Sinaloa Cartel Analysis

951 Words4 Pages

Introduction Smuggling contraband across the American border is as old as the borders themselves. Everything from people to cars and other items. The most noteworthy contraband that is smuggled into the United States is drugs. The most notable drugs smuggled across the US and Mexico border is cocaine and marijuana. Currently it is estimated that the “drug cartels make $19 to $29 billion annually from US drug sales” (CNN, 2017, para. 4). The drug smuggling business is nothing new. One could trace drug smuggling back to the Chinese and its opium back in the 1800 and early 1900’s. Eventual the drug smuggling evolved into cocaine and marijuana coming in from Mexico starting in the 70’s with the well know cartels. Many bills and laws were passed …show more content…

This cartel was led by “Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán” (Beittel, 2017, p.13) until his capture in 2014. The Sinaloa Cartel is perhaps the oldest and most profitable cartel in Mexico that controls “40-60% of the drug trade in Mexico” (Keefe, Patrick R, 2012, p.7). This percentage of drug trade makes this cartel billions of dollars annually. An interesting thing about this cartel is that they don’t only have business in the US, they supply vitally the entire world with cocaine, marijuana, and heroin. This cartel is also known for its ruthless killing techniques and its ingenuity in developing new ways to escape detection of Mexican and US …show more content…

The Tijuana Cartel is based in and around Tijuana, Mexico, very close to the California border. It is currently ran by Francisco Rafael Arellano-Felix (Department of Treasury, 2009). This cartel was very successful in drug trafficking due to their location. The Tijuana area is known as a key area to smuggle drugs into the US with ease. In controlling this area, the cartel could impose a tax on any other drug cartels that wanted to use this corridor. This group split in 2008 due to a high-ranking lieutenant “allied with the Sinaloa Cartel” (Beittel, 2017, p.15). This split caused the Tijuana area to become a war zone in the fight to control the corridor. Even with the split, the Arellano Felix Organization is rumored to still control the

More about Sinaloa Cartel Analysis