Sinaloa Cartel

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Sinaloa Cartel Hierarchy
Sinaloa Cartel Hierarchy

The Sinaloa Cartel is a Mexican drug smuggling cartel primarily operating out of the states of Sinaloa, Sonora and Chihuahua.[1][2] The cartel is also know as the Guzmán-Loera Organization and the Pacific Cartel, the latter due to the coast of Mexico from which it originated.[3][1]

Contents

[edit] Operations

The Sinaloa Cartel is most notably headed by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, and prior to his arrest, Héctor "El Guero" Palma Salazar.[4] The cartel is primarily involved in the smuggling and distribution of Colombian cocaine, Mexican marijuana and Mexican and Southeast Asian heroin; they are also known for producing their own opium and marijuana.[5][6] 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; from there it is smuggled north to Mexico and later in the the United States.[7] Other shipments of cocaine are believed to originate in Colombia from the Cali and Medellín Cartel from which the Sinaloa Cartel handle transportation across the U.S. border to distribution cells in Arizona, California, Texas, Chicago and New York.[5][1][8]

In the late 1980s, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration believed the Sinaloa Cartel was the largest drug trafficking organization operating in Mexico.[9] By the mid-1990s it was believed to be the size of the Medellín Cartel during its prime.[9] The Sinaloa Cartel was believed to be linked to the Juárez Cartel in a strategic alliance following the partnership of their rivals, the Gulf Cartel and Tijuana Cartel.[6][9][10]

Following the discovery of a tunnel system used to smuggle drug across the Mexican/US border, the group has been associated with such means of trafficking.[11][8]

By 2005, the Beltrán Leyva family had come to dominate drug trafficking across the border with Arizona. By 2006, the Beltrán family had eliminated all competition across the 330 miles of Arizona border and it was suggested they had accomplished this by working with state government officials. By 2007, the corridor from Sinaloa to Sonora to Arizona had erupted into a bloodbath that left at least 25 police, 40 killers and numerous border-crossing immigrants dead.[1]

[edit] Leadership

[edit] Hector Palma

Main article: Héctor Luis Palma Salazar
Joaquín Guzmán Loera
Joaquín Guzmán Loera

Héctor "El Guero" Palma took leadership following the arrest of partner Joaquín Guzmán.[2] Palma's career in crime began as a car thief before being given a position in Guadalajara Cartel under Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo as a hired gun.[12] In the early 1970s, Palma and Guzmán split from Félix Gallardo in an attempt to create their own drug trafficking organization. Palma began working with a Venezuelan trafficker named Rafael Enrique Clavel who was dating his daughter Minerva Palma. In 1978 Palma was arrested in Arizona on drug trafficking charges and imprisoned for eight years; upon his release in 1986 he discovered his wife and children had been taken by his former partner. Clavel killed Palma's wife, Guadalupe, decapitating her and stealing $7 million from a bank account. Palma's two children were later taken to Venezuela where they were dropped off of a bridge to their death.[12][13] It was believed by Palma that Félix Gallardo sent Clavel to infiltrate Palma's organization.[13][12]

Palma soon linked up with Guzmán in a leadership role of the Sinaloa Cartel. On June 23, 1995 Palma was arrested after surviving a plane crash near the airport in Tepic, Nayarit. He was being escorted by Federal Judicial Police (FJP) officers when the Mexican Army intercepted and arrested Palma and his entourage which included 32 FJP agents and 8 personal bodyguards.[2][12]

[edit] Joaquín Guzmán

Main article: Joaquín Guzmán

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán is believed to be the current leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.[6][1] His career is traced back to his time in the Guadalajara Cartel under Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo as an air logistics expert.[8][14] On June 11, 1993, Guzmán was arrested attempting to enter Guatemala illegally; he was detained and transfered to the Puente Grande maximum security federal prison in Jalisco.[15][16] On January 19, 2001, Guzmán escaped from prison, smuggled out in a laundry cart.[17][11][3][18] In late March 2008 reports emerged of Guzmán's possible death in a shootout at a hotel in Guatemala. The firefight left 11 people dead in a battle that employed grenades and high-caliber automatic weapons.[19][11]

Prior to the reports of the shootout, it was believed Guzmán was hiding out in Guatemala or Honduras.[19]

[edit] Tijuana Cartel

The Sinaloa Cartel has been waging a war against the Tijuana Cartel (Arellano-Félix Organization) over the Tijuana smuggling route. The rivalry between the two cartels dates back to the Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo setup of Palma's family. Félix Gallardo, following his imprisonment, bestowed the Guadalajara Cartel to his nephews in the Tijuana Cartel. Following the split of Palma and Guzmán, in 1992 Palma struck out against the Tijuana Cartel at a disco in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco. Eight Tijuana Cartel members were killed in the shoot out, the Arellano-Félix brothers having successfully escaped from the location.[4]

[edit] Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo

In return for the attack, the Tijuana Cartel attempted to set up Guzmán at Guadalajara airport on May 24, 1993. In the shootout that followed, six civilians were killed by the hired gunmen from the Logan Heights, San Diego-based Crazy-30's gang.[4] The deaths included that of Roman Catholic Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo. The church hierarchy originally believed Ocampo was targeted as revenge for his strong stance against the drug trade; however, Mexican officials believe Ocampo just happened to be caught in cross fire.[13][15][20] The Cardinal arrived at the airport in a Mercury Grand Marquis town car, known to be popular amongst drug barons, making it a target.[13][15][20] This explanation however is often countered due to Ocampo having been wearing a long black cassock and large pectoral cross, as well as him sharing no similarity in appearance with Guzmán and having been gunned down from only two feet away.[4]

[edit] Los Negros

Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez
Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez

Los Negros are a narco-military unit formed by the Sinaloa Cartel to counter the operations of the Gulf Cartel's Los Zetas.[6][21][1] Los Negros, also known as the Beltran Group, is led by Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villarreal and overseen by the brothers Arturo Beltrán Leyva and Héctor Beltrán Leyva.[10][21] Los Negros have been known to employ gangs such as the Mexican Mafia and MS-13 to carry out murders and other illegal activities.[22] Los Negros has been reported as recruiting from their rival group Los Zetas.[17] The group is currently involved in fighting in the Nuevo Laredo region for control of the drug trafficking corridor.[21]

[edit] Nuevo Laredo

Nuevo Laredo has been at the center of a war between the Gulf Cartel's Los Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel's Los Negros.[6][1] Following the 2003 arrest of Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cárdenas, it is believed the Sinaloa Cartel moved 200 men into the region to battle the Gulf Cartel for control.[17][10] The Nuevo Laredo region is an important drug trafficking corridor as 40% of all Mexican exports, a total of 9,000 trucks, pass through the region into the United States.[17]

Following the 2002 assassination of journalist Robert Javier Mora García from El Mañana newspaper, much of the local media has been silenced over the fighting.[17] The cartels have begun to use the media to send messages and wage a media war. In 2008, Edgar Valdez took out an ad in the local paper accusing Los Zetas of being "narco-kidnappers" and purchasing protection from state officials and the attorney general's office.[1]

The drug war between the Sinaloa and Gulf Cartels had spread to Acapulco, Guerrero, when a dozen or so members of Los Zetas attempted to kidnap Sinaloa Cartel members. Five of the Zetas were instead captured and taken to a safe house to be beaten, videotaped and murdered.[23]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Freeman, Laurie. State of Siege:Drug-Related Violence and Corruption in Mexico. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 7,13,15. 
  2. ^ a b c Bailey, John J.; Roy Godson (2000). Organized Crime and Democratic Governability: Mexico and the U.S.-Mexican Borderlands (in English). Univ of Pittsburgh Press, 146. ISBN 0822957582. 
  3. ^ a b Rama, Anahi. "Mexico blames Gulf cartel for surge in drug murders", Reuters, April 7, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-04-11. 
  4. ^ a b c d Crosthwaite, Luis Humberto. Puro Border: Dispatches, Snapshots & Graffiti from La Frontera (in English). Cinco Puntos Press, 115. ISBN 0938317598. 
  5. ^ a b Green, Eric. "U.S. Arrests Alleged Mastermind of Mexico-Arizona Drug Tunnel", U.S. Department of State, February 19, 2004. Retrieved on 2008-04-11. 
  6. ^ a b c d e Mallory, Stephen L (2007). Understanding Organized Crime (in English). Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 67. ISBN 0763741086. 
  7. ^ International Narcotics Control Strategy Report - 2008. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (March 2008). Retrieved on 2008-04-11.
  8. ^ a b c Joaquin Guzman-Loera (English). Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Retrieved on 2008-04-11.
  9. ^ a b c "United States of America v. Felipe de Jesus Corona Verbera" (December 7, 2007): 3. United States Court of Appeals. 
  10. ^ a b c "A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border" (January 9, 2008): 12,13. Majority Staff of the House Committee on Homeland Security. 
  11. ^ a b c "Sinaloa Cartel Leader Possibly Dead", Newschannel 5 KRGV, March 28, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-04-11. 
  12. ^ a b c d Oppenheimer, Andres (1996). Bordering on Chaos: Guerrillas, Stockbrokers, Politicians, and Mexico's Road to Prosperity. Little Brown & Co, 298, 202, 300. ISBN 0316650951. 
  13. ^ a b c d Gray, Mike (2000). Drug Crazy: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get Out (in English). Routledge, 136. ISBN 0415926475. 
  14. ^ Bosworth, Barry; Susan Margaret (1997). Coming Together?: Mexico-United States Relations (in English). Brookings Institution Press, 131. ISBN 0815710275. 
  15. ^ a b c DePalma, Anthony (2001). Here: A Biography of the New American Continent. PublicAffairs, 23. ISBN 1891620835. 
  16. ^ Golden, Tim. "Mexicans Capture Drug Cartel Chief in Prelate's Death", New York Times, June 11, 1993. 
  17. ^ a b c d e Noble, John (2006). Mexico. Lonely Planet Publications, 384. ISBN 1740597443. 
  18. ^ "Mexico arrests top drugs suspect", BBC, January 21, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-04-11. 
  19. ^ a b "Mexico Security Memo: April 7, 2008", Strategic Forecast, April 7, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-04-11. 
  20. ^ a b Warnock, John W. (1995). The Other Mexico: The North American Triangle Completed (in English). Black Rose Books Ltd., 230. ISBN 1551640287. 
  21. ^ a b c Samuels, Lennox. "Lieutenant in Mexican drug cartel a wanted man", Dallas Morning News, March 21, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-04-11. 
  22. ^ (November 17, 2005) Weak bilateral law enforcement presence at the U.S.Mexico border. Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives, 11. ISBN 1422334414. 
  23. ^ "Acapulco fears being `Narcapulco'", Miami Herald, February 07, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-04-13. 

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman-Loera on America's Most Wanted

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