CARTEL PROFILE: CARTEL DE SINALOA AKA THE "PACIFIC CARTEL" or "CDS"

CONTEXT:

Overview:

The Sinaloa Cartel (originally “Alianza de Sangre”, or “Blood Alliance”, and Cartel of the Pacific) is a Mexican drug cartel based in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico which reaches across Mexico

into distribution cells in Arizona, Alaska, California, Chicago, Denver, Illinois, New York/New Jersey, and throughout the east coast. Their activities include, but are not limited to international drug trafficking, human and arms trafficking, smuggling, money laundering, extortion, and racketeering. Cartel de Sinaloa (CDS) predominantly operates in the Golden Triangle- a rural region of northern Mexico in the states of Sinaloa, Chihuahua, and Durango. The Sierra Madre Occidental mountains provide an ideal setting for opium and marijuana drug farms, while the complex terrain and access to land, maritime routes, global drug producers, and US consumers offer irresistible business opportunities.

The Sinaloa Cartel is primarily involved in the distribution of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, cannabis, and MDMA. It is also the majority supplier of illicit fentanyl to North America. The syndicate was established around 1988-89 after the fall of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo’s Guadalajara Cartel. The fall of Gallardo’s cartel led to the creation of the Tijuana Cartel (led by Gallardo’s nephews- the Arellano Felix brothers), The Juarez Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, and the Sinaloa Cartel. The Cártel de Sinaloa was established by Hector Palma Garcia, Ismael Zambada “El Mayo” Garcia, Adrian Gomez Gonzalez, and Joaquín Guzmán Loera (El Chapo).