The Arellano Félix organization, also known as the Tijuana Cartel, originated in Sinaloa. Founded by brothers Ramón and Benjamín Arellano Félix, it was dedicated to transporting marijuana and heroin to the United States.
The criminal cell emerged in the late 1980s, starting with the smuggling of electronic devices. Later, they moved to Jalisco and met Javier Caro Payán, who was in charge of the Tijuana plaza for the Guadalajara Cartel, led by Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, “El Jefe de Jefes” (The Boss of Bosses).
Benjamín Arellano moved to Tijuana to work with Caro Payán and began to build a network of corruption involving high-ranking police officers.
The Arellano Félix organization, also known as the Tijuana Cartel, originated in Sinaloa. Founded by brothers Ramón and Benjamín Arellano Félix, it was dedicated to transporting marijuana and heroin to the United States.
The criminal organization emerged in the late 1980s, initially smuggling electronic devices. Later, they moved to Jalisco and met Javier Caro Payán, who was in charge of the Tijuana plaza for the Guadalajara Cartel, led by Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, “El Jefe de Jefes” (The Boss of Bosses).
This criminal organization consolidated its power in the 1990s and early 2000s, controlling drug trafficking routes and expanding its presence throughout almost the entire country, though its primary base of operations remained Tijuana.
According to InSight Crime, Félix Gallardo called a meeting of drug traffickers to divide up territories. It indicates that Joaquín Guzmán Loera and his partner Héctor Luis Palma Salazar received areas in Baja California and Sonora; Rafael Aguilar Guajardo, the area between Juárez and Nuevo Laredo.
InSight Crime reports that the Arellano Félix brothers received Tijuana, but from the beginning they wanted more territory, and in 1989, after Félix Gallardo’s imprisonment, Ramón murdered a close associate of El Chapo.
It adds that in 1993 the Arellano Félix brothers sent armed men to intercept El Chapo at an airport, but instead they killed Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo.
On December 4, 1993, members of the Mexican Army arrested Francisco Rafael Arellano Félix in Tijuana and transferred him to El Altiplano prison in the State of Mexico, and he was later extradited to the United States. In 2006, he was sentenced to six years in prison, and on October 18, 2013, he was murdered in Cabo San Lucas by a man dressed as a clown.
On February 10, 2002, police officers killed Ramón Arellano Félix, who had a dispute with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
The incident occurred after he refused to be arrested while at the Mazatlán Carnival in Sinaloa.
