Enedina Arellano Félix de Toledo (born April 12, 1961) is a Mexican drug lord who, alongside her brothers, founded the Tijuana Cartel and played a role as a logistical accountant for the criminal organization. Throughout most of the 1990s, the Tijuana Cartel was headed by her six brothers, while Enedina advised and helped them in

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

and financial administration. But after the fall of a financial mastermind in the cartel in 2000, Enedina took up the position. She first started working behind the scenes as a money launderer for the Tijuana Cartel but then ended up leading the cartel after the arrest of her brother Eduardo Arellano Félix in 2008. Since most of her brothers are either incarcerated or deceased, Enedina has managed the financial aspect of the organization, overseen alliances, and taken the lead of the Tijuana Cartel alongside Luis Fernando (before his capture in 2014). Her historical contacts with drug suppliers in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

managed to keep the organization afloat.

Early life

Enedina Arellano Félix was born in

Mazatlán Mazatlán () is a city in the Mexican list of states of Mexico, state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding , known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast across from th ...

Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities, and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales. It is located in northwest Mexic ...

, on April 12, 1961, in a family of drug traffickers. In 1977, when she was 16, Enedina reportedly harbored a dream of becoming the Mazatlán Carnival Queen but abandoned it after her two brothers, Ramón and Benjamín, were wanted by the United States and the Mexican government. During that time, her older brothers were working for Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, who would eventually give them the drug corridor in Tijuana, Baja California.

Criminal career

Enedina enrolled at a private university in Guadalajara, Jalisco, graduating with a bachelor's degree in

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entity, economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activit ...

. By the mid 1980s, Enedina was working with the family business, but was never considered by the authorities as a visible head in the Tijuana Cartel. Nonetheless, after the fall of the former cartel's financial brain, Jesús Labra Avilés, alias ''El Chuy'', in the year 2000, Enedina began to directly manage the money laundering activities of the criminal organization.

Family members in the Tijuana Cartel

Enedina is the sister of former cartel leaders Benjamín, Carlos, Eduardo, Francisco Javier, Francisco Rafael and Ramón. Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano captured in 2014, the son of Alicia, Enedina's husband, Luis Raúl Toledo Carrejo, was accused by the United States Department of Treasury in the year 2005 for having links with the Tijuana Cartel. Alicia Arellano Félix, the sister of Enedina, is currently a leader in the Tijuana Cartel.

Cartel workings

Since the apprehension of Benjamín in 2002, the Mexican government was able to severely undermine the Tijuana Cartel but failed to destroy it. Enedina has been a leader in the organization since 2003. After the arrest of Eduardo in 2008, Enedina finally became the leader of the Tijuana clan along with her nephew. Enedina has helped contribute a more "business-like vision" instead of the old and violent practices of her brothers, who previously led the Tijuana Cartel before they were arrested or killed. She forged alliances with other criminal organizations, as opposed to her brothers, who often resorted to violence. The

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating illicit Illegal drug trade, drug trafficking a ...

(DEA) and the Mexican media identify Enedina as the first and one of the few women to lead a criminal organization in the world other than Sandra Avila Beltran in Mexico and Griselda Blanco in Colombia and the USA, activities historically reserved for men. Enedina has several aliases, including: ''La Jefa'', ''La Madrina'', and ''La Narcomami''. The authorities in the United States and Mexico consider Enedina the "financial brains" of the Tijuana Cartel.

Kingpin Act

In 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 Enedina under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.

In media

Enedina Arellano Félix is portrayed in '' Narcos: Mexico'' by Mayra Hermosillo.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arellano Felix, Enedina 1961 births Enedina Enedina People from Mazatlán 20th-century Mexican businesswomen 20th-century Mexican businesspeople Female drug traffickers Mexican drug traffickers Mexican crime bosses Mexican female gangsters Tijuana Cartel traffickers Living people People sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act 21st-century Mexican businesswomen 21st-century Mexican businesspeople