The Sonora Cartel, also known as Caro Quintero Organization, was a

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

based criminal cartel. Upon the cartel's disintegration, its leaders were incorporated into the

Tijuana Cartel The Tijuana Cartel (Spanish: ''Cártel de Tijuana'') or Arellano-Félix-Organization (Spanish: ''Organización Arellano Félix'', AFO) is a Mexican drug cartel based in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Founded by the Arellano-Félix family, the ...

and

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 ...

. By 2007, Sonora Cartel, Colima Cartel and Milenio Cartel became branches of the

Background

The Sonora Cartel was considered by the United States

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic en ...

(DEA) to be one of the oldest and best-established cartels. The Sonora cartel was headed by Miguel Caro Quintero, brother to

Guadalajara Cartel The Guadalajara Cartel ( es, Cártel de Guadalajara) also known as The Federation ( es, La Federación, link=no) was a Mexican drug cartel which was formed in the late 1970s by Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Rafael Caro Quintero, and Ernesto Fo ...

co-founder Rafael Caro Quintero, and operated out of

Hermosillo Hermosillo (), formerly called Pitic (as in ''Santísima Trinidad del Pitic'' and ''Presidio del Pitic''), is a city located in the center of the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is the municipal seat of the Hermosillo municipality, the ...

Agua Prieta Agua Prieta (English: ''Dark Water'', Opata: ''Bachicuy'') is a town in Agua Prieta Municipality in the northeastern corner of the Mexican state of Sonora. It stands on the Mexico–U.S. border, adjacent to the town of Douglas, Arizona. The mu ...

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Mexico, while the Guadalaj ...

and

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 conquerors Lázar ...

, as well as the Mexican states of

Nayarit Nayarit (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit), is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 20 municipalities and its ...

Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sinaloa), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities and ...

and

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into 72 municipalities; the ...

. The Sonora cartel's roots are in the Guadalajara Cartel, which dissolved after the 1989 arrest of its co-founder,

Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (born January 8, 1946), commonly referred to by his aliases ''El Jefe de Jefes'' ("The Boss of Bosses") and ''El Padrino'' ("The Godfather"), is a convicted Mexican drug lord Kingpin. He was one of the founders of th ...

. The Sonora cartel had direct links to

Colombian drug cartels A drug cartel is any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when the l ...

and operated routes into

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. Rafael Caro Quintero was arrested in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

in 1985 in connection with the torture and death of DEA Special Agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena. Miguel Caro Quintero would eventually be arrested in 1989, however it was believed he still maintained control over the organization from behind bars. By 2007, however, the Sinaloa Cartel had acquired the Sonora Cartel.

Operations

The Sonora Cartel is believed to be one of the earliest cartels to begin shipping

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...

from

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

, particularly from the

Cali Cartel The Cali Cartel ( es, Cartel de Cali) was a drug cartel based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca. Its founders were the brothers Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela. They broke away fr ...

. The cartel was involved in the cultivation and distribution of

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various t ...

primarily, however secondary functions include the transportation and distribution of

methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamp ...

. Operating out of northern central Mexico, the cartel was believed to smuggle drugs into

and

from a network of ranches along the northern border region where the drugs are stored prior to shipment. The Sonora Cartel has been specifically linked to operating out of

and

, but also less so in

Jalisco Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal ...

, and the States of

and

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

. Acquired by the Sinaloa Cartel by 2007, the Sonora Cartel was reported as defunct at the time of Miguel Angel Caro Quintero's conviction in 2010. Despite their eventual releases from prison, the Caro Quintero brothers have lost influence in the Mexican drug business, with ex-DEA agent Mike Vigil even stating in the June 2020 that Rafael Caro Quintero "will fall before he dies of old age." Vigil also revealed that Sinaloa Cartel's Los Salazar affiliate was now a major figure in Sonora's drug trafficking business. However, both Rafael and Miguel Caro Quintero had recently rejected offers to join the Sinaloa Cartel due to a fallout with the sons of imprisoned former leader Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán over leadership status. Despite this, both were said to be on good terms with de jure Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who was now in poor health.

Miguel Caro Quintero

Miguel Caro Quintero was born in

Caborca Caborca is the municipal seat of the Caborca Municipality in the Mexican state of Sonora. The city has a population of 67,604, while the municipal population was 89,122 as of 2020. Municipal boundaries are with Pima County, Arizona, in the United ...

, Mexico, in 1963. Previously arrested in 1992 on charges of

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...

, he was found not guilty, which the DEA attributes to the use of threats and bribes by Caro Quintero. While imprisoned, it is believed Caro Quintero was still running the Sonora Cartel, where he is purging a prison sentence for

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and ...

drug smuggling The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through ...

and

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdicti ...

. Caro Quintero was arrested in December 2001 in

Los Mochis Los Mochis () is a coastal city in northern Sinaloa, Mexico. It serves as the municipal seat of the municipality of Ahome. As of the 2010 census, the population was 362,613, which was 61 percent of the municipality's population. Los Mochis is th ...

, Sinaloa. Prior to his arrest he repeatedly stated he is innocent of the charges and has accused the DEA of pursuing a vendetta against him for his brother, Rafael Caro Quintero's, alleged role in the death of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena. Miguel Caro Quintero is noted as having called into a radio station to profess his innocence, stating: "If I had a cartel, I'd have a lot of money and my brother wouldn't be there (in jail)" and claiming to be an innocent rancher. He further stated he does not believe his brother was involved in the killing of the DEA agent.

Rafael Caro Quintero

Rafael Caro Quintero is the co-founder, with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, of the Guadalajara Cartel and Sonora Cartel. He was arrested in

on April 4, 1985, for the kidnapping, torture and murder of federal agent Enrique Camarena, and was also charged with violent crimes in aid of

, possession with intent to distribute

and

, murder, continuing criminal enterprise.'Wanted' poster.

References

{{Mexican Drug War Organizations established in the 1980s 1980s establishments in Mexico Organizations disestablished in 2007 2007 disestablishments in Mexico Disbanded Mexican drug cartels History of Sonora Mexican drug war Transnational organized crime Organized crime groups in the United States Gangs in Arizona Gangs in California Gangs in Nevada Gangs in Texas

Background

Operations

Miguel Caro Quintero

Rafael Caro Quintero

See also

References