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. [155], The Sinaloa Cartel has operations in the Philippines as a trans-shipment point for drugs smuggled into the United States. [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. Spies and Drugs: Mexican Cartels As a Counterintelligence Threat This caused most of the organization's activities to be controlled and influenced directly from prison where the gang continued to recruit new members. [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. The Milenio (Michoacn), Jalisco (Guadalajara), Sonora (Sonora), and Colima cartels were now branches of the Sinaloa Cartel. Now, El Chapo's wife is in U.S. custody . 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. Trump opened a case with the FBI after the drug lord threatened to assassinate him on social media.1 This online threat came just days after El Chapo's daring escape from a maximum security prison in Mexico. Our work is costly and high risk. 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. [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. In 2012, the cartel emerged victorious from a bloody battle with the Juarez Cartel over control of Ciudad Juarez. . Mexican Cartels: Sinaloa vs Los Zetas | Visual.ly Powerful figures in the Guadalajara organization, the two men became leaders in 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. [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. [68] In San Diego County, the amount of fentanyl intercepted by US Customs and Border Protection rose from 1,599 pounds in 2019 to more than 6,700 pounds in 2021. Divisions participating in Project Wave Breaker are credited with 85% of all synthetic opioids seized by the DEA in 2020. 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. A soldier near a truck torched by members of a drug gang in Mazatlan after of Ovidio Guzman's . [25] Nearly 85% of Colombia's coca is grown within just five departments in the nation. Many of its members are related by birth or by marriage. Sinaloa Cartel - Americas Quarterly 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 . It was a blow to Mexicos efforts to fight drugs and further underscored the power of both the Sinaloa cartel and Guzmn. The Sinaloa Cartel's central bond is blood. While the Sinaloa Cartel remains under the leadership of Zambada Garca, its local bosses have broad decision-making power, which makes it difficult to estimate how much of an overall toll this violence has had on the group. Women are increasingly assuming top roles in international drug On 19 December 2013, the Federal Police of Mexico killed Gonzalo "El Macho Prieto" Inzunza in a gun battle in Puerto Penasco, Sonora. Sinaloa Cartel vs CJNG: They fear an upturn in violence due to the 1. The state of Sinaloa has long been a center for contraband in Mexico, as well as a home for marijuana and poppy cultivation. It is based in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa. [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]. Sinaloa Cartel Enemies: Cali Cartel (CC) Natural Born Killers (NBK) Kings Over All (KOA) Callahan Crime Family (CCF) Back In Blood (BIB) _____ Sinaloa Cartel Sub gangs: None. 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. Like many other stories, that of the Sinaloa Cartel and its enemies in Jalisco went through friendship, betrayal and death. The Drug Enforcement Administration considers them to be "the biggest, most powerful drug cartel of all time". 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. 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 . [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. 'The only two powerful cartels left': rivals clash in Mexico's murder We go into the field to interview, report and investigate. The Sinaloa Cartel used to be known as La Alianza de Sangre ("Blood Alliance"). [156] President Rodrigo Duterte further confirmed the presence of the Sinaloa Cartel in the Philippines, saying that the cartel uses the country as a trans-shipment point for drugs smuggled into the United States. [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. 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. The Sinaloa Cartel is a powerful and violent Mexican drug trafficking organization based in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Cartel De Sinaloa - Sinaloa Relations New York: Viking. 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. The arrest, conviction and life sentence of drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in 2019 has done little to dent the Sinaloa drug cartel he ran. Sinaloa cartel | History, Activities, Leaders, & Facts | Britannica The country's overcrowded prison system and the COVID-19 pandemic has apparently dominated much of the government's attention and focus recently, thus allowing the gang to more easily grow and consolidate power. 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. [203], Allegations of collusion with Mexican federal government forces, Allegations of collusion with the US federal government, The figure is an estimate for the Sinaloa Cartel and the. [69], Although the Sinaloa Cartel has traditionally grown and cultivated marijuana locally in the original "Golden Triangle" region of Mexico, the cartel as well as other Mexican cartels have, in recent times, set up large marijuana growing operations in the remote forests and deserts of California where they reportedly have stolen millions of gallons of water for these illegal grows. [93] With the arrest of Joaqun Guzmn Loera, Ismael Zambada has assumed the total leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel. [112] Front companies in Mexico can easily import the small quantities cartel groups need to be diverted for production by mixing them in with legal products or mislabeling them altogether. In the 1960s and 1970s, they moved from the contraband trade into drugs, particularly marijuana. 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 . The reasons for "disappearing" cartel enemies varies. 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. [62][63][64] As of 2023[update], the Sinaloa Cartel is overall the most active drug cartel involved in smuggling illicit drugs into the United States and trafficking them throughout the country. 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 . 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. Possibly fearing extradition to the United States, Guzmn escaped from prison in 2001. The cartel's loss of partners in Mexico does not appear to have affected its ability to smuggle drugs from South America to the USA. border. The CDS is said to have a longstanding partnership with one of Ecuador's largest and most powerful criminal groups; The Choneros, which are based in the Pacific coast beach town of Manta, although they get their name from the western city of Chone. The "super tunnels" were equipped with power, ventilation and rail tracks to allow the efficient movement of large loads of narcotics across the U.S.-Mexico border. [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. The military-style attack on . [95], In current times, it is believed that while Guzmn's relatives and friends scramble for marginal leadership positions in the organization, the real top leader is still Ismael Zambada whom allegedly mediates power between them and allows them an umbrella of the organization to work under his reign with seemingly, relative autonomy. (Sinaloa Cartel) The origin story: Since its inception in the 1980s, the Sinaloa cartel has undoubtedly been the most prominent and fearsome criminal organization in Mexico. Another close associate, Javier Torres Flix, was arrested and extradited to the U.S. in December 2006. January 12, 2022 December 24, 2021 by americanpost. [179] In the same documentary it is shown that the US Justice Department invoked national security reasons to prevent Humberto Loya Castro, the lawyer of the Sinaloa Syndicate, from being summoned as a witness to the trial against Vicente Zambada Niebla. Statement of Paul E. Knierim Deputy Chief of Operations, Office of Global Enforcement Drug Enforcement Administration Before the Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration In July 2015, Donald Trump exchanged fierce words with the Mexican "Sinaloa" drug cartel's kingpin, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. The CDS is also battling La Linea teamed with the CJNG in Ciudad Juarez. 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. 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. The CJNG dropped flyers over a Mexican town to declare war on the Sinaloa Cartel and promised to "clean up" the region. 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. In August 2021, a single multi-ton cocaine shipment was seized off the coast of Ecuador causing a string of killings in the aftermath. CJNG, which routinely faces off with its No. [144] At this time the organization was laundering money at global scale, mainly through British bank HSBC. The Gangster Disciples are one of the local gangs most actively working with the cartel. Aviles was killed in a shootout with police in 1978. "We have 20 'El Chapos' here." [165], The Mexican Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) reported the arrest of Jess Alfredo Salazar Ramrez, alias "El Mueco" or "El Pelos", who was identified as the current lieutenant of the South Pacific Cartel in the state of Sonora. It also appears to be most active in diversifying its export markets; rather than relying solely on U.S. drug consumption, it has made an effort to supply distributors of drugs in Latin American and European countries.[90]. ', "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. [84], Gallardo was eventually arrested in 1989 and, while incarcerated, he remained one of Mexico's major traffickers, maintaining contact with his organization via mobile phone until he was transferred to a new maximum security prison in the early 1990s. 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 . Matta Ballesteros lived part-time in Colombia, where he operated as the main intermediary between Mexican and Colombian traffickers, particularly the Medelln and Guadalajara Cartels. [150] Chicago continues to be a major Sinaloa distribution point for the Midwest, taking advantage of a strong local demand market and convergence of several major interstate systems that offer distribution throughout the US. At the time, the power of the Colombian cartels was declining, partly because of the deaths of various drug lords, notably Pablo Escobar (died 1993), and the U.S. crackdown on drug trafficking in the Caribbean, then the preferred route for transporting drugs into the United States. [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. Allies and Enemies. Jalisco New Generation Cartel expands to El Paso 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. It was a telling day to bestow the measure of dishonor, a nod to the . Mayo's traditional major distribution hubs were allegedly in Chicago, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Denver. Calls for his extradition to the United States started just hours after his arrest. 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. In sign of escalating violence, Mexico's narcos plant land mines in 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. 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. I have been trying to find the Sponsored by Adidas video but I can't ever seem to track it down. [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. El Cholo formed his own gang, the "Nueva Plaza Cartel," financially supported by the Sinaloa Cartel, one of CJNG's biggest enemies. Trading sex for cosmetic surgery in Mexico's narco capital Estimates of its annual revenue ranged from $3 billion to $39 billion. A DEA agent in the same trial alleged that Fierro-Mendez had contacts with a Mexican military officer. [4][89] Guzmn was captured in Guatemala on 9 June 1993, and extradited to Mexico, where he was jailed in a maximum security prison, but on 19 January 2001, Guzmn escaped and resumed his command of the Sinaloa Cartel. Sinaloa cartel, international crime organization that is among the most-powerful drug-trafficking syndicates in the world. Sinaloa Cartel has Infiltrated Arizona Government- Kari Lake Victory Stolen