Sinaloa Cartel

The Sinaloa Cartel is a Mexican drug trafficking cartel primarily operating out of the states of Sinaloa, Durango, Sonora and Chihuahua.cite book|last=Freeman|first=Laurie|title=State of Siege:Drug-Related Violence and Corruption in Mexico|publisher=Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars|pages=7,13,15|url=http://www.wilsoncenter.org/news/docs/State_of_Siege_WOLA.pdf] cite book|last=Bailey|first=John J.|coauthors=Roy Godson|title=Organized Crime and Democratic Governability: Mexico and the U.S.-Mexican Borderlands|publisher=Univ of Pittsburgh Press|date=2000|pages=146|isbn=0822957582|language=English] 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.cite news|url=http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN07300830|title=Mexico blames Gulf cartel for surge in drug murders|last=Rama|first=Anahi|date=April 7, 2008|publisher=Reuters|accessdate=2008-04-11]

Operations

The Sinaloa Cartel is most notably headed by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, and prior to his arrest, Héctor "El Guero" Palma Salazar.cite book|last=Crosthwaite|first=Luis Humberto|title=Puro Border: Dispatches, Snapshots & Graffiti from La Frontera|publisher=Cinco Puntos Press|pages=115|isbn=0938317598|language=English] 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.cite news|title=U.S. Arrests Alleged Mastermind of Mexico-Arizona Drug Tunnel|last=Green|first=Eric|date=February 19, 2004|publisher=U.S. Department of State|accessdate=2008-04-11] cite book|last=Mallory|first=Stephen L|title=Understanding Organized Crime|publisher=Jones & Bartlett Publishers|date=2007|pages=67|isbn=0763741086|language=English] 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.cite web|url=http://www.state.gov/p/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2008/vol1/html/100774.htm|title=International Narcotics Control Strategy Report - 2008|date=March 2008|publisher=Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs|accessdate=2008-04-11] 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.cite web|url=http://www.state.gov/p/inl/narc/rewards/39413.htm|title=Joaquin Guzman-Loera|publisher=Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs|language=English|accessdate=2008-04-11]

In the late 1980s, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration believed the Sinaloa Cartel was the largest drug trafficking organization operating in Mexico.cite journal|date=December 7, 2007|title=United States of America v. Felipe de Jesus Corona Verbera|publisher=United States Court of Appeals|pages=3|url=http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/coa/newopinions.nsf/CC8D42315C276B93882573AA004FEBC4/$file/0610538.pdf?openelement] By the mid-1990s it was believed to be the size of the Medellín Cartel during its prime. 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.cite journal|date=January 9, 2008|title=A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border|publisher=Majority Staff of the House Committee on Homeland Security|pages=12,13|url=http://www.house.gov/mccaul/pdf/Investigaions-Border-Report.pdf]

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.cite news|url=http://www.newschannel5.tv/2008/3/28/988823/Sinaloa-Cartel-Leader-Possibly-Dead|title=Sinaloa Cartel Leader Possibly Dead|date=March 28, 2008|publisher=Newschannel 5 KRGV|accessdate=2008-04-11]

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. [http://borderreporter.com/?p=152]

Leadership

Hector Palma

Héctor "El Guero" Palma took leadership following the arrest of partner Joaquín Guzmán. 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.cite book|last=Oppenheimer|first=Andres|title=Bordering on Chaos: Guerrillas, Stockbrokers, Politicians, and Mexico's Road to Prosperity|publisher=Little Brown & Co|date=1996|pages=298, 202, 300|isbn=0316650951] 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.cite book|last=Gray|first=Mike|title=Drug Crazy: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get Out|publisher=Routledge|date=2000|pages=136|isbn=0415926475|language=English] It was believed by Palma that Félix Gallardo sent Clavel to infiltrate Palma's organization.

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.

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.

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. 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.cite book|last=DePalma|first=Anthony|title=Here: A Biography of the New American Continent|publisher=PublicAffairs|date=2001|pages=23|isbn=1891620835] cite book|last=Warnock|first=John W.|title=The Other Mexico: The North American Triangle Completed|publisher=Black Rose Books Ltd.|date=1995|pages=230|isbn=1551640287|language=English] The Cardinal arrived at the airport in a Mercury Grand Marquis town car, known to be popular amongst drug barons, making it a target. 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.

Los Negros

Los Negros are a narco-military unit formed by the Sinaloa Cartel to counter the operations of the Gulf Cartel's Los Zetas.cite news|url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-31729154_ITM|title=Lieutenant in Mexican drug cartel a wanted man|last=Samuels|first=Lennox|date=March 21, 2006|publisher=Dallas Morning News|accessdate=2008-04-11] 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. Los Negros have been known to employ gangs such as the Mexican Mafia and MS-13 to carry out murders and other illegal activities.cite book|title=Weak bilateral law enforcement presence at the U.S.Mexico border|publisher=Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives|date=November 17, 2005|pages=11|isbn=1422334414] Los Negros has been reported as recruiting from their rival group Los Zetas.cite book|last=Noble|first=John|title=Mexico|publisher=Lonely Planet Publications|date=2006|pages=384|isbn=1740597443] The group is currently involved in fighting in the Nuevo Laredo region for control of the drug trafficking corridor.

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. 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. 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.

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. 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.

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. [cite news|title=Acapulco fears being `Narcapulco'|date=February 07, 2006|publisher=Miami Herald|accessdate=2008-04-13]

References

External links

* [http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=25154 Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman-Loera on America's Most Wanted]