-
Gulf Cartel
Gulf Cartel
Founded 1970's
In Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Founded by Juan Nepomuceno Guerra
Years active 1970's-present
Territory Mexico
Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Veracruz, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sinaloa, Sonora
United States
Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Illinois, Florida
Ethnicity Mexican
Membership Estimated to have well over 1,000 foot soldiers
Criminal activities Cocaine, marijuana and heroin trafficking and wholesaling, drug trafficking, people smuggling, money laundering, extortion, kidnapping, murder, Protection racket, and arms trafficking
Allies La Familia Cartel
Rivals Sinaloa Cartel, Juarez Cartel, Beltrán-Leyva Cartel and Los Zetas
The Gulf Cartel (Spanish: Cártel del Golfo) is a Mexican drug cartel based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. The cartel is present in 13 states with important areas of operation in the cities of Nuevo Laredo, Miguel Alemán, Reynosa and Matamoros in the northern state of Tamaulipas; it also has important operations in the states of Nuevo León and in Michoacán.[1] The Gulf Cartel traffics cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin across the U.S.-Mexico border to major cities in the United States. The group is known for its violent methods and intimidation, and works closely with corrupt law officials and business people in Mexico and the United States.[citation needed]
Aside from earning money from the sales of narcotics, the cartel also imposes "taxes" on anyone passing narcotics or aliens through Gulf Cartel territory. The cartel is also known to operate protection rackets, extorting money from local businesses, and to kidnap for ransom money.
-
Guess who the really controls Cameron County:
The Gulf Cartel was founded by Juan Nepomuceno Guerra back in the 1970s. Nepomuceno Guerra was a notorious Mexican bootlegger who smuggled whiskey into the United States in the 1930s along the Gulf of Mexico.[2] In the 1970s, he became politically active and began smuggling more contraband into the United States, including marijuana and heroin produced in Mexico. His nephew, Juan GarcÃ*a Abrego, was born in a ranch called "La Puerta" in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. He began slowly taking over day-to-day operations of what was now being called the Gulf Cartel. GarcÃ*a Abrego expanded the business to include the more lucrative cocaine trade throughout the 1980s and 1990s, all with the assistance of the political connections that his uncle had fostered. Juan GarcÃ*a Abrego became so powerful that he was placed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives in 1995. He was the first drug trafficker to ever be placed on that list.[2] GarcÃ*a Abrego was captured in 1996 and extradited to the United States.[3] According to Janet Reno, the US Attorney General at the time, Mexican and U.S. officials agreed on the fact that he was an American citizen, born in La Paloma, Texas — although a birth record in the Matamoros Registrar's Office also exists.[citation needed] He is currently serving eleven life terms in a maximum security federal prison in Colorado, U.S.
Following Abrego's 1996 arrest by Mexican authorities and subsequent deportation to the United States, he was replaced by Oscar Malherbe De León, until his arrest a short time later,[2] causing several cartel lieutenants to fight for the leadership. The next in line was Salvador "El Chava" Gómez, however, his leadership was short lived when a lieutenant and friend, Osiel Cárdenas Guillen, assassinated him in 1996. After the coup, Cárdenas became the undisputed leader of the Gulf Cartel.
In 1999, Cárdenas learned that a Gulf Cartel informant was being transported through Matamoros, Tamaulipas, by the FBI and DEA. Cárdenas and his men surrounded the vehicle on a public street and demanded the informant be released to him. The FBI and DEA agents refused to turn over their informant, but and after a tense standoff they were released. As for Cárdenas, the damage had been done by taking on the U.S. government. The United States placed enormous pressure on the Mexican government to apprehend Cárdenas. Cárdenas was arrested during a gun battle in Matamoros in March 2003.[citation needed] Cárdenas was sent to the Penal del Altiplano (formerly known as "La Palma"), the federal high security prison in Almoloya de Juárez, Estado de México. It is suspected that Cárdenas still ran the Gulf Cartel from his prison cell.[citation needed]
Since the arrest of Cárdenas Guillen, his two partners -Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen and Jorge Costilla Sanchez- took control of the cartel,[4] with the militant wing —Los Zetas— taking a lidership role; the two groups worked together for a few years, but Los Zetas no longer taking orders from Gulf Cartel.[4][5][6][7][8] and forged an alliance with the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel.
While in prison, the head of the Tijuana Cartel, Arellano Félix and Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cárdenas Guillen, forged an alliance against the Sinaloa Cartel and its ally the Juarez Cartel. Since the extradition of Cárdenas Guillen to the U.S., Los Zetas gradually took more control from the Gulf cartel and have made an alliance with the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel.[9][10]
In February 2010, Los Zetas engaged in a violent turf war against is former employer/partner, the Gulf Cartel, in the border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas,[11][12] rendering some border towns to "ghost towns".[13]
On September 17, 2008, United States Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced that 175 alleged Gulf cartel members were arrested in a crackdown on the cartel in the U.S. and in Italy. [1]
-
Hide Alliance with the Tijuana Cartel
In 2003, the Gulf Cartel joined in an alliance with the remnants of the Arellano Félix Organization, also known as the Tijuana Cartel, based out of the state of Baja California.[14] This was based primarily on prison negotiations between top leaders such as BenjamÃ*n Arellano Félix and Osiel Cárdenas. After a personal dispute between leaders, however, Osiel Cárdenas ordered BenjamÃ*n Arellano Félix beaten, and all alliances ceased at that point. It is reported that after the fallout, Cárdenas ordered the Zetas to Baja California to wipe out the Tijuana Cartel.[15]
-
Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez
Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez
Born August 1, 1971
Mexico
Other names El Coss
Citizenship México
Occupation Narcotraffic
Height 5’ 10"
Weight 205 lbs
KnownÂ*for Drug lord
and murder
Notes
$5 million USD reward.
Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez (a.k.a: El Coss) is a Mexican drug lord who is believed to be the co-leader of a Mexican drug trafficking organization known as the Gulf Cartel.[1] The Gulf Cartel is responsible for the importation and distribution of thousands of kilograms of cocaine and marijuana into the United States annually. After the arrest of th cartel leader Osiel Cardenas, Costilla took control and became partner with Heriberto Lazcano and Hector Manuel Sauceda Gamboa, El Karis, however, Sauceda was killed in a gun battle with the Federal Police on February 17, 2009.[2]
In his presumptive role as leader of the Gulf Cartel, Costilla also allegedly leads the enforcement arm known as Los Zetas, which conducts kidnappings, murders and other violence on behalf of the cartel to ensure safe transit of illegal narcotics into the United States.
Costilla is one of a number of high ranking members of the Gulf Cartel who has been indicted in the United States for drug trafficking activities. Costilla has also been indicted for threatening U.S. law enforcement officials in November 1999. In that incident, FBI and DEA agents in Mexico were forcibly stopped at gunpoint by a group of heavily armed men, allegedly including Costilla and other key members of the Gulf Cartel. Costilla and the other Cartel members were said to have pointed AK-47 machine guns at the U.S. Federal agents and threatened to kill them. After a tense standoff, the FBI and DEA agents were allowed to leave.
Costilla is wanted in Mexico and has also been charged in the U.S. with 12 counts of drug trafficking and money-laundering and is also wanted for assaulting a federal law enforcement officer.[3] The U.S. Department of State is offering a reward of up to $5 million USD for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.[1][4]
-
Gulf Cartel Hierarchy
Since the January 20, 2007 extradition of Osiel Cárdenas Guillen to the U.S., the Gulf Cartel's leadership has since evolved into one with a decentralized structure, with two major lieutenants sharing control of the cartel:[16] Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez (a.k.a: El Coss) who maintains close contacts with Colombian narcotics suppliers, and Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillen, brother of Osiel.[17]
The decentralized structure of the cartel differentiates it from other cartels, in that power is shared equally among a set of gatekeepers (plaza heads), each of whom is responsible for running different trafficking routes [16]. Each gatekeeper is also responsible for security and the collection of 'taxes' for each plaza they are responsible for.
-
On July 21, 2009, the United States DEA announced coordinated actions against the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas drug trafficking organizations. Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillen, Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez, Heriberto Lazcano-Lazcano and 15 of their top lieutenants, have been charged in U.S. federal courts with drug trafficking-related crimes,[17][18] while the U.S. State Department announced rewards totaling $50 million USD for information leading to their capture.[17]
-
^ "Mexico's Drug Cartels", CRs Report for Congress, Congresional Research Service, October 16, 2007, retrieved 2009-08-18
^ a b c DEA Fugitive: Cardenas Guillen 2009-08-18
^ The Gulf Cartel, PBS (1997)
^ a b "Mexican Drug Cartels: Government Progress and Growing Violence". STRATFOR Global Intelligence. December 11, 2008. Retrieved 2009-08-25.
^ Oscar Becerra, "New Traffickers Struggle for Control of Mexican Drug Trade," Jane's Intelligence Review, September 1, 2004.
^ Bunker, Robert (July 2005). Networks, Terrorism and Global Insurgency. Routledge. p.Â*xv. ISBNÂ*0-41534819-6.
^ Weak bilateral law enforcement presence at the U.S.Mexico border. Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. November 2005.
^ Texas Monthly On . . .: Texas True Crime. University of Texas Press. April 2007. p.Â*44. ISBNÂ*0-29271675-3.
^ Gómez, Francisco (Agosto 17 de 2008). "Los ‘Zetas’ por dentro; los entrenan en Coahuila" (in Spanish). Vanguardia. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
^ Corchado, Alfredo (June 11, 2007). "Cartel's enforcers outpower their boss". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
^ "Drug Wars in Tamaulipas: Cartels vs. Zetas vs. the Military". Center for Latin American and Border Studies (MexiData). March 1, 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-04.
^ "EU: alarma guerra “Zetasâ€
-
HomeÂ*>Â*International Travel HomeÂ*>Â*International Travel Information
Printer friendly version Â*Â* Email
SPRING BREAK IN MEXICO – “Know Before You Go!â€
-
Matamoros/South Padre Island:Â* The Mexican border cities of Matamoros and Nuevo Progresso are located 30 to 45 minutes south of the major Spring Break destination of South Padre Island, Texas.Â* Travelers to the Mexican border should be especially aware of safety and security concerns due to increased violence in recent years between rival drug trafficking gangs competing for control of narcotics smuggling routes.Â* While it is unlikely that American visitors would get caught up in this violence, travelers should exercise common-sense precautions such as visiting only the well-traveled business and tourism areas of border towns during daylight and early-evening hours.Â*
They are fighting each other to sell America's youth drugs.
-
And the politicians and law enforcement in Cameron County are ready collaborators for cartel money--in my opinion.