The Sinaloa cartel "has fought brutally for increased control of routes through the border states of Chihuahua and Baja California, with the goal of remaining the dominant drug trafficking . [93] With the arrest of Joaqun Guzmn Loera, Ismael Zambada has assumed the total leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel. 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. [127][128], The Mexican government's conflict with the former Ejido Tampico dated back to 1970, when they expropriated 320 hectares (790 acres) of the Ejido Tampico to build a new runway and passenger terminal at the Tijuana airport and agreed to pay the displaced ejidatarios (the communal farmers) $1.4million pesos ($112,000 U.S. dollars in 1970). The resulting products are shipped to the United States and many South American countries. According to the Sedena he is the assumed assassin of activist Nepomuceno Moreno Nez, which occurred 28 November 2011. Loya-Castro had become an official informant of the DEA in 2005 but was already providing vital information on rival cartels since the 1990s; such intel was instrumental to the takedown of the Tijuana Cartel, the Sinaloa cartel's main rival, as well as the death of Arturo Beltrn Leyva, who led a splinter group from the Sinaloa cartel. The CDS is also battling La Linea teamed with the CJNG in Ciudad Juarez. "Sinaloa, think of Chapo, Chapo Guzmn and his kids, Mayo Zambada. Today, the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacin CJNG), is the Sinaloa Cartel's primary enemy. [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. 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. 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. 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). [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. [173][174], Statements from a Mexican diplomat, which were revealed from leaked emails from the Stratfor leak in 2012, appeared to imply the belief amongst Mexican officials that US officials were assisting the Sinaloa cartel's drug smuggling efforts into the US and were protecting the cartel while attacking its rivals in an attempt to lower violence between Mexican drug cartels; this was backed up by information provided by a Mexican foreign agent, codenamed MX1. [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. [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. Both were associated with the Sinaloa Cartel. [79], Miguel ngel Flix Gallardo, who co-founded the Guadalajara Cartel between 1978 and 1980, from then on; controlled much of Mexico's drug-trafficking corridors along the United States border throughout the 1980s, only to be rivaled by the Gulf Cartel which controlled some of eastern Mexico's drug trade. [102] These are likely the same five departments in Colombia in which the CDS and CJNG rivalry has been detected, which has reportedly led to the displacement of thousands of Colombian citizens just in early 2021. The drug war has spread to various regions of Mexico, such as Guerrero, Mexico City, Michoacn and Tamaulipas. 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 . 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. Flix Gallardo, following his imprisonment, bestowed the Guadalajara Cartel to his nephews in the Tijuana Cartel. . [citation needed], The Sinaloa Cartel was partially splintered in 2008 when the Beltrn-Leyva brothers broke apart from the cartel.[47]. The Sinaloa Cartel has since created new alliances with former enemies in theGulf Carteland theFamilia Michoacanaand appears to have negotiated a pact with what remains of theTijuana Cartel. Members of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG) record themselves with prisoners from a rival cartel. However, after the cartel was involved in the 1985 torture and murder of a U.S. drug . The battles between these organizations began almost immediately. 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. Drug enforcement experts estimate, conservatively, that the cartel's annual revenues exceed $3 billion: more than those of the . In recent times, the cartel has also moved further away from smuggling MDMA and even heroin, while increasing smuggling of cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine. [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. YouTube. On the contrary, based on seizure reports, the Sinaloa Cartel appears to be the most active smuggler of cocaine. 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. 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. That's supposed to a brutal one as well. Sinaloa notably gained territory from both the Tijuana and Jurez cartels, solidifying its position as one of the worlds most-powerful drug syndicates. [141][142] On 21 June 2017, Joaqun 'El Chapo' Guzmn's "girlfriend" and former legislator of the state of Sinaloa, Lucero Guadalupe Snchez Lpez, was arrested at the Tijuana airport's Cross Border Xpress by CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) officers as she crossed into the U.S. She was charged with drug conspiracy and money laundering, and had been with Joaqun Guzmn when he escaped capture in 2014. 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 remaining factions established bases in various parts of Mexico. [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. 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. An inside look at Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. 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. [25], Pedro Avils Prez was a pioneer drug lord in the Mexican state of Sinaloa in the late 1960s. Divisions participating in Project Wave Breaker are credited with 85% of all synthetic opioids seized by the DEA in 2020. Updates? Also quoted was a Mexican reporter who claimed hearing numerous times from the public that the military had been involved in murders. One of these cartels (called plazas at the time) was Sinaloa, with the city of Culiacn acting as its headquarters. [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. [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. [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. This caused most of the organization's activities to be controlled and influenced directly from prison where the gang continued to recruit new members. The Sinaloa cartel is the leading cocaine trafficker from South America to the worldwide market, with an economic presence in 47 countries. The Sinaloa Cartel's central bond is blood. Today, the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacin CJNG), is the Sinaloa Cartel's primary enemy. 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. [172] Such allegations were confirmed by court documents obtained by El Universal during their investigation of collaboration with top officials from the Sinaloa cartel. 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. [45], In retaliation, the Tijuana Cartel attempted to set up Guzmn at Guadalajara airport on 24 May 1993. Such information ensured Loya-Castro was immune from prosecution while also keeping the DEA concentrated on Sinaloa's rivals and away from their leadership. The characteristics of the system are strategies . Ovidio Guzmn's arrest may be the start of a campaign against El Chapo's sons and the Sinaloa cartel. history. [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. In contrast, El Mayo's sons have either all been arrested and jailed in the United States or seem to be lying low. sfn error: no target: CITEREFEdmonds-PoliShirk2009 (, GMA News: "Mexican drug cartel penetrates PHL; PDEA raids lab in Lipa City" 26 December 2013, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Maritime drug trafficking in Latin America, "5 Members of a Major Mexican Drug-Trafficking Organization Indicted in Operation Money Train", "Tracking the Sinaloa Federation's International Presence", "Venezuela apunta al Crtel de Sinaloa: captur a miembros de la organizacin criminal en enfrentamiento fronterizo", "2015 National Drug Threat Assessment Summary", "Heroin bringing violent Mexican drug cartels to Western", "Charges: Cartel used Minnesota house for drugs, torture", "New indictment ups the ante for WNY drug network linked to Mexican cartel", "Ovidio Guzman, son of El Chapo and alleged major fentanyl trafficker, arrested in Mexico", "100,000-foot soldiers in Mexican cartels", "A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border", "Army Destroys Massive Sinaloa Cartel Synthetic Drug Lab Outside Culiacn", "Zacatecas: Grupo Flechas Burns Alive A Jalisco Operative", "Grupo Flechas del Mayo Zambada asegura que fueron 43 las bajas del CJNG tras batalla", "Quines son los Cabrera: el brazo armado del "Mayo" Zambada que pelea por Durango y Zacatecas contra el CJNG", "Quin es el "Ruso", el sicario del "Mayo" Zambada que est en la mira de los "Chapitos", "Narco Funeral Draws Attention to Los Salazar in Mexico", "Quines son Los Salazar, los lugartenientes del Crtel de Sinaloa detrs de la trgica muerte de un nio en Sonora", "Mexican Narcotrafficking Cartels Expand their Control in Colombia", "International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2008", "Six Colombian Nationals Plead Guilty To Conspiracy To Use "Narco-Submarines" To Smuggle Over 19,000 Kilograms Of Cocaine To The Sinaloa Cartel", "CDS El Mayo Troops Show Support for El Rodo's Independent Cartel in Nuevo Len", "Journalist Peter R. de Vries shot in the head. He is considered to have been one of the most powerful . 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. 1. I have been trying to find the Sponsored by Adidas video but I can't ever seem to track it down. 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. border. According to reports at the time, it was responsible for the majority of illegal drugsnotably marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetaminesthat were smuggled from Mexico into its northern neighbour, and in 2015 U.S. officials claimed that Sinaloa controlled the drug markets in almost every state. [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. [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. -2012), which was continued by Enrique Pea Nieto until 2018, the relatively fledgling JNGC was busy taking over its enemies' turf. News outlets in Mexico are reporting contradictory stories about whether the Jalisco and Sinaloa Cartels are friends, enemies or something in between. [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. ", "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. 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. 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. As the country's criminal landscape continues to grow more fragmented, it's unclear if and how traditional cartels will be forced to adapt. On January 8, 2016, however, Mexican officials announced that Guzmn had been captured in Los Mochis, Sinaloa. 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. The cartel's current leader, Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn, is public enemy number one in both Mexico and the United States. 1: 'El Chapo', "Probing Ties Between Mexican Cartel And Chicago's Violence", "Mexico drug cartel actively operating in Philippines, says Duterte", "Ejecutan en Chetumal a Juan Ulises Galvn Carmona, operador de El Chapo Guzmn", "Is the Jalisco Cartel Winning the Battle for Mexico's Caribbean? 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]. Palma Salazar was arrested in 1995. The Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan areas are major trans-shipment and distribution points for the cartel in the US. [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]. [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. Investigators identified El Postino as a potential front for the Sinaloa cartel in 2016. [125][126] It was five times longer than the Agua Prieta-Douglas tunnel and became the first of a series of drug "super tunnels" in Otay Mesa originating in and around the Tijuana airport through the former Ejido Tampico. The CJNG emerged out of the Sinaloa Cartel in 2010 after the death of former Sinaloa Cartel capo Ignacio Coronel, alias Nacho. Since, the CJNG has expanded rapidly across the country, involving itself in a host of criminal activities, including international drug trafficking, most recently involving synthetic drugs and powerful opioids like fentanyl, which the Sinaloa Cartel is also involved in the trafficking of. Chapo was famously recaptured, then escaped from prison, then recaptured in Mexico once again in 2016, only adding to his criminal legend. [65][66][67] Similarly to methamphetamine, raw fentanyl production and distribution is incredibly profitable. [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. When the jet landed at the Tijuana airport, both police and military units failed to cordon off the aircraft and the gunmen escaped. Since 2011 they have evolved to become one of the Ecuador's fiercest prison gangs due to the leader being incarcerated for nearly 8 years. By 2006, the Sinaloa Cartel had eliminated all competition across the 528km of the Arizona border. The cartels purportedly exploit weak points in the regulatory efforts of authorities in legal industries to facilitate production of the drug. He is the only individual to receive the title since Al Capone. This time it was all Chapo . [65] Despite trafficking various types of illicit substances, the cartel's operations seem to mostly favor the trade of cocaine and opioids, particularly in a distribution hub like Chicago, where demand for methamphetamine is relatively low. Guzmn have one close associate, Ismael Zambada Garca. 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. 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. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. [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. From San Diego to New York, agents in 11 cities are working closely together, synthesizing enforcement efforts targeting the Sinaloa Cartel. 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. After the assassination of Cardinal Juan Jess Posadas Ocampo and six others at the Guadalajara airport on 24 May 1993,[123] the gunmen boarded a commercial jet. 17. made up of the Gulf cartel and two enemies of Los . [92], Guzmn was captured on 22 February 2014, overnight by American and Mexican authorities. 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. After the North American Free Trade Agreement the wealth of the Gulf Cartel skyrocketed and the cartel's leader Osiel Cardenas, along with his militaristic Z. A report from Mexico's National Intelligence Center (Centro Nacional de Inteligencia - CIN) identified three Mexican companies supplying both cartels with these chemicals. 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. 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. He was extradited to the United States the following year. [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. (7News) ALEXANDRIA, Va. (7News) On Wednesday federal and local authorities . El Azul reportedly died of a heart attack in June 2014, although there are rumors that he is still alive and well. They reportedly engage in micro-trafficking, contract killing, extortion and contraband smuggling. In mid-2015, members of the group . Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. [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. Operatives like local gangs pick up the chemicals from dropoff points and ship them to hidden labs.
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