* [[File:Sinaloa Cartel Flag.png|250px|thumb|right|The flag of the [[Sinaloa Cartel]]]] The Sinaloa Plaza was ruled by [[Güero Palma]]. Eventually, various other drug lords joined the plaza under Palma. In Sinaloa, several several separate drug lords were also present. Mazatlan, a city in Sinaloa, had [[Gabino Salcido]] and [[Ismael Zambada]]. However, the largest drug producer in Sinaloa for a long time was [[Pedro Aviles]].
* [[File:Sinaloa Cartel Flag.png|250px|thumb|right|The flag of the [[Sinaloa Cartel]]]] The Sinaloa Plaza was ruled by [[Güero Palma]]. Eventually, various other drug lords joined the plaza under Palma. In Sinaloa, several several separate drug lords were also present. Mazatlan, a city in Sinaloa, had [[Gabino Salcido]] and [[Ismael Zambada]]. However, the largest drug producer in Sinaloa for a long time was [[Pedro Aviles]].
===== Growth & Collapse =====
The Guadalajara Cartel was formed when [[Rafa Quintero]], [[Ernesto Fonseca]] and primarily [[Felix Gallardo]] met up with several plaza leaders and convinced them to join the new larger cartel.
The Tijuana Plaza was led by [[Alberto Falcon]], who initially did not seek to join the Guadalajara Cartel. Only after Felix Gallardo made a deal with Falcon, did he allow the [[Arellano Brothers|Arellano brothers]] to work with Felix. In Sinaloa, Felix's boss, [[Pedro Aviles]], had a long lasting rivalry with the Juarez Plaza leader, [[Pablo Acosta]]. In a meeting, Aviles banned Acosta from the cartel. Following Acosta's ban from the cartel, Ernesto Fonseca murdered Pedro Aviles.
Initially, the Guadalajara Cartel was supported by [[DFS]], led by [[Nazar Haro]]. However, as the cartel started growing, the DFS started demanding more money. Nazar Haro was amongst the men who demanded more money, and was consequently murdered by Felix Gallardo. The new DFS general became [[Toribio Esparragoza]], also known as "El Azul".
==== Milenio Cartel ====
==== Milenio Cartel ====
Latest revision as of 23:34, 19 April 2025
For a list of Cartels and similar organizations, see List of Cartels.
In the Man in the High Brick there's numerous cartels. These are criminal organizations, primarily involved with drug trafficking, though also racketeering and committing various other crimes. Cartels are primarily present in Middle America and South America.
The first cartel to be formed was the Gulf Cartel, formed by Juan Nepomuceno. It was established in Matamoros, a large city in the Mexican State Tamaulipas. It smuggled alcohol in large quantities to the United States during the Prohibition era. Once the United States capitulated to Germania and the Empire of Japan, the Gulf Cartel only bordered the Germanic Zone of America.
Juan was reportedly loved by the local communities and preferred to work alone. The close family of Juan Nepomuceno also was part of the leadership of the Gulf Cartel. The Gulf Cartel was the first criminal organization to be considered a cartel, though it was often also considered the Matamoros Plaza.
Juan Nepomuceno attempted to keep the cartel neutral and low-profile to avoid publicity.
Maldeira Cartel
Though the Gulf Cartel was the first organization to be considered a cartel, a few years later the Maldeira Cartel was formed. It's leader, Giovanni Maldeira, sought to create a large criminal organization controlling all of North America and South America.
The Maldeira Cartel was established after Giovanni Maldeira met up with several local drug lords in Mexico. These local drug lords were getting around 10% to 15% profit from the drugs they were trafficking. This relatively low profit was considered a normal percentage, due to there being need for a large amounts of traffickers and long distances.
Maldeira offered these drug traffickers around 30% of the profit if they worked for him. He would lessen the amount of separate traffickers and would organize routes with larger shipments. This allowed Maldeira and the separate drug traffickers to earn more money.
This system allowed Maldeira to ensure the drug traffickers working for him were content, whilst still keeping them relatively poor. Maldeira's intentions to keep them poor were to ensure no uprisings emerge.
This new system put a large amount of other drug traffickers out of business. This forced them to work for Maldeira as well. Maldeira's influence in Mexico grew. His growth allowed him to expand to other countries as well.
Middle America swiftly succumbed to his influence. Colombia, a large producer and trafficker of cocaine, also became part of his sphere of influence. Peru and Bolivia followed soon after, as they also are large cocaine producers. Eventually, Maldeira spread his cartel's influence from all of Middle America to all of South America. However, his influence in Brazil, Southern Chile and Southern & Central Argentina remained minimal.
After a few setbacks Maldeira started aligning himself with the Black Hand, a Mafia organization. Maldeira gave the Mafia members high ranks, often outranking the original drug traffickers. This caused severe unrest and dissatisfaction amongst the drug traffickers. However, the Italians and Maldeira suppressed the revolting drug traffickers by executing them.
Maldeira put Italian Mafia leaders in charge of the large amount of territory his cartel controlled. The Changretta Family and Sabini Family controlled Mexico. Colombia was controlled by Vito Changretta and Arnold Rothstein. However, there were assassination attempts on both leaders, which prompted them to flee the country. This put Benito Changretta in charge of Colombia, though he fled the region swiftly as well.
Collapse
The Maldeira Cartel started collapsing after the Mafia leaders started becoming targets for assassination. Primarily in Mexico and Colombia these leaders were the victim of numerous assassination attempts by lower ranking drug traffickers.
Additionally, the Maldeira Cartel erupted in an internal conflict. The Changretta and Sabini families attempted seizing control of the Cartel. Maldeira and his loyal followers, such as Augusto Romano, attempted to stabilize the organization.
However, the chaos within the organization marked it's downfall. The Changretta and Sabini families had to flee to the Germanic Zone of America or to Europe, primarily Italy. The members that did not flee, were murdered. Primarily the Salamanca Family was responsible for the deaths of the Changrettas and Sabinis.
In Medellin, a city in Colombia, Pablo Escobar, a local drug lord at the time, started defying the Maldeira Cartel's influence, which was collapsing swiftly. Pablo Escobar started drug trafficking larger amounts with his brother Roberto Escobar and his cousin Gustavo Gaviria. Soon after, the local group aligned with Jorge Ochoa and Juan Ochoa. Later on, they also aligned with their younger brother, Fabio Ochoa. Jose Gacha, an illegal emerald trafficker who was widely regarded as treacherous towards his associates, also joined the Cartel. Lastly, Carlos Lehder, a drug trafficker, joined the cartel as well. Pablo Escobar officially formed the Medellin Cartel. It was the first one establish itself independently from the Maldeira Cartel.
The Medellin Cartel grew swiftly, gaining more members such as Diego Murillo, also known as Don Berna. It rapidly became the largest cartel in Colombia, trafficking large amounts of cocaine. Following the establishment of the Medellin Cartel, Pablo Escobar became extremely well known in Colombia.
Swiftly after the establishment of the Medellin Cartel, the Cali Cartel was founded. It was founded by Gilberto Orejuela and his younger brother Miguel Orejuela. Their long-term friend Chepe Santacruz also co-founded the cartel. Gilberto was the head of the Cartel, whilst Miguel was in charge of the finances. Chepe was the main trafficker, often visiting cities like New York. He worked there under the alias Victor Crespo, overseeing routes and the cartel's drug trafficking. At some point, Pacho Herrera became the fourth leader after achieving many successes.
The Cali Cartel was a secretive organization. It's leaders and members attempted to keep the Cali Cartel relatively unknown. DEA and SS forces checking Colombia for cartels and attempting to take them down didn't know of the existence of the Cali Cartel for the first few months of it's existence. Additionally, the growing popularity of Pablo Escobar allowed the Cali Cartel to remain widely unnoticed.
During the collapse of the Maldeira Cartel, the Guadalajara Cartel was established. It was headed by Felix Gallardo, Ernesto Fonseca and Rafa Quintero, all three of which were formerly part of drug trafficking organization headed by Pedro Aviles, the most prolific drug trafficker in Sinaloa at the time.
Felix Gallardo was regarded as the leader of the cartel, keeping relations between groups neutral. Ernesto Fonseca and Rafa Quintero were the co-leaders, though they weren't regarded as , instead, they were widely regarded as separate drug traffickers.
Felix Gallardo spearheaded an idea to unite the large criminal organizations in Mexico. He met up with leaders of several "plazas" (drug trafficking organizations). The plazas included the Tijuana, Nogales, Juarez, Potosino and Sinaloa.
Plazas & Territory
The flag of the Tijuana Cartel The Tijuana Plaza was headed by Alberto Falcon. Under Falcon, the Arellano brothers led the Tijuana Plaza as well. Jesus Gutierrez was a separate drug trafficker until he joined the Tijuana Plaza. He had close relations to Falcon and thus was able to receive a high rank in the Tijuana Cartel, though not outranking Falcon or the Arellano brothers.
Felix Gallardo approached Falcon, asking Falcon to allow the Arellano brothers to work for the Guadalajara Cartel as well. Alberto Falcon accepted under the condition the Guadalajara Cartel does not interfere with Falcon's cocaine business. Though Falcon and Gutierrez accepted the deal, neither were fond of the Guadalajara Cartel and preferred the Tijuana Plaza to remain independent.
The flag of the Nogales Cartel The Nogales Plaza was led by Rene Verdugo. Verdugo had close relations to the Tijuana plaza leader Jesus Gutierrez. Due to the participation of the Tijuana Plaza in the Guadalajara Cartel, Verdugo allowed the Nogales Plaza to become part of the cartel as well.
Initially, Verdugo was not keen on joining the cartel. Felix Gallardo scheduled a meeting with Verdugo, in which no deal was made. This kept the Nogales Plaza independent. However, after the Tijuana Plaza also joined the Cartel, Felix and Nogales met up again and the Nogales Plaza joined the cartel as well.
The flag of the Juarez Cartel The Juarez Plaza was ruled by Pablo Acosta. Rafael Aguilar achieved the rank of second in command. Amado Carillo, the nephew of Ernesto Fonseca (Don Neto), was put in charge of the plaza as well after Juarez joined the Guadalajara Cartel.
Pablo Acosta had a long-time rivalry with Pedro Aviles, a prolific drug trafficker in Sinaloa. In a meeting between Acosta and Felix Gallardo, Acosta agreed to work with the Guadalajara Cartel despite the rivalry. However, Aviles banned Acosta from the cartel. Following Acosta's ban, Aviles was killed by Don Neto, allowing Acosta back into the cartel.
The Ojinaga Plaza was a short lived Plaza which was founded by Pablo Acosta after he left the Juarez Plaza. However, soon after the establishment of the Ojinaga Plaza, Pablo Acosta was killed in a gunfight.
The flag of the Potosino Cartel The Potosino Plaza was led by Bonifacio Almagro and Fausto Zapata. Bonifacio Almagro was the cartel boss, whilst Fausto Zapata was the governor of San Luis Potosi. He worked closely alongside Bonifacio, giving him advantages due to his high ranking legitimate position.
The flag of the Sinaloa Cartel The Sinaloa Plaza was ruled by Güero Palma. Eventually, various other drug lords joined the plaza under Palma. In Sinaloa, several several separate drug lords were also present. Mazatlan, a city in Sinaloa, had Gabino Salcido and Ismael Zambada. However, the largest drug producer in Sinaloa for a long time was Pedro Aviles.
Growth & Collapse
The Guadalajara Cartel was formed when Rafa Quintero, Ernesto Fonseca and primarily Felix Gallardo met up with several plaza leaders and convinced them to join the new larger cartel.
The Tijuana Plaza was led by Alberto Falcon, who initially did not seek to join the Guadalajara Cartel. Only after Felix Gallardo made a deal with Falcon, did he allow the Arellano brothers to work with Felix. In Sinaloa, Felix's boss, Pedro Aviles, had a long lasting rivalry with the Juarez Plaza leader, Pablo Acosta. In a meeting, Aviles banned Acosta from the cartel. Following Acosta's ban from the cartel, Ernesto Fonseca murdered Pedro Aviles.
Initially, the Guadalajara Cartel was supported by DFS, led by Nazar Haro. However, as the cartel started growing, the DFS started demanding more money. Nazar Haro was amongst the men who demanded more money, and was consequently murdered by Felix Gallardo. The new DFS general became Toribio Esparragoza, also known as "El Azul".
The Milenio Cartel was a cartel that was established somewhere around the collapse of the Guadalajara Cartel. It was formed by the Valencia Family. Initially, it remained relatively small compared to other cartels, though it grew swiftly. Eventually, it's leaders would align with Coronel Villarreal, a high ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel. This made the Milenio Cartel a close ally to the Sinaloa Cartel.
Oscar Valencia was captured by the military. Juan Valencia became the new leader of the cartel. However, he was soon arrested as well. Coronel Villarreal was also killed in a gunfight with the military, creating a power vacuum.
The power vacuum allowed separate factions to emerge. One of these groups was La Resistencia, led by Ramiro Pozos. The other large faction that established itself was led by Nemesio Oseguera. Oseguera's faction would later become the Jalisco Cartel. The Jalisco Cartel and La Resistencia became rivals and formed alliances with other cartels to devastate the other cartel.
La Resistencia aligned itself with Los Zetas, a former paramilitary organization for the Gulf Cartel. Los Zetas was a rival of the Sinaloa Cartel, which led to an alliance to form between the Milenio and Sinaloa Cartels.
The remaining Milenio Cartel leaders joined several smaller gangs. Eventually, the Jalisco Cartel ceased it's alignment to the Sinaloa and Gulf Cartels.
Sinaloa Cartel
Initially, the Sinaloa area was ruled by several separate drug traffickers such as Pedro Aviles. The Sinaloa Area transformed into a Sinaloa Plaza, an slightly organized group of drug traffickers. They joined the Guadalajara Cartel. It remained part of the Guadalajara Cartel until it's collapse, after which it turned into the Sinaloa Cartel. Unlike the initial Sinaloa Plaza, the Sinaloa Cartel was organized and larger.
The initial founders of the Sinaloa Cartel included:
In Ecuador, the most dominant criminal organization is a criminal syndicate known as the Choneros Cartel. It was formed in the city Chone. It's founders are Josue Veliz, Luis Zambrano and Macias Villamar. The Choneros Cartel, similarly to the Gulf Cartel in Mexico, worked alongside the Maldeira Cartel. Once it collapsed, it grew swiftly.
In Colombia at the time of the Maldeira Cartel, only separate drug lords existed. The Maldeira Cartel loosely controlled these drug lords.
In Venezuela a secretive drug trafficking organization named Cartel de los Soles was formed. It utilizes the extremely corrupted government to operate. Some sources indicate the highest ranking figures such as presidents, vice presidents and various other titles have also been influenced by Cartel de los Soles. The rampant corruption allowed Cartel de los Soles to seize full control of Venezuela, making it difficult for the Maldeira Cartel to have influence in the region.
