Het Sinaloakartel (Spaans: Cártel de Sinaloa) is Mexico's grootste drugskartel.Het kartel heeft zijn hoofdbasis in Culiacán, de hoofdstad van de noordwestelijke deelstaat Sinaloa, en werd geleid door Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.Het kartel staat ook bekend als de Guzmán Loera-organisatie, het Pacifisch kartel, de Bloedalliantie en de Confederatie. [19] He filed a guilty plea agreement and agreed to cooperate with the government on 8 November 2018. Inzunza was believed to be one of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's chief cartel leaders. Loya-Castro had become an official informant of the DEA in 2005 but was already providing vital information on rival cartels since the 1990s; such intel was instrumental to the takedown of the Tijuana Cartel, the Sinaloa cartel's main rival, as well as the death of Arturo Beltrán Leyva, who led a splinter group from the Sinaloa cartel. [46] By the mid-1990s, according to one court opinion, it was believed to be the size of the Medellín Cartel during its prime. Note: to turn off these warnings you need to set the 'safe mode' to OFF (on the top right) It also appears to be most active in diversifying its export markets; rather than relying solely on U.S. drug consumption, it has made an effort to supply distributors of drugs in Latin American and European countries.[35]. Warning - thread Sinaloa Cartel, members execute rival drug addicts might contain content that is not suitable for all ages. [105][106], Statements from a Mexican diplomat, which were revealed from leaked emails from the Stratfor leak in 2012, appeared to imply the belief amongst Mexican officials that US officials were assisting the Sinaloa cartel's drug smuggling efforts into the US and were protecting the cartel while attacking its rivals in an attempt to lower violence between Mexican drug cartels; this was backed up by information provided by a Mexican foreign agent, codenamed MX1. El Güero Palma) was arrested on 23 June 1995 by the Mexican Army, his partner Joaquín Guzmán Loera took leadership of the cartel. Case Marks the Most Recent Successful Extradition of a Cartel Member in Long-Running Investigation NEWS RELEASE SUMMARY – November 19, 2020 SAN DIEGO – Ramon Santoyo-Cristobal, aka Dr. Wagner, a former Mexican Federal Police officer and alleged Sinaloa Cartel drug trafficker, was extradited to the United States from Italy yesterday. Mexican authorities arrest Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG members in major blow to drug trafficking organizations Mexico launched a war against drug cartels over a decade ago - Photo: File photo NorCal woman says family’s murders in Mexico were senseless. He was arrested on 30 December 2013 at the Amsterdam airport Schiphol in the Netherlands, at the petition of the United States of America, and with the help of Interpol, on charges related to drug trafficking. The "super tunnels" were equipped with power, ventilation and rail tracks to allow the efficient movement of large loads of narcotics across the U.S.-Mexico border. [27] However, various sources alleged that internal conflicts for the cartel's leadership had recently broken out between the Guzmán and Zambada factions of the organization. [16][17] The cartel is primarily based in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa,[18] with operations in the Mexican states of Baja California, Durango, Sonora, and Chihuahua. In December 2013, three suspected members of the cartel were arrested in Lipa in Batangas province in the Philippines with 84 kilograms of methamphetamine.[61][74]. When the jet landed at the Tijuana airport, both police and military units failed to cordon off the aircraft and the gunmen escaped. Another close associate, Javier Torres Félix, was arrested and extradited to the U.S. in December 2006. [110] The BBC also reported on Vicente Zambada Niebla's claims of immunity from prosecution under a deal between the Mexican and US governments and his claims that the Sinaloa Cartel's leaders had provided US federal agents with information about rival Mexican drug gangs. The Milenio (Michoacán), Jalisco (Guadalajara), Sonora (Sonora), and Colima cartels were now branches of the Sinaloa Cartel. [64][65] El Buda served as the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel's drug trafficking activities and shipments from Central and South America. ", "Hundreds arrested in cross-country campaigns against cartel", "Mexico sending more forces to Ciudad Juárez", "Suspect in Mexican Activist's Killing Arrested", "High-ranking Sinaloa Cartel Member Admits To Drug Trafficking And Violence", "Violence the result of fractured arrangement between Zetas and Gulf Cartel, authorities say", "Polarization and Sustained Violence in Mexico's Cartel War", "Chapo's rise: From poor, abused to cartel kingpin", "Annals of Excavation: Underworld- How the Sinaloa Cartel digs its tunnels", "Mexico Cardinal Slain; Caught in Gun Battle : Violence: 6 others are killed at Guadalajara airport. Stay with me to know its entire story. [50], In January 2008 the cartel allegedly split into a number of warring factions, which is a major cause of the epidemic of drug violence Mexico has seen in the last year. The cartel was founded in 1989 when Mexican smugglers Héctor Palma Salazar, Juan José Esparragoza Moreno and Joaquín Guzmán Loera splintered from the Guadalajara cartel. [102] Another report detailed numerous indications of corruption and influence that the cartel has within the Mexican government. [111] In the same documentary it is shown that the US Justice Department invoked national security reasons to prevent Humberto Loya Castro, the lawyer of the Sinaloa Syndicate, from being summoned as a witness to the trial against Vicente Zambada Niebla. [67][68], In March 2009, the Mexican Government announced the deployment of 1,000 Federal Police officers and 5,000 Mexican Army soldiers to restore order in Ciudad Juárez, which has suffered the highest number of casualties in the country. He is the only individual to receive the title since Al Capone. The cartel is primarily involved in the smuggling and distribution of Colombian cocaine, Mexican marijuana, methamphetamine and Mexican and Southeast Asian heroin into the United States. 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”. Assassins murders member of El Chapo's old Sinaloa Cartel, alongside his wife and two children, aged 2 and 12, in revenge killing for death of fellow gangster [41] This also ended an attempt to recruit former high-ranking Mexican drug lords Rafael and Miguel Caro Quintero as members of the Sinaloa Cartel due to the refusal of El Chapo's sons to grant them leadership status. [40], On 24 June 2020, Zambada was revealed to be "sick with diabetes," which gave El Chapo's sons more influence over the Sinaloa Cartel. Zamdaba has managed to keep a low profile and hasn't been seen in years. Members of the Cartel being caught Credit: Handout Where is he now? The Gangster Disciples are one of the local gangs most actively working with the cartel. As shown by image 3 Drug Trafficking Tunnel, in 2006 the unpermitted development allowed the building of a 2,400-foot (730-meter) drug "super tunnel" originating from the former Ejido Tampico and adjacent to the Tijuana airport's runway. MAYO Zambada is the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, an infamous drug trafficking and crime group that began in the late 1980s. 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. The Sinaloa Cartel has a presence in at least 22 of the 31 Mexican states, with important centers in Mexico City, Tepic, Toluca, Zacatecas, Guadalajara, and most of the state of Sinaloa. Nowadays Mexican cartels are the most powerful in the world and the Sinaloa Cartel is one of them. Zambada will feature … On 11 July 2015 "El Chapo" escaped from a maximum security prison, which is his second successful jailbreak from a maximum security facility in 14 years. The Sinaloa Cartel (Spanish: Cártel de Sinaloa),[9][10] also known as the CDS, the Guzmán-Loera Organization, the Pacific Cartel,[11] the Federation and the Blood Alliance,[12][13][14][15] is a large international drug trafficking, money laundering, and organized crime syndicate established during the late 1980s. "El Muñeco" is considered to be one of the most important lieutenants of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, evident from his control of the planting, production, and trafficking of drugs in Sonora and in the mountains of Chihuahua, which were sent predominantly to the US. [76], The Sinaloa Federation has formed alliances with two powerful Chinese Triads, Sun Yee On and the 14K Triad, to acquire the precursor chemicals needed in creating highly-addictive synthetic drugs like Methamphetamines. [75] In addition to maintaining its anti-Zetas alliance with the Gulf cartel, Sinaloa in 2011 affiliated itself with the Knights Templar in Michoacán, and to counter Los Zetas in Jalisco state, Sinaloa affiliated itself with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. [26], As of 2020, the Sinaloa Cartel remains Mexico's most dominant drug cartel. The capture of the Sinaloa Cartel's "El Chapo" Guzmán ignited a fight over the trial's location. Learn more about the Sinaloa cartel. Sinaloa Cartel: Ismael Zambada García: El Mayo Zambada: $30M: Fugitive-33: Sinaloa Cartel: … [82][83] It was five times longer than the Agua Prieta-Douglas tunnel and became the first of a series of drug "super tunnels" in Otay Mesa originating in and around the Tijuana airport through the former Ejido Tampico. Such information ensured Loya-Castro was immune from prosecution while also keeping the DEA concentrated on Sinaloa's rivals and away from their leadership. 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. As seen on image 1 Drug tunnel corridors the close proximity of the former Ejido Tampico to the Tijuana airport and U.S.-Mexico border made it an ideal staging area for smuggling operations into the United States. However, Mexican officials believe Posadas just happened to be caught in cross fire. Following the 2004 assassination of journalist Roberto Javier Mora García from El Mañana newspaper, much of the local media has been cautious about their reporting of the fighting. [22], The Sinaloa Cartel operates in the "Golden Triangle", the states of Sinaloa, Durango, and Chihuahua. The Sinaloa Cartel is not a hierarchical structure. The tunnel was described by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in San Diego as the "Taj Mahal" of drug tunnels along the U.S.-Mexico border and was linked to Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzmán. As shown by image 2 Ejido Tampico, from 1970 to 2000, the occupied land at the Tijuana airport remained relatively undeveloped. [41] Under Zambada's leadership, the Sinaloa Cartel had been willing to negotiate potential leadership for the Caro Quintero brothers. In particular, the report claimed the government was helping the Sinaloa Cartel to take control of the Juarez Valley area and destroy other cartels, especially the Juarez Cartel. [81] On 31 May 1993, Mexican federal agents searching for the gunmen found a partially completed 1,500 feet (460 m) tunnel adjacent to the Tijuana airport and crossing under the U.S.-Mexico border to a warehouse on Otay Mesa in San Diego. A cross-border raid by U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials resulted in the arrest of 24 Sinaloa cartel members, authorities said. At that point his nephews, the Arellano Félix brothers, left and created their own organization which came to be known as the Tijuana Cartel, while the Sinaloa Cartel continued to be run by former lieutenants Héctor Luis Palma Salazar, Adrián Gómez González and Joaquín Guzmán Loera (El Chapo). [25] As of 2017[update], the Sinaloa Cartel is the most active drug cartel involved in smuggling illicit drugs into the United States and trafficking them throughout the country. The region is a major producer of Mexican opium and marijuana. [20] It has repeatedly been said to be one of the strongest criminal organizations and the most powerful in Mexico since at least the late 2000s and early 2010s by various sources including the Los Angeles Times. Sinaloa cartel, international crime organization that is among the most-powerful drug-trafficking syndicates in the world. 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. After the assassination of Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo and six others at the Guadalajara airport on 24 May 1993,[80] the gunmen boarded a commercial jet. Both were associated with the Sinaloa Cartel. 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. [12][43][5][6], Before his arrest, Vicente Zambada Niebla ("El Vicentillo"), son of Ismael Zambada García ("El Mayo"), played a key role in the Sinaloa Cartel. [88][89], Similar to the "Taj Mahal" of drug tunnels discovered on Otay Mesa in 1993,[82] the 2006 drug "super tunnel" was traced back to the Sinaloa Cartel. Top News Videos for sinaloa cartel members. [33] When Héctor Luis Palma Salazar (a.k.a. The resulting products are shipped to the United States and many South American countries. Currently, he is serving a federal felony conviction in a maximum-security prison in Chicago, Michigan, United States. [112][113][114] Evidence that runs counter to a mistake theory is that Posadas did not look anything like Guzmán, he was wearing a long black cassock and a large pectoral cross, and he was gunned down from only two feet away. The Sinaloa cartel's loss of partners in Mexico does not appear to have affected its ability to smuggle drugs from South America to the USA. [47] The Nuevo Laredo region is an important drug trafficking corridor into Laredo, Texas, where as much as 40% of all Mexican exports pass through into the U.S. The drug war has spread to various regions of Mexico, such as Guerrero, Mexico City, Michoacán and Tamaulipas. In the U.S. he has an outstanding arrest warrant since 13 September 2012 (indictment case #: 14CR0722-DMS) for his involvement in drug trafficking. One report quotes a former Juarez police commander who claimed the entire department was working for the Sinaloa Cartel and helping it to fight other groups. [64][65], On 11 May 2008, Alfonso Gutiérrez Loera, cousin of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera, and 5 other drug traffickers were arrested after a shootout with Federal Police officers in Culiacan, Sinaloa. 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. San Diego authorities bust 'three members' of Sinaloa Cartel and confiscate $3.5 million cash, $28 million in cocaine and ammunition at a truck yard By … On 8 November 1992, Palma struck out against the Tijuana Cartel at a disco club in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, where eight Tijuana Cartel members were killed in the shootout, the Arellano-Félix brothers having successfully escaped from the location with the assistance of David "D" Barron, a member of the Logan Heights Gang. It is believed that a group known as the Herrera Organization would transport multi-ton quantities of cocaine from South America to Guatemala on beha… [78][79] Following the discovery by U.S. Customs and Mexican Federal Police, the Sinaloa Cartel began to focus their smuggling operations towards Tijuana and Otay Mesa, San Diego where it acquired a warehouse in 1992. Ovidio is said to be an active member of El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel. He was arrested by the Mexican Army on 18 March 2009 and extradited on 18 February 2010 to Chicago to face federal charges. According to the Sedena he is the assumed assassin of activist Nepomuceno Moreno Núñez, which occurred 28 November 2011. The Sinaloa Cartel has been waging a war against the Tijuana Cartel (Arellano-Félix Organization) over the Tijuana smuggling route to the border city of San Diego, California. When the Mexican government failed to indemnify the ejidatarios for their lost farmland, they reoccupied a 79 hectares (200 acres) portion of the Tijuana airport and threatened armed conflict. [3][34] Guzmán was captured in Guatemala on 9 June 1993, and extradited to Mexico, where he was jailed in a maximum security prison, but on 19 January 2001, Guzmán escaped and resumed his command of the Sinaloa Cartel. Los Negros have been known to employ gangs such as the Mara Salvatrucha to carry out murders and other illegal activities. José Rodrigo Aréchiga Gamboa (alias "Chino Antrax") was a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel. 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