Sinaloa Cartel, Mexico's Biggest and Baddest Drug-Trafficking Threat

With the continual flux of alliances and rivalries, figuring out the power structures of the Mexican cartels can get just a bit confusing. We're taking a look at the Mexico cartels, faction by faction, to see just what is happening right underneath our nation's nose.

First up in the series was Los Zetas. And now? Well, it's Sinaloa's turn under the microscope.

Drug Cartel: Sinaloa cartel

Location: International

Sinaloa has a presence throughout Mexico, with groups in 17 states: Sinaloa, Sonora, Nayarit, Chihuahua, Durango, Jalisco, Colima, Chiapas, Tamaulipas, Guerrero, Zacatecas, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Oaxaca, Guanajuato, Querétaro, Tlaxcala, Puebla, Morelos, and Mexico City.

The Sinaloa cartel also has members througout Central America, with groups in Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, and Argentina.

The narco-traffickers also have factions throughtout the United States, with known members identified in Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, Florida, and New York.

They have grown to have an international presence, and have known members in Australia, Europe, Asia: Philippines, and West Africa.

Current Leaders: After El Chapo's arrest in February, the leader of Sinaloa has been speculated to be Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.

History: The Sinaloa cartel is the grandfather of drug cartels in Mexico.

One of the first traffickers to smuggle marijuana in bulk was Pedro Aviles back in the '70s, who later brought his friend's son, Joaquin El Chapo Loera, more commonly known as "El Chapo," into the business.

After Aviles was killed in a shootout with police in '78, the various families branched out well past marijuana distribution, moving cocaine for Colombian and Central American traffickers.

The organization shifted their operations to Guadalajara, with Rafael Caro Quintero, Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo leading the group.

The traffickers eventually came into contact with Colombia's Medellin cartel, and took cues from the group. They became experts in moving of bulk shipments of cocaine via airplane and boat to Central America and Mexico, then by land routes into the United States.

As the feds hacked away at the power structure of the Guadalajara cartel, the group dispersed, creating different factions across Mexico. El Chapo and his partner, Hector Luis Palma Salazar, however, remained in the Sinaloa area, establishing what is now the Sinaloa cartel.

These opposing groups began to battle for turf almost immediately. In November 1992, El Chapo sent 40 gunmen to raid a Tijuana Cartel party in Puerto Vallarta, killing nine people.

The Tijuana Cartel retaliated, attempting to assassinate El Chapo at the Guadalajara airport in '93. The assassination went wrong, and a Mexican Cardinal was killed instead. El Chapo fled to Guatemala, and was arrested two weeks later. Palma Salazar was arrested in 1995.

El Chapo's brother Arturo El Chapo Loera continued the operations, along with Ramon Laija Serrano, and Hector, Alfredo and Arturo Beltran Leyva. The three Beltran Leyva brothers eventually split off to create the Beltran Leyva cartel.

However, El Chapo maintained some control from prison, where he would pass messages through his lawyers.

He escaped in 2001 after his conviction was overturned by a federal judge in Mexico on a technicality. El Chapo disappeared before he could be extradited to the U.S. on other charges. He resumed full control of the organization, and evaded capture by authorities until February 2014.

Power Structure:  The United States Intelligence Community considers the Sinaloa Cartel "the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world" and in 2011, the Los Angeles Times called it "Mexico's most powerful organized crime group."

The cartel is primarily involved in the smuggling and distribution of Colombian cocaine, Mexican marijuana, methamphetamine and Mexican and Southeast Asian heroin into the United States.

In May 2009, the U.S. National Public Radio (NPR) aired multiple reports alleging that the Mexican federal police and military were working in collusion with the Sinaloa Cartel. In particular, the report claimed the government was helping the Sinaloa Cartel to take control of the Juarez Valley area and destroy other cartels, especially the Juarez Cartel. NPR's reporters interviewed dozens of officials and ordinary people for the journalistic investigation.

Rumors of government corruption by the Sinaloa cartel run rampant. Data on the low arrest rate of Sinaloa Cartel members -- especially when compared to other cartels -- gives evidence of favoritism on the part of the authorities.

Mexican officials have denied allegations of favoritism, and reports detail corruption and influence that the cartel has within the Mexican government.

Alliances:

Jalisco New Generation Cartel
Gulf Cartel
Knights Templar
Sindikato

Rivalries:

Los Zetas
Juárez Cartel
Tijuana Cartel
Beltrán-Leyva Cartel

Crimes:
Drug trafficking, money laundering, human trafficking, murder, kidnapping, bribery

Hugo Hernandez beheading -- One of the most violent and gruesome crimes ever committed by the cartel happened at the hands of the Sinaloa. Members of the Sinaloa cartel kidnapped Hugo Hernandez in 2010.

26-year-old Hugo Hernandez was kidnapped from Sonora, and his corpse was found in the city of Los Mochis about a week later.

Hernandez had been chopped to pieces, and his face had been sliced off and stitched onto a soccer ball.

There was a note with the body that read “Happy New Years, because this will be your last.”

It is believed the murder was a warning to the Juarez drug cartel.

Acapulco Decapitations -- In January 2011, 15 headless bodies were found near a shopping mall with notes from Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the head of the Sinoloa cartel.

Five heads were found in a sack placed outside an elementary school later that year in a threat to teachers in Acapulco, who’d been extorted to give up half their income to gangs.

Chopped Bodies in Nuevo Leon -- In April 2012, 14 men identified as Los Zetas members were found in a minivan. They had been chopped to pieces, allegedly by the Jalisco New Generation cartel, part of the Sinaloa group.