Territory: The west, mainly the Tierra Caliente region. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sinaloa-cartel, The Brookings Institution - How the Sinaloa Cartel rules, Mexicos ex-public security chief convicted in US drug case, Key witness testifies about bribing ex-Mexico security chief. [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. same cartel runs Durango . 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. January 12, 2022 December 24, 2021 by americanpost. 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. "El Chino ntrax," was among three found Saturday inside a BMW X-5 sports utility vehicle registered to his sister, El Sol de . Ovidio Guzmn's arrest may be the start of a campaign against El Chapo's sons and the Sinaloa cartel. The operations remained under the auspices of El Chapo's brother Arturo Loera, Ramon Laija Serrano, and Hector, Alfredo and Arturo Beltran Leyva. [51][58][186] Following the 2003 arrest of Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Crdenas Guilln, it is believed the Sinaloa Cartel moved 200 men into the region to battle the Gulf Cartel for control. Get fresh updates on organized crime from across the region delivered to your inbox. 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]. 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. In the 1960s and 1970s, they moved from the contraband trade into drugs, particularly marijuana. Shannon, Elaine (1988). Sinaloa Cartel. The Carrillo Fuentes family moved to Juarez. [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. 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. They have also begun coloring the fentanyl powder in different colors so that dealers in the U.S. don't accidentally or intentionally mix in fentanyl powder with other white powdered substances like cocaine. [citation needed] The organization has also been known to utilize narcosubmarines, boats, ships, trains, helicopters, and cargo planes for their smuggling operations. It was a blow to Mexicos efforts to fight drugs and further underscored the power of both the Sinaloa cartel and Guzmn. Today, the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacin CJNG), is the Sinaloa Cartel's primary enemy. 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. After the breakaway of the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO) in 2008, El Chapo became the most visible head of the Sinaloa Cartel, although he was joined at the top table by El Mayo and Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno, alias "El Azul." [citation needed], The Sinaloa Cartel was partially splintered in 2008 when the Beltrn-Leyva brothers broke apart from the cartel.[47]. [69], As of 2023, the Sinaloa Cartel remains Mexico's most dominant drug cartel. [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. In December 2016, one month prior Joaqun 'El Chapo' Guzmn Loera's extradition to the U.S.,[140] two "super tunnels", one in operation while the other was under construction, were discovered by Mexican agents adjacent to the Tijuana airport/Ejido Tampico and the Otay Mesa border crossing. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 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. [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, the days of big cartels in Mexico may be numbered. In August 2021, a single multi-ton cocaine shipment was seized off the coast of Ecuador causing a string of killings in the aftermath. The resulting products are shipped to the United States and many South American countries. In 2014 Guzmn was apprehended in Mazatln, Sinaloa, Mexico, but the following year he escaped from prison through a tunnel. Purportedly, a larger percentage of Mexican methamphetamine is now made from entirely synthetic precursors instead of the natural compound ephedrine. Ecuador's purported 2021 "spiral" into increased rates of crime and drug violence supposedly can be traced back to December 28, 2020, when Jorge Luis Zambrano Gonzlez (alias Rasquia), leader of the gang was assassinated in a shopping mall cafeteria in Manta. Enemies: Gulf Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel. [65], The northern regions of Baja California, Sinaloa and Sonora have also been dubbed by some media outlets as the Golden Triangle for fentanyl production and transferring, as both a distinction from and comparison to the classic opium farming region further south. In the shootout that followed, six civilians were killed by the hired gunmen from Logan Heights. Perhaps they were connected to a rival gang, or didn't do their jobs correctly. [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. [84], Zambada also helped Amado Carrillo Fuentes expand the Jurez Cartel in the state of Chihuahua and helped incorporate some of the remnants of the Jurez Cartel into the Sinaloa Cartel after Carrillo's death in 1997. Guzmn have one close associate, Ismael Zambada Garca. [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]. 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. In the ensuing years, drug tunnels moving tons of narcotics were detected in and around the Tijuana airport. 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. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, the Sinaloa Cartel and Gulf Cartel were traditionally considered allies but as of 2021, this alliance has reportedly fizzled out as the two groups now battle each other in the state of Zacatecas with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel now siding with the Gulf to fight against Sinaloa. 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. [172] Such allegations were confirmed by court documents obtained by El Universal during their investigation of collaboration with top officials from the Sinaloa cartel. The Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan areas are major trans-shipment and distribution points for the cartel in the US. Chapo was famously recaptured, then escaped from prison, then recaptured in Mexico once again in 2016, only adding to his criminal legend. Chinese companies are turning to online sales to supply the fentanyl precursor market in Mexico. The 300 feet (91m) tunnel was discovered in May 1990. Footage uploaded by The Jalisco New Generation . 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. 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 . The latter due to the coast of Mexico from which it originated. [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. They have been known to frequently use American citizens as mules, many of whom have drugs stuffed in passenger vehicles or tractor-trailers. [25], Pedro Avils Prez was a pioneer drug lord in the Mexican state of Sinaloa in the late 1960s. Authorities noted that Sinaloa, along with other cartels, had become increasingly involved in the distribution of fentanyl, which contributed to the growing opioid crisis in the United States. 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. 1, a maximum-security prison in the State of Mexico, through a tunnel in his prison cell. 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 2012, the cartel emerged victorious from a bloody battle with the Juarez Cartel over control of Ciudad Juarez. Inzunza was believed to be one of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's chief cartel leaders. The western Mexican state of Sinaloa is home to the country's most powerful and bloody drug cartel. Its origins can be traced to the Guadalajara cartel, which was one of Mexico's largest crime organizations in the early 1980s. The Arellano Flix brothers set up camp in Tijuana. 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. 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. The Sinaloa Cartel's tentacles stretch from New York City to Buenos Aires and almost every major city in between. . While other organizations expanded into human trafficking and extortion, among other activities, the Sinaloa cartel remained largely centred on drugs. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The reports also demonstrated the cartels possess the ability to establish operations in previously unknown areas, such as Central America and South America, even as far south as Peru, Paraguay and Argentina. The region is a major producer of Mexican opium and marijuana. The Sinaloa cartel chief Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn was captured for the final time in January 2016. Nearly all of the trafficking organizations in Mexico have their origins in the region. [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. The drug operation allegedly brought 1.5 to 2 tons of cocaine every month to Chicago from Mexico and shipped millions of dollars south of the border. . [95] Under Zambada's leadership, the Sinaloa Cartel had been willing to negotiate potential leadership for the Caro Quintero brothers due to their histories as bosses in the predecessor organization. We then verify, write and edit, providing the tools to generate real impact. Like many other stories, that of the Sinaloa Cartel and its enemies in Jalisco went through friendship, betrayal and death. [51][96][9][10] Since Colombia is still currently the biggest producer of cocaine in the world, the Sinaloa Cartel is currently the most active Mexican cartel operating within Colombia where it helps finance and support several of Colombia's local paramilitary drug-trafficking groups such as the left-wing National Liberation Army, dissidents of FARC and Colombia's current largest drug cartel and right-wing paramilitary group; the Clan del Golfo. However, El Licenciado and his son, Damso Lpez Serrano, alias Mini Lic, have both been, . [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.
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