From Companions to Hitwomen: the Role of Women in Drug Trafficking Grows Amid Weapons and Violence

This is the story of female figures who marked a turning point in the criminal environment of the state of Tamaulipas.

Organized crime in Tamaulipas is often portrayed as an exclusively male world, but Sara Aldrete, linked to the narco satanists of Matamoros; La Flaca, a hitwoman; and the influencer La Chuky, in Reynosa, reveal a different reality: women occupy strategic and violent roles within these groups.

More than three decades passed between the story of Aldrete, a key figure in the case that shook Mexico in the late 1980s, and La Chuky, whose death went viral after a confrontation with the State Guard. These are two distinct eras, but equally revealing, as they demonstrate that the female face of drug trafficking on the border is a constant.

The Las Flacas group offers further proof of this involvement. In Tamaulipas, their existence went unnoticed by the public until the dismembered body of Joselyn Alejandra Niño was found inside a cooler in an abandoned truck in the parking lot of a Matamoros shopping center. Because of the surname tattooed on her arm, she was identified as a hitwoman for the Gulf Cartel.

Sara and the narco satanists

At 22, student Sara Aldrete Villarreal began associating with Cuban-American Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo, “El Padrino” (The Godfather), leader of a sect linked to drug trafficking.

In Matamoros, a border city across from Brownsville, Texas, the narco satanists were accused of performing human sacrifices as part of a cult connected to their illicit activities. In 1989, the disappearance of American spring breaker Mark Kilroy triggered a binational investigation that uncovered the criminal network after his body was discovered along with other mutilated human remains at the Santa Elena ranch.

While El Padrino died in Mexico City during an operation to capture him—killed by one of his own men, whom he had ordered to shoot—Sara was arrested and sentenced to 62 years in prison for the murder of 13 people, drug trafficking, illegal burial, desecration of corpses, and criminal association, a sentence that was later reduced to 50 years.

She is currently serving her sentence at the Tepepan Women’s Social Reintegration Center, where she has requested parole for good behavior. She has said that curiosity led her to the crime, but maintains that she is neither a victim nor a perpetrator.

“Las Flacas”: The Story of Joselyn Niño

In January 2015, a photograph of a very thin young woman began circulating on social media. She was smiling and holding an assault rifle. She was wearing a bulletproof vest, a gold chain, and sunglasses.

The woman was linked to a criminal group with a presence in Río Bravo, and her image sparked a strong public outcry, reigniting the debate about the participation of women and young people in criminal organizations in Tamaulipas.

On April 13 of that year, her body was found inside a cooler in the parking lot of a shopping center in Matamoros. It was Joselyn Alejandra Niño, nicknamed “La Flaca” (The Skinny One), whose identity was originally revealed by the blog Valor por Tamaulipas (Courage for Tamaulipas), a digital collective that alerted the public to dangerous situations.

Also known as “La Niña Sicaria” (The Little Hitwoman), she died in the context of a dispute between factions of the Gulf Cartel. After her death, it was learned that at least two other women, in Nuevo León and the State of Mexico, also nicknamed “La Flaca,” worked for different criminal groups and were imprisoned.

With a discreet appearance, they sought to go unnoticed by rival groups and even the authorities. Joselyn was around 20 years old and, in the place where her dismembered body was found, there was also a woman in the same condition and a decapitated man.

La Chuky, Influencer and Product of Narco-Culture

Karina ‘N’, known as La Chuky, was a member of the Gulf Cartel in Reynosa and frequently flaunted her drug-trafficking lifestyle on social media, displaying weapons, tactical gear, and luxury vehicles.

It all came to an end on November 7th, when she was killed in a shootout with the Tamaulipas State Guard after police attempted to inspect the stolen pickup truck she was traveling in with other men. The chase ended with a crash on the Santo Domingo dirt road.

Five suspected hitmen, including La Chuky, were killed in the gunfight, and authorities seized rifles, tactical gear, magazines, radios, caltrops, and the stolen vehicle.

Karina ‘N’s exhibitionism and physical beauty attracted attention, so she came to be considered a kind of narco-influencer, fitting into a logic of digital projection that constantly used social networks as a stage of power.

Cartels Don’t Just Recruit Men

The drug world is a patriarchal system by nature, where women have gradually made inroads, reaching certain positions and performing almost every kind of role, albeit with great difficulty, says Óscar Misael Hernández Hernández, a professor and researcher at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Matamoros.

“They haven’t yet reached sufficiently relevant positions of power, and that has led to them ending up murdered or in prison; but they will very likely continue to climb the ladder,” says the sociologist and social anthropologist.

He mentions that Aldrete’s role was incipient, emotional, and more of a supporting role within Adolfo Constanzo’s criminal organization, very different from the case of La Chuky, who is already part of the ranks of female hitmen, adds the member of the National System of Researchers.

She notes that social media didn’t exist in Sara’s time, while for La Chuky, it became her platform, making her image visible and causing her death to go viral. However, she also points out the cases of Las Flacas, who provided direct services as hitwomen.

These women, she says, represent some of the most visible examples of female participation in roles of direct violence within organized crime, demonstrating that it’s not only men who are recruited.

“Las Flacas offered a kind of external supply chain; they are groups that operate like criminal franchises and hire third parties. They functioned this way, and their profile was that of a narco-aesthetic: thin, attractive, and trained in the use of weapons.” She describes them as women with erotic capital, but also with a warlike capacity and great cold-bloodedness. Their harmless appearance allowed them to operate more discreetly than their male counterparts and carry out assignments that included torture and murder.

“Las Flacas didn’t form a cartel themselves; they were a service provider group. There were other similar cases in different states, because the brand became popular and other women appropriated the name,” she explains.

Comprehensive solutions to the phenomenon are urgently needed.

Valentina Carbonell Galicia, a political scientist and specialist in security and justice issues, documented the growing participation of women in organized crime in Mexico in an academic study, exploring the motivations that lead them to become involved voluntarily.

Through a qualitative approach and the analysis of 22 narrative interviews conducted with women incarcerated in various prisons across the country, she delved into the causes of this increase.

The findings suggest a growing demand for female “labor” due to the loss of men in confrontations and arrests, gaps that are being filled by women and minors. Added to this are the advantages of gender in blending in and the allure of narco-culture.

“We must consider women’s decision-making capacity and agency,” argues Carbonell, who holds a degree in Political Science and International Relations from the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE).

Female Participation Soars

Through a transparency request to the Ministry of National Defense, the specialist established that in 2000 the Army detained 77 women allegedly involved in criminal activities, while in 2023 the figure rose to 1,184, an increase of 437%, compared to 386% for men.

She points out that, in some cases, women are initially sent by criminal organizations to confront the authorities. Over the last two decades, academics have documented a quantitative and qualitative shift in their participation, with increasingly prominent and violent roles.

She warns that this trend contributes to prolonging the security crisis, as it also impacts new generations.

Deterioration of the Social Fabric and a Misconception of Feminism

Psychologist Gabriel Rubio Badillo believes that female participation in organized crime reflects the deterioration of the social fabric and a misinterpretation of feminism.

She asserts that family disintegration, the normalization of violence, and the influence of social media create conditions conducive to the recruitment of girls and young women.

“The idea that we are equal to men was taken to an extreme; the idea was respect and validation, not replicating the worst behaviors,” she points out.

She concludes that if the root causes are not addre

Source: Milenio