Carlos Beltrán Leyva (born 1969) is a Mexican incarcerated

drug lord A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin or narcotrafficker is a high-ranking crime boss who controls a sizable network of people involved in the illegal drug trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly ...

with the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel. The cartel was created by the four Beltrán Leyva brothers: Carlos,

Héctor Hector () is an English, French, Scottish, and Spanish given name. The name is derived from the name of Hektor, a legendary Trojan champion who was killed by the Greek Achilles. The name ''Hektor'' is probably derived from the Greek ''ékhein'', m ...

Alfredo Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: * Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda F ...

and

Arturo Arturo is a Spanish and Italian variant of the name Arthur. People *Arturo Álvarez (footballer, born 1985), American-born Salvadoran footballer * Arturo Álvarez (footballer, born 1959), Mexican footballer *Arthuro Henrique Bernhardt (b. 1982), Br ...

. Born in the Sinaloan countryside in the late 1960s, Carlos and his brothers worked closely with Joaquín "Chapo" Guzmán, the leader of the

Sinaloa Cartel The Sinaloa Cartel ( es, link=no, Cártel de Sinaloa), also known as the CDS, the Guzmán-Loera Organization, the Pacific Cartel, the Federation and the Blood Alliance, is a large, international organized crime syndicate that specializes in il ...

, during decades of smuggling. The organization, run mainly by Arturo and Héctor, formed as a splinter group of the powerful

, which was led by Joaquín Guzmán Loera. After Alfredo was arrested, the Beltrán-Leyva brothers blamed Guzmán Loera and retaliated by forming the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, and killing one of the Sinaloa cartel chief's sons in a grenade attack on a

Culiacán Culiacán, officially Culiacán Rosales, is a city in northwestern Mexico, the capital and largest city of both the Culiacán Municipality and the state of Sinaloa. The city was founded on 29 September 1531, by the Spanish Conquistadores, con ...

shopping center. This sparked a war between the

and the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, which allied itself with the Gulf Cartel.

Warrant and arrest

Little is known about Carlos' role in the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, and reports have differed on the importance of his position within the organization. A warrant had been out for his arrest since 2008. However, a 2008 list of Mexico's 37 top drug traffickers, for which the government offered rewards of as much as $2 million, did not include his name. George W. Grayson, a Mexico expert at

The College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III a ...

, described Carlos as "the lowest profile of the brothers". Carlos Beltrán Leyva was arrested in Culiacán on December 30, 2009, after he was stopped while driving with a forged license. He was found to be in possession of a pistol, a rifle, ammunition and cocaine, and was using the fake name Carlos Gámez Orpineda. The arrest came after a citizen tipped authorities to the presence of an armed man in Culiacán. The arrest was considered another in a string of blows against the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, which had suffered from the death of Arturo Beltrán Leyva during a gun battle with police two weeks earlier. Carlos had not been mentioned by analysts as a possible successor to Arturo, and the fact that he was not accompanied by bodyguards at the time of his arrest may suggest his role in the cartel was limited. Nevertheless, media reports suggested the arrest of Carlos could set the stage for a bruising battle for control of the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel. The arrest was considered a victory in

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Felipe Calderón Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 a ...

's Mexican Drug War, and a signal that the government would not back down in the face of recent reprisals from the death of Arturo Beltrán Leyva, including the murder of family members of

Melquisedec Angulo Córdova In the Bible, Melchizedek (, hbo, , malkī-ṣeḏeq, "king of righteousness" or "my king is righteousness"), also transliterated Melchisedech or Malki Tzedek, was the king of Salem (Bible), Salem and priest of (often translated as "most high ...

, a marine killed during the gun battle that killed Arturo Beltrán Leyva.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beltran Leyva, Carlos People from Culiacán People from Sinaloa Beltrán-Leyva Cartel traffickers Mexican drug traffickers Mexican prisoners and detainees Mexican money launderers Living people 1969 births