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. 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. They established the patterns that we see repeated today: movement of bulk shipments of cocaine via airplane and boat to Central America and Mexico, then by land routes into the United States. 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 . Sinaloa cartel has two new enemies in Chihuahua. The drug war has spread to various regions of Mexico, such as Guerrero, Mexico City, Michoacn and Tamaulipas. It has cells in more than 70 cities in the U.S. from Seattle to Miami . The Sinaloa Cartel's central bond is blood. 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. Purportedly, a larger percentage of Mexican methamphetamine is now made from entirely synthetic precursors instead of the natural compound ephedrine. In contrast, El Mayo's sons have either all been arrested and jailed in the United States or seem to be lying low. Today, the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacin CJNG), is the Sinaloa Cartel's primary enemy. Chapo was famously recaptured, then escaped from prison, then recaptured in Mexico once again in 2016, only adding to his criminal legend. Re: Sinaloa Cartel has Infiltrated Arizona Government- Kari Lake Victory Stolen. [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. Jos Rodrigo Archiga Gamboa (alias "Chino Antrax") was a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel. Perhaps they were connected to a rival gang, or didn't do their jobs correctly. [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 Sinaloa cartel is the leading cocaine trafficker from South America to the worldwide market, with an economic presence in 47 countries. It has successfully penetrated government and security forces wherever it operates. 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. Members of the Sinaloa cartel in a photograph included in . Mexico's Sinaloa and Jalisco Cartels: Competing or Collaborating? [118], Due to the leadership of the organization essentially being split between the Mayo Zambada and Los Chapitos factions of the cartel, much of the state of Sinaloa is also split territorially. 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 . [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. He also claimed that the Sinaloa Cartel had bribed the military. As the country's criminal landscape continues to grow more fragmented, it's unclear if and how traditional cartels will be forced to adapt. "This is a city filled with drug lords," a Mexican journalist said. Sinaloa notably gained territory from both the Tijuana and Jurez cartels, solidifying its position as one of the worlds most-powerful drug syndicates. This time it was all Chapo . 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. 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. In the mountains of Mexico's northern . From San Diego to New York, agents in 11 cities are working closely together, synthesizing enforcement efforts targeting the Sinaloa Cartel. 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. The Milenio (Michoacn), Jalisco (Guadalajara), Sonora (Sonora), and Colima cartels were now branches of the Sinaloa Cartel. This division of the organization in the late 1980s led to the cartel essentially being made up of several smaller cartels who controlled their own territories and trafficking corridors with their own bosses. [6] The cartel's attempts to control the Chicago drug market have brought them into direct conflict with other Chicago gangs, including the Black P. Stones, Vice Lords, and Black Disciples, resulting in an increase in violence in the city. [147], Before his arrest, Vicente Zambada Niebla ("El Vicentillo"), son of Ismael Zambada Garca ("El Mayo"), played a key role in the Sinaloa Cartel. The next time Valdez saw his boss's cruelty unleashed on enemies of the cartel, the alleged victims didn't arrive pre-tortured. Wednesday, May 26th 2021. 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. The upper hand in the conflict has ebbed and flowed throughout the regions but with the Zetas an increasingly fragmented force, the Sinaloa Cartel seems poised to cement its position as the dominant force in the Mexican underworld. Another close associate, Javier Torres Flix, was arrested and extradited to the U.S. in December 2006. [63][64] Much of the heroin smuggled, particularly by the Sinaloa Cartel is made in "The Golden Triangle", a region in Mexico overlapping parts of the states of Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua where opium and marijuana have historically been cultivated. By Kristina Davis. Our work is costly and high risk. Guzmn resumed his command of the Sinaloa Cartel, but on 8 January 2016, Guzmn was captured again during a raid on a home in the city of Los Mochis, in Guzmn's home state of Sinaloa. Within Sinaloa, the municipalities of El Fuerte, Badiraguato, Mocorito, Angostura, Navolato, Concordia, Rosario, Escuinapa, and half of Culiacn is controlled by Los Chapitos, while San Ignacio, Elota, and the other half of the Culiacn municipality is reportedly controlled by Mayo. Since 2013, the cartel has been operating in the Philippines after a raid on a ranch in Lipa, Batangas, according to a statement by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) director general Arthur Cacdac, and have entered the country without notice. Such information ensured Loya-Castro was immune from prosecution while also keeping the DEA concentrated on Sinaloa's rivals and away from their leadership. ", "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. 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. El Chapo is in prison, but Sinaloa cartel remains strong. 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. 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. [144] At this time the organization was laundering money at global scale, mainly through British bank HSBC. While other organizations expanded into human trafficking and extortion, among other activities, the Sinaloa cartel remained largely centred on drugs. The boldness of the Mexican traffickers became evident when they murdered undercover Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Enrique Camarena in 1985. 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 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 . Secrets of Mexico's Drug War", "Lieutenant in Mexican drug cartel a wanted man", "Mexico arrests 'drug lord' Edgar Valdez", "Univision, Netflix 'El Chapo' Series Sets April Premiere", "The legend of 'El Chapo': Hiding in plain sight? Today, the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacin CJNG), is the Sinaloa Cartel's primary enemy. Shannon, Elaine (1988). 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). The Mexican press reported about the numerous cartel members housed in this prison. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The cartel has also recently increased their migrant smuggling operations in border regions. 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. 1" of a city Guzmn has never set foot in. Updates? [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. . The core of the group, theBLO, split from the rest in 2008. 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. In 1999, the Tijuana airport was privatized and became part of a 12 airport network known as Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacfico (Pacific Airport Group). [65], According to a 2019 DEA report, it is estimated that each fentanyl pill costs only $1 to produce. [citation needed] The Sinaloa Cartel was therefore believed to be linked to the Jurez Cartel in a strategic alliance following the partnership of their rivals, the Gulf Cartel and Tijuana Cartel. Flix Gallardo, following his imprisonment, bestowed the Guadalajara Cartel to his nephews in the Tijuana Cartel. 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. They have been known to frequently use American citizens as mules, many of whom have drugs stuffed in passenger vehicles or tractor-trailers. As of 2013, the Sinaloa Cartel continued to dominate the Sonora-Arizona corridor, which extends for nearly 375 miles. El Azul reportedly died of a heart attack in June 2014, although there are rumors that he is still alive and well. L ast year on Valentine's Day, the drug lord Joaquin " El Chapo " Guzman was designated Chicago's Public Enemy No. He was arrested by the Mexican Army on 18 March 2009, and extradited on 18 February 2010, to Chicago to face federal charges. A drug cartel in Mexico is forcing members into cannibalism after videos online have emerged which show gang members eating body parts of enemies. El Chapo's capture and later extradition to the United States appears to have sparked an internal battle for control of the organization, as evidenced by a February 2017 attack against El Mayo and two of El Chapo's sons that was reportedly orchestrated by El Chapo's one-time right-hand man, Dmaso Lpez Nez, alias "Licenciado.". Since then, the cartel has extended its reach across the whole of Mexico, aside from the areas controlled by the Sinaloa cartel. [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. 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. An inside look at Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. Many of these mules are American citizens which helps ease the smuggling process, usually through the ports of entry back into the U.S. Mules are typically paid several thousand dollars to transport what usually amounts to millions of dollars worth of narcotics at a time. 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. During the leadership of Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn and Ismael Zambada Garca, the multi-billion dollar international drug trafficking empire supposedly controlled at least 91% of the world's heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana trade, regularly exporting multi-ton shipments of narcotics to the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Investigators identified El Postino as a potential front for the Sinaloa cartel in 2016. The Sinaloa Cartel's tentacles stretch from New York City to Buenos Aires and almost every major city in between. He is the only individual to receive the title since Al Capone. In 2001, he escaped prison, and assumed a central leadership role in the organization. The most extensive database on organized crime in the Americas. "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 . On 30 August 2010, Villarreal was captured by Mexican Federal Police. [98] However, during the second wave of America's opioid epidemic in the mid-2010s, which was driven largely by heroin; the prevalence and trafficking of fentanyl began to increase exponentially leading to the third wave and eventually turning into the deadliest drug epidemic in U.S. Revealed: how Mexico's Sinaloa cartel has created a global network to rule the fentanyl trade. 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. the members of The Cartel Project mean to send a powerful message to enemies of the free press . Chinese companies are turning to online sales to supply the fentanyl precursor market in Mexico. [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. In the shootout that followed, six civilians were killed by the hired gunmen from Logan Heights. [157] The presence of the cartel in the Philippines has worsened the ongoing war between drug lords, drug cartels and the government in that country. Methamphetamine, being another fully-synthetic compound (like fentanyl) also means that it doesn't require farming, cultivation and other related resources like those needed for production of marijuana, cocaine and heroin. [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. 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. We want to sustain Latin Americas largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources. 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. 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 Chapo fled to Guatemala where he was arrested two weeks later. The cartel publicly announced its arrival in October 2015, with a narcocorrido song and a Facebook message entitled "Sinaloa is now in Colima". [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. A DEA agent in the same trial alleged that Fierro-Mendez had contacts with a Mexican military officer. It is based in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa. [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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. He is linked to various homicides, among them the lawyer Rubn Alejandro Cepeda Leos, who was assassinated on 20 December 2011, in the city of Chihuahua, Chihuahua. Jesus BustamanteReuters. [54][55][47] It is currently headed by Ismael Zambada Garca and is based in the city of Culiacn, Sinaloa,[56] with operations in many world regions but primarily in the Mexican states of Sinaloa, Baja California, Durango, Sonora, and Chihuahua. Another piece of . 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. The Sinaloa Cartel's tentacles stretch from New York City to Buenos Aires and almost every major city in between. Guzmn have one close associate, Ismael Zambada Garca. [109] Fentanyl is chemically classified as a phenylpiperidine in its molecular structure, unlike the more traditional morphinan poppy-derived opiates such as codeine, morphine and even the closely related hydrocodone and heroin (diacetylmorphine). 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). [161][162], In March 2009, the Mexican Government announced the deployment of 1,000 Federal Police officers and 5,000 Mexican Army soldiers to restore order in Ciudad Jurez, which has suffered the highest number of casualties in the country. [citation needed] As of November 2022, the Chapitos and Zambada factions are rumored to have reconciled their recent differences in order to come together to battle the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. 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. Although likely not as prolific in methamphetamine cooking as the CJNG, the Sinaloa Cartel still has major methamphetamine operations throughout North America, which includes Mexico itself due to the now ubiquitous use of meth in the country. [105] In the summer of 2021, this apparently led to Los Angeles County's largest marijuana bust in its history.[105][106][107]. border. 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 Attorney General of Mxico declared that "El Chapo ran away through a gully and, although he was found by a helicopter, he was with two women and a girl and it was decided not to shoot". [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. The Arellano Flix brothers set up camp in Tijuana. [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. [205] The raid on the ranch was met with heavy gunfire and Guzmn was able to flee. Horrifying moment Mexican drug cartel thugs pull mourners from a wake, line them up against the wall and shoot them - killing up to 17. El Mayo) particularly due to his exceptional ability to work with and coordinate with other traffickers. 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. El Mayo was also reportedly the one who sent a private helicopter for El Chapo after he escaped Puente Grande prison in 2001. Sinaloa cartel One of the oldest and largest of the Mexican cartels. 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. [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. [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]. The Sinaloa Cartel, often described as the largest and most powerful drug trafficking organization in the Western Hemisphere, is an alliance of some of Mexico's top capos. [131][132], Similar to the "Taj Mahal" of drug tunnels discovered on Otay Mesa in 1993,[125] the 2006 drug "super tunnel" was traced back to the Sinaloa Cartel. In November 1992, El Chapo sent 40 gunmen to raid a Tijuana Cartel party in Puerto Vallarta, killing nine people. The latter due to the coast of Mexico from which it originated. [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. It is based in Culiacn, Sinaloa state, Mexico.
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