Global InformationGulf Cartel information
Cártel del Golfo | |
 Logo of the Gulf Cartel | |
| Founded | 1930s |
|---|---|
| Founded by | Juan Nepomuceno Guerra, Juan García Ábrego |
| Founding location | Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico |
| Years active | 1930s−present |
| Territory | Mexico: Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Veracruz, Jalisco U.S.A.: Texas, Louisiana, Georgia |
| Ethnicity | Majority Mexican and Mexican-American, minority Guatemalan |
| Criminal activities | Drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, kidnapping, human trafficking, people smuggling, robbery, murder, arms trafficking, bribery, fencing, counterfeiting |
| Allies | Medellín Cartel (defunct) Cali Cartel (defunct) Los Mexicles (current status unknown) Narcosatanists[1][2] (defunct) Camorra[3] 'Ndrangheta Serbian mafia[4][3] Jalisco New Generation Cartel |
| Rivals | Los Zetas Juárez Cartel Guadalajara Cartel (defunct) Sinaloa Cartel[5] (starting in 2021) La Familia Michoacana Beltrán-Leyva Cartel Tijuana Cartel Los Negros (disbanded) Cártel del Noreste |
The Gulf Cartel (Spanish: Cártel del Golfo, Golfos, or CDG)[6][7] is a criminal syndicate and drug trafficking organization in Mexico,[8] and perhaps one of the oldest organized crime groups in the country.[9] It is currently based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, directly across the U.S. border from Brownsville, Texas.
Their network is international, and is believed to have dealings with crime groups in Europe, West Africa, Asia, Central America, South America, and the United States.[10][11] Besides drug trafficking, the Gulf Cartel operates through protection rackets, assassinations, extortions, kidnappings, and other criminal activities.[12] The members of the Gulf Cartel are known for intimidating the population and for being particularly violent.[13]
Although its founder Juan Nepomuceno Guerra smuggled alcohol in large quantities to the United States during the Prohibition era, and heroin for over 40 years,[14] it was not until the 1980s that the cartel was shifted to trafficking cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana under the command of Juan Nepomuceno Guerra and Juan García Ábrego.
- ^ Greig, Charlotte (2006). Evil Serial Killers: In the Minds of Monsters. Arcturus. p. 88. ISBN 9780572030896.
- ^ Smith, Benjamin T. (1 October 2018). "The Mexican Press and Civil Society, 1940-1976: Stories from the Newsroom, Stories from the Street". The University of North Carolina Press - Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data. Westchester Publishing Services. ISBN 9781469638119. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
- ^ a b Newspapers, Mcclatchy (22 April 2009). "Mexican cartels funneling shipments to Italian mafia through Texas". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
- ^ "Cocaine Comrades: The Balkan Ties of a Fallen Colombian Drug [Trafficker". 6 December 2021. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
- ^ "Monte Escobedo, Zacatecas: Cartel del Golfo Burns Captured Combatants". Borderland Beat. 21 June 2021. Archived from the original on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
- ^ "La lucha entre 'golfos' y 'zetas' desgarra a Tamaulipas". La Vanguardia. 16 August 2010. Archived from the original on 15 August 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
- ^ "El cártel del Golfo echa a Los Zetas de Tamaulipas". Milenio Noticias. 5 April 2010. Archived from the original on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
- ^ "Gulf Cartel". Insight: Organized Crime in the Americas. Archived from the original on 2 July 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
- ^ "U.S. AND MEXICAN RESPONSES TO MEXICAN DRUG TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATIONS" (PDF). UNITED STATES SENATE CAUCUS. May 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2011.
- ^ Beittel, June S. (7 September 2011). "Mexico's Drug Trafficking Organizations: Source and Scope of the Rising Violence" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 March 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
- ^ Campbell, Howard (2009). Drug war zone: frontline dispatches from the streets of El Paso and Juárez. University of Texas Press. p. 310. ISBN 978-0-292-72179-1.
- ^ McCAUL, MICHAEL T. "A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border" (PDF). HOUSE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2011. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
- ^ Warner, Judith (2010). U.S. Border Security: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. p. 381. ISBN 978-1-59884-407-8.
- ^ Grillo, Ioan (2011). El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 256. ISBN 978-1-60819-504-6.