Sunday, November 28, 2010

Narco Traficantes / Drug Cartels

The Mexican Drug Cartels are one of the most feared people in mexico they are one of the biggest reasons of people not wanting to fly internationally to mexico anymore. One of the most wanted people in the world in the 4th spot is Joaquin Archivardo Guzman Loera also known as "El Chapo Guzman". There is another man by the name of Edgar Valdez also known as "La Barbie" which was captured in late October in 2010 for the murders of many people becuase of his drug cartel and the many kdnapps and drup he exported in Mexico and the United States. These are examples of Drug lords for the drug cartels and the many killings in mexico. This last year there was a way higher killing rate in mexico caused of the drug cartels then in Iraq. The ratings in Mexico was 507,288 dead, and in the Iraq war there was as much as 27,094 dead.
La Familia Michoacana is based in Michoacán. It was formerly allied to the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas, but La Familia has now split off and became an independent organization. In February 2010, La Familia forged an alliance with the Gulf Cartel against Los Zetas and Beltrán Leyva Cartel.

The Gulf Cartel hired a group of corrupt former elite military soldiers now known as Los Zetas, who began operations as a private army for the cartel. The Zetas have been instrumental in the Gulf Cartel’s domination of the drug trade in much of Mexico and have fought to maintain the cartel’s influence in northern cities following the arrest of Osiel Cardenas. Los Zetas made a deal with ex-Sinaloa cartel commanders, the Beltrán-Leyva brothers and since February 2010 Los Zetas became rivals of their former employer/partner, the Gulf Cartel.

The Sinaloa Cartel began to contest the Gulf Cartel’s domination of the coveted southwest Texas corridor following the arrest of Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cárdenas in March 2003. The "Federation" was the result of a 2006 accord between several groups located in the Pacific state of Sinaloa. The cartel is led by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, Mexico's most-wanted drug trafficker and whose estimated net worth of US$1 billion makes him the 701st richest man in the world, according to Forbes Magazine. In February 2010, new alliances were formed against Los Zetas and Beltran Leyva Cartel. As of May 2010, numerous reports by Mexican and US media claimed that Sinaloa had infiltrated the Mexican federal government and military, and colluded with it to destroy the other cartels. The Colima Cartel, Sonora Cartel and Milenio Cartel are now branches of the Sinaloa Cartel






War in the U.S./Mexico Boarder.

Arturo Gallegos Castrellon is described as the main leader of the Aztecas street gang. Mexican authorities say he confessed to numerous killings, including that of a U.S. consular employee that was previously blamed on a different Aztecas leader. 



Reporting from Mexico City — 
Mexican authorities said Sunday that they had arrested the main leader of the Aztecas, a Ciudad Juarez street gang blamed for much of the violence in the troubled border city.

Federal police officials in Mexico City said Arturo Gallegos Castrellon, 32, was arrested in Juarez on Saturday. They said he confessed to taking part in several high-profile slayings, including the fatal shootings of a U.S. consular staffer and two other people in March and the ambush of a teen party in January that killed 15 people.

Authorities said Gallegos told them he was responsible for 80% of the killings in the border city since August 2009. Since early 2008, more than 6,500 people have died in drug-related violence there, according to unofficial tallies.

Among Gallegos' suspected victims were five Mexican federal police officers, the public safety secretariat said in a statement.

It was impossible to verify the suspect's alleged confessions. It is not uncommon for Mexican police to report that arrestees have admitted to numerous crimes.

The Aztecas, who are allied with the Juarez drug-trafficking cartel and claim members on both sides of the U.S.- Mexicoborder, are believed responsible for much of the violence that has turned Ciudad Juarez into Mexico's deadliest city.

Police said Gallegos ordered the March 13 shootings that killed two U.S. citizens — consular staffer Lesley A. Enriquez and her husband, Arthur H. Redelfs — and the husband of a Mexican employee of the consulate. The statement said Gallegos also played a role in the January attack in the Villas del Salvarcar neighborhood that left 15 dead, but it did not provide details.

Mexican authorities had previously said that a different Aztecas leader, Jesus Ernesto Chavez, ordered the attacks that killed Enriquez and her husband. Chavez was arrested in July.

On Sunday, authorities said Gallegos was responsible for killings, extortion and drug dealing throughout Ciudad Juarez.

The Aztecas and other street gangs have served as foot soldiers in a 3-year-old war between the Juarez-based cartel and a trafficking group based in the northwestern state of Sinaloa.

Similar turf battles have raged across Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched a military-led offensive against cartels soon after taking office in December 2006. Drug-related violence has escalated each year since. About 30,000 people have been killed.

In Ciudad Juarez, the Calderon government has sought to improve social services and job opportunities to counter social ills that, officials say, draw young people into violent gangs. But a drive begun this year to build parks, schools and hospitals and offer job training has not slowed the pace of killings.

Officials said Gallegos was arrested on drug-trafficking charges in the United States in 1996, but did not elaborate.