Tijuana Cartel

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Tijuana Cartel

Cartel de Tijuana (mapa).jpg

Areas predominately controlled by the Tijuana Cartel shown in purple.

Founded by Benjamin Arellano Felix, Ramon Arellano Felix

Founding location

Tijuana, Baja California,

Mexico

Years active 1989–present[1]

Territory Mexico:

Tijuana, Baja California,

Baja California Sur

United States:

California

Ethnicity Mexican

Criminal activities Drug trafficking, money laundering, People smuggling, murder, arms trafficking,
bribery[2]

Allies

Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Logan Heights Gang,

[3]

Rivals Sinaloa Cartel, Gulf Cartel, Juárez Cartel

The Tijuana Cartel (Spanish: Cártel de Tijuana) or Arellano-Félix Organization (Spanish: Cártel Arellano
Félix - CAF) is a Mexican drug cartel based in Tijuana. The cartel once was described as "one of the
biggest and most violent criminal groups in Mexico."[4] However, since the 2006 Sinaloa Cartel incursion
in Baja California and the fall of the Arellano-Félix brothers, the Tijuana Cartel had been reduced to a
few cells. In 2016, the organization has become known as Cartel Tijuana Nueva Generación (New
Generation Tijuana Cartel) and has begun to aligin itself under the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, along
with Beltrán Leyva Organization (BLO) to create an anti-Sinaloa alliance, in which the Jalisco New
Generation Cartel heads, creating a possible powershift in Mexico. [5]

Contents

1 History

2 Organization

3 Activities

4 Captures and trial

5 Los Palillos

6 Presence in Colombia

7 Current status and new generation

8 In popular culture

9 See also

10 References

11 Bibliography

12 Further reading

History

Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, the founder of the Guadalajara Cartel was arrested in 1989. While
incarcerated, he remained one of Mexico's major traffickers, maintaining his organization via mobile
phone until he was transferred to a new maximum security prison in the 1990s. At that point, his old
organization broke up into two factions: the Tijuana Cartel led by his nephews, the Arellano Félix
brothers, and the Sinaloa Cartel, run by former lieutenants Héctor Luis Palma Salazar and Joaquín
Guzmán Loera, a.k.a. El Chapo.
Currently, the majority of Mexico's smuggling routes are controlled by three key cartels: Gulf, Sinaloa
and Tijuana —though Tijuana is the least powerful. The Tijuana cartel was further weakened in August
2006 when its chief, Javier Arellano Félix, was arrested by the U.S. Coast Guard on a boat off the coast of
Baja California.[6] Mexican army troops also were sent to Tijuana in January 2007 in an operation to
restore order to the border city and root out corrupt police officers, who mostly were cooperating with
the Tijuana cartel. As a result of these efforts, the Tijuana cartel is unable to project much power outside
of its base in Tijuana.[7] Much of the violence that emerged in 2008 in Tijuana was a result of conflicts
within the Tijuana cartel; on one side, the faction led by Teodoro García Simental (a.k.a. El Teo) favored
kidnappings. The other faction, led by Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano (a.k.a. El Ingeniero), focused
primarily on drug trafficking.[8] The faction led by Sánchez Arellano demanded the reduction of the
kidnappings in Tijuana, but his demands were rejected by García Simental, resulting in high levels of
violence.[8] Nonetheless, most of the victims in Tijuana were white-collar entrepreneurs, and the
kidnappings were bringing "too much heat on organized crime" and disrupting the criminal enterprises
and interests of the cartel.[9]

The Mexican federal government responded by implementing "Operation Tijuana," a coordination

carried out between the Mexican military and the municipal police forces in the area. To put down the
violence, InSight Crime states that a pact was probably created between military officials and members
of the Sánchez Arellano faction to eliminate Simental's group.[8] The U.S. authorities speculated through
WikiLeaks in 2009 that Tijuana's former police boss, Julián Leyzaola, had made agreements with Sánchez
Arellano to bring relative peace in Tijuana.[10] With the arrest of El Teo in January 2010, much of his
faction was eliminated from the city of Tijuana; some of its remains went off and joined with the Sinaloa
Cartel. But much of the efforts done between 2008 and 2010 in Tijuana would not have been possible
without the coordination of local police forces and the Mexican military – and possibly with a cartel
truce – to put down the violence.[8]

The relative peace in the city of Tijuana in 2010–2012 has raised speculations of a possible agreement
between the Tijuana Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel to maintain peace in the area.[11] According to
Mexican and U.S. authorities, most of Tijuana is under the dominance of the Sinaloa cartel, while Luis
Fernando Sánchez Arellano of the Tijuana cartel remains the "head of that puppet empire."[11] To be
exact, experts told InSight Crime that the peace exists because Joaquín Guzmán Loera wants it that way,
and argued that his organization—the Sinaloa Cartel—has spread too thin with its wars with Los Zetas
and the Juárez Cartel that opening a third war would be inconvenient.[11] The Tijuana cartel, however,
has something their rivals do not have: a long-time family with business and political connections
throughout the city. InSight Crime believes that this could explain why the Sinaloa cartel has left Sánchez
Arellano as the figurehead, since it might be too costly for El Chapo financially and politically to make a
final push.[11] Moreover, the Tijuana cartel charges a toll ("piso") on the Sinaloa cartel for trafficking
drugs in their territory, which serves as an illustration of the Tijuana cartel's continued hegemony as a
local group.[12] Despite the series of high-ranking arrests the cartel suffered throughout 2011–2012, its
ability to maintain a highly centralized criminal infrastructure shows how difficult it is to uproot cartels
who have long-established their presence in a community.[12]

Organization

The Arellano Félix family was initially composed of seven brothers and four sisters, who inherited the
organization from Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo upon his incarceration in Mexico in 1989 for his complicity
in the murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena. The brothers' death and arrests during the 2000s
did impact the Arellano Felix cartel, however they did not dismantle the organization. Today the group is
led by the Arellano's nephew, Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano.[13][14]

The Tijuana Cartel has infiltrated the Mexican law enforcement and judicial systems and is directly
involved in street-level trafficking within the United States. This criminal organization is responsible for
the transportation, importation, and distribution of multi-ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana, as
well as large quantities of heroin and methamphetamine.[15]

The organization has a reputation for extreme violence. Ramón Arellano Félix ordered a hit which
resulted in the mass murder of 18 people in Ensenada, Baja California, on September 17, 1998. Ramón
was eventually killed in a gun battle with police at Mazatlán Sinaloa, on February 10, 2002.

The Arellano Félix family has seven brothers:

Rafael Arellano-Félix† (born 24 October 1949) - Captured(1993), released(2008), murdered on 18

October 2013[16]

Benjamín Arellano-Félix (born 3 December 1952) - Captured on March 9, 2002, extradited on April 29,
2011[17]

Carlos Arellano-Félix (born 20 August 1955) - Not currently wanted.[18]

Eduardo Arellano-Félix (born 11 October 1956) - Captured on October 26, 2008, extradited on August
31, 2012

Ramón Arellano-Félix† (born 31 August 1964) - Deceased, shot by police in February 2002

Luis Fernando Arellano-Félix (believed to be born 26 January 1966) - Not currently wanted

Javier Arellano-Félix (born 11 December 1969) - Captured in August 2006

They also have four sisters, of which Alicia and Enedina are most active in the cartel's affairs.

Eduardo Arellano Félix was captured by the Mexican Army after a shootout in Tijuana, Baja California, on
October 26, 2008;[13] he had been the last of the Arellano Félix brothers at large. Enedina's son, Luis
Fernando Sánchez Arellano, took over the cartel's operations.[19] His two top lieutenants were
Armando Villareal Heredia[20] and Edgardo Leyva Escandon.[21] Fernando Sanchez Arellano was
arrested by Mexican police in June 2014[22] Leyva remains at large and Villareal was captured in July
2011.[23]

On November 5, 2011, Mexican troops arrested cartel lieutenant Francisco Sillas Rocha,[24] who was
reported to the cartel's number two leader,[24] and some of his close associates.[24] Experts argued
that Rocha's arrest put the Tijuana Cartel "on the ropes,"[25] though some differed on whether or not
the arrest put "the final nail in the coffin" for the Tijuana Cartel.[25]

Activities

The Tijuana cartel is present in at least 15 Mexican states with important areas of operation in Tijuana,
Mexicali, Tecate, and Ensenada in Baja California, in parts of Sinaloa[26] and Zacatecas. After the death
in 1997 of the Juárez Cartel's Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the Tijuana Cartel attempted to gain a foothold in
Sonora.[4] The Oaxaca Cartel reportedly joined forces with the Tijuana Cartel in 2003.

Fourteen Mexican drug gang members were killed and eight others were injured in a gun battle in
Tijuana near the U.S. border on Saturday, April 26, 2008 that was one of the bloodiest shootouts in the
narco-war between the Tijuana Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel. On December 1, 2011, William R.
Sherman, acting special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's office in San Diego,
announced that the cartel had been annihilated and the Sinaloa Cartel now controlled a large number of
the drug routes the Tijuana Cartel once had.[27] On December 12, 2011, Tijuana Police Chief Alberto
Capella Ibarra also announced that captured cartel lieutenant Francisco Sillas Rocha had confessed that
the Tijuana Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel had formed a truce and that the Tijuana Cartel was seeking to
merge with the Sinaloa Cartel[28] After Benjamin Arellano-Felix pleaded guilty to racketeering and
conspiracy to launder money on January 4, 2012, it was accepted that the Tijuana Cartel had greatly lost
influence.[17] It was also reported that the cartel had lost their former Tijuana hotbed to the Sinaloa
Cartel.[17] The clan of the Arellano Felix continues, although diminished after the capture of their
leaders.
Captures and trial

In October 1997, a retired U.S. Air Force C-130A that was sold to the airline Aeropostal Cargo de México
was seized by Mexican federal officials, who alleged that the aircraft had been used to haul drugs for the
cartel up from Central and South America, as well as around the Mexican interior. Investigators had
linked the airline's owner, Jesús Villegas Covallos, to Ramón Arellano Félix.[4]

On August 14, 2006, Francisco Javier Arellano Félix was apprehended by the United States Coast Guard
off the coast of Baja California Sur. On November 5, 2007, Francisco was sentenced to life in prison, at
ADX Florence, after pleading guilty in September 2007 to running a criminal enterprise and laundering
money.[29][30]

Benjamin Arellano Felix, who was arrested on March 9, 2002 by the Mexican Army in the state of
Puebla, Mexico,[31] was extradited to the United States in April 29, 2011 to face charges of trafficking
cocaine into California.[32] He later pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy to launder money,
and was sentenced to 25 years in jail on April 2, 2012.[33] Once that is served, he will be sent back to
Mexico to finish another 22 years for a conviction there.[34]

On August 31, 2012, Eduardo Arellano Felix was extradited to the United States to face trial for
racketeering, money laundering and narcotics trafficking charges in the Southern District of California.
[35] He pleaded guilty to money laundering and is serving 15 years.

Los Palillos

Los Palillos ("The Toothpicks") was a group operating within Tijuana Cartel, who worked as the armed
wing of the Tijuana Cartel in the United States, for the control of the criminal activities in the United
States specially California and Nevada.[36][37]

They were a criminal organization that operatated from San Diego to Los Angeles and other California
and Nevada cities. To avoid constant confrontations with the police and police interest reducing his
wealth Ramon Arellano Felix began bribing almost any official possible.[citation needed] Ramon
received money from members of the criminal group and local criminals to "kick up" money from their
illegal activities such as kidnapping and contract killing take the half of the money and give it to the
Tijuana Cartel to launderning it. That was way the Arellano Felix brothers operation include other clans
in Tijuana and Los Angeles.[37][38]
Presence in Colombia

The Tijuana Cartel is believed to have ties with the FARC a Colombia guerrilla group that also has ties
with some other Mexican drug Cartels. In 1990's, the Tijuana Cartel concluded that expanding their
market opportunities in Colombia, in exchange drug for weapons. Then in the 2000s they formed an
alliance with the Cali Cartel and Norte del Valle Cartel to have new allies for the cocaine business.[39]

Current status and new generation

The Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano new generation organization of the cartel is believed to be one of
the newest leaders in it to begin shipping cocaine from Colombia, particularly from Los Rastrojos and
Other Colombian dealers. The cartel was involved in the cultivation and distribution of marijuana in Baja
California area. Operating out in Tijuana, the cartel is now believed to make other activities such as
Kidnapping, People smuggling and Bribery from a network of cells of local members. The Tijuana border
region where the drugs are stored prior to shipment. The Tijuana Cartel has lost power but is growing
more alliances in foreign countries.[37][40] The current leader of the New Tijuana Cartel is Alberto "El
Piloto" Arellano, the son of Ramon Arellano Felix

In popular culture

There are several Mexican-folk (norteño) ballads (narco-corridos) that narrates the Tijuana cartel
exploits.

A fictional "Tijuana cartel" headed by a character named Obregon was featured battling a fictional
"Juarez cartel" in the 2000 motion picture Traffic.

Portrayed as the Avendanos brothers in Univisions Netflix series "El Chapo."