| Osiel Cárdenas Guillén | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 18, 1967 Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico |
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Occupation | Gulf Cartel's drug lord |
| Known for | Drug lord and murder |
| Home town | Matamoros, Tamaulipas, |
| Predecessor | Juan García Abrego |
| Successor | Heriberto Lazcano, Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez, Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillen |
| Notes
Arrested on 2003, sentenced to 25 years.
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Osiel Cárdenas Guillén is a former Mexican drug lord and the former leader of the Gulf Cartel (Spanish: Cártel del Golfo). Originally a mechanic in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, where he was born, he entered the Gulf Cartel by helping Juan García Abrego, the capo at the time; when García was arrested in 1995, some infighting erupted within the cartel. Osiel Cárdenas eventually took control by killing his friend and contender Salvador Gómez, earning Cárdenas the nickname "El Mata Amigos" (The Friend-Killer).
Osiel's brother Mario works for the Gulf cartel, as did another brother, Ezequiel, who was killed by Mexican Marines on November 5, 2010.
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After Osiel Cárdenas took full control of the Gulf Cartel in 1999, he found himself in a no-holds-barred fight to keep his notorious organization and leadership untouched, and sought out members of the Mexican Army Special Forces to become the military armed-wing of the Gulf Cartel.[1] His goal was to protect himself from rival drug cartels and from the Mexican military, in order to perform vital functions as the leader of the most powerful drug cartel in Mexico.[2] His top recruit, Arturo Guzmán Decena, brought more than 30 army deserters to form part of Cárdenas’ new paramilitary wing, Los Zetas.[3] Among the original defectors were Jaime González Durán,[4] Jesús Enrique Rejón Aguilar,[5] Miguel Treviño Morales,[6] and Heriberto Lazcano,[7] now the supreme leader of Los Zetas. The creation of Los Zetas brought a new era of drug trafficking in Mexico, and little did Cárdenas know that he was creating the most dangerous drug cartel in the country.[8]
As years passed, the role of Los Zetas became much more important for the Gulf Cartel; they began to organize kidnappings,[9] impose “taxes” and operate protection rackets,[10] control the extortion business,[11] and protecting the drug routes as sicarios,[12] often executing their rivals with grotesque savagery. In response to the rising power of the Gulf Cartel, the rival Sinaloa Cartel[13] established a heavily armed, well-trained enforcer group known as Los Negros.[14] The group operated similar to Los Zetas, but with less complexity and success. The death of Arturo Guzmán Decena (2002),[15] and the capture of Rogelio González Pizaña (2004),[16] the second-in-line, marked the opportunity for Heriberto Lazcano to take charge of Los Zetas.
In a November afternoon of 1999, Cárdenas learned that a Gulf Cartel informant was being transported through Matamoros, Tamaulipas, by the FBI and DEA.[17] According to the story mentioned in the interviews 11 years after this life-or-death incident, the DEA agent Joe DuBois and FBI agent Daniel Fuentes were riding in a white Ford Bronco with diplomatic plates along the streets of Matamoros, Tamaulipas.[18] For years, both were working for the disarticulation of the cartels in Mexico, and both knew how the drug cartels worked south of the border. In the back seat of the car, a Mexican informant from a local newspaper on crime coverage guided the two agents and gave them a tour on the city's drug routes and on the homes of the drug lords of the city. They even cruised on Cárdenas' house, a pink-colored mansion with tall walls, security cameras, armed guards and roof-snipers. Within moments, according to DuBois, a Lincoln Continental was on their tail, then a stolen pickup truck with Texan plates.[19] The federal agents were cut off and surrounded by at least five vehicles, including one by a former state police officer. Just yards away from Matamoros' police department, the agents were surrounded by a convoy of gunmen from the Gulf Cartel.[20] Some wore police and military uniforms.[21] Nearby, other men, also in police uniform, directed traffic.
Cárdenas and his men intercepted and surrounded the vehicle on a public street and demanded for the informant to be released to him.[22] According to the two agents, the Gulf Cartel sicarios outnumbered and outgunned them. Their only way out was to talk their way out.[23] Cárdenas arrived seconds later in a white Jeep Cherokee, approaching the two agents with the swagger of the man in charge. In his waistband, he wore a Colt pistol with a gold grip; in his hands, a gold-plated AK-47.[24] Cárdenas pounded the Ford Bronco and calmly asked for the informant. Fuentes flashed his FBI badge, giving Cárdenas a smile. In an ongoing discourse, Cárdenas told the agents that he would shoot them if they did not surrender. The two agents refused to do so, saying they were dead either way. He gave them another choice: to hand over the informant. Again, they refused.[25]
DuBois, who grew up in Mexico and was a police officer in neighboring Brownsville, Texas, recalled how Cárdenas "did not give a damn who [they were]," while DuBois replied to him: "You don't care now, but tomorrow and the next day and the rest of your life, you'll regret anything stupid that you might do right now. You are fixing to make 300,000 enemies."[26] Then, Fuentes reminded Cárdenas how the U.S. launched a massive manhunt and investigation after the kidnap, torture, and assassination of the DEA agent Enrique Camarena in 1985 in Mexico.[27] All of the killers and accomplices were captured in that U.S. operation.[28]
After a tense standoff, DuBois and Fuentes, along with their informant, were released.[29] The two agents and the informant headed off to Brownsville, Texas. As for Cárdenas, the damage had been done by taking on the U.S. government, which placed pressure on the Mexican government to apprehend Cárdenas. The two agents, Joe DuBois and Daniel Fuentes, were recognized by the U.S. attorney general for their 'exceptional heroism,' and both are still on the job.[30] The Mexican informant is living somewhere in the United States.[31]
The former leader of the Gulf Cartel, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, was captured in the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, on March 14, 2003 in a shootout between the Mexican military and Gulf Cartel gunmen.[32] He was one of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, which was offering $2 million for his capture.[33] According to government archives, this six-month military operation was planned and carried out in secret; the only people informed were the President Vicente Fox, the Secretary of Defense in Mexico, Ricardo Clemente Vega García, and Mexico's Attorney General, Rafael Macedo de la Concha.[34] After his capture, Osiel Cárdenas was sent to the federal, high-security prison La Palma.[35] On May 1, 2008, while still in jail, Cárdenas threw a 'Day of the Child' party for 2,000 people in Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, complete with banners, ponies, clowns, food and music.[36]Because it was believed that Cárdenas still controlled the Gulf Cartel from prison,[37] he was later extradited to the United States in January 2007.
Many details about Cardenas' court records remained sealed. Partially unsealed records clearly show that he pleaded guilty to money laundering, drug trafficking, homicide and death threats to U.S. federal agents on Thursday, July 30, 2009. Cardenas appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Hilda Tagle in Houston, Texas on Wednesday, February 24, 2010. Judge Tagle sentenced Cardenas to 25 years in a prison, fined him $100,000 dollars and accepted a $50 million dollar forefeiture. [38]
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