Browsing: Cartel Insider

CJNG’s franchise model is on display in a dark, grainy video from Mexicali, where a captive is questioned with a pistol pressed against his head. The gunman identifies his group as Los Mechas, invokes “the Four Letters,” and delivers a blunt message: “The city of Mexicali has an owner.”

For years, I have covered the people, organizations, and conflicts that have shaped organized crime in Mexico. This book brings that work together in one place, profiling the 50 men who had the greatest influence on the evolution of the modern Mexican drug trade. It is written for readers who want history, context, and facts—not myths or Hollywood versions of the cartel world.

U.S. prosecutors have now charged Carlos Paez Pereda, alias Carlitos Rugrats, with narcoterrorism, tying Los Rugrats to La Mayiza, Mayito Flaco’s war machine, fentanyl routes, and the fight against Los Chapitos. The case shows Washington is no longer only chasing drugs, but the armed structures behind the Sinaloa Cartel itself.

In a brutal cartel video from Mazatlán, a captive identifies himself as Jesús Armando Chacón Patiño and claims he was sent by “El Payasín” for Mayito Flaco’s side. His statements, made under captivity, point to a failed push into the port and a public warning from Chapiza.

From inside USP Coleman II, Edgar Valdez-Villarreal, known as La Barbie, shares a message about something rarely heard from federal prison: change. In this statement, he reflects on Deputy Director Josh Smith, rehabilitation, and what he describes as a real effort to reward discipline, accountability, and the possibility of redemption.