Mexico like many other countries have been combating organized crime for many years. These organized crime cartels have cause Mexico more than 6 years of murders, increased violence, drug trafficking, among other criminal activities. The most notorious drug cartels are as follows; The Sinaloa Cartel, The Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO), The Juarez Cartel, The Knights Templar, The Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas, and The Tijuana Cartel. These are the 7 most notorious cartels of many more groups residing in Mexico. It is important to know the characteristics of these cartels to understand any future activities from these groups; and whether they are a potential risk to the United States. In this paper, these 7 cartels will be analyzed to understand the …show more content…
Considered one of the largest most powerful drug trafficking organizations. The Sinaloa Cartel according to CS Monitor (2011), was founded in Culiacan, Sinaloa in the early 1970’s. From the early beginnings it worked alongside with the Colombian cartel to contraband marijuana, cocaine, and poppy cultivation. (Llana, 2011). The Colombian organized crime group was one of the most powerful groups operating in the 70’s; therefore, they needed to find a Mexican cartel to distribute their goods into the U.S. This is where the Sinaloa cartel became associated with the Colombians and worked together using the Sinaloa’s routes and territories to cross their goods. Correspondingly, you have probably noticed the past years; Ciudad Juarez was considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Research shows, the violence in Ciudad Juarez has been attributed to the Sinaloa cartel. Due to the cartels efforts to take over the Juarez cartel’s drug …show more content…
Research shows, it is one of the oldest surviving drug-trafficking group since founded in the 1980’s. It was once one of the most powerful cartels in Mexico until the Sinaloa cartel took their territory in 2004, influencing them to ally with Los Zetas and BLO to regain their territory. Initially, the cartel began in the narcotics business, using the Juarez boarder as their corridor. They later branched out into human trafficking, kidnapping, and extortion (Bender, 2014). Given that the Sinaloa cartel took the Juarez cartel’s territory. It caused violence to erupt in Ciudad Juarez. Why? Because that was the land both cartels were fighting for. As previously mentioned, Juarez is a Bordertown with El Paso, Texas. Once again, the violence could potentially spill over into the United States. Additionally, the Juarez cartel has a hierarchy structure that adds on to the violence in Mexico, specifically in Ciudad Juarez. As InSight Crime (2015) writes, the Juarez cartel had a firm hold on Ciudad Juarez and El Valle de Juarez. Along with politicians and state, local police. They have an alliance with local street gangs who are their enforcers operating; kidnappings, and human trafficking operations (InSight Crime, 2015). Essentially, while the Juarez cartel is focuses on the transportation and distribution of illegal drugs. Their local street gang allies oversee smaller operations mentioned above. These smaller operations are
There are seven drug cartels in Mexico (CRS 1). The most important cartels are Sinaloa and Juarez. The Sinaloa cartel operates in the states of Nayarit, Sinaloa and Mexico State (Reforma 1). The Juarez cartel operates in Sinaloa, Nuevo León, Chihuahua, Jalisco, Morelos; and Quintana Roo. Mexican cartels employ individuals and groups of enforcers, known as sicarios. Statistics show that more than twenty people are killed daily in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua in crimes related to drugs. Drug lords send their gunmen to strategic places where innocent people that are in the wrong place at the wrong time are killed. Narco Lords like Vicente Carrillo Fuentes and Joaquin el Chapo Guzman, fight among themselves for the
Mexico has a long history of cartels the deaths, drugs and weapon trafficking is in all time high increasing year by year. “Mexico's gangs have flourished since the late 19th century, mostly in the north due to their proximity to towns along the U.S.-Mexico border. But it was the American appetite for cocaine in the 1970s that gave Mexican drug cartels immense power to manufacture and transport drugs across the border. Early Mexican gangs were primarily situated in border towns where prostitution, drug use, bootlegging and extortion flourished” (Wagner). They keep themselves armed and ready with gun supplies shipped from the U.S, taking control of the drug trades. The violence is spilling so out of control that
Mexican Drug Cartels have been a problem for many years. The cartels are an organized crime organization and they don’t just deal drugs; they commit murders too. The Cartels origins are traced back to the Columbian Cali and Medellin mega-cartels who were responsible for the majority of drug trafficking into the United States. Crime has existed for many years but it surfaced more when Pablo Escobar was popular. Pablo Escobar was one the main transporters for cocaine throughout Mexico and the United States coming straight out of Columbia. Law enforcement tried to stop the drug trade but Escobar formed a relationship with Mexico-based traffickers who smuggled drugs into the United States. Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo also known as “The Godfather” of the cartels. Seeing how he established the Guadalajara Cartel, which is recognized as the first Mexican Cartel, and were the first to link up with Escobar and started the transportation of cocaine
At first, Mexican drug cartels were structured just like family owned businesses. There would be a family member who was the main drug lord and cousins and uncles of the family would be the body guards and drug dealers. After the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) lost their power within the Mexican government the structure of drug cartels became much more complex. A hierarchical diffusion is seen within the drug cartel system because the drugs spread from one important drug lord to another, and we generally see this happening in the urban part of Mexico, more than in the rural areas. A corporate structure began forming as hierarchies began developing under drug lords and more people got involved. Professor Guillermo Trejo of Notre Dame 's Kellogg Institute claims that once the PRI lost their power there was a rapid increase in violence. This is because of Mexico’s former President, Felipe Calderón, who politically associates with the National Action Party (PAN). In 2006 President Calderón declared war on the drug cartels. This milestone triggered a huge change within Mexico’s international relations, government, and culture.
Many critics are now making comparisons between the Mexican drug cartels, like the one mentioned above, and legitimate corporations like Netflix, or Google. There are currently seven major Mexican drug cartels. Although, the cartels may all come from different backgrounds and have different approaches towards trafficking drugs, they all share a similar business style structure to
Mexico border and a great threat because of the drug trafficking across the state line. This is a highly structured gang and is said the have about 1,300 members which most are Mexican American males. This gang smuggles very large quantities of powdered cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and tons of marijuana from Mexico.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice National Drug Intelligence Center, drug cartels can be define as “…large, highly sophisticated organizations composed of multiple [Drug Trafficking Organizations] DTOs and cells with specific assignments such as drug transportation, security/enforcement, or money laundering” (2010). Also, it is mention within this national drug threat assessment that was done by the U.S. Department of Justice, that the “greatest drug trafficking threat” to the United States is “Mexico” (2010). With this been said one can understand that the roots majority of the criminal groups that operate domestically within the U.S. can be traced back to Mexico. So, in order to understand how this criminal organizations form
The most prominent leader of the Mexican Drug Cartel is Omar Treviño Morales who took the seat of power after his brother Miguel Treviño Morales after being arrested by the
They are mostly situated near the northern, west coast, east coast, and southern border regions. The Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel are two main examples of this. They have set up and taken over trafficking cocaine produced in Colombia and exporting it to the rest of the world. However, what makes Mexico unique from Colombia is that there is an ongoing constant struggle for power between rival cartels. Over time one weakens, and another topples it, effectively taking over the business and becoming the next major enemy of the state. Currently, there are about 7 major cartels that include; Los Zetas, La Familia, Juarez Cartel, Tijuana Cartel, Gulf Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel, and the Knights Templar. This staggering number of Cartels all within close proximity of one another, creates an environment hostile to everyone that resides or finds themselves in these heavily contested areas. These include, but are not limited to innocent civilians, tourists, to politicians and even police officers. Certain cartels have different values, targeting specific people and willing to do certain things to express and convey a message in order to gain the attention that they crave.
The most activity that these cartels do is around the United States and Mexican border by transporting illegal substances and even people and putting many people in danger not just in Mexico but in the United States. But also the economy is being hurt because the United States losing about one point six million dollars annually to these cartels contributing to smuggling and the U.S is number drug using country all around the world. While more and more smuggling is happening cartel kingpin for example Joaquin Guzman is getting more powerful and being the number one supplier to Chicago that most of these narcotics are being distributed. Statistics of that came from the DEA reports that cartel presence in the United States cities are getting bigger from the years of two-thousand-eight to twenty-eleven climbing the scale to twelve hundred on the number of reports from American communities that suspected narcotics presence. Making the struggle to make communities more secure but organizations that are not affiliated to the government are helping to get rid all this problematic situations with cartels such as the Chicago Crime
SinaloaMore…Signal drug cartel, is the biggest and most powerful drug trafficking organization in North, Central and South America. Which was established in the 80s and operates in several Mexican states and many other countries with criminal activities such as money laundering. It has grown far beyond our borders and is now believed to be very influential and a far-reaching drug organization in the United States. The cartel members rely on connections at the highest levels and are led by Mexico's mighty drug lord Joaquin GuzmanGuzman's alias “El Chapo” who recently escaped from a maximum-security prison in Mexico. SinaloaMore…Signal has long been connected with contraband drugs in Mexico, as well as the location for marijuana and poppy cultivation.
Recognized as one of the most fearless and violent cartels in all of Mexico, Los Zetas was brought forth by a need for personal security in the Gulf Cartel. This former hit man/security style operation, active since 1997, has since grown into its own ruthless and violent organization becoming the second most powerful cartel and easily the most feared in all of Mexico. Heavily trained and armed, members of Los Zetas are set apart from other cartels because of the level of brutality they are willing to administer to those who cross them, though they had initially hoped that by being more intimidating they would have to fight less. It is their command of the drug market, their lack of fear in using violent tactics, and the
During the mid-2000’s former President of Mexico Felipe Calderon announced his war on the cartels and led to a crackdown against these organizations, along with assistance with
The government has made some gains, but at a heavy price. A total of 34,612 people have died in drug-related killings in Mexico in the first four years (Siddique). Most of these killing are between cartel rivals fighting for the control of territories. There are five cartels operating in Mexico: the Sinaloa, the Gulf, Juarez, Tijuana, the Zetas. The major cartels are the Gulf, Sinaloa and Juarez (Cook 21). Many of these cartels have joined together forming powerful alliances known as the “Federation” (Cook 17). The cartels work together, but they remain independent organizations.
Drug cartels have grown and expanded throughout the interior and exterior of states for many years. The way drugs started to be introduced to Mexico, Colombia, and other places around the world was believed to be a myth. It was a tale that was known by many through storytelling, which over the years turned into an actual realistic issue. One of the most known cartels that existed for a long time was The Medellin Cartel. It became a subculture of its own, creating a world full of violence, women, money, firearms, death but most importantly power and fear. Located in Colombia this brutal subculture will show how they become one of the wealthiest subculture in the world surpassing even its own country’s riches.