Gulf Cartel

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The Gulf Cartel is a notorious drug running organization based in Matamoros, in Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is believed to currently be the largest drug cartel in Mexico and is responsible for a considerable amount of illegal cocaine traffic across the Mexican border to major cities in the United States. The group is known for its violent methods and intimidation and is thought to be working closely with corrupt law officials and businesspeople in Mexico.

The Gulf Cartel was founded by Juan Nepomuceno Guerra and it's origins date back to the 1970s. Juan Nepomuceno Guerra was a notorious Mexican bootlegger who smuggled whiskey into the United Sates in the 1930s along the Gulf of Mexico. In the 1970s he became politically active and began smuggling more contraband into the United States. His nephew, Juan Garcia Abrego, an American, began slowly taking over day to day operations of what was now being called the Gulf Cartel. Abrego expanded the business to include the more lucrative cocaine trade throughout the 1980s and 1990s, all with the asssistance of the political connections that his uncle had fostered. Juan Garcia Abrego became so powerful that he was placed on the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted List in 1995. He has the distinction of being the first drug trafficker to ever be placed on that list. As a result of the embarrassment caused by Abrego and his connections that some say led directly to the President of Mexico, he was caught, arrested and deported, since he was an American citizen, to the United States in 1996 where he is currently serving eleven life terms in a maximum security federal prison in Colorado. Juan Nepomucena Guerra died in 2001 a free man, never admitting to any connection to the drug trade or The Gulf Cartel.

Juan Garcia Abrego's arrest left a void in The Gulf Cartel. Several Gulf Cartel captains jockeyed for position. The first to step to the front was Salvador "El Chava" Gomez. His ascent to the top was short lived when a rival captain assassinated him in a shootout in 1997. It was widely believed that Osiel Cárdenas was responsible. Cardenas became the undisputed leader of the Gulf Cartel.

In 1999 Cardenas heard that an informant was being tranported through Matamoros, Tamaulipas by the FBI and DEA. Cardenas and his men surrounded the vehicle on a public street and demanded the informant be released to him. The FBI and DEA agents refused to turn over their informant and were later released for fear of reprisal. The U.S. attorney general gave the two U.S.agents an award for their heroism. As for Cardneas, the damage had been done by taking on the U.S. government. The FBI placed enormous pressure on the Mexican Government to apprehend Cardenas. Cardenas was arrested during a furious gun battle in Matamoros on March 2003 in front of Televisa television cameras, perhaps to show the United States that Mexico was making an effort.

Cardenas was sent to Mexico's high security prison outside of Mexico City, La Palma. It is widely known that Cardenas still runs the Gulf Cartel from his prison cell in La Palma.

Sensing a void in the Gulf Cartel, the Sinaloan Cartel, headed by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán also known as "shorty", began to move into Gulf Cartel territory. This prompted Cardenas to employ a group of former Mexican military men known as the Zetas to keep Chapo Guzman from entering Gulf Cartel territory. Both men have been battling each other in the city of Nuevo Laredo since then, resulting in the deaths of numerous people including civilians, police and journalists. The killings were so numerous that President Vicente Fox was forced to deploy the Mexican Army to Nuevo Laredo because of public pressure.

Several of the Zetas, former members of an elite antidrug commando force appear to have been employed by the Cartel. Officials fear that Zeta military expertise may have allowed the group to increase the efficiency and violence of its operation. Also, at its height, which started in 2003, when the Zetas were added to the military units of this organization, had about 300 million dollars in drugs, money and weapons and it is said to be one of the most powerful criminal organizations.

UPDATE: On January 20, 2007 Osiel Cardenas was extradited to the United States by the Mexican Government. Newly elected president of Mexico Felipe Calderón has come down on the Drug Cartel's hold on Mexico by recently arresting several major drug kingpins. The Gulf Cartel's leadership may now be in question with the three major lieutenants from each city Matamoros, Reynosa and Miguel Allende begin jockying for control. Speculation even suggests that they are divided into two factions: One faction wants to call a truce with the rival Sinaloan Cartel headed by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán while the other faction wants to continue the war with the help of the Zetas that were created by Osiel Cárdenas.The Gulf Cartel is believed to be runned by a man that goes by the name of "El Cary".