Even with El Chapo in jail for life, the Sinaloa Cartel has remained one of Mexico's most powerful organized crime groups. A Mexican official denied the allegation of favoritism, and a DEA agent and a political scientist also had alternate explanations for the arrest data. From there it is smuggled north to Mexico and later into the U.S.[26] A very large percentage of the cocaine that gets trafficked through Mexico comes through Guatemala first. Another close associate, Javier Torres Flix, was arrested and extradited to the U.S. in December 2006. In 2014 Guzmn was apprehended in Mazatln, Sinaloa, Mexico, but the following year he escaped from prison through a tunnel. 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. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. The battles between these organizations began almost immediately. [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. Here is the fuk up thing. said the Sinaloa Cartel at one time slaughtered more . The Sinaloa Cartel is a Mexican drug cartel operating out of Sinaloa, Mexico. [202] Guzmn had a close call in early October 2015, several days after the meeting with Penn and Kate del Castillo. Yeshua Ben Yosef told his followers to "Turn away from Sin, to abandon Sin, to refuse to participate in the world of Sin ." Christians are too brainwashed to realize, Sin is the name of the ruler of Earth and the God of Jerusalem. Its origins can be traced to the Guadalajara cartel, which was one of Mexicos largest crime organizations in the early 1980s. A drug cartel in Mexico is forcing members into cannibalism after videos online have emerged which show gang members eating body parts of enemies. Members of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG) record themselves with prisoners from a rival cartel. Chinese companies are turning to online sales to supply the fentanyl precursor market in Mexico. Updates? 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 . The Gangster Disciples are one of the local gangs most actively working with the cartel. [132][133][134][135][136] In 2011, at the westerly end of the Tijuana airport a 1,800-foot (550-meter) drug "super tunnel" was discovered dug under the airport's 10/28 runway[137][138] from a warehouse located 980 feet (300 meters) from Mexico's 12th Military Air Base and 330 feet (100 meters) from a Mexican Federal Police station. 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. By 2006, the Sinaloa Cartel had eliminated all competition across the 528km of the Arizona border. We want to sustain Latin Americas largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources. I have been trying to find the Sponsored by Adidas video but I can't ever seem to track it down. In contrast, El Mayo's sons have either all been arrested and jailed in the United States or seem to be lying low. Preserving the ongoing viability of the Sinaloa Cartel by kidnaping, torturing and murdering those determined to be enemies of the Sinaloa Cartel, disloyal to the Sinaloa Cartel, or those who lose . [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. 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. The cartel was founded in 1989 when Mexican smugglers Hctor Palma Salazar, Juan Jos Esparragoza Moreno and Joaqun Guzmn Loera splintered from the Guadalajara Cartel. . . So strong is the perception that the PAN favors the Sinaloa Cartel that Mexican justice officials issued a press release in 2010 denying it, while the Calderon government produced avideoin 2011 with the same intention. 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. El Chapo is in prison, but Sinaloa cartel remains strong. Since then, the cartel has extended its reach across the whole of Mexico, aside from the areas controlled by the Sinaloa cartel. We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. [25], Pedro Avils Prez was a pioneer drug lord in the Mexican state of Sinaloa in the late 1960s. [65] Additionally, around 2014 a measurable rise in Colombian cocaine production and global consumption began to increase annually up to the present, currently marking a new high-point for the global use of cocaine. [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. Along with the captured suspects, 16 assault rifles, 3 grenades, 102 magazines and 3,543 rounds of ammunition were seized. [155], The Sinaloa Cartel has operations in the Philippines as a trans-shipment point for drugs smuggled into the United States. On 19 December 2013, the Federal Police of Mexico killed Gonzalo "El Macho Prieto" Inzunza in a gun battle in Puerto Penasco, Sonora. However, the war with rival cartel the Zetas, who in some regions have allied themselves with the remnants of the BLO, has spread across the country and raged through the states of Sinaloa,Durango, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Jalisco, even reaching into Guatemala. Throughout much of the 1990s, Ismael Zambada was also the only responsible for the cartel's mass growth and expansion while Guzmn and Palma were incarcerated. [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. The cartel emerged in 2010, first as an ally of the Sinaloa cartel of Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn, and then, by 2013, as an independent organization trafficking drugs through some of Mexico . Drug enforcement experts estimate, conservatively, that the cartel's annual revenues exceed $3 billion: more than those of the . [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. [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. 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. The group has expanded rapidly . This time it was all Chapo . In 2020, divisions between Los Chapitos and El Mayo appeared to worsen, with a number of deadly clashes reported between their supporters as well as the mysterious assassination of a former top Sinaloa Cartel hitman. The report also alleged, with support from an anthropologist who studies drug trafficking, that data on the low arrest rate of Sinaloa Cartel members (compared to other groups) was evidence of favoritism on the part of the authorities. However, the days of big cartels in Mexico may be numbered. Joaqun Archivaldo Guzmn Loera ( Spanish: [xoakin atialdo uzman loea]; born 4 April 1957), [5] commonly known as " El Chapo " ( pronounced [el tapo] ), is a Mexican former drug lord and a former leader within the Sinaloa Cartel, an international crime syndicate. [187], American actor Sean Penn heard about the connection with Ms. del Castillo through a mutual acquaintance, and asked if he might come along to do an interview. In the ensuing years, drug tunnels moving tons of narcotics were detected in and around the Tijuana airport. Operatives of the cartel have reportedly claimed that their intention was the opposite of that and it was actually meant to distinguish them from real pharmaceuticals. The companies; Corporativo y Enlace Ram, Corporativo Escomexa, and Grupo Pochteca allegedly imported key substances like 4-Anilino-N-phenethyl-4-piperidine, propionyl, chloride, and aniline from India and other Asian countries. [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. Funky town of course. Divisions participating in Project Wave Breaker are credited with 85% of all synthetic opioids seized by the DEA in 2020. [180][181][182] The cardinal arrived at the airport in a white Mercury Grand Marquis town car, known to be popular amongst drug barons. The latter due to the coast of Mexico from which it originated. "El Chino ntrax," was among three found Saturday inside a BMW X-5 sports utility vehicle registered to his sister, El Sol de . Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. His recapture and extradition has sparked a wave of violence due to internal power struggles within the Sinaloa Cartel and efforts from other criminal groups to expand their operations in the capos absence. The tunnel was described by the DEA in San Diego as the "Taj Mahal" of drug tunnels along the U.S.-Mexico border and was linked to Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzmn. Barron had received intelligence that Guzmn would be arriving in a white Mercury Grand Marquis town car. El Mayo was also reportedly the one who sent a private helicopter for El Chapo after he escaped Puente Grande prison in 2001. The most well-known leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, The origins of the Sinaloa Cartel as well as its founding members have also been portrayed in the, The Sinaloa Cartel are the main antagonists of 2018 film, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 20:19. By Jan-Albert Hootsen September 2, 2015. Vi ctims were seen with their hands above their heads . Mexican drug cartel leader Ovidio Guzman, a son of jailed kingpin Joaquin " El Chapo " Guzman, was arrested, unleashing a violent backlash by gang gunmen on Thursday that shut the airport in . As the Mexican government intensified its efforts to arrest suspected drug lords, he eluded capture, but other cartel leaders were imprisoned, weakening organizations and giving rise to splinter groups. Los Negros have been known to employ gangs such as the Mara Salvatrucha to carry out murders and other illegal activities. [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]. In 2012, the cartel emerged victorious from a bloody battle with the Juarez Cartel over control of Ciudad Juarez. [113] In the coastal city of Mazatln, it reportedly takes as little as eight days for the precursor chemicals to move from a Pacific Ocean delivery to hidden cartel labs, then north across the U.S. However, Mexican officials believe Posadas just happened to be caught in cross fire. [65] Tijuana has now also began to develop its own problems with fentanyl use and addiction despite it up to this point; mostly being a U.S. and Canadian phenomenon. Enemies: Gulf Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel. [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. The remaining factions established bases in various parts of Mexico. They also announced the seizure of more than $59million in cash and numerous vehicles, planes, and boats. The article was picked up by, Our coverage of the arrest of Chapitos co-founder Ovidio Guzmn Lpez in Mexico has received worldwide attention.In the UK, outlets includingThe IndependentandBBC. Another piece of . He claimed that the Sinaloa Cartel influenced the Mexican government and military to gain control of the region. New York: Viking. Nearly all of the trafficking organizations in Mexico have their origins in the region. 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. The fallen man's hands are bound and his chest looks like it has been torn open.Shocking cellphone footagecaptured in broad daylightshows the . Now, El Chapo's wife is in U.S. custody . This Is America's Enemies + Woke . This growing of the organization as well as the killing of Rasquia and the increasing importance of Ecuador in the illegal cocaine trade has given way to the recent crime waves in the region. Omissions? [45], As of 2014, it is believed that the Tijuana Cartel, or at least a sizable majority of it, has been either absorbed or forced to ally with the Sinaloa Federation, in part due to a former high-ranking Tijuana member called Eduardo Teodoro Garcia Simental, alias "El Teo" or "Tres Letras" allying with the Federation.[183][184][185]. 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 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. The region is a major producer of Mexican opium and marijuana. [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. Guzmn also faces federal indictment in several locations including San Diego, New York, and Texas, among other places. "We have 20 'El Chapos' here." [139] As with prior "super tunnels", it was equipped with an elevator and electric rail cars to efficiently ferry narcotics across the U.S.-Mexico border. 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 . Guzmn is serving a life sentence in a US prison, but the Sinaloa cartel appears to be thriving. The Tijuana Cartel responded by trying to assassinate El Chapo at the Guadalajara airport in 1993, killing a Mexican cardinal instead. 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]. It often opts for the bribe over the bullet and alliances over fighting, but it is not above organizing its forces to overrun areas that it wants to control by force. It is based in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa. 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. El Azul reportedly died of a heart attack in June 2014, although there are rumors that he is still alive and well. 1 nemesis, the Sinaloa Cartel, dominates the majority supply of everything from methamphetamine and heroin to the devastating synthetic opioid fentanyl . However, after the cartel was involved in the 1985 torture and murder of a U.S. drug enforcement agent, U.S. and Mexican forces cracked down on the syndicate, and by the end of the decade it had broken into various groups, one of which was based in Sinaloa. The most extensive database on organized crime in the Americas. [69], As of 2023, the Sinaloa Cartel remains Mexico's most dominant drug cartel. Cartel operatives say it's 'actually the opposite. 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. The core of the group, theBLO, split from the rest in 2008. [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. 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. However, recently smaller gangs have begun to target the Choneros and the organization has also fallen subject to the phenomenon of infighting within the gang and its derivative groups. [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. Frozen, "Mexican drug lord killed in raid, officials say", "El Chapo, Escaped Mexican Drug Lord, Is Recaptured in Gun Battle", "The Drug Situation in the Chicago Field Division", "U.S. charges 10 accused Mexican drug cartel leaders", "Colombia Survey 2014: UNODC study shows significant increase in coca leaf production in high density areas", "Colombia Is Growing Record Amounts Of Coca, The Key Ingredient In Cocaine", "Cocaine production in Colombia is at historic highs", "Colombia's Cocaine Keeps On Reaching New Heights: UNODC Report", "60 Charged in San Diego-based Sinaloa Cartel Meth Investigation", "Major multi-million meth bust alarms Atlanta DEA agents", "Drug cartels stealing millions of gallons of water for marijuana grows in Antelope Valley: Officials", "Nearly 7 Tons of Marijuana Seized from Suspected Cartel Grow Sites in Monterey County, California", "LA County's Largest Drug Bust in History Involves Suspected Mexican Cartels", "Made in China: China's Role in Transnational Crime and Illicit Financial Flows", "Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, CJNG Share Fentanyl Chemical Suppliers", "Latest news from around the world | The Guardian", "Consumption Of Fentanyl, The Drug That Is 50 Times Strronger Than Heroin, Grows In Northern Mexico", "Mexico's precursor chemical controls: Emergence of less potent types of methamphetamine in the United States", "Army Secures 1.2 Tons Of Methamphetamine In Cosal, Sinaloa", "Mapa de crteles del narco en Mxico segn Inteligencia Financiera", "Ivan Archivaldo and Alfredo Guzmn's Top Lieutenants", "Chapo's rise: From poor, abused to cartel kingpin", "Annals of Excavation: Underworld- How the Sinaloa Cartel digs its tunnels", "Mexico Cardinal Slain; Caught in Gun Battle: Violence: 6 others are killed at Guadalajara airport. 1. This eventually led to Ramn Arellano Flix killing two of Guzmn's associates thus leading to a full-fledged war between the two organizations. 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). [105][106][107], During the 2000s and possibly still today, it is believed that a group known as the Herrera Organization would transport multi-ton quantities of cocaine from South America to Guatemala on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel. [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. [25] Nearly 85% of Colombia's coca is grown within just five departments in the nation. Today, the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacin CJNG), is the Sinaloa Cartel's primary enemy. made up of the Gulf cartel and two enemies of Los . The cartel was founded in Mexico's Sinaloa state and now operates in 17 Mexican states, and by some estimates, in as many as 50 countries. Both were associated with the Sinaloa Cartel. I am from durango, in the city meth is legal to use, even the merchants sell meth pipes on the street (no joke) but in some of the cities of the state, meth is illegal, and if you get busted consuming you get beat up, paying a fee, and getting your self in a rehab center, that is a 30 minute difference where meth is illegal and legal. In an attempt to resolve the dispute and remove the ejidatarios from the privatized Tijuana airport, the Mexican government established a value on the expropriated 320 hectares (790 acres) at $1.2million pesos ($125,560 U.S. dollars in 1999) while the ejidatarios of the former Ejido Tampico taking into account the increase in property values from 1970 to 1999 and the privatization of the Tijuana airport established a commercial value on their lost land at $2.8billion pesos ($294million U.S. dollars). The formation of El Mencho's new cartel was announced to the world in a violent public display with grisly spectacles eventually becoming the group's trademark. Much of which is also now supposedly the L-methamphetamine isomer (which has more side effects) instead of the more traditional and potent D-methamphetamine, or is now just a racemic mixture of both. [38][39][76][77][78] The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels have reportedly also moved their rivalry to at least five different departments in Colombia according to the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo. [97] According to the U.S. Attorney General, the Sinaloa Cartel was responsible for importing into the United States and distributing nearly 200 short tons (180t) of cocaine and large amounts of heroin between 1990 and 2008. [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. [110][111] Fentanyls precursor chemical shipments often arrive in Mexico at major ports like Lzaro Crdenas in Michoacn and Manzanillo in Colima. The cartel publicly announced its arrival in October 2015, with a narcocorrido song and a Facebook message entitled "Sinaloa is now in Colima". 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). [92], Guzmn was captured on 22 February 2014, overnight by American and Mexican authorities. [146] Murders by the cartel often involve beheadings or bodies dissolved in vats of alkali and are sometimes filmed and posted on the Internet as a warning to rival gangs.
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