Old, sick and fugitives: The founders of the Sinaloa Cartel

• Founders of the Sinaloa Cartel.
• Some are in prison.
• They took their gang to the top.

These men led drug smuggling activities in various parts of Mexico, especially along the Pacific coast, the Northwest and parts of Mexico’s northern and southern borders. However, today they are old, sick and on the run. That’s what the founders of the Sinaloa Cartel look like today.

At the time, each one had a key role in carrying out their operations successfully. However, the leaders of this criminal group lost their power over the years. While are in prison, others are fugitives from the law.

The Sinaloa Cartel: Old, sick and fugitives

PHOTO: Instagram

Since its founding in the 1980s, the Sinaloa Cartel has been one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in Mexico, largely controlled by Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán and his descendants. However, El Chapo did not do it all alone.

Since then, this cartel has remained one of the largest and, despite the fact that its founders are no longer leading it, they passed on the work and survival strategies to new generations.

The pioneers

PHOTO: Capture website El País

According to La Verdad, as far as is known, Héctor Luis El Guero Palma Salazar and Joaquín  Guzmán were the founders of the Sinaloa Cartel at the end of the 1980s, after being part of the Guadalajara Cartel.

Both consolidated what they had learned with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, who is now in prison, and founded the Guadalajara Cartel with Ernesto Fonseca, nicknamed Don Neto, and Rafael Caro Quintero in the early 1980s, when it became the first Important Mexican organization to control drug trafficking and transport in the United States.

Who’s in charge now?

PHOTO: Twitter

The three sons of El Chapo, Archivaldo, Jesús Alfredo and Ovidio currently rule the Cartel along with “Mayo” Zambada, the historic leader of the organization, which has spread its grasp to at least 17 of the 32 states of Mexico, in addition to having a wide international presence.

Each one of them adopted what their father inherited, and we are not talking about a fortune exactly, but about the established work routes, positioning of merchandise and an entire empire that supports the illicit activities to which they are dedicated.

How the founders of the Sinaloa Cartel are currently doing

PHOTO: Instagram

One of the pioneers of this cartel, the drug trafficker «El Güero» Palma, who was acquitted by a judge of organized crimes and spent more than 25 years in prisons in Mexico and the United States, could be locked up again if he’s found to have been involved in another crime.

On the other hand, Joaquín Guzmán Loera’s story is different, since he was sentenced to life in prison in the United States. He’s under surveillance 24 hours a day and he has gotten sick due to the difficult conditions.

Fugitives

PHOTO: Capture website El País

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the CDS is currently led by both Zambada and Los Chapitos, sons of El Chapo, who control retail operations in the city of Culiacán, although their jobs are regulated.

The current leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel are fugitives, and the authorities of Mexico and the United States offer considerable rewards to those who provide information that could lead to an arrest operation, or help find their whereabouts.