[74], At the time of his arrest on 5 January 2023, El Chapo son Ovidio Guzmn was believed to be the leader of the cartel's Chapitos faction. El Azul reportedly died of a heart attack in June 2014, although there are rumors that he is still alive and well. Inzunza was believed to be one of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's chief cartel leaders. Flix Gallardo, following his imprisonment, bestowed the Guadalajara Cartel to his nephews in the Tijuana Cartel. The latter due to the coast of Mexico from which it originated. ", "La segunda fuga de Joaqun 'el Chapo' Guzmn ya tiene dos narcocorridos", "De Lupillo Rivera a Regulo los corridos sobre la fuga de 'El Chapo', "12 narcos y sus corridos (Canciones de sangre, violencia y crimen)", "11 narcocorridos que inspir Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn", "The Game y Skrillex acaban de lanzar una cancin dedicada al Chapo", "No slo corridos, 'El Chapo' tambin tiene su hip hop", "Kate del Castillo: Meet the Star Playing a Big Part in El Chapo's Real-Life Drama", "El Chapo Guzman: Extradition to US could take 'at least year', "El Chapo Guzmn, 'World's Most Powerful Drug Trafficker,' Receives Special Request From Mexican Actress, Kate Del Castillo", Sean Penn Met With El Chapo for Interview in His Hide-Out, "The Manhunt for the Drug Kingpin El Chapo", "Sean Penn interview helped locate drug lord", "Cellphone Signals Suggest 'El Chapo' Hid in Mexican Mountains: Sources", "Ben Warheit's McRib Monologue Won Late Night This Week", Tourists evacuated following shootout between Mexican army and drug hitmen, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman-Loera on America's Most Wanted, Jose EspinozaThe "Leonardo da Vinci" of the Sinaloa Cartel, Why Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel Loves Selling Drugs in Chicago, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sinaloa_Cartel&oldid=1142329266, The Sinaloa Cartel has in both recent and past times; most often been the primary, The organization has become the subject of several documentaries, such as. El Mayo) particularly due to his exceptional ability to work with and coordinate with other traffickers. April 30, 2021 3:06 PM PT. [110][111] Fentanyls precursor chemical shipments often arrive in Mexico at major ports like Lzaro Crdenas in Michoacn and Manzanillo in Colima. [citation needed]. "The Sinaloa Cartel demonstrated a tremendous ability to mobilize rapidly and take effective control of the city," says Raul Benitez, an expert on Latin America's . As seen on image 1 Drug tunnel corridors the close proximity of the former Ejido Tampico to the Tijuana airport and U.S.-Mexico border made it an ideal staging area for smuggling operations into the United States. Hit lists published on platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp drive people to flee, but even once they're in the U.S. they continue to be stalked. [citation needed] By the mid-1990s, according to one court opinion, the Sinaloa organization was believed to be the size of the Medelln Cartel during its prime. Nor does the selectivity and calibration of Sinaloa's use of violence mean that the Cartel, including El Chapo, have shied away from brutal torture of captured internal or external enemies, as . [73][74] Currently, the "Federation's" main rival is the second most powerful drug cartel in Mexico; the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, with most battles between the two groups occurring in the Mexican regions of Baja California, Zacatecas (now spilling over into Jalisco), Sonora, Chiapas and as of recently; Colima,[75] over territory for drug trafficking routes. [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. [65] In recent times fentanyl in Mexico has sometimes, haphazardly been referred to as Mexican oxy or even synthetic heroin. said the Sinaloa Cartel at one time slaughtered more . The money it generates has left its imprint on the relationships between narcos and young women . [79] He also pioneered the use of aircraft to smuggle drugs to the United States. However, Mexican officials believe Posadas just happened to be caught in cross fire. In particular, the report claimed the government was helping the Sinaloa Cartel to take control of the Juarez Valley area and destroy other cartels, especially the Juarez Cartel. 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. 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. This eventually led to Ramn Arellano Flix killing two of Guzmn's associates thus leading to a full-fledged war between the two organizations. Jesus BustamanteReuters. [25] Both the CDS and CJNG have also recently began to participate directly in cocaine production in Colombia, not only to buy, but also to invest in production directly through other criminal organizations. As of 2013, the Sinaloa Cartel continued to dominate the Sonora-Arizona corridor, which extends for nearly 375 miles. The Sinaloa Cartel (Spanish: Crtel de Sinaloa), also known as the CDS, the Guzmn-Zambada Organization, the Pacific Cartel, the Federation and the Blood Alliance, is a large, international organized crime syndicate that specializes in illegal drug trafficking and money laundering. We want to sustain Latin Americas largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources. On 8 November 1992, Palma struck out against the Tijuana Cartel at a disco club in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, where eight Tijuana Cartel members were killed in the shootout, the Arellano-Flix brothers successfully escaping from the location with the assistance of David Barron Corona, a member of the Logan Heights Gang. 4 Nuevo Laredo Massacres. At that point his nephews, the Arellano Flix brothers, left and further solidified the organization which came to be known as the Tijuana Cartel, while the Sinaloa Cartel continued to be run by former lieutenants Hctor Luis Palma Salazar, Ismael Zambada Garca and Joaqun Guzmn Loera. . Omissions? [25] The geographic presence of Mexican cartels in Colombia seems to directly coincide with areas where coca crops are more abundant or with strategic narcotrafficking corridors: the Pacific coast of Nario, Catatumbo, Bajo Cauca in Antioquia, Norte del Cauca, and Magdalena.[25]. [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. The remaining factions established bases in various parts of Mexico. On 19 December 2013, the Federal Police of Mexico killed Gonzalo "El Macho Prieto" Inzunza in a gun battle in Puerto Penasco, Sonora. [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. A DEA agent in the same trial alleged that Fierro-Mendez had contacts with a Mexican military officer. Led by notorious drug lord Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn until his capture in 2016, the cartel has developed into one of the most powerful drug trafficking cartels in the world. But instead, even more so than the Zetas a decade ago and far more so than its principal rival, the Sinaloa Cartel, CJNG relishes acting as a de facto nonstate army. One report quotes a former Juarez police commander who claimed the entire department was working for the Sinaloa Cartel and helping it to fight other groups. Amy Tikkanen is the general corrections manager, handling a wide range of topics that include Hollywood, politics, books, and anything related to the. By the early 21st century the cartel had operations in more than 50 countries but was particularly dominant in the United States. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. She served as a key link between the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and Colombia's Norte del Valle Cartel before she was arrested and extradited to the U.S. in 2012. [citation needed] Another source in the story was the U.S. trial of Manuel Fierro-Mendez, an ex-Juarez police captain who admitted to working for the Sinaloa Cartel. [59][60], According to the National Drug Intelligence Center and other sources, within the U.S. the Sinaloa Cartel is primarily involved in the distribution of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl, cannabis and MDMA. He was extradited to the United States the following year. Its origins can be traced to the Guadalajara cartel, which was one of Mexico's largest crime organizations in the early 1980s. Sinaloa cartel, international crime organization that is among the most-powerful drug-trafficking syndicates in the world. El Chapo, El Azul and El Mayo all maintained their own separate but cooperating organizations, while the cartel's operations in foreign countries, and even within Mexico, are often outsourced to local partners. In 2014 Guzmn was apprehended in Mazatln, Sinaloa, Mexico, but the following year he escaped from prison through a tunnel. 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. [91] On 29 July 2010, Ignacio Coronel was killed in a shootout with the Mexican military in Zapopan, Jalisco. Jess Alfredo Salazar Ramrez was arrested on 1 November 2012, in the municipality of Huixquilucan, by military personnel working with the Mexican Attorney General's office (PGR).[167]. [90][45] Guzman and Zambada became Mexico's top drug kingpins in 2003, after the arrest of their rival Osiel Crdenas Guilln of the Gulf Cartel. On 11 July 2015, he escaped from the Federal Social Readaption Center No. Given that El Chapo's conviction in the United States in 2019. of the cartel's operations while it retains its horizontal structure. Sinaloa cartel has two new enemies in Chihuahua. [115], Due to the cartel's past and current operations of pressing fentanyl into blue counterfeit "oxycodone (lookalike) pills" leading to tens of thousands of accidental overdose deaths in the U.S. yearly; the cartel has reportedly responded to this problem by making multicolored fentanyl pills so that customers know they are counterfeit and likely fentanyl rather than a controlled dose of the more sought-after drug oxycodone. In mid-2015, members of the group . Possibly fearing extradition to the United States, Guzmn escaped from prison in 2001. 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? [65] Most of the precursors required to synthesize fentanyl and its analogues come from China where it is then processed into actual fentanyl by criminal organizations in Mexico. 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 . 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. [178] The BBC also reported on Vicente Zambada Niebla's claims of immunity from prosecution under a deal between the Mexican and US governments and his claims that the Sinaloa Cartel's leaders had provided US federal agents with information about rival Mexican drug gangs. El Cholo formed his own gang, the "Nueva Plaza Cartel," financially supported by the Sinaloa Cartel, one of CJNG's biggest enemies. 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. 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. Along with the captured suspects, 16 assault rifles, 3 grenades, 102 magazines and 3,543 rounds of ammunition were seized. Corrections? The Sinaloa Cartel's tentacles stretch from New York City to Buenos Aires and almost every major city in between. After a few days of the state elections of June 6, a war in the Golden Triangle, which is made up of a new cartel that entered the area and is contesting the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel. The Sinaloa Cartel is not a hierarchical structure. That's supposed to a brutal one as well. Investigators are seeking a Tijuana businessman who owned the parcel", "DEA Couldn't Verify Tips on Drug Tunnel", "DRUG TUNNELS ALONG THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER: HIGH COSTS, HIGH REWARDS", "Border tunnels: Complete list of those found", "Ejidatarios exigen pago justo por tierra expropiada en BC- El aeropuerto internacional de Tijuana ocupa la superficie", "DEA/ICE Uncover "Massive" Cross-Border Drug Tunnel Cement lined passage thought to link warehouses in Tijuana and Otay Mesa", "2,400-foot tunnel 'beats them all' -Builders of passage were well-funded, investigators say", "Major cross-border drug tunnel discovered south of San Diego", "Quitan tneles y droga a la mafia en BC-Decomisan 40 toneladas de marihuana", "Raid on U.S.-Mexico drug tunnel: 22 arrests, at least 12 tons of pot seized", "Hallan Otro Narcotunel Cerca del Aeropuerto", "Second Major Cross-Border Drug Tunnel Discovered South of San Diego This Month- Investigators seize 32 tons of marijuana, arrest 6 suspects", "Elaborate drug tunnel yields record pot seizure- More than 32 tons recovered in the United States and Mexico", "El tnel de Mxico a EU para transportar droga tena un elevador y rieles", "Drug lord 'El Chapo' extradited to the U.S.", "Mexican authorities busted 2 more cross-border tunnels possibly built by the Sinaloa cartel", "Sophisticated drug cartel tunnel from San Diego to Mexico found", "Woman linked to cartel kingpin 'El Chapo' arrested at San Diego border, charged in drug conspiracy", "HSBC money-laundering scandal casts a cloud over Lord Green, the trade minister", "U.S. Says Threat of Mexican Drug Cartels Approaching 'Crisis Proportions', "Treasury Designates Sinaloa Cartel Plaza Bosses", "HSBC became bank to drug cartels, pays big for lapses", "Sinaloa Cartel Bought Narco Plane Via HSBC Bank", "Forget The Drug Dealers And Iran, HSBC Is Having A Great Year", "Chicago's new Public Enemy No. 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). This time it was all Chapo . [citation needed] Other shipments of South American cocaine are believed to originate from Cali and Medelln drug-trafficking groups in Colombia, from which the Sinaloa Cartel handles transportation across the U.S. border to distribution cells in Arizona, California, Illinois, Texas, New York City, and Washington state. It is based in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa. 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 . It remains to be seen if the Sinaloa Cartel can again claim the spot as the country's most dominant cartel, but right now the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG stand together as Mexico's two most dominant organized crime groups. They have been known to frequently use American citizens as mules, many of whom have drugs stuffed in passenger vehicles or tractor-trailers. The coalition's members operate in concert to protect themselves, relying on connections at the highest levels and corrupting portions of the federal police and military to maintain the upper hand against rivals. The church hierarchy originally believed Posadas was targeted as revenge for his strong stance against the drug trade. Police stand guard behind a parapet of sandbags, at the entrance to Santa Rosa de Lima, birthplace of a local cartel that goes by the same name, in Guanajuato state, Mexico on Feb. 12, 2020. By Jan-Albert Hootsen September 2, 2015. One of the first to traffic marijuana in bulk was Pedro Aviles, who later brought his friend's son, Joaqun Guzmn Loera, alias "El Chapo," into the business. 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. [103][104] The CDS as well as other large Mexican cartels have also set up major marijuana growing operations in the remote forests and deserts of California. Ovidio Guzmn's arrest may be the start of a campaign against El Chapo's sons and the Sinaloa cartel. [175] The allegation that US officials were controlling the drug trade through Mexico was corroborated by the former spokesman of the State of Chihuahua, Guillermo Terrazas Villanueva.[176]. 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. "We have 20 'El Chapos' here." [58][84][15] Following the discovery of a tunnel system used to smuggle drugs across the Mexican/US border, the group has been associated with such means of trafficking. [158], On 4 July 2019, Juan Ulises Galvn Carmona, alias "El Buda", was killed by two hit men in a convenience store in Chetumal, the capital of Quintana Roo state along Mexico's Caribbean coast. The Sinaloa Cartel seems to have taken its cue from Colombia's Cali Cartel by establishing strong connections to Mexico's political and economic elite. A drug cartel in Mexico is forcing members into cannibalism after videos online have emerged which show gang members eating body parts of enemies. [171], In 2012, Newsweek reported about allegations from an anonymous former Sinaloa member turned informant and former DEA agents that alleged that Joaqun Guzmn's legal adviser, Humberto Loya-Castro, had become a key informant for the DEA. 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. The body of Jose Rodrigo Arechiga Gamboa, a.k.a. [180][181][182] Evidence that runs counter to a mistake theory is that Posadas did not look anything like Guzmn, he was wearing a long black cassock and a large pectoral cross, and he was gunned down from only two feet away. Also quoted was a Mexican reporter who claimed hearing numerous times from the public that the military had been involved in murders. For some time it was allied with El Chapo's Sinaloa, but since his capture his Sinaloa cartel has been usurped by New Generation as the most powerful in Mexico. EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) Ten days after escaping supervised release in San Diego, a convicted Sinaloa cartel enforcer and two family members have been murdered in Culiacan, Mexican newspapers report.. The municipalities of Cosala and Mazatln are said to have more than one group controlling the territory as well as some of the northern regions of the state, which are purportedly partially controlled by the Beltrn-Leyva Organization. The western Mexican state of Sinaloa is home to the country's most powerful and bloody drug cartel. [57][58] It is also frequently referred to by other non-government based media sources as one of the most powerful and feared criminal organizations in the world and indisputably the most powerful in Mexico. However, the days of big cartels in Mexico may be numbered. Another piece of . (7News) ALEXANDRIA, Va. (7News) On Wednesday federal and local authorities . 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. Funky town of course. [84] Following the discovery of a tunnel system used to smuggle drugs across the Mexican/US border, the group has also been associated with such means of trafficking.[9][86]. The Mexican press reported about the numerous cartel members housed in this prison. We then verify, write and edit, providing the tools to generate real impact. With unregulated trucking and warehouse operations, the former Ejido Tampico became a major distribution point for narcotics being moved into the United States. [93] With the arrest of Joaqun Guzmn Loera, Ismael Zambada has assumed the total leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel. [154] The focal point for Sinaloa in Chicago is the city's "Little Village" neighborhood. They were, in essence, a small group of farming families that lived in rural parts of the state. 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. 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. When the Mexican government failed to indemnify the ejidatarios for their lost farmland, they reoccupied a 79 hectares (200 acres) portion of the Tijuana airport and threatened armed conflict. Guzmn is serving a life sentence in a US prison, but the Sinaloa cartel appears to be thriving. Perhaps they were connected to a rival gang, or didn't do their jobs correctly. For a long time, the cartel also benefited from the relative ease of cash transactions and money laundering through banks with presence both in the US and Mexico like HSBC. An inside look at Mexico's Sinaloa cartel.