Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo Drug Kingpin

Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo Drug Kingpin

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Episode Transcript

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Miguel Angle Felix Gallardo, the godfatherof Mexico's drug trade. Miguel Angel Felix
Gallardo was born on January eighth,nineteen forty six, in a ranch in
Bella Vista, on the outskirts ofKulia Khan, Sineloa. He came from
humble beginnings but would go on tobecome one of Mexico's most notorious drug kingpins,
earning nicknames like the Boss of Bossesand the Godfather. Felix Gallardo graduated

(00:28):
high school and studied business. Incollege, he took a job as an
agent in the Mexican Federal Judicial Policeand also worked as a bodyguard for the
Cineloa state governor, Leopoldo Sanchez Slus. His connections to the governor gave him
political cover as he built his narcoticsempire. Felix Gallardo served as godfather to

(00:51):
sell Us his son Rodolfo, furthercementing his deep ties to the political elite.
Rise of the Guadalajara cartel. Inthe nineteen six seventies, Felix Gallardo
started working with other drug traffickers,broker in corruption deals with officials to facilitate
the growing trade. He partnered withRafael Caro Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo,

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who had worked under Miguel Angelo,Felix's mentor and predecessor, Felix Alberto Cecilia
Falcon. After Falcon died in ashootout with police in nineteen seventy eight,
Felix Gallardo, Caro Quintero, andFonseca Carrillo seized control of his territory and
drug corridors. The early nineteen eightiesmarked the beginning of the Guadalajara Cartel's reign

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atop Mexico's narco hierarchy. Felix Gallardohad connections to the Colombian Cali and Medeline
drug cartels through Juan Matabalisteros, aHonduran trafficker. Instead of taking cash from
the Colombians for smuggling services, FelixGallardo took fifty percent of the cocaine shipment
as payment, an arrangement that provedhugely profitable as volumes grew. By the

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mid nineteen eighties, the Guadalajara Cartelwas generating an estimated five billion per year,
controlling a vast network along the MexicoUS border, Kidnapping and murder of
DEA agent Enrique Kiki Camerina. FelixGallardo's booming drug empire soon attracted unwanted attention

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from Enrique Kiki Comorina, a risingDEA agent assigned to Guadalajara in nineteen eighty
Camerina used informants to identify huge marijuanaplantations protected by corrupt Mexican officials, which
the military subsequently destroyed. The Guadalajaracartel felt directly threatened by Camarina's activities.

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In broad daylight. On February seventh, nineteen eighty five, Jalisco police,
believed to be on Felix Gallardo's payroll, kidnapped Camarina and his pilot, Alfredo
Zavala outside the US consulate. Eyewitnessesreported seeing the two men brought to a
residence at eight eight one Lope deVega Street in Guadalajara, owned by Rafael

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Caro Quintero. There, over thirtyhours, Carona and Zavalla were continuously tortured
for information while being injected with drugsto keep them conscious. A autopsy later
showed that Camarina's skull was drilled into, ultimately killing him. On February ninth,

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After two grueling days of torture,Camarina died. His and Zavala's bodies
were found on a Michoacan ranch,wrapped in plastic. The brutal torture murder
of Camarina triggered one of the DEA'slargest homicide investigations ever. Felix Galardo and

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his top associates Quintero and Fonseca Carrillowere immediately pegged as prime suspects. The
immense US pressure ultimately forced Mexican authoritiesto apprehend Fonseca Corrillo and Caro Quintero,
but Felix Gallardo still enjoyed political protectionand remained a free man. Arrest and

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the Guadalajara Cartel's demise, Felix Gallardokept underground in Guadalajara following Camarina's murder,
even while the DEA desperately hunted him. He was finally arrested on April eighth,
nineteen eighty nine, at the ageof forty three. The charges against
him included racketeering, smuggling, Camerina'skidnapping and murder, and multiple other violent

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crimes. Felix Galardo was originally sentencedto forty years in prison. The arrest
was the death knell for Felix Gallardo'sonce mighty Guadalajara Empire. With its CEO
and prin. The federation fractured assubordinates broke away to form their own cartels.
According to legend, Felix Gallardo calledhis associates to a summit in Acapulco

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in nineteen eighty nine, where hedesignated the drug plazas or territories for each
capo. The Arellano Felix brothers gotTijuana a Motto Carrillo Fuentes claimed Siudad Juarez,
Miguel Caro Quintero took Sonora, whilethe team of El Chapo Guzman and
Hector Elguero Palma got Siniloa. Thestage was set for drug war chaos.

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Though locked up, Felix Gallardo wieldedinfluence from behind bars in the nineteen nineties
by bribing guards to allow him accessto a mobile phone, but his power
faded after he was transferred to amaximum security prison in nineteen ninety three.
In twenty seventeen, Felix Gallardo wassentenced to an additional thirty seven years imprisonment.

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On top of this, initial fortyyear term. By then an old
and severely ill man in his seventies, he was transferred to a medium security
facility in twenty fourteen on humanitarian groundsdue to his deteriorating health. Despite pleased
to finish his sentence under house arrest, courts repeatedly denied Felix Gallardo's requests through

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twenty nineteen, keeping him imprisoned.Legacy and influence. The Guadalajara Cartel's dissolution
after Felix Gallardo's arrest laid the groundworkfor modern Mexico's ongoing drug wars, but
El Padrino's influence and family connections continuedshaping the narco landscape for decades. His

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nephews, the Arellano Felix Brothers formedthe violent Tijuana cartel that dominated the Baja
California California border through the nineteen ninetiesand two thousands. Other prominent traffickers like
Sandra Avila Beltron of Sinaloa were alsoFelix Gallardo's relatives. The factions that emerged

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from Guadalajara, especially the Sinaloa Cartel, Caro Quintero's gang and Tomato Carriofuentes Juarez
organization triggered constant bloodshed while moving billionsin drugs to eager American consumers. In
many ways, Miguel Angelo Felix Gallardobuilt the template for today's sophisticated, politically

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connected drug cartels. Though imprisoned,his influence lives on through family ties and
the enduring drug networks he helped establish. Felix Gallardo will go down as a
founding godfather of Mexico's still roaring narcotrade. For better or worse, his
pioneering organizational models in trafficking systems irrevocablychanged Mexico's criminal landscape. Even from a

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prison cell, elp Adrino's legacy won'tbe going away anytime soon.