Francisco Javier Arellano Félix (born 11 December 1969) is a former 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 The Tijuana Cartel (, ), formerly also known as the Arellano-Félix Cartel (, CAF), is a Mexican drug cartel based in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Founded by the Arellano-Félix family, the cartel once was described as "one of the biggest a ...

(a.k.a. the Arellano-Félix Organization) until his capture 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 ...

on August 16, 2006. The Tijuana Cartel used to be one of the largest Mexican

drug cartel A drug cartel is a criminal organization composed of independent drug lords who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the illegal drug trade. Drug cartels form with the purpose of controlling the supply of the i ...

s. It is well known for its employment of enforcers recruited from Mexican and San Diego

street gang A gang is a social group, group or secret society, society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over Wiktionary:territory#Noun, territory in a ...

s. In addition to enforcers, many Latin American street gangsters were trained to become assassins in the cartel, which has a reputation for extreme brutality and violence. At its height in the late 1990s, the cartel was believed to be responsible for supplying nearly half the

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

sold in the United States. The gang made headlines in January 2006 after it was discovered they had dug tunnels from

Tijuana, Baja California Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most pop ...

, into the United States at

Otay Mesa, California Otay Mesa ( ) is a community in the southern exclave of San Diego, California, just north of the U.S.–Mexico border. It is bordered by the Otay River Valley and the city of Chula Vista on the north; Interstate 805 and the neighborhoods of ...

Kingpin Act sanction

On 1 June 2004, 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 Arellano Félix 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 nine other international criminals and two entities. 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.

Capture and prosecution

Arellano Félix, nicknamed "El Tigrillo" ("Little Tiger") and "El Titi", was captured by the Coast Guardsmen aboard the USCGC ''Monsoon'' on August 16, 2006, while fishing on the ''Dock Holiday'' some 25 km off the coast of

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 ...

, in international waters. Arellano Félix was brought into United States Coast Guard Sector San Diego by USCG Cutter Petrel, commanded by Master Chief Petty Officer M. Martin. 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 ...

had received a tip about his whereabouts. A US$5 million bounty had been offered for his capture, but the information leading to his capture was apparently not from someone seeking the reward. On November 5, 2007, he was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty in September 2007 to running a criminal enterprise and laundering money. The final decision as to where he would be housed rested with the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BoP). In June 2015, Arellano Félix's sentence was reduced to years for cooperation with authorities during his incarceration. His present location and the date of his release both rest with and are guarded by the Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Marshal Service.

In popular culture

A character very loosely based on Francisco Javier Arellano Félix was featured in the 2017 television series ''

El Chapo EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arellano Felix, Francisco Javier

Francisco Javier Francis Xavier, SJ (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; ; ; ; ; ; 7 April 15063 December 1552), venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Navarrese cleric and missionary. He co-founded the Society of Jesus and, as a representative o ...

Living people Mexican drug traffickers People from Culiacán Tijuana Cartel traffickers 1969 births Mexican prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States federal government Inmates of ADX Florence Mexican people imprisoned in the United States Mexican people convicted of money laundering People sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act

Kingpin Act sanction

Capture and prosecution

In popular culture

See also

References

External links