The template was forged in Medellín by Pablo Escobar: immense wealth, absolute violence, and the charisma of a folk hero. But the modern Mexican cartels haven’t just followed that template—they’ve weaponised it. What began as a handful of regional trafficking routes has evolved into a multi-generational saga of betrayal and ‘narco-terrorism.’ To understand Mexico today is to understand the rise and fall of these dynasties: the aging federations, the special-forces defectors, and the new, hyper-aggressive titans fighting for the crown.Mexico’s brutal drug war claims thousands of lives every year as powerful trafficking groups battle for territory and influence. These cartels control vast areas of the country and are also responsible for political corruption, assassinations and kidnappings. Several major drug trafficking organisations have shaped global supply routes, fuelled violence and contributed to major public health and security challenges.Many groups operate from strongholds in specific Mexican states that serve as bases for their activities and confrontations with rivals and law enforcement. Today, analysts widely regard the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as Mexico’s most powerful criminal organisations, while older groups such as the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas have weakened. Beyond Mexico, Colombia’s Medellín Cartel once set the model for modern drug empires.The Sinaloa Cartel, also known as the Sinaloa Federation, emerged in the late 1980s from former members of the Guadalajara Cartel and became one of the largest drug-trafficking organisations in the world. By 2016, it controlled about 40 to 60 percent of Mexico’s drug trade and dominated much of the north-west.For years it was headed by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, once ranked among the world’s richest men. Under his leadership the cartel gained a fierce reputation for violence, outfought rival groups and became the biggest supplier of illegal drugs to the United States. Officials said it kidnapped, tortured and killed members of rival gangs and had access to a huge arsenal, including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and Guzmán’s gold-plated AK-47. Mexican cartels often clash with one another, but they also form strategic alliances.Guzmán was sentenced to life in prison in July 2019 after one of the most high-profile trials in recent US history. Prosecutors said he trafficked cocaine, heroin and marijuana and maintained a network of dealers, kidnappers and assassins. His jailing led to increased violence as rivals sought advantage, but the cartel remains hugely powerful, still dominating north-west Mexico and operating in cities from Buenos Aires to New York. It continues to make billions of dollars trafficking narcotics to the US, Europe and Asia.The cartel is believed to be partly controlled by Guzmán’s son Ovidio Guzmán López. When he was arrested in October 2019, Sinaloa gunmen fought street battles with the army in broad daylight, set fire to vehicles and staged a prison break before he was freed, demonstrating the group’s military strength.In another case, alleged cartel leader Pedro Inzunza Noriega was arrested in Sinaloa state. He was accused by the United States of trafficking large amounts of fentanyl, cocaine and heroin as second-in-command of the Beltran Leyva Organization, a faction now believed defunct.
Jalisco New Generation Cartel
Formed around 2010, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is the Sinaloa cartel’s strongest and most aggressive competitor, centred in western regions such as Tierra Caliente. The group has expanded rapidly across Mexico and is now one of the country’s most dominant organised crime groups, with assets thought to exceed $20bn.Its leader Nemesio Oseguera, known as “El Mencho,” – was considered Mexico’s most-wanted trafficker and one of the last drug lords in the flashy, brutal mould of imprisoned leaders Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. He ambushed police, attacked senior security officials and even shot down a military helicopter. The United States offered a reward of up to $15m for his capture.CJNG is one of the main distributors of synthetic drugs in the Americas and a key player in illegal amphetamine markets in the US and Europe, with links to Asia. Analysts say its extreme violence has driven persistent bloodshed in cities including Tijuana, Juarez, Guanajuato and Mexico City. It has killed dozens of officials, downed an army helicopter and hung victims’ bodies from bridges to intimidate rivals. Experts say the cartel is set to expand further.Also read | US weapons, drones, symbolic patches: How Mexico’s most wanted drug lord ‘El Mencho’ militarised the cartel
Gulf Cartel
The Gulf Cartel, based in north-eastern Mexico around Tamaulipas, is one of the country’s oldest criminal groups, with roots in the 1980s. It became known for trafficking cocaine and marijuana into the United States and also smuggled heroin and amphetamines while working closely with Colombian cartels. By the 1990s its operations reportedly generated billions of dollars a year, sustained by political corruption and bribery.Leader Juan García Abrego was captured in 1996. His successor Osiel Cárdenas Guillén expanded the cartel’s military wing by recruiting corrupt special-forces soldiers and adopting a more violent approach. After his arrest in 2003 and the death of his brother Ezequiel in 2010, the cartel split into rival factions and weakened, becoming locked in turf wars with former allies.
Los Zetas
Those former special-forces recruits eventually broke away to form Los Zetas in 2010. Active mainly in north-east Mexico, they became notorious for extreme brutality, often torturing and decapitating victims. The group expanded beyond drugs into crimes ranging from cigarette smuggling to human trafficking.By 2012, Los Zetas had reached the peak of their power, operating in more than half of Mexico’s states and overtaking rivals to become the country’s biggest drug gang. But the killing of one leader by the Mexican Navy that year and the capture of successors Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales and Omar Treviño Morales triggered a decline. The cartel splintered and lost territory to expanding rivals such as CJNG, though it remains a dangerous force.
Medellín Cartel
Before Mexican groups rose to global dominance, Colombia’s Medellín Cartel dominated the global cocaine trade in the 1980s and early 1990s. Led by Pablo Escobar, it became synonymous with unprecedented wealth, power and violence, setting a template later followed by Mexico’s cartels.A day after Mexican forces killed Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes in an operation led by Mexico’s military, the mountain town of Tapalpa in Jalisco showed stark contrasts. Schools had closed because of the violence, yet children played in cobbled streets and tourist shops reopened on the main plaza. At the same time, gunfire echoed and a body lay on a road outside town beside a bullet-riddled vehicle. Heavily armed security forces continued clashes with cartel gunmen, who blocked roads as smoke rose on the outskirts. Authorities said more than 70 people died in the operation to capture him and the violence that followed, underscoring the cartel’s reach and the turmoil triggered by the death of one of Mexico’s most powerful drug lords.
