El Cartel de Sinaloa

[Cranz]

 

The impact of Mexican cartels in United States and the influence they hold

 

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Mexican cartels can be considered an organized crime organization similar to how an Italian or an Irish mob works. These organized crime groups operate globally, engaging in a variety of illegal activities such as drug trafficking, money laundering and human trafficking. Comparing the influence between many organized crime organizations, Cartels have their dominance domestically on their home turf along with internationally. Many ask on how they're able to accomplish that. The main way is through targeting and exploiting minority groups for financial gain along with fear. Cartels are ruthless compared to others and are not afraid to bring blood into the conversation. As many know, Italian Mob along with Irish are known to be defunct around the United States. However, Cartels are still proactively seen through the nation on both West and East coast. To gain influence over police and other law enforcement agencies, courts and correctional institutions, cartels often attempt to bribe officials and, in some cases, even place their own members in positions of power. This strategy enables cartels to gain long-term influence within these organizations.

 

Cartel activities within the United States are often done through other groups. They create a relationship within the American streets such as various gangs to proactively push their narcotics, extortion, and many other activities. Due to this reason, it is sometimes hard for officer, deputies, or even agents to detect cartel influence within those groups due to the obvious reasons of them having their own motives for financial gain. The most popular is the Sinaloa Cartel, who are an extensive organization in Mexico, and also hold a network for smaller organizations such as gangs to work underneath then. Even though, the local and the US government tried to cease their activities. The cartel still remain powerful due to its international influence, along with having control over the upper echelons of the Mexican government. This allows them to have a more structured and organized approach to their issues. Furthermore, another thing that many need to recognize is that they have extensive influence over 50 countries. 

 

Cartels tend to recruit people within the United States and directly target violent American gangs such as Bloods, the Crips, 18th Street, and Aryan Brotherhood to work both sides of the United States and Mexican border. These links are the most influenced around Texas, California, and Washington DC. Law enforcement agencies have to use a lot of time and resources to combat cartel activities. In addition to that, they fail majority of the times due to the fear of giving out information. Some of the tactics that LEO agencies use are investigations, arrests, confiscating illicit assets, and even lying to gain any forms of information. Drug cartels post a threat to both law enforcement and communities within the USA, through drugs and violence. Their operations have put many lives in danger, along with local authorities and communities having a bad relationship over the matters. There has been a surge of addiction rates, overdoses, and drug-related criminal activities due to the distribution and the scale of influence that these cartels hold. 

 

 

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Origins & Rise

The Sinaloa Cartel emerged in the late 1980s from the fragmentation of the Guadalajara Cartel following the arrest of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo. Key founders included Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán and Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.

 

Leveraging the Golden Triangle (Sinaloa, Durango, Chihuahua) — a prime region for poppy and cannabis cultivation — the cartel developed smuggling tunnels, bribery networks, and sophisticated drug routes. These methods helped it overpower rival groups like the Tijuana and Juárez cartels throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

 

 

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Structure & Operations

• The cartel operates as a decentralized federation, made up of semi-autonomous factions such as:

  • Los Chapitos (El Chapo’s sons)

  • El Mayo Zambada’s faction

  • Other regional leaders like Rafael Caro Quintero

• Its criminal portfolio spans across drug trafficking—marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl — and also includes extortion, taxing of other criminal groups, and infiltration of institutions.

• The cartel has global reach — active in over 50 countries — with major focus on drug distribution to the U.S.

 

 

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Influence & Innovation

• Known as one of the most powerful and long-standing criminal organizations, the Sinaloa Cartel’s revenue estimates range from $3 billion to nearly $39 billion annually.

• It's trafficking infrastructure from the Golden Triangle to U.S. markets earned it the label of the dominant cartel in the Western Hemisphere.

 

 

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Recent Challenges & Violence

• Despite historic resilience, the cartel has faced intensifying internal conflicts, especially between the Chapitos faction and El Mayo’s group. These conflicts have led to waves of violence, including attacks on hospitals in Culiacán and deadly turf battles.

• Major law enforcement operations:

  • Operation Mongoose Azteca (2022–2023) resulted in the capture of Ovidio Guzmán López, which triggered violent retaliation in Culiacán.

  • In 2024, U.S. authorities arrested both Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López, further destabilizing leadership.

• The cartel remains deeply embedded in U.S. communities with sophisticated distribution networks across cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, contributing significantly to the fentanyl and methamphetamine crisis.

• Sinaloa Cartel’s global expansion of violence includes exporting cartel warfare tactics to countries like Ecuador, where it has fueled mass violence and instability.

• Large-scale interventions have disrupted their operations, such as the U.S. seizure of over 1,300 barrels of methamphetamine precursor chemicals destined for the cartel — worth an estimated $569 million — marking one of the largest busts to date.

Edited September 4 by Cranz

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Edited August 15, 2024 by Cranz

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Edited August 16, 2024 by Cranz

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Edited August 16, 2024 by Cranz

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[SPACEFUNK]

Keep it up homie

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