Gulf Cartel
The Gulf Cartel once moved tons of cocaine into the United States aboard government buses. A captured trafficker named Juan Antonio Ortiz described the scheme. Between 1986 and 1990, he said, the buses belonged to the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. They made ideal transport because border officers never stopped them.
The Gulf Cartel is a Mexican criminal syndicate based in Matamoros, in the state of Tamaulipas. Matamoros sits directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas. Perhaps no organized crime group in Mexico is older. The United States has designated it a terrorist organization, and it is believed to deal with crime groups in Europe, West Africa, Asia, Central America and South America.
How does a family smuggling business grow into something like this? Who protected it, and who paid for that protection? And what happened when the soldiers it hired for itself turned against it in the streets of Tamaulipas?
In the 1930s, a man named Juan Nepomuceno Guerra founded the group that would become the Gulf Cartel. Its first name was the Matamoros Cartel. It began by smuggling alcohol and other illegal goods across the border into the United States. Guerra is also said to have smuggled heroin for more than forty years.
When Prohibition ended, the organization did not disappear. It simply found other trades. It controlled gambling houses, prostitution rings and a car theft network, along with other kinds of illegal smuggling.
The group grew significantly in the 1970s under Juan García Ábrego. By the 1980s he was adding cocaine to the business and taking the upper hand. The shift toward cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana happened under his command and that of Guerra.
His most important move was a negotiation with the Cali Cartel of Colombia. The Gulf organization had been earning 1,500 dollars per kilogram for delivering Cali's cocaine. García Ábrego demanded 50 percent of each shipment instead.
The new terms came with a burden. He now had to guarantee that the product reached its destination. So he built warehouses along Mexico's northern border, large enough to hold hundreds of tons of cocaine. The warehouses gave him a new distribution network and more political influence. He also shipped cash north to be laundered, in the millions.
By around 1994, the Gulf Cartel was estimated to handle as much as one-third of all cocaine shipments from Cali suppliers into the United States. During the 1990s, the Mexican attorney general's office put the organization's worth at over 10 billion dollars.
In 1986, an FBI agent named Claude de la O stated in testimony that he had taken over 100,000 dollars in bribes from García Ábrego. He had also leaked information that could have endangered an FBI informant and several Mexican journalists. Claude was removed from the case in 1989 and retired a year later.
The cartel's protection did not stop at one agent. The source describes a special deal with members of the Texas National Guard, who trucked cocaine and marijuana from South Texas to Houston. In Mexico, the deputy attorney general in charge of the federal Judicial Police was found to have accumulated more than 9 million dollars for protecting García Ábrego. Former associates claimed that a deputy attorney general under Carlos Salinas de Gortari received more than 1.5 million dollars a month.
In 1995, the FBI put García Ábrego on its Ten Most Wanted list. He was the first drug trafficker ever named there. On the 14th of January 1996, he was arrested outside a ranch in Monterrey, Nuevo León.
The arrest itself drew suspicion. Some believed the Mexican government had always known where he was and held back because of what he knew about government corruption. The arresting commander of the Federal Judicial Police allegedly received an armored Mercury Grand Marquis and 500,000 dollars from a rival cartel. Another theory notes that a United States vote on Mexico's trade certification was due on the 1st of March. Mexico received that certification shortly after the arrest.
He was flown to Mexico City and then to Houston, wearing slacks and a striped shirt. An FBI agent interviewed him, and he confessed to ordering people murdered and tortured. His prosecutors tried him as an American citizen, because he held an American birth certificate. Mexican authorities called that document fraudulent, and he also held an official Mexican one.
The trial began eight months after his arrest. According to The Brownsville Herald, he entered the courtroom grinning and chatting with his lawyers. Over four weeks, 84 witnesses testified, from law enforcement officers to convicted smugglers. Jurors convicted him on 22 counts and ordered 350 million dollars of his assets seized, 75 million more than first planned. He received eleven life sentences and is held in a maximum security prison in Colorado.
Prosecutors also tied him to two massacres in Matamoros. In 1984, six people were killed at La Clínica Raya, a hospital where rival drug members were being treated. In 1991, eighteen prisoners were slain at the Cereso prison.
His brother Humberto then tried to take command. He lacked the leadership skills, and he lacked the backing of the Colombian suppliers.
In July 1999, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén took control of the cartel by assassinating Salvador Gómez Herrera, known as El Chava. The two men were close friends and co-leaders. The murder earned Cárdenas the nickname Mata Amigos, meaning Friend Killer.
Cárdenas wanted protection from rivals and from the Mexican military. He turned to the army itself. His first contact was an army lieutenant named Arturo Guzmán Decena, whom he reportedly asked to find the best men possible. Guzmán Decena deserted and brought more than 30 deserters from the elite special forces unit known as GAFE. Salaries far above army pay drew them in.
Among the original defectors were Jaime González Durán, Jesús Enrique Rejón Aguilar and Heriberto Lazcano. Lazcano would later lead Los Zetas as an independent cartel. Los Zetas began as the hired private army of the Gulf Cartel.
From 2001 to 2008, the two organizations were known together as La Compañía, meaning The Company. One of the first missions of Los Zetas came in 2003. They destroyed Los Chachos, a group that served the Milenio Cartel and disputed Tamaulipas drug corridors. Its boss, known as El Chacho, had betrayed the Gulf Cartel for the Tijuana Cartel. Los Zetas killed him.
As Cárdenas consolidated power, the Zetas took on more work. They ran kidnappings, collected taxes and debts, and operated protection rackets. They also secured trafficking routes called plazas, and executed enemies, often with grotesque savagery. The Sinaloa Cartel answered with its own enforcer group, Los Negros. It had less complexity and less success.
Some experts date the Mexican drug war not to 2006 but to 2004. They point to Nuevo Laredo, where the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas fought Sinaloa and Los Negros.
Cárdenas himself nearly became untouchable by threatening the wrong people. On the 9th of November 1999, he and about 15 gunmen confronted two American agents in Matamoros, one from the DEA and one from the FBI. The agents had come with an informant to gather intelligence. Cárdenas ordered them out of their vehicle, and they refused. They warned that killing federal agents would bring a massive manhunt. He let them go with a threat never to return.
Until then he had been seen as a minor player. After the standoff, he landed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list, with a 2 million dollar bounty.
On the 14th of March 2003, he was captured in Matamoros during a shootout between the Mexican military and his gunmen. The operation had been planned in secret over six months. Only President Vicente Fox, the defense secretary Ricardo Clemente Vega García and the attorney general Rafael Macedo de la Concha were told.
Behind the walls of La Palma prison, he still gave orders through his lawyers, his guards and handwritten notes. He approved executions and signed forms to buy police forces. He also allied with Benjamín Arellano Félix of the Tijuana Cartel. After a dispute, Cárdenas ordered Arellano beaten, and the alliance ended.
He was extradited to the United States in 2007. In 2010, he was sentenced to 25 years in a courtroom locked to the public in Brownsville. Nearly 30 million dollars of his assets went to Texas law enforcement agencies. Two helicopters bought with drug proceeds went to two Canadian financing companies.
On the 24th of February 2010, hundreds of trucks marked C.D.G, XXX and M3 rolled through northern Tamaulipas. The initials were insignia of the Gulf Cartel. Rumors of a broken alliance with Los Zetas had circulated on blogs and mass emails since September 2009, but this was no longer a rumor.
The fighting began in Reynosa, then spread to Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros. It eventually reached 11 municipalities in Tamaulipas, nine of them on the Texas border. Violence spilled into neighboring Nuevo León and Veracruz. On the 5th of October 2010, the Gulf Cartel killed two Zeta members in Brownsville, Texas.
Local authorities and the media tried to claim that nothing was happening. Witnesses described entire cities paralyzed in daylight, and businesses and homes burned to ruins. Thousands died, though most shootings and body counts went unreported.
Why did the alliance break? The source says it is unclear who started it, and it offers many competing accounts. Banners hung in Matamoros and Reynosa claimed that Los Zetas had moved into extortion, kidnapping and theft on their own. Los Zetas answered with banners of their own. They said they had carried out executions and kidnappings on Gulf orders, and that the Gulf Cartel blamed them for civilian deaths.
Other accounts point to Antonio Cárdenas Guillén, brother of Osiel. He was said to be addicted to gambling, sex and drugs, and Los Zetas saw him as a threat. Another version blames a succession quarrel after Osiel's extradition. The Gulf candidates were Antonio Cárdenas and Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez, while the Zetas wanted Lazcano.
Still others say the Gulf Cartel sought a truce with Sinaloa and Los Zetas refused to honor it. One account says Los Zetas left to ally with the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel. A final version concerns a Reynosa drug corridor. Samuel Flores Borrego, a Gulf lieutenant known as El Metro 3, killed Sergio Peña Mendoza, a Zeta lieutenant known as El Concorde 3. Los Zetas demanded the killer, the Gulf Cartel refused, and observers believe that started the war.
The Gulf Cartel then joined its old rivals, the Sinaloa Cartel and La Familia Michoacana, who shared a profound hatred of Los Zetas, according to Stratfor. Los Zetas allied with the Juárez, Beltrán-Leyva and Tijuana cartels.
By the source's account, the major cartels have been sorted into two blocs since February 2010. The Gulf, Sinaloa, La Familia and Knights Templar cartels stood on one side. The Juárez, Tijuana, Beltrán-Leyva and Zeta organizations stood on the other.
A shooting began around 10 in the morning on the 5th of November 2010 in Matamoros, and it lasted until about 6 in the evening. Mexican forces had been pursuing Antonio Cárdenas Guillén, known as Tony Tormenta, after more than six months of intelligence work. Authorities had tried twice before. Each time his gunmen distracted the troops and let him escape in an armored vehicle.
This time more than 660 marines, 17 vehicles and three helicopters took part. Gunmen met them with grenades and heavy-caliber fire. La Jornada reported over 80 SUVs of gunmen defending him and more than 300 grenades fired. Cartel members hijacked public transport units and built dozens of roadblocks to hold the soldiers back. The roadblocks continued after Cárdenas was killed.
Three international bridges closed. So did the University of Texas at Brownsville, just across the border. Schools and public transportation in Matamoros stopped. Residents warned each other on Twitter and Facebook, and bystanders recorded the gunfire on video.
The death toll depends on whom you ask. Government sources counted eight dead, including three marines, a soldier and four gunmen. The Brownsville Herald and The Monitor reported around 50 killed. Other sources and one anonymous officer said more than 100.
The violence did not stay in Matamoros. Reynosa saw a spiral of killing days later. In Ciudad Mier, a turf war with Los Zetas drove out more than 95 percent of the population. Banners from Los Zetas celebrating the death appeared across Mexico. President Barack Obama phoned President Felipe Calderón to congratulate him.
The bodyguards at his side were known as Los Escorpiones. The Mexican government said Antonio created them and that they numbered over 60 civilians, ex-police and ex-soldiers. Narcocorridos on YouTube praised them. Members killed that day were known by numbers, such as Escorpión 1, Escorpión 18, Escorpión 26 and Escorpión 42. Two wounded members, Escorpión 37 and Escorpión 43, were arrested. Their capture helped Mexican forces understand the group's structure.
Two factions had formed within the Gulf Cartel by then. The Metros were headquartered in Matamoros and the Rojos in Reynosa. Osiel Cárdenas had set up similar groups in the late 1990s, identified by radio codes, and a third group, the Lobos, in Laredo. Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez, a former policeman known as El Coss, led the Metros. Mario Cárdenas Guillén, brother of Osiel and Antonio, led the Rojos.
The quarrel began in 2010. Juan Mejía González, called R-1, was passed over for regional boss of Reynosa and sent to the Frontera Chica. Samuel Flores Borrego got the post instead. Rafael Cárdenas Vela, nephew of Antonio, also blamed the Metros for helping the military find his uncle. Other sources say the Rojos were suspected of being too soft on Los Zetas.
Flores Borrego was killed on the 2nd of September 2011. Firefights followed across Tamaulipas, though the Metros held the major cities from Matamoros to Miguel Alemán. Costilla was arrested in September 2012, and a leader named Mario Ramirez Trevino was captured on the 18th of August 2013.
In June 2020, InSight Crime journalist Victoria Dittmar described the Gulf Cartel as fragmented. A group called Los Pelones emerged as an independent cartel from the breakup. Remnants of the old organization remain in Tamaulipas.
In April 2011, police in Reynosa found 68 kidnapped people from Mexico and Central America inside a Gulf Cartel safe house. Kidnapping became one of the group's defining crimes. The source says that the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas together are blamed for more than half of the kidnappings in Mexico.
An intelligence agency listed three motives. The cartel kidnaps to replace members lost to death or arrest, to eliminate rival gang members, and to collect ransom. The recruits included unlikely figures. Omar Ortiz, a former soccer star of C.F. Monterrey, was arrested in January 2012 for working in a Gulf kidnapping ring. A lucha libre wrestler named Lázaro Gurrola, known as Estrella Dorada, was also arrested.
The crimes reached into Texas, mainly around McAllen. Kidnappers reportedly trained with paintball equipment to rehearse the abductions. A man from Palmview, Texas, named Isaac Sanchez Gutierrez, faced an ultimatum when his brother was taken. He could pay 10 million dollars or smuggle 50 drug loads into the United States.
Extortion was steadier work. The cartel taxed businesses across Tamaulipas for protection, with threats of death for those who refused. Critics argue that capturing kingpins pushed cartels toward more extortion, as they searched for other income.
Oil provided another cushion. The cartel was reported to have stolen about 40 percent of oil products in northern Mexico in 2011, then sold them illegally. One captured leader said drug trafficking was the main business, but oil theft had become an important financial cushion. In 2008 in Michoacán, the cartel was reported to control counterfeit goods, with millions of fake CDs and movies.
The Economist reported in 1997 that Gulf drug money in the Rio Grande Valley may have moved about 20 billion dollars. It said around 15 percent of retailers' gains there came from drug money.
The rank structure is simple. Falcons, called halcones, act as street lookouts. Hitmen, called sicarios, carry out killings, kidnappings and extortion. Lieutenants supervise them and may order low-profile executions. At the top sit the capos, who appoint territorial leaders and plan high-profile killings.
The network stretches far beyond Mexico. In Texas, the cartel relies on street and prison gangs, including the Texas Syndicate, the Latin Kings and the Mexican Mafia. In Europe, it was reported to use BlackBerry phones to talk with the 'Ndrangheta of Italy, because the texts are difficult to intercept. In 2009 the organization decided that European demand and a strong euro justified building a network there. West Africa, with its weak rule of law, became a staging ground for routes toward Europe.
On the 25th of March 2010-40 inmates escaped from a federal prison in Matamoros. On the 10th of September 2010-85 walked out of a prison in Reynosa. On the 17th of December 2010, about 141 left a federal prison in Nuevo Laredo. Earlier counts were a few higher in both of the last two cases, and the corrected figures came later.
The Reynosa prison had already been attacked in April 2010, when a convoy of ten trucks carrying gunmen broke in and freed 13 inmates. In Zacatecas on the 16th of May 2009, an armed commando used ten trucks and a helicopter to free 53 Gulf Cartel members. On the 15th of July 2011, a fight inside a Nuevo Laredo prison left seven inmates dead and 59 escaped. The five guards on duty were never found. CNN reported that more than 400 inmates escaped from Tamaulipas prisons between January 2010 and March 2011.
The police were an easier target. The newspaper Excélsior reported that Tamaulipas paid the worst police wages in Mexico, about 3,618 pesos a month, or roughly 260 dollars. In Aguascalientes, where violence is far lower, officers earn five times as much. On the 9th of May 2011, the federal government disarmed all police in the state, starting with Matamoros and Reynosa. On the 7th of November 2011, about 1,660 officers were dismissed for failing control tests or refusing to take them.
The political story runs deeper. For 71 years the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI, ruled Mexico, and many believed it kept a quiet arrangement with the cartels. When trafficking got out of line, the government would stage arrests and the drug lords would settle down. After the PRI lost the presidency in 2000, that arrangement and the pax mafiosa fell apart.
Tamaulipas became a symbol of the breakdown. Investigators found the massacre of 72 migrants and clandestine mass graves holding more than 250 bodies in San Fernando. The candidate for governor, Rodolfo Torre Cantú, was assassinated in 2010. Specialists concluded that neither the regional nor the federal government controlled the territory.
On the 30th of January 2012, the attorney general ordered the past three governors of Tamaulipas and their families to stay in the country. They were under investigation for possible cooperation with cartels. Newspapers reported that these governors had close ties to the Gulf Cartel.
On the 5th of June 2016, Tamaulipas voters elected a governor from an opposition party for the first time in 87 years. Francisco Javier García Cabeza de Vaca of the National Action Party won on the slogan that winds of change were coming. Both he and his opponent still faced accusations of taking illicit money from the Gulf Cartel.
Updated
Common questions
Where is the Gulf Cartel based?
It is based in Matamoros, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The city sits directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas.
Who founded the Gulf Cartel?
Juan Nepomuceno Guerra founded it in the 1930s. It was first known as the Matamoros Cartel and began by smuggling alcohol into the United States.
What was the relationship between the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas?
Los Zetas began as the Gulf Cartel's hired private army, recruited from Mexican army special forces deserters under Osiel Cárdenas Guillén. They broke from the Gulf Cartel in early 2010 and the two groups went to war.
What are the Metros and the Rojos?
They are two factions within the Gulf Cartel. The Metros, centered in Matamoros, followed Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez. The Rojos, centered in Reynosa, were more loyal to the Cárdenas family.
What happened to Juan García Ábrego?
He was arrested on the 14th of January 1996 outside Monterrey and extradited to the United States. A jury convicted him on 22 counts, and he received eleven life sentences.
All sources
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- 162NewsBarack Obama expresa su apoyo a Calderón por la muerte de 'Tony Tormenta'6 November 2010
- 163NewsKilling of top Mexico drug lord 'Tony Tormenta' may boost rival Zetas cartelNacha Cattan — 7 November 2010
- 164Authorities Say Cartel Leader's Death Won't Curb Violence.Sylvia Longmire
- 167NewsLos Escorpiones, temible escolta de Tormenta5 November 2010
- 169News"Los Zetas" por dentroFrancisco Gomez — 31 December 2008
- 170NewsTony Tormenta, el capo que 'cuidaba' las fronteras de Tamaulipas5 November 2010
- 172NewsTony Tormenta escapó en 2 ocasiones: Marina8 November 2010
- 173NewsInternal struggle in the Gulf Cartel could weaken the organization29 October 2011
- 174NewsMajor Arrests Expected to Shake Up Gulf Cartel13 December 2011
- 175NewsDeath of Gulf Cartel 'Finance Chief' Sign of Internal Strife?Elyssa Pachico — 11 October 2011
- 176NewsMexico: Gulf Cartel lieutenant, his right-hand man captured30 August 2011
- 177NewsGulf Cartel lieutenant linked to various incidents on U.S side of border2 January 2012
- 178JournalMexico: Cartels, Corruption and Cocaine: A Profile of the Gulf CartelStephanie Brophy — August 2008
- 179JournalU.S. Assistance Has Helped Mexican Counternarcotics Efforts, but the Flow of Illicit Drugs into the United States Remains HighJess T. Ford — 25 October 2007
- 180BookDrugs and the American Dream: An AnthologyPatricia A. Adler — Wiley-Blackwell — 2012
- 181Testimony of Thomas A. ShannonUnited States Senate
- 182DTOs Have Expanded Operations in the United StatesU.S. Government Accountability Office
- 183NewsArrests of Mexican drug cartel leaders in Texas raise concerns3 November 2011
- 184NewsCartels cooperate with prison gangsJason Buch — 1 January 2012
- 185NewsFBI: Trucking 'significant' in cartels' U.S. profitabilityCharlie Morasch — 6 December 2011
- 188NewsCartel Inc: In the company of Narcos14 January 2010
- 189NewsNarco-mafia se comunican por Blackberry19 February 2009
- 190NewsUndermining Mexico's Dangerous Drug CartelsTed Galen Carpenter — 15 November 2011
- 191BookPrivate armed forces and global security: a guide to the issuesCarlos Ortiz — ABC-CLIO — 2010
- 192Mexican Cartels Exploit North Africa TurmoilInsight Crime — April 2011
- 193NewsLatin American drug cartels find home in West AfricaArthur Brice — 21 September 2009
- 194Cocaine trafficking in Western AfricaUnited Nations: Office on Drugs and Crime
- 195NewsGulf Cartel vs. Los Zetas... One year later26 February 2011
- 196NewsLa ley del silencio en Reynosa sólo la rompe... TwitterKent Penhaul — 21 June 2010
- 197NewsLa guerra Golfo-zetas, en 11 municipios tamaulipecos; nueve son fronterizos con EU12 November 2010
- 199NewsLa batalla del cártel del Golfo y "Los Zetas" por la Huasteca31 December 2011
- 200NewsTwo Zetas executed in Brownsville, Texas25 October 2010
- 201NewsLa guerra del cártel del Golfo y Los Zetas, mañana 24 de febrero se cumple un año23 February 2011
- 203NewsThe Missing in Tamaulipas26 April 2010
- 204NewsAll Tamaulipas, a War Zone22 April 2010
- 205NewsDEA: acuerdan 3 cárteles alianza contra Los Zetas5 March 2010
- 206NewsSicarios de los Beltrán Leyva y Zetas atacan a gente del Chapo en Sonora2 July 2010
- 207NewsFacciones del Cártel del Golfo y Los Zetas buscan aliarse para poner fin a agresiones contra la poblaciónProceso — 11 November 2014
- 209NewsTamaulipas, ¿en camino de convertirse en un estado fallido?Alberto Nájar — 13 April 2011
- 210NewsMigrantes, 72 muertos de fosa en Tamaulipas25 August 2010
- 211NewsSin resolver origen de narcofosas en TamaulipasDaniel Sánchez López — 9 April 2011
- 212NewsAsesinan a Rodolfo Torre Cantú, candidato al gobierno de Tamaulipas28 June 2011
- 213NewsTamaulipas: 'Failed state' in Mexico's war on drugsJulian Miglierini — 13 April 2011
- 214Mexico's PRI Names Presidential Candidate.Sylvia Longmire — Mexico's Drug War
- 215BookThe Political Economy of Narco-Corruption in MexicoPeter Andreas — Brown University — April 1998
- 216NewsMexico's drug war: A pax narcotica?7 January 2011
- 217JournalMexico: Current and Future Political, Economic and Security TrendsHal Klepak — August 2010
- 218NewsHay pruebas sobre nexos de priistas con narco: PAN21 October 2004
- 219NewsNarcopolítica en Tamaulipas29 June 2010
- 220NewsTamaulipas; PRI y narcoRicardo Alemán — 12 January 2010
- 221NewsBlindaje contra narcopolíticos en TamaulipasAlejandro Salas — February 2010
- 222NewsTamaulipas: gobierno fallidoMartín Moreno — 10 April 2011
- 223NewsBusca PGR contra 3 ex gobernadores de Tamaulipas30 January 2012
- 224NewsPGR emitió alerta migratoria contra tres ex gobernadores de Tamaulipas30 January 2012
- 225NewsArrestan nuevamente a Óscar Pérez Inguanzo, ex alcalde de Tampico12 November 2011
- 227NewsCiudadana graba evidencias de balaceras en Tamaulipas2 March 2010
- 228NewsLa violencia nos rebasó, acepta Eugenio Hernández28 August 2010
- 229NewsAlcalde admite psicosis por violencia en Reynosa25 February 2010
- 230García Cabeza de Vaca gana a priísta Hinojosa6 June 2016
- 233Tamaulipas: Rastros de narco en el precandidato panista – Proceso16 December 2009
- 235Tamaulipas: gobernadores y narco, hermanados – Proceso28 May 2016
- 237NewsSe fugan 40 reos de penal en Matamoros25 March 2010
- 238NewsSe fugan 40 reos de Penal de Matamoros25 March 2010
- 239News40 reos se fugan de penal de Matamoros25 March 2010
- 240News85 reos escaparon del penal de Reynosa, precisa el gobierno10 September 2010
- 241NewsAl menos 71 reos se fugan de un penal de Reynosa, en Tamaulipas10 September 2010
- 242NewsUn comando libera a trece prisioneros de un penal de Reynosa5 April 2010
- 243NewsAl menos 148 presos se escapan de una cárcel de Tamaulipas17 December 2010
- 244NewsTamaulipas cesa a directivos de penal por la fuga de los 141 reos17 December 2010
- 245NewsAl menos siete muertos y 59 reos fugados en una cárcel de Nuevo Laredo15 July 2011
- 246NewsSe fugan 59 reos en Nuevo Laredo16 July 2011
- 247NewsSe fugan 59 reos en Nuevo Laredo tras enfrentamiento15 July 2011
- 248NewsTras las fugas de reos en Tamaulipas, el gobierno federal se defiende7 April 2010
- 249NewsNarco libera reos en Zacatecas16 May 2009
- 250NewsMás de 400 reos se fugaron de cárceles de Tamaulipas en 14 meses15 July 2011
- 251NewsPolicías de Tamaulipas ganan 3 mil 618 pesos25 September 2011
- 252NewsPolicías de Tamaulipas, los peores pagados de México; ganan menos de 4 mil pesos al mes26 September 2011
- 253NewsPolicías de Tamaulipas aun no son confiables: Lomelí7 November 2011
- 254NewsSedena desarma a policías de Tamaulipas9 May 2011
- 255NewsEl gobierno de México desplegará 2,790 militares en Tamaulipas24 June 2011
- 256NewsMéxico enviará más Fuerzas Armadas a Nuevo León y Tamaulipas24 November 2011
- 257NewsTropas mexicanas reemplazan a los policías en la mitad de TamaulipasMariano Castillo — 26 June 2011
- 258NewsExpulsan a mil 650 policías de Tamaulipas por pérdida de confianza7 November 2011
- 259NewsOpinión sobre posible corrupción en Matamoros5 May 2011
- 260NewsAcusan a estados de incumplir homologación salarial policiaca26 September 2011
- 261NewsBatallones son parte de la estrategia de seguridad16 November 2011
- 262Mexico's War on DrugsJason Ensinger — Shave Magazine
- 263JournalCRS Report for Congress: Mexico's Drug CartelsColleen W. Cook — October 2007
- 264BookThe Reality of the Mexican Mega CartelSam Logan — 2006
- 265NewsRompen pacto cárteles de Juárez y de Sinaloa10 May 2008
- 266News"El Chapo" y Los Zetas dominan reacomodo de cártelesOmar Granados — 6 May 2011
- 267NewsSurgen cuatro grupos del narco en 2011; El Chapo es el capo más poderosoAurora Vega — 7 August 2011
- 268NewsPresentan a "El Yupo" líder de "Los Caballeros Templarios" en ApatzingánRubén Mosso — 1 August 2011
- 269NewsCae abatido por la Marina 'Tony Tormenta' en Matamoros5 November 2010
- 270NewsLatest Mexico drug arrest may cripple Gulf cartelTracy Wilkinson — 13 September 2012
- 271NewsOtro Cárdenas Guillén hereda la organizaciónAurora Vega — 6 November 2010
- 272NewsSources: Fatal gunshots on McAllen expressway point to Gulf Cartel27 September 2011
- 273BookThree United States-Mexico border warsTony Payan — Greenwood Publishing Group — 2006
- 274NewsVa Marina por 'halcones' del crimen organizado21 April 2011
- 275NewsEl sicario, un documental proscrito en México (1)Charles Bowden — 6 February 2011
- 276NewsEl sicario, un documental proscrito en México (2)Charles Bowden — 6 February 2011
- 277NewsEjército detiene a lugarteniente del cártel del Golfo2 June 2009
- 280NewsLas 5 caras del lavado de dinero8 June 2010
- 283NewsEntrevista a el Mamito, presunto fundador de los Zetas6 July 2011
- 285BookMafias on the move: how organized crime conquers new territoriesFederico Varese — Princeton University Press — 2011
- 286BookPrivate actors and security governanceAlan Bryden — LIT Verlag Münster — 2006
- 287BookHuman rights along the U.S.-Mexico border: gendered violence and insecurityTony Payan — University of Arizona Press — 2009
- 288NewsCrimen cobra cuotas a vecinos: Elizondo15 April 2009
- 289NewsCárteles "cobran piso" en EU: DEADoris Gomora — 25 December 2011
- 290NewsDetenidas con Calderón, 223 bandas de secuestradores31 December 2011
- 291NewsPresentan a banda de secuestradores en Tamaulipas9 December 2011
- 292NewsVan mil 700 desaparecidos en Nuevo León y Tamaulipas, según reportes a militares4 October 2010
- 294NewsRescatan a 51 inmigrantes secuestrados cerca de fronteraApril 2011
- 296NewsEl luchador mexicano 'Estrella Dorada' es acusado de secuestro10 January 2012
- 297NewsSan Juan kidnapping ring suspects face judgeKatie Lopez — 18 November 2011
- 298NewsGulf Cartel lieutenant linked to various incidents in the U.S side2 January 2012
- 299NewsAlleged Gulf Cartel members charged with Hidalgo kidnappingRafael Caranza — 4 November 2011
- 300NewsSan Juan kidnapping ring reportedly had Gulf Cartel ties17 November 2011
- 301NewsGulf Cartel members charged in Hidalgo kidnappingIldelfonso Ortiz — 4 November 2011
- 302NewsGulf Cartel kidnapping of U.S. citizens27 January 2010
- 303JURY CONVICTS CARTEL ASSOCIATE OF CONSPIRACY TO KIDNAP AND KIDNAPPINGAngela Dodge — Department of Justice
- 304NewsPalmview chase suspect: Gulf Cartel forced me to smuggleJared Taylor — 21 December 2011
- 305BookClandestine crossings: migrants and coyotes on the Texas-Mexico borderDavid Spener — Cornell University Press — 2009
- 306NewsCaptura PGR a El Barbas y otros cuatro presuntos narcotraficantes18 April 2007
- 307NewsEJERCITÓ PGR ACCIÓN PENAL CONTRA DOS PERSONAS, POR DELINCUENCIA ORGANIZADA Y SECUESTRO14 November 2011
- 308NewsEn Veracruz, PGR captura a tres personas por el tráfico de personas en el surIndira Carvallo Guzmán — 14 November 2011
- 309NewsDrug, Human Smuggling, Cartel Shootouts With Police Escalate in Rio Grande ValleyAnthony Kimery — 6 December 2011
- 310BookSecurity disarmed: critical perspectives on gender, race, and militarizationBarbara Sutton — Rutgers University Press — 2008
- 312NewsFederales capturan a líderes del Cártel del Golfo en Tamaulipas5 March 2011
- 313NewsSin freno, extorsiones telefónicas18 November 2008
- 314NewsMexico's drugs war: Lessons and challenges31 December 2011
- 315NewsDrug Lord's Web of Payoffs Spans U.S.-Mexico BorderMark Fineman — 4 September 1995
- 316NewsMexico Arrests A Top Suspect in Drug TradeSam Dillon — 16 January 1996
- 317NewsMexican Drug Empire Built With Murder, Ex-agent Says19 September 1996
- 318NewsCartel bribery spreads to ValleyFernando Del Valle — 13 December 2010
- 319NewsFBI: Drug money threatens to corrupt Valley cops25 December 2010
- 320NewsEl cártel del Golfo soborna a periodistas para que no cubran los sucesos violentos3 December 2010
- 321NewsComprar un policía cuesta $3,500 en NL3 June 2009
- 322NewsZetas desalojaron campo de Pemex en TamaulipasFebruary 2010
- 323NewsRobo de combustible en México, en manos de cárteles del narcotráfico28 December 2011
- 324NewsPemex, botín del narco y de mafias internas: escritora28 December 2011
- 325NewsDesintegró PFP peligrosa célula del Cartel del GolfoFrancisco Rendon — 9 November 2011
- 326NewsDesarticula PGR red de lavado de dinero del Cártel del Golfo3 March 2011
- 327NewsDetienen a presunto implicado en lavado de dinero23 November 2009
- 328BookTransnational criminal organizations, cybercrime, and money launderingJames R. Richards — CRC Press — 1999
- 329NewsEl dinero del narco, principal reto para el sistema financiero de EU13 October 2011
- 330NewsOne river, one country1997
- 331NewsEl Mamito: ""All the weapons are bought in the United States"6 July 2011
- 332NewsRingleader behind Gulf Cartel gun, drug trafficking ring in McAllen pleads guilty6 September 2011
- 333NewsShots near Weslaco lead cops to Gulf Cartel arms smugglingJared Taylor — 17 November 2011
- 334NewsCaen líderes del Cártel del Golfo6 March 2011
- 335NewsOperación 'hormiga', en el tráfico de armasMaria De la Luz Gonzalez — 22 December 2008
- 338NewsSe triplica número de homicidios de prostitutas relacionadas con el narco21 July 2011
- 339NewsEl narco lava dinero con piratería16 July 2010
- 340NewsLa piratería asuela a la industria legal15 July 2010
- 341NewsEl cártel del Golfo controla la piratería en MichoacánGustavo Castillo García — 2 April 2008
- 342NewsMilitares piratas en México23 July 2010
- 343South Texas High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market AnalysisNational Drug Intelligence Center
- 344South Texas High-Intensity Drug Trafficking AreaU.S. Department of Justice
- 345Texas Gang Threat Assessment 2010Texas Department of Public Safety
- 346An Overview of Federal Drug Control Programs on the Southwest BorderOffice of National Drug Control Policy
- 347Texas Drug Threat AssessmentNational Drug Intelligence Center
- 348South Texas Border and San Antonio Market Areas (2008)National Drug Intelligence Center
- 349South Texas Border and San Antonio Market Areas (2007)National Drug Intelligence Center
- 350NewsNogales drug tunnel found23 November 2011
- 351NewsDrug traffickers use submersibles to ferry narcoticsChris Kraul — 6 November 2007
- 352JournalSelf-Propelled Semi-Submersible (SPSS) – Fact SheetJoint Interagency Task Force South — 2008
- 353NewsDrug-Sub CultureDavid Kushner — 23 April 2009
- 354NewsU.S. launches drive against Mexican drug cartelGlenn Somerville — 20 July 2009
- 356Press releaseCDG's 'El Yankee' Sentenced in D.C. to 35 YearsDEA-DOJ
- 358NewsCae en Naucalpan 'El Betito', sobrino de Osiel CárdenasDavid Vicenteño — 30 June 2019
- 360NewsMexico kidnapping: A twisted moral code explains cartel's apologyWill Grant — March 8, 2023
- 361BookIn the Shadow of Saint Death: The Gulf Cartel and the Price of America's Drug War in MexicoMichael Deibert — Globe Pequot — 2014
- 362BookLos Zetas Inc.: Criminal Corporations, Energy, and Civil War in MexicoGuadalupe Correa-Cabrera — University of Texas Press — 2017