Founded | 1970 |
---|---|
Founded by | Rafael Aguilar Guajardo, Pablo Acosta Villarreal |
Founding location | Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico |
Years active | 1970–present |
Territory |
Mexico: Russia, Italy, Germany, Spain, Honduras, Hungary. |
Ethnicity | Mexicans and Mexican-Americans |
Leader(s) | Juan Pablo Ledezma |
Criminal activities | Drug trafficking, people smuggling, money laundering, racketeering, murder, arms trafficking, bribery. |
Allies | La Linea (armed wing), Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, Barrio Azteca, Los Zetas, Tijuana Cartel |
Rivals | Sinaloa Cartel, MS-13, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Gente Nueva, Knights Templar Cartel, Gulf Cartel, La Familia Michoacana |
Mexico:
Chihuahua
United States:
Texas, New Mexico Arizona Kansas City
The Juárez Cartel (Spanish: Cártel de Juárez), also known as the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Organization, is a Mexican drug cartel based in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, across the U.S.-Mexico border from El Paso, Texas. According to the DEA, Juarez cartel is responsible for at least 200 million profit per week, of which 1% goes to bribes. The cartel is one of several drug trafficking organizations that have been known to decapitate their rivals, mutilate their corpses and dump them in public places to instill fear not only into the general public, but also into local law enforcement and their rivals, the Sinaloa Cartel. The Juárez Cartel has an armed wing known as La Línea, a Juarez street gang that usually performs the executions. It also uses the Barrio Azteca gang to attack its enemies.
The Juárez Cartel was the dominant player in the center of the country, controlling a large percentage of the cocaine traffic from Mexico into the United States. The death of Amado Carrillo Fuentes in 1997 was the beginning of the decline of the Juárez cartel, as Carrillo relied on ties to Mexico's top-ranking drug interdiction officer, division general Jesús Gutiérrez Rebollo.
In September 2011, the Mexican Federal Police reported that the cartel is now known as "Nuevo Cartel de Juárez" (New Juárez Cartel). It is alleged that the 'New Juárez Cartel' is responsible for recent executions in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua.