Guadalajara Cartel

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Lore & Background

The cartel's origins trace back to the aftermath of Operation Condor, a Mexican antidrug program in the 1970s that pushed many traffickers from Sinaloa to regroup in Guadalajara, Jalisco. The regrouping led to the formation of the Guadalajara Cartel sometime in 1980. Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, a former federal police officer, started by brokering corruption of state officials. His partners, Rafael Caro Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, had previously worked in the Avilés criminal organization and took control of trafficking routes after Avilés was killed in a shootout with MFJP police officers. It is believed Avilés was set up by Fonseca, the gang's treasurer. The cartel prospered from the cocaine trade, with Juan Matta-Ballesteros serving as its primary connection to the Colombian cocaine cartels. Rather than taking cash payments, the cartel took a 50% cut of the cocaine they transported from Colombia, with some estimating the network pulled in $5 billion annually. The organization suffered a major blow in 1985 when co-founder Rafael Caro Quintero was captured and later convicted for the torture and murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena. After the arrests of Caro Quintero and Fonseca Carrillo in April 1985, Félix Gallardo kept a low profile and in 1987 moved with his family to Guadalajara city. He then convened the nation's top drug narcos at a house in Acapulco where he designated the plazas (turfs) or territories, dividing up the trade. The Tijuana route went to his nephews, the Arellano Félix brothers. The Ciudad Juárez route went to the Carrillo Fuentes family, headed by Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the nephew of Fonseca Carrillo. Miguel Caro Quintero would run the Sonora corridor. Control of the Matamoros, Tamaulipas corridor – then becoming the Gulf Cartel – was left undisturbed.

In Their Own Story

In November 1984, authorities burned more than 10,000 tons of marijuana at a 2,500 acre plantation known as Rancho Búfalo in the state of Chihuahua – a loss of around $160 million. This allegedly prompted Rafael Caro Quintero and other high-ranking members to seek revenge against the DEA and agent Enrique Camarena. On February 7, 1985, Camarena and his pilot Alfredo Zavala Avelar were kidnapped in Guadalajara in broad daylight by several DFS officers. They were taken to a residence owned by Quintero at 881 Lope de Vega in the colonia of Jardines del Bosque, where they were brutally tortured and murdered. Over the course of the 30-plus hour torture session, Camarena's skull, jaw, nose, cheekbones, windpipe, and ribs were broken; a doctor was brought in to administer drugs to keep him conscious. The kidnappers made audio recordings of parts of the interrogation. The final blow was delivered when his torturers crushed his skull with a piece of rebar or other similar piece of metal. About a month later, the corpses were taken to the neighboring state of Michoacán and dumped in a roadside ditch, discovered on March 5, 1985. Caro Quintero left Mexico on March 9, 1985, with his associates and his girlfriend Sara Cristina Cosío Gaona. Former Mexican Judicial Police chief Armando Pavón Reyes, after receiving a $300,000 bribe, reportedly allowed Caro Quintero to flee from the airport in Guadalajara in a private jet to seek refuge in Costa Rica. It was also alleged that just eight days prior to Camarena's kidnapping, Caro Quintero had ordered the abduction, torture, and murder of writer John Clay Walker and dentistry student Albert Radelat on January 30, 1985. The two Americans were dining in a Guadalajara restaurant when they encountered Caro Quintero and his men, accidentally walking into one of Quintero's private parties. John Walker died on the scene from blunt force trauma to the head. Albert Radelat was still alive when he was wrapped in tablecloths, taken to a park near the city, and buried. The men's bodies were found six months later buried at the San Isidro Mazatepec Park in Zapopan.

Reader's Guide

The Guadalajara Cartel was formed in the late 1970s by Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Rafael Caro Quintero, and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo. It was among the first Mexican drug trafficking groups to work with the Colombian cocaine mafias. The cartel controlled much of the drug trafficking in Mexico and the corridors along the Mexico–United States border throughout the 1980s. Major marijuana plantations began springing up in the early 1980s, seeded with an improved variety of marijuana originally developed by American cannabis cultivators from California and Oregon, called 'sinsemilla' (meaning seedless). These new plantations were located in remote desert areas, requiring well drilling for irrigation, a problem solved by massive bribery. The cartel trafficked cocaine to the U.S. in multi-ton shipments each month, taking a 50% cut of the cocaine they transported from Colombia. According to some writers, the organization prospered largely because it enjoyed the protection of the Mexican DFS intelligence agency under its chief Miguel Nazar Haro. The murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena in 1985 outraged the U.S. government and put pressure on Mexico, resulting in a four-year law enforcement manhunt that brought down several leaders. After the arrests of Caro Quintero and Fonseca Carrillo in April 1985, Félix Gallardo divided up the trade in a meeting in Acapulco, designating plazas to different drug lords. Multiple modern present-day drug cartels such as the Tijuana, Juárez, and Sinaloa cartels originally started out as branches or 'plazas' of the Guadalajara Cartel before its eventual disintegration.

Did You Know?

• The cartel took a 50% cut of the cocaine they transported from Colombia instead of cash payments, with some estimating the network pulled in $5 billion annually.
• In November 1984, authorities burned more than 10,000 tons of marijuana at Rancho Búfalo in Chihuahua, a loss of around $160 million.
• DEA agent Enrique Camarena was tortured for over 30 hours; his skull, jaw, nose, cheekbones, windpipe, and ribs were broken before his skull was crushed with a piece of rebar.
• Former Mexican Judicial Police chief Armando Pavón Reyes reportedly accepted a $300,000 bribe to allow Rafael Caro Quintero to flee to Costa Rica in a private jet.
• The cartel's marijuana plantations used an improved seedless variety called 'sinsemilla,' originally developed by American cannabis cultivators from California and Oregon.