Sinaloa Cartel
The Sinaloa Cartel is a large and powerful drug trafficking transnational organized crime syndicate based in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico, that specializes in illegal drug trafficking and money laundering.
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Key facts
- Founders
- El Chapo , El Mayo , Juan José Esparragoza Moreno
- Named after
- Sinaloa , Mexico
- Founding location
- Culiacán , Sinaloa, Mexico
- Years active
- 1987–present
- Membership est
- 17,825
- Leaders
- Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar , Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar , Ismael Zambada Sicairos, Aureliano Guzmán Loera
- Activities
- Drug trafficking, drug manufacturing , money laundering , weapons trafficking, people smuggling , murder, kidnapping, bribery, terrorism and narcoterrorism ,Timeshare fraud, AI deepfake scams
- Rivals
- Jalisco New Generation Cartel , Los Zetas , Gulf Cartel (since 2021), La Línea , Juárez Cartel , Los Mazatlecos , Tijuana Cartel , Logan Heights Gang , Barrio Azteca , Beltrán-Leyva Cartel
- Opponents
Article
The Sinaloa Cartel (Spanish: Cártel de Sinaloa) is a large and powerful drug trafficking transnational organized crime syndicate based in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico, that specializes in illegal drug trafficking, money laundering, and murder. It has been Mexico’s most dominant drug cartel since the 1990s.
The cartel's history is marked by evolution from a small crime syndicate to one of the most powerful and violent drug trafficking organizations in the world. Founded in the late 1960s by Pedro Avilés Pérez in Sinaloa, the cartel initially focused on smuggling cannabis (marijuana) into the United States. Pérez is credited with pioneering the use of aircraft for drug smuggling, laying the groundwork for large-scale trafficking operations. His organization was a training ground for the second generation of Sinaloan traffickers.