mayo was also reportedly the one who sent a private helicopter for El Chapo after he escaped Puente Grande prison in 2001. The Carrillo Fuentes family moved to Juarez. El Cartel de Sinaloa es considerada como una de las organizaciones criminales dedicadas al narcotrfico ms antiguas en Mxico: dnde opera y quines son sus lderes? The cartel publicly announced its arrival in October 2015, with a narcocorrido song and a Facebook message entitled "Sinaloa is now in Colima". Sinaloa Cartel - Wikipedia However, after the cartel was involved in the 1985 torture and murder of a U.S. drug . (7News) ALEXANDRIA, Va. (7News) On Wednesday federal and local authorities . Before co-founding the Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael Zambada Garca was a farmer, freelancer and small-time drug trafficker who would sell mere kilograms of marijuana and heroin before eventually becoming acquainted with Mexico's more elite trafficking circles. CLAIM: Arizona's Democrat governor, Katie Hobbs, accused of taking Taco Star was noted as suspicious due to payments of more than $200,000 to El Potosino. The majority of high-value hard drugs are smuggled into the U.S. through legal ports of entry (border crossings) according to the DEA and various sources. "El Mueco" is considered to be one of the most important lieutenants of Joaqun Guzmn Loera, evident from his control of the planting, production, and trafficking of drugs in Sonora and in the mountains of Chihuahua, which were sent predominantly to the US. border. In the mountains of Mexico's northern . After declaring war on their rivals including old masters in El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel the cartel began a hostile takeover of Mexico's drug industry. said the Sinaloa Cartel at one time slaughtered more . The current rate of production and sale of methamphetamine in Mexico is also a result of the so-called "new era" of fully-synthetic drug manufacturing and trafficking. [203][199] An unnamed Mexican official confirmed that the meeting helped authorities locate Guzmn,[204] with cell phone interceptions and information from American authorities[203] directing Mexican Marines to a ranch near Tamazula, Durango, in the Sierra Madre mountains in western Mexico. Photo illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast; GettyA member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartelhis stomach straining against a black sleeveless vestis crouching over the body of a mutilated foot soldier from a rival crime group. McDermotts words were republished around the world,, Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafo, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life.