Tijuana Cartel - Organization

Organization

The Arellano Félix family was initially composed of seven brothers and four sisters, who inherited the organization from Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo upon his incarceration in Mexico in 1989 for his complicity in the murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena. Although the subsequent brothers' death and arrest in the 2000s (decade) are blows to the Arellano Felix cartel, it did not dismantle the organization which currently is led by the Arellano's nephew, Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano.

The Tijuana Cartel has infiltrated the Mexican law enforcement and judicial systems and is directly involved in street-level trafficking within the United States. This criminal organization is responsible for the transportation, importation, and distribution of multi-ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana, as well as large quantities of heroin and methamphetamine.

The organization has a reputation for extreme violence. Ramón Arellano Félix ordered a hit which resulted in the mass murder of 18 people in Ensenada, Baja California, on September 17, 1998. Ramón was eventually killed in a gun battle with police at Mazatlán Sinaloa, on February 10, 2002.

The Arellano Félix family has seven brothers:

• Francisco Rafael Arellano Félix (born 24 October 1949) - Captured and released
• Benjamín Arellano Félix (born 3 December 1952) - Captured on March 9, 2002, extradited on April 29, 2011
• Carlos Arellano Félix (born 20 August 1955) - is not currently wanted.
• Eduardo Arellano Félix (born 11 October 1956), - Captured on October 26, 2008, extradited on August 31, 2012
• Ramón Eduardo Arellano Félix (born 31 August 1964) - Deceased, shot by police in February 2002
• Luis Fernando Arellano Félix (believed to be born 26 January 1966) is not currently wanted.
• Francisco Javier Arellano Félix (born 11 December 1969) - Captured on August 2006

They also have four sisters, where Alicia and Enedina are most active in the cartel's affairs. The family inherited the organization from Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo upon his incarceration. Eduardo Arellano Félix was captured by the Mexican Army after a shootout in Tijuana, Baja California, on October 26, 2008; he had been the last of the Arellano Félix brothers at large. According to a Mexican official, Enedina's son, Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano, has taken over the cartel's operations. His two top lieutenants were Armando Villareal Heredia and Edgardo Leyva Escandon. Leyva remains at large and Villareal was captured in July 2011. On November 5, 2011, Mexican troops arrested cartel lieutenant Francisco Sillas Rocha, who was reported to the cartel's number two leader, and some of his close associates. Experts argued that Rocha's arrest had put the Tijuana Cartel "on the ropes," though some differed on whether or not the arrest put "the final nail in the coffin" for the Tijuana Cartel.