If you think we are kidding about how serious this situation is then ponder on these facts.  Mexico drug cartel gang members have lists that include the names of police officers that are on a death hit list.  The job is usually done by Mexican drug cartel death squads.  June 1, 2008: Drug gangs are reportedly destroying the police force in the city of Juarez  in the Mexican state of Chihuahua just across the border from U.S. Army base Ft Bliss by delivering one death list of police officers  after another. The first list, earlier this year, had 22 names on it. At this point all but one on the list were murdered, seven resigned but only after three were wounded. A new list has a dozen names. The drug gangs are targeting officers who have been effective, or resistant to gang controlled bribes or threats.  In a grisly example near the city of Durango, six severed heads were recently discovered alongside the highway. Each had been placed carefully within a cooler, four of them in an abandoned vehicle, accompanied by threatening messages to a rival.

According to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) testimony, four organizations comprise the Mexican crime groups: the Tijuana organization; the Sonora Cartel; the Juarez cartel; and the Gulf group.

I. The Arellano-Felix Organization (AFO) is commonly referred to as the Tijuana Cartel.

Within the AFO, drug running is a family affair. There are seven brothers and four sisters.  They inherited the Tijuana Cartel from Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo in 1989, after he was arrested for his involvement in the murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena. The family's most visible leaders, brothers Benjamin and Ramon Arellano, have eluded authorities on both sides of the border for years. Both remain fugitives, with U.S. authorities offering a $2 million reward for their capture. Ramon has earned a place on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. They are not unorganized but rather very modern in their approach, the AFO employs a combination of complex communications systems and police corruption for counter surveillance. . Much of their drug distribution enters California through Baja from which it is distributed throughout the United States. The Tijuana Cartel is considered the most violent of all the Mexican drug cartels. Mexican enforcement officials describe their security as paramilitary in nature. They have been known to murder rival drug leaders, Mexican law enforcement officials who are not on their payroll, and members of their organization who fall out of favor or are suspected of collaborating with law enforcement officials.  Many kidnappings tied to the AFO have reportedly been carried out by corrupt police.  In other cases, the AFO has hired Hispanic gang members from San Diego as assassins , or recruited sons of well-to-do Mexican families, commonly referred to as "Narco-Juniors." Both groups are valued commodities because they have U.S. citizenship and can travel between countries at will.

II. The Juarez Cartel

Was headed by Amado Carillo Fuentes, once known as the most powerful figure in the Mexican drug trade. He died in 1997 of complications of cosmetic surgery in an attempt to change his identity.  The scope of the Carrillo-Fuentes' network is staggering; he reportedly forwarded $20-30 million to Colombia for each major operation, and his illegal activities generated tens of millions per week. He was a pioneer in the use of large aircraft to transport cocaine from Colombia to Mexico and became known as 'Lord of the Skies.' Carrillo-Fuentes owned a fleet of aircraft and had major real estate holdings.  This cartel had very strong ties to the Rodriquez Orejula organization in Cali, as well as family ties to the Ochoa brothers in Medellin, Colombia. For many years the Juarez cartel ran transport services for the Cali cartel and used aircrafts such as 727’s to fly cocaine from Colombia to Mexico.

The cartel has most recently transformed itself into the Golden Triangle Alliance, or La Alianza Triángulo de Oro, because of its leaders in three Mexican states.  The Juárez Cartel was featured battling the rival Tijuana Cartel in the 2001 motion picture Traffic.  This violence may seem a million miles away to many of us but much closer, across a guarded fence and a river a little wider than a stream, from Juarez, Mexico is El Paso, Texas. On the western side of the Mexican city are the barrios - dirt streets of ramshackle huts without sanitation, built from discarded wood and tires, whose inhabitants live in sight of the gleaming offices of downtown El Paso.  An American city of 700,000 is maybe too close for comfort to many El Paso residents..


III. The Gulf cartel

Was headed by Juan Garcia Abrego and is based in Matamoros Tamaulipas State. It distributes cocaine to the United States, as far north as Michigan, New Jersey and New York. Juan was expelled to the United States in 1996 and arrested on a federal warrant from Texas charging him.with conspiracy to import cocaine and the management of a continuing criminal enterprise. violent gang of former Mexican soldiers, known as Los Zetas, are also known to work for the Gulf cartel. The Zetas are known as being trained by United States Special Forces and have equipment similar to that of an American SWAT team. The Zetas are located along the U.S.-Mexico border. They routinely kill, kidnap, rob and torture. In addition, the Zetas are known to work with drug dealers within the United States. They enter the U.S. and commit crimes such as murder, and then reenter Mexico making it very hard for police to track them.  Aside from earning money from the sales of narcotics, the Cartel also collects taxes aka piso, cuota from street level dealers, prominent businesses, even illegal alien smugglers. Anyone passing narcotics or aliens through a plaza belonging to the Gulf Cartel is subject to payment of these 'taxes' to the cartel, regardless of whether the contraband is subsequently apprehended by US law enforcement or not.  This organization is growing more and more deadly as in the past few years the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo has seen many of it's police, including chiefs killed in the streets in assassination style killings.  The Gulf Cartel also is very active in kidnapping and other organized crimes.

IV. The Sonora cartel

Operates out of Hermosillo, Agua Prieta, Guadalajara and Culican as well as the Mexican states of San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa and Sonora. This cartel has direct links to the Colombian cartel and was created with a merging with the original Guadalajara Cartel.  They operates route into California. The Sonora cartel was led by Miguel Caro Quintero whose brother is currently in jail for his role in killing a DEA agent in 1985. Quintero was wanted by the DEA and became a fugitive based on two federal indictments issued in Colorado in 1988 and 1993, and two more issued in Arizona 1994. He was arrested by Mexican authorities in 2001. It is believed he still maintains control over the organization from behind bars.  The Sonora Cartel is primarily a marijuana and opium smuggling organization.  In recent years the Sonora Cartel has been in violent turf wars with the Gulf Cartel.  The Sonora Cartel has a long history.  Rafael Quintero the older brother of Miguel expanded his families network influence by offering an expensive high grade of seedless cannabis at a wholesale price. At the time, Sinsemilla sold for $2,500 a pound in the United States. The popularity of the product made Rafael one of the most powerful traffickers in all of Mexico. By the mid 80s, the Sonora Cartel was trucking tons of Sinsemilla across the U.S. border where it is today a legendary commodity known on the streets as the chronic

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Next Section: Mexico Illegal Immigration/ Human Trafficking

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