A U.S. jury has convicted a former Mexican presidential cabinet member of taking massive bribes to protect the drug cartels he was tasked with combating, A key prosecution witness has testified he delivered millions of dollars in payoffs destined for former Mexican public safety chief Genaro Garca Luna and saw him leave with the bags of cash. "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 . 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. 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. Such information ensured Loya-Castro was immune from prosecution while also keeping the DEA concentrated on Sinaloa's rivals and away from their leadership. 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. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. [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. [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. Members of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG) record themselves with prisoners from a rival cartel. We go into the field to interview, report and investigate. [151][152][153], In 2013, the Chicago Crime Commission named Joaquin "Chapo" Guzmn "Public Enemy No. [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. This eventually led to Ramn Arellano Flix killing two of Guzmn's associates thus leading to a full-fledged war between the two organizations. [90][45] Guzman and Zambada became Mexico's top drug kingpins in 2003, after the arrest of their rival Osiel Crdenas Guilln of the Gulf Cartel. 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). Jos Rodrigo Archiga Gamboa (alias "Chino Antrax") was a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel. It is based in Culiacn, Sinaloa state, Mexico. 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]. Although he was arrested and sentenced to more than 20 years in prison in 1993, he continued to be a key figure in the cartel, and, according to various reports, he gained full control of the organization in 1995. Mexican authorities have captured Ovidio Guzmn, a son of incarcerated drugs kingpin Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn, prompting a furious response from cartel gunmen in the northern city of . The Mexican press reported about the numerous cartel members housed in this prison. (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. With unregulated trucking and warehouse operations, the former Ejido Tampico became a major distribution point for narcotics being moved into the United States. 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. It was around this period in the early 1990s when Guzmn gave more control of the cartel to freelance trafficker Ismael Zambada Garca (a.k.a. Since then, the cartel has extended its reach across the whole of Mexico, aside from the areas controlled by the Sinaloa cartel. Vi ctims were seen with their hands above their heads . [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]. He was arrested on 30 December 2013, at the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands, at the petition of the United States of America, and with the help of Interpol, on charges related to drug trafficking. 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. 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 . I have been trying to find the Sponsored by Adidas video but I can't ever seem to track it down. In 1999, the Tijuana airport was privatized and became part of a 12 airport network known as Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacfico (Pacific Airport Group). -2012), which was continued by Enrique Pea Nieto until 2018, the relatively fledgling JNGC was busy taking over its enemies' turf. The Sinaloa cartel is the leading cocaine trafficker from South America to the worldwide market, with an economic presence in 47 countries. As the country's criminal landscape continues to grow more fragmented, it's unclear if and how traditional cartels will be forced to adapt. 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. CJNG, which routinely faces off with its No. 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.". 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. [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. Aviles was killed in a shootout with police in 1978. El Chapo maintained some control from prison, passing messages through his lawyers. Now, El Chapo's wife is in U.S. custody . [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 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. [69] The cartel has also been known to use blind mules, particularly for the smuggling and transporting of fentanyl into and throughout the U.S., oftentimes with the mules not even knowing what they're trafficking. [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. The Sinaloa Cartel's tentacles stretch from New York City to Buenos Aires and almost every major city in between. [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. The Sinaloa Cartel has a presence in at least 22 of the 31 Mexican states, with important centers in Mexico City, Tepic, Toluca, Zacatecas, Guadalajara and most of the state of Sinaloa. It relies on eight "plaza" bosses, leaders of a specific geographic region along the corridor, to coordinate, direct, and support the flow of narcotics north into the United States. The Sinaloa Cartel is one of the various drug cartels currently existing in Mexico, but unlike other drug cartels, the Sinaloa Cartel has lasted the longest, was titled the most powerful drug cartel in the world by the U.S. Treasury Department and developed the most sophisticated business system. 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. [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. These Special Forces-trained cartel members had recently demanded to be transferred. The latter due to the coast of Mexico from which it originated. 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. . "[88] When Hctor Luis Palma Salazar was arrested on 23 June 1995, by the Mexican Army, his partner Joaqun Guzmn Loera took leadership of the cartel. Chapo was famously recaptured, then escaped from prison, then recaptured in Mexico once again in 2016, only adding to his criminal legend. [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. The drug war has spread to various regions of Mexico, such as Guerrero, Mexico City, Michoacn and Tamaulipas. 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 Sinaloa Cartel (Spanish: Crtel de Sinaloa),[48][49] also known as the CDS, the Guzmn-Zambada Organization, the Pacific Cartel,[50] the Federation and the Blood Alliance,[51][52][53] is a large, international organized crime syndicate that specializes in illegal drug trafficking and money laundering. The core of the group, theBLO, split from the rest in 2008. 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. Sinaloa Cartel. 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. More than half of that is believed to be supplied by Sinaloa. On the contrary, based on seizure reports, the Sinaloa Cartel appears to be the most active smuggler of cocaine. By Jan-Albert Hootsen September 2, 2015. However, the cartel also often acts more like a federation than a tightly knit organization. [116][117], According to the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit in Mexico City, as of 2020 the cartel has palpable territory within the Mexican regions of Sinaloa, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Durango, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Edomex, Mexico City, Jalisco, Zacatecas, Colima, Aguascalientes, Quertaro, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatn and Quintana Roo. In 2019 he was found guilty on various charges, including drug trafficking. [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. The resulting products are shipped to the United States and many South American countries. Allies and Enemies. (7News) ALEXANDRIA, Va. (7News) On Wednesday federal and local authorities . In the 1960s and 1970s, they moved from the contraband trade into drugs, particularly marijuana. 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. But instead, even more so than the Zetas a decade ago and far more so than its principal rival, the Sinaloa Cartel, CJNG relishes acting as a de facto nonstate army. [72], In the late 1980s, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) believed the Sinaloa Cartel was the largest drug trafficking organization operating in Mexico. 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. 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. The Milenio (Michoacn), Jalisco (Guadalajara), Sonora (Sonora), and Colima cartels were now branches of the Sinaloa Cartel. . Possibly fearing extradition to the United States, Guzmn escaped from prison in 2001. 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. 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. [45], In retaliation, the Tijuana Cartel attempted to set up Guzmn at Guadalajara airport on 24 May 1993. CJNG and the Nueva Plaza Cartel fought over the years to . Today, the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacin CJNG), is the Sinaloa Cartel's primary enemy. [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. Amy Tikkanen is the general corrections manager, handling a wide range of topics that include Hollywood, politics, books, and anything related to the. The operations remained under the auspices of El Chapo's brother Arturo Loera, Ramon Laija Serrano, and Hector, Alfredo and Arturo Beltran Leyva. A cartel leader and hitman fond of videotaping torture sessions and decapitating likely dozens of enemies has gone missing from a federal prison in Florida, where he was serving a 49-year sentence. Working closely with the Honduran Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros, the men came into contact with Colombia's Medelln Cartel. [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. He is the only individual to receive the title since Al Capone. 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. 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. The Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan areas are major trans-shipment and distribution points for the cartel in the US. [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. Please support our mission investigating organized crime. 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. Corrections? Sinaloa cartel has two new enemies in Chihuahua. According to the Sedena he is the assumed assassin of activist Nepomuceno Moreno Nez, which occurred 28 November 2011. On 8 November 1992, Palma struck out against the Tijuana Cartel at a disco club in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, where eight Tijuana Cartel members were killed in the shootout, the Arellano-Flix brothers successfully escaping from the location with the assistance of David Barron Corona, a member of the Logan Heights Gang.