Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords and Their Godfathers (53 page)

Ernesto Zedillo, PRI, 1994–2000

Vicente Fox, National Action Party (PAN), 2000–06

Felipe Calderón, PAN, 2006–12

Enrique Peña Nieto, PRI, from December 2012. He was previously governor of the State of Mexico, and features in this book mainly in that role.

The rest of the cast

Acosta Chaparro
, General Mario Arturo. Initially referred to in the book as “General X,” was entrusted by President Felipe Calderón and Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mouriño with the task of meeting the top drug barons and seeking a peace deal between them. It was unsuccessful. He was murdered in April 2012.

Aguilar Garzón
, Antonio. Became a supervisor in the prison service in 2000, then assistant warden of Puente Grande prison later that year, where he lasted just two months. In both posts he denounced corruption in the prison and later gave testimony against his own bosses, including Enrique Pérez Rodríguez, the director of the prison service. Aguilar died in a car accident shortly after testifying.

Álvarez Nahara
, General Guillermo. Head of the Military Judicial Police during the presidency of Carlos Salinas, and took part in the capture of El Chapo Guzmán in 1993.

Arellano Félix
, Benjamín. Leader of the Tijuana Cartel along with his brother, Ramón. In 2001, they became the first target of El Chapo’s Federation and of President Fox’s war on drugs.

Arroyo Guízar
, Richard. Stepson of the Sinaloa Cartel’s Jesús Reynaldo Zambada García. Turned protected witness for the PGR, with the code name María Fernanda, after being arrested with his stepfather and half-brother in 2008.

Avilés Pérez
, Pedro, alias León de la Sierra (Mountain Lion). First Mexican drug baron to smuggle cocaine into the US. He was murdered in 1978, and Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo took his place.

Bayardo del Villar
, Edgar Enrique, known as El Jumex (The Fruit Juice). As a policeman, allegedly worked for Amado Carrillo Fuentes and later for El Rey Zambada. After being incriminated by the sons of the latter, like them he became a protected witness and gave information about corruption and collusion in García Luna’s SSP.

Beltrán Arredondo
, Manuel. Businessman in the mining sector, allegedly a leading member of the Sinaloa Cartel and a close friend of El Chapo Guzmán’s. Sent Dámaso López to Puente Grande. Shot dead by Mexican navy forces in November 2007.

Beltrán Leyva
, Marcos Arturo (the Marcos is usually left out), alias El Barbas (The Beard). Eldest of the Beltrán Leyva brothers (Arturo, Héctor, and Alfredo, collectively “The Three Knights”). Helped Amado Carrillo Fuentes build his empire in the 1990s, then backed El Chapo in his rise. They turned on each other in 2008, after El Chapo orchestrated the arrest of his brother, Alfredo. Shot dead by forces of the Mexican navy in December 2009, in a raid on one of his luxury flats in Cuernavaca.

Beltrán Leyva
, Héctor, alias El H, El Ingeniero, or El Elegante. In charge of developing the organization’s relations with senior public officials.

Beltrán Leyva
, Alfredo, alias El Mochomo (The Ant). The youngest of the brothers, arrested in January 2008.

Beltrán Santana
, Leonardo. Warden of the Puente Grande maximum security prison when El Chapo “escaped,” and oversaw the period when the drug baron controlled most of what went on there. He spent nine years in prison and was released in 2010 on the orders of Genaro García Luna.

Beltrones
, Manlio Fabio. Senior PRI politician, governor of Sonora 1991–97, and, since 2012, leader of the PRI in the lower house. Has been accused of links to drug traffickers and providing protection to the Pacific organization, as well as involvement in the murder of Cardinal Posadas Ocampo, and diverting the investigation into the killing of PRI presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio in 1994.

Berrellez
, Hector. DEA special agent who led the investigation into the murder of Enrique Camarena, known as Operation Leyenda.

Bribiesca Sahagún
, Manuel. Son of Marta Sahagún, the second wife of President Fox. Allegedly developed business links with Ignacio Coronel of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Buendía Tellezgirón
, Manuel. Mexican journalist murdered in 1984.

Camarena
, Enrique, known as El Kiki. DEA special agent, murdered by the Guadalajara Cartel in 1985. His death caused friction between the US and Mexico, but also between the DEA and the CIA.

Camberos Rivera
, Francisco Javier, alias El Chito. While El Chapo was in Puente Grande, El Chito acted as his fixer on the outside.

Camil Garza
, Jaime. Businessman and friend of President Zedillo, father of soap star Jaime Camil, and allegedly a front person for Amado Carrillo Fuentes.

Cárdenas Guillén
, Osiel. Leader of the Gulf Cartel, captured in March 2003 and extradited to the US in January 2007.

Cárdenas Guillén
, Antonio Ezequiel. As Osiel’s brother, took charge of the Gulf Cartel after his brother’s arrest in 2003. Killed in November 2010, along with a number of his bodyguards, in a shootout with federal forces.

Cárdenas Palomino
, Luis, also known as El Pollo (The Chicken). AFI Director General of Police Investigations in 2003, when he was part of a group that briefly “arrested” El Chapo Guzmán, inaugurating the lucrative relationship between the drug baron and García Luna. Held a series of senior posts in the Federal Police under García Luna, during the Calderón administration.

Caro Quintero
, Rafael, alias El Príncipe (The Prince). He and Amado Carrillo Fuentes were the two main protégés of Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo in the early phase of the Pacific organization, which would later give rise to El Chap o’s Sinaloa Cartel.

Carpizo McGregor
, Jorge. Attorney general 1993–94, the third of five to hold that post under President Salinas.

Carrillo Fuentes
, Amado, alias El Señor de los Cielos (The Lord of the Skies). At the head of the Juárez Cartel, became the most powerful of all Mexican drug traffickers in the 1990s, and in many respects took over from the Colombian Medellín Cartel. Allegedly died in July 1997 as a result of botched plastic surgery.

Carrillo Fuentes
, Rodolfo. Youngest brother of Amado. Shot dead with his wife in 2004, apparently on orders of El Chapo or El Mayo, for not toeing the line of The Federation. His death almost led to a split between El Chapo and Vicente Carrillo Fuentes and the Beltrán Leyvas, but in fact this did not occur until 2008.

Carrillo Fuentes
, Vicente, alias El Viceroy. Younger brother of Amado and elder brother of Rodolfo, took over the Juárez Cartel on Amado’s supposed death in 1997.

Carrillo Leyva
, Vicente, alias El Ingeniero (The Engineer). Son of Amado Carrillo Fuentes.

Carrillo Olea
, General Jorge. Key figure in the Mexican political and security establishment for many years. Under President de la Madrid, in 1985, set up the intelligence agency Cisen. As anti–drug coordinator for Salinas, he set up Cendro in 1992, took charge of the capture of El Chapo in 1993, and effectively ran the Attorney General’s Office. As governor of Morelos state from 1994–98, was accused of protecting drug traffickers and of being close to Amado Carrillo Fuentes.

Castaño Gil
, José Vicente, alias El Profe (The Professor). Colombian paramilitary and drug trafficker. Founded the far-right paramilitary group AUC with his brother, Carlos.

Cervantes Aguirre
, Brigadier General Enrique. Secretary of Defense under President Zedillo.

Coello Trejo
, Javier. Drug czar under Enrique Álvarez del Castillo, President Salinas’s first attorney general. Allegedly in the pay of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, prevailing on him to hand over Guzmán as the scapegoat for the cardinal’s murder in 1993.

Coronel Villarreal
, Ignacio, known as Nacho. Also known as El Rey del Cristal for pioneering the traffic in the synthetic drug, methamphetamine. Leading figure in the Sinaloa Cartel and close associate of El Chapo. Shot dead by the Mexican army in July 2010.

Costilla
, Jorge Eduardo, alias El Coss. Right-hand man to Osiel and then
Ezequiel Cárdenas. Took charge of a divided Gulf Cartel after death of Ezequiel in 2010, and was himself arrested in September 2012.

Escobar
, Pablo. Head of the Medellín Cartel, and the most powerful Colombian drug trafficker in the 1980s. Shot dead in 1993.

Esparragoza Moreno
, Juan José, alias El Azul (Blue). Leader of the Sinaloa cartel. Like a number of drug traffickers, began his career as an agent of the DFS intelligence service in the 1970s. Became a key aide to Amado Carrillo Fuentes, then to El Chapo Guzmán. Known by US agencies as “The Peace Maker” for his repeated attempts to broker peace deals between different drug factions.

Félix Gallardo
, Miguel Ángel. One of the early leaders of the Guadalajara Cartel, or Pacific organization, which gave rise to the Sinaloa Cartel. Arrested in April 1989.

Fernández Ruiz
, Luis Francisco. Assistant warden of the Puente Grande maximum security prison when El Chapo “escaped” on January 19, 2001. One of sixty-eight members of the prison staff charged in connection with that event, spent five years in prison before being released on appeal.

Fonseca Carrillo
, Ernesto, known as Don Neto. Early leader of the Pacific Cartel, uncle of Amado Carrillo. Currently in jail for Camarena murder.

Gallardo
, José Luis, alias El Güero (Blondie). Kidnapped DEA agent Camarena for Caro Quintero and Don Neto in 1985. Thought by some to be a nephew of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo; this book suggests he may have been a CIA agent.

Garay Cadena
, Víctor Gerardo. García Luna put him in charge of civilian forces at the beginning of Calderón’s “war on drugs” at the end of 2006. A year later videos emerged showing him and other SSP officials taking orders from members of the Sinaloa Cartel. After Edgar Millán was killed in May 2008, García Luna made Garay acting commissioner of the PFP.

García Ábrego
, Juan. With brother Humberto, became leader of the Gulf Cartel when their uncle, Juan Nepomuceno, retired. Arrested in 1996 and extradited to the United States.

García Luna
, Genaro. Secretary of public security under Calderón and one of the central figures in the “war on drugs,” which he is accused of using to benefit El Chapo and the Sinaloa Cartel. In 2001, under President Fox, founded and became director general of the AFI. Previous to that held posts in the PJF and Cisen.

Garza Palacios
, Javier, alias El Frutilupis. AFI director of special operations in 2003, when he was part of the group that usefully “arrested” El Chapo Guzmán. García Luna made him coordinator of regional security in the Calderón government, but was forced to “sack” him after a scandal in 2007.

Gertz Manero
, Alejandro. First secretary of public security, appointed by Fox. Had been a senior PGR official 30 years earlier, the heyday of the “suitcase ritual,” which collected bribes from drug traffickers and channeled them up to higher echelons in the Mexican state.

González Calderoni
, Guillermo. Head of the PJF in Guadalajara in 1987, and allegedly represented the Salinas family before the Gulf and Juárez cartels.

Gutiérrez Rebollo
, General Jesús. From 1989 chief of 5
^th
Military Region, including Jalisco and Sinaloa, when the Pacific organization was consolidating its dominance in that region and beyond. President Zedillo made him head of the INCD in 1996. In February 1997 he was arrested and sentenced for links to Amado Carrillo Fuentes.

Guzmán Loera
, Joaquín, alias El Chapo (Shorty). Leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, the largest Mexican crime group and the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world.

Harrison
, Lawrence Victor, alias Torre Blanca (White Tower). US communications specialist who installed radio systems for Mexican drug cartels in the 1980s. Entered a protected witness program in 1989, testified in a Los Angeles court in 1990, and again in 1992.

Higuera Bernal
, Alfredo. Sinaloa district attorney, allegedly a guest at El Chapo’s “wedding” in 2007.

Higuera Bernal
, Gilberto. Deputy attorney general under President Fox and close ally of García Luna. Accused of making appointments to favor Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán and The Federation.

Kerry
, John. Democratic Senator, currently US Secretary of State. Chaired the Kerry Committee hearings into the Iran-Contra affair (1986–89).

Labastida Calderón
, Igor. AFI director of federal investigations in 2003, when he was part of the group that “arrested” El Chapo Guzmán. Shot dead in June 2008, when head of Traffic and Contraband at the PFP, and reportedly preparing to turn protected witness for the US Government against corruption in the AFI and SSP.