Ramón Eduardo Arellano Félix (August 31, 1964 – February 10, 2002) was a Mexican

drug lord A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin, or lord of drugs is a type of crime boss in charge of a drug trafficking network, organization, or enterprise. Crime barons may be difficult to bring to justice: usually, they do not possess illegal goods. Ra ...

who alongside his brothers founded and led the Tijuana Cartel (a.k.a. the Arellano-Félix Organization). He was the leader of the enforcement wing of the organization until his assassination on February 10, 2002.

Biography

Standing and , Ramon Arellano Félix was allegedly one of the most ruthless members of the cartel and was a suspect in various murders. Arellano Félix ordered the 1998 massacre of nineteen members of Castro Ramirez family outside of

Ensenada, Baja California Ensenada ("inlet") is a city in Ensenada Municipality, Baja California, situated on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Located on Bahía de Todos Santos, the city had a population of 279,765 in 2018, making it the List of cities in Baja California, th ...

. The family was related to an alleged associate of the Arellano Félix Cartel. The Ramirez family oversaw the marijuana production and transport to Tecate and Tijuana, and was active before the Arellanos overtook the region. By murdering the whole family, the Arellano Felix Cartel eliminated the last bastion to the Cartel's full control of the area. The massacre broke an unspoken pact amongst druglords: "don't touch the children." While in hiding in

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in 1995, Arellano Félix was unwittingly the subject of a televised prank when he was approached outside Mann's Chinese Theatre in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

by Rupert Jee, who was filming a segment for the ''

Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...

''. On 18 September 1997, Ramon Arellano Félix became the 451st fugitive to be placed on the Ten Most Wanted list. Leading to his Most Wanted Fugitive listing in the United States, he had been charged in a sealed indictment in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, with Conspiracy to Import Cocaine and Marijuana in drug trafficking.

Kingpin Act sanction

On 1 June 2000, the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

sanctioned Ramón under the

Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act The Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, better known as the Kingpin Act, is landmark Federal government of the United States, federal legislation in the United States intended to address Illegal drug trade, international narcotics traffic ...

(sometimes referred to simply as the "Kingpin Act"), for his involvement in drug trafficking, along with eleven other international criminals. The act prohibited U.S. citizens and companies from doing any kind of business activity with him, and virtually froze all his assets in the U.S.

Death and aftermath

On 10 February 2002, Ramón Arellano Félix was killed in a gunfight in Bugambilia Street, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, where he was stopped due to a traffic infraction by Mexican police officer, Ángel Antonio Árias Torres. Arellano Félix drew his gun and mortally wounded Árias Torres twice in the chest, who fired back and killed Arellano Félix with a single bullet in the head while falling to the ground and dying. According to Jesús Zambada García (alias "El Mayo"), Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán ordered Árias Torres to enact the traffic stop and Arellano Félix's execution. Arellano's older brother, Benjamín Arellano Félix, the cartel's mastermind, was arrested weeks later on 9 March. On 14 August 2006, the youngest of the Arellano brothers, Francisco Javier Arellano Félix, was arrested with some associates at sea, by the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

. They were in international waters off the coast of

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Baja California Sur Baja California Sur, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California Sur, is a state in Mexico. It is the 31st and last state to be admitted, in 1974. It is also the second least populated Mexican state and the ninth-largest state by ...

. Francisco Javier was extradited to the U.S. on September 16, 2006. The only brother of the Arellano Félix cartel then at large, Eduardo Arellano Félix, was captured by the

Mexican Army The Mexican Army () is the combined Army, land and Air Force, air branch and is the largest part of the Mexican Armed Forces; it is also known as the National Defense Army. The Army is under the authority of the Secretariat of National Defense o ...

on 26 October 2008. At the time, the

US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

had been offering a reward of up to US$5 million for information leading to his arrest. According to a Mexican official, at the time of Eduardo Arellano Félix's capture, control of the cartel passed to Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano, a son of Eduardo Arellano Félix's sister Alicia. At around 16:00 local time on 23 June 2014, Sánchez Arellano was arrested by soldiers of the

and federal agents of the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) at a

Carl's Jr. Carl's Jr. Restaurants LLC is an American fast-food restaurant chain store, chain owned by CKE Restaurants, CKE Restaurant Holdings, Inc., who also owns Hardee's, with franchisees in North and South America, Asia, Oceania, Europe, and Africa. ...

fast food restaurant in the Mesa de Otay borough in Tijuana, Baja California, while watching the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

game between Mexico and Croatia. Sánchez Arellano was wearing the Mexico national team jersey and had the team's colors painted on his face. The arrest was made without a single shot fired. The security forces also confiscated US$100,000 he had with him at the moment of his arrest.

In popular culture

In the 2017 Netflix and Univision series, '' El Chapo'', Rolf Petersen plays Ramón Avendaño (a fictionalized portrayal of Ramón Arellano Félix). Arellano Félix is portrayed by Manuel Masalva in the 2018 crime drama, '' Narcos: Mexico''. A 2003 Mexican film, "El fin de los Arellano" ("The End of the Arellanos"), featured characters supposedly based on the Arellano brothers; however, its plot bore practically no resemblance to the actual events. The Arellano brothers were allegedly an inspiration for the two secondary characters of "the Obregón brothers", featured in the 2000 US film ''

Traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

''.

Gallery

File:RAF1.jpeg , Ramón File:RamonArellanoFelix2.png , Fake ID retrieved from Ramón's body

References

External links

*
U.S. Department of State rewards page for Ramón Arellano Félix
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arellano Felix, Ramon 1964 births 2002 deaths People murdered in 2002 Ramón Ramón Fugitives wanted by Mexico Guadalajara Cartel traffickers Mexican crime bosses Mexican drug traffickers People from Culiacán People sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act People shot dead by law enforcement officers in Mexico Tijuana Cartel traffickers