Editing Joaquín Guzmán Loera (section)

== Initial stages in organized crime ==
Juan José Esparragoza Moreno

During the 1980s, the leading crime syndicate in Mexico was the [[Guadalajara Cartel]],<sup>[39]</sup> which was headed by [[Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo]] (''alias'' "El Padrino" or "the Godfather"), [[Rafael Caro Quintero]], [[Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo]] (alias "Don Neto"), [[Juan José Esparragoza Moreno]] (''alias'' "El Azul" ("the Blue One") and others.<sup>[40]</sup> In the 1970s, Guzmán first worked for the drug lord Héctor "El Güero" Palma by transporting drugs and overseeing their shipments from the Sierra Madre region to urban areas near the U.S.-Mexico border
<nowiki> </nowiki>by aircraft. Since his initial steps in organized crime, Guzmán was 
ambitious and regularly pressed on his superiors to allow him to 
increase the share of narcotics that were smuggled across the border. 
The drug lord also favored a violent and serious approach when doing 
business; if any of his drug shipments were not on time, Guzmán would 
simply kill the smuggler himself by shooting him in the head. Those 
around him learned that cheating him or going with other 
competitors—even if they offered better prices—was inconvenient. The 
leaders of the Guadalajara Cartel liked Guzmán's business acumen, and in
<nowiki> </nowiki>the early 1980s, they introduced him to Félix Gallardo, one of the 
major drug lords in Mexico at that time.<sup>[41]</sup> Guzmán first worked as a chauffeur for Félix Gallardo before he put him in charge of logistics,<sup>[42]</sup>
<nowiki> </nowiki>where Guzmán coordinated drug shipments from Colombia to Mexico by 
land, air, and sea. Palma, on the other hand, made sure the deliveries 
arrived to consumers in the United States. Guzmán soon earned enough 
standing and began working for Félix Gallardo directly.<sup>[41]</sup>

Throughout most of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the [[Mexican drug cartels|Mexican drug traffickers]] were also middlemen for the Colombian trafficking groups, 
and would transport their cocaine
<nowiki> </nowiki>through the U.S.-Mexico border and receive a fee for each kilogram. 
Mexico, however, remained a secondary route for the Colombians, given 
that most of the drugs trafficked by their cartels were smuggled through
<nowiki> </nowiki>the Caribbean and the Florida corridor.<sup>[43][44]</sup> Félix Gallardo was the leading drug baron in Mexico and friend of [[Juan Ramón Matta-Ballesteros]],
<nowiki> </nowiki>but his operations were still limited by his counterparts in South 
America. In the mid-1980s, however, the U.S. government increased law 
enforcement surveillance and put pressure on the Medellín and Cali Cartels
<nowiki> </nowiki>by effectively reducing the drug trafficking operations in the 
Caribbean corridor. Realizing it was more profitable to hand over the 
operations to their Mexican counterparts, the Colombian cartels gave 
Félix Gallardo more control over their drug shipments.<sup>[45][46]</sup>
<nowiki> </nowiki>This power shift gave the Mexican organized crime groups more leverage 
over their Central American and South American counterparts.<sup>[43]</sup> During the 1980s, however, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was conducting undercover groundwork in Mexico, where several of its agents worked as informants.

One DEA agent, Enrique Camarena Salazar, was working as an informant and grew close to many top drug barons, including Félix Gallardo.<sup>[47]</sup>
<nowiki> </nowiki>In November 1984, the Mexican military—acting on the intelligence 
information provided by Camarena—raided a large marijuana plantation 
owned by the Guadalajara Cartel and known as "Rancho Búfalo".<sup>[48]</sup>
<nowiki> </nowiki>Angered by the suspected betrayal, Félix Gallardo and his men sought 
revenge by kidnapping, [[Torture|torturing]], and killing the DEA agent in February 
1985.<sup>[49]</sup>
<nowiki> </nowiki>The death of Camarena outraged Washington, and Mexico responded by 
carrying out a massive manhunt to arrest those involved in the incident.<sup>[50]</sup> Guzmán took advantage of the internal crisis to gain ground within the cartel and take over more drug trafficking operations.<sup>[30]</sup> In 1989, Félix Gallardo was arrested; while in prison and through a number of envoys, the drug lord called for a summit in Acapulco, Guerrero.
<nowiki> </nowiki>In the conclave, Guzmán and others discussed the future of Mexico's 
drug trafficking and agreed to divide the territories previously owned 
by the Guadalajara Cartel.<sup>[51]</sup> The Arellano Félix brothers formed the [[Tijuana Cartel]], which controlled the Tijuana corridor and parts of Baja California; in Chihuahua state, a group controlled by Carrillo Fuentes family formed the [[Juárez Cartel]]; and the remaining faction left to Sinaloa and the Pacific Coast and formed the Sinaloa Cartel under the traffickers Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, Palma, and Guzmán.<sup>[52][39]</sup> Guzmán was specifically in charge of the drug corridors of Tecate, Baja California,<sup>[52]</sup> and Mexicali and San Luis Río Colorado, two border crossings that connect the states of Sonora and Baja California with the U.S. states of Arizona and California.<sup>[53]</sup>

When Félix Gallardo was arrested, Guzmán reportedly lived in Guadalajara, Jalisco for some time. One of his other centers of operation, however, was in the border city of Agua Prieta, Sonora,
<nowiki> </nowiki>where he coordinated drug trafficking activities more closely. Guzmán 
had dozens of properties in various parts of the country. People he 
trusted purchased the properties for him and registered them under false
<nowiki> </nowiki>names. Most of them were located in residential neighborhoods and 
served as stash houses for drugs, weapons, and cash. Guzmán also owned 
several ranches across Mexico, but most of them were located in the 
states of Sinaloa, Durango, Chihuahua, and Sonora, where locals working 
for the drug lord grew opium and marijuana.<sup>[54]</sup>
<nowiki> </nowiki>The first time Guzmán was detected by U.S. authorities for his 
involvement in organized crime was in 1987, when several protected 
witnesses testified in a U.S. court that Guzmán was in fact heading the 
Sinaloa Cartel. An indictment issued in the state of Arizona alleged 
that Guzmán had coordinated the shipment of 2,000 kilograms (4,400 lb) 
of marijuana and about 4,700 kg (10,400 lb) of cocaine from 19 October 
1987 to 18 May 1990, and had received roughly US$1.5 million in drug 
proceeds that were shipped back to his home state. Another indictment 
alleged that Guzmán earned US$100,000 for trafficking 70,000 lb (roughly
<nowiki> </nowiki>31,750 kg) of cocaine and an unspecified amount of marijuana in a 
period of three years.<sup>[55]</sup>
<nowiki> </nowiki>In the border areas between Tecate and San Luis Río Colorado, Guzmán 
ordered his men to traffic most of the drugs overland, but also through a
<nowiki> </nowiki>few aircraft. By using the so-called piecemeal strategy, in which 
traffickers kept drug quantities relatively low, risks were reduced. 
Guzmán also pioneered the use of sophisticated underground tunnels to 
move drugs across the border and into the United States.<sup>[56]</sup>
<nowiki> </nowiki>Aside from pioneering the tunnels, Palma and Guzmán packed cocaine into
<nowiki> </nowiki>chili pepper cans under the brand "La Comadre" before they were shipped
<nowiki> </nowiki>to the U.S. by train.<sup>[57]</sup>
<nowiki> </nowiki>In return, the drug lords were paid through large suitcases filled with
<nowiki> </nowiki>millions of dollars in cash. These suitcases were flown from the U.S. 
to Mexico City, where corrupt customs agents at the airport made sure 
the deliveries were not inspected. Large sums of that money were 
reportedly used as bribes for members of the Attorney General's Office.<sup>[18]</sup>