Nowadays Mexican cartels are the most powerful in the world and the Sinaloa Cartel is one of them. Stay with me to know its entire story.
The story of the drug cartels is an ostentatious monument to Pedro Avilés Pérez. His initiative to introduce marijuana into the United States by air was the beginning of all the activity that has made them infinitely rich, the possibility of displaying their eccentric toys that range from submarines, gold-plated rifles and zoos with exotic animals to private concerts of world-class musicians and endless parties of orgies.
¿How was the Sinaloa Cartel originated?
The Sinaloa Cartel had its origin in 1989, after Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, the main leader of the Guadalajara Cartel, was captured and transferred to a maximum security prison and could not continue with the control of his organization, causing a division that would give life to two new cartels, among them the one in Sinaloa.
¿Who took control of the Sinaloa Cartel?
The Cartel was under the leadership of Héctor Luis Palma aka “El Güero”, Joaquín Guzmán Loera aka “El Chapo”, Ismael Zambada aka “El Mayo” and Adrián Gómez González.
After the apprehensions of Héctor Luis Palma and Joaquín Guzmán, the activities of the cartel were under the supervision of Ismael Zambada García aka “El Mayo” and his son Vicente Zambada aka “Vicentillo”. The latter was arrested by the Mexican Army in March 2009 and handed over to the United States justice in February 2010. Currently, he is serving a federal felony conviction in a maximum-security prison in Chicago, Michigan, United States.
In 2005, the board of directors of the cartel suffered another division when its partners surnamed Beltrán Leyva in charge of the border with Arizona, in an act of self-confidence decided to take the business as their own and walk on their own with a cartel of their own.
A year later, that rebellion and any vestige of competition or attempts of stores apart from the control of the Sinaloans, were stifled with the collaboration of the same officials of the Mexican government who were in charge of their persecution and capture.
¿How was the existence of the Sinaloa Cartel known?
The existence of the Sinaloa cartel was officially revealed in the midst of a shooting in the Guadalajara airport, capital of the state of Jalisco, Mexico, on May 24, 1993.
After reviewing the deceased because of the exchange of courtesies, the police authorities found that one of them was Cardinal Juan José Posadas Ocampo, Prince of the Catholic Church of Mexican nationality.
That was his punishment for going to pick up the Apostolic Nuncio in the country, in a vehicle of the same characteristics as the one of Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán, better known as “El Chapo”.
The unfortunate shooting was part of the battle between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Tijuana Cartel. Both cartels emerged from the disbanded that began with the dissolution of the Guadalajara Cartel.
¿How and where does the Sinaloa Cartel operate?
The Sinaloa cartel has a presence in 17 Mexican states. Its mission is the distribution of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines and heroin from both Colombia and Southeast Asia, to be introduced both in the United States, and in Europe and South America, using a network of intermediaries that operate the various transport routes and countries where they get officials who collaborate with the traffic.
They haul the drug from the production centers in Colombia, via Guatemala or directly to Mexico, to be delivered to distributors in Tucson, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Chicago, New Jersey and New York, using cargo planes, Boeing 747, submarines, container ships, fishing vessels, launches of different drafts, railway wagons, trailers of tractors and automobiles.
It is suspected that its scope of action extends to Peru, Paraguay and Argentina in an effort to globalize its operations, since it is increasingly difficult to penetrate the territories of the United States and Canada.
The Sinaloa Cartel Suffers Important Casualties
In May 2008, the federal police arrested Alfonso Gutiérrez Loera and five members of his team in Culiacán, Sinaloa. The authorities reported the seizure of an arsenal of 16 assault rifles, 3 grenades, 102 magazines and 3,543 rounds of ammunition.
In February 2009, the United States government announced the arrest of 750 cartel members and the seizure of $ 359 million in cash, vehicles, airplanes and ships.
The following month, the Mexican government proceeded to carry out an operation using a thousand officers of the Federal Investigation Agency that, with five thousand soldiers of the Army, devoted themselves to the reestablishment of order in Ciudad Juarez, after several days of confrontation among members of the Sinaloa and Tijuana cartel for controlling the passage of drugs across the border.
In August of that year, the bad news continued for the Sinaloan boys, when the DEA announced an operation that ended with a distribution network run by the brothers Margarito and Pedro Flores. This network was responsible for introducing into American territory 2 thousand kilos of cocaine per month and to take out the counterpart of cash in the southern border.
In June 2011, elements of the Mexican Army discovered a huge narcolaboratory of synthetic drugs whose General Manager was Hector Villalobos, aka “The Ranger”, who was arrested with a large group of collaborators.
It was evidence that the cartel had ventured into new markets responding to the needs of customers.
The Sinaloa Cartel and The Ántrax
Special mention deserves this special brigade created to rid of all evil the children of Ismael Zambada García aka “El Mayo”.
Their members live in the cities of Zapopan and Guadalajara, both in the state of Jalisco and are distinguished for having each one of them a ring with a skull over diamonds with a meaning associated with the loyalty to their boss, regardless of giving life in an entrusted action and the need to generate fear in their adversaries.
Its founding leader, José Rodrigo Aréchiga Gamboa aka “El Chino Ántrax” was arrested in December 2013 at the Schipol Airport, Amsterdam, Holland, in response to a request from the United States justice under charges related to drug trafficking. After his capture, the special brigade was commanded by Luis Eduardo Zambada aka “El Venado”
To achieve its objectives it resorts to a whole range of violent actions, tortures, beheadings, acid in resistant containers to dissolve corpses, barrels filled with bodies with concrete and thrown into the sea.
The Sinaloa Cartel in the Present
After the extradition of Chapo Guzmán, one of his trusted men, Dámaso López aka El Licenciado, tried to assume the leadership, entering into war against the children of El Chapo, however, everything ended when he was captured on May 2, 2017.
Currently the Mayo Zambada, together with the children of Chapo, lead the cartel.