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| Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo | |
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| Born | January 8, 1946 Mexico |
| Other names | The Godfather |
| Occupation | Drug trafficker |
| Known for | Guadalajara Cartel drug lord |
| Partner | Joaquin Guzman, Ramon Arellano-Felix among others |
Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (born January 8, 1946) is a Mexican drug lord known as "El Padrino" (Spanish: "The Godfather"), the cocaine czar of Mexico and premier leader of the Guadalajara Cartel of the 1980s.
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Background
Félix Gallardo was arrested in 1989. While incarcerated, he remained one of Mexico's major traffickers, maintaining his organization via mobile phone until he was transferred to a new maximum security prison in the 1990s. At that point, his old organization broke up into two factions: the Tijuana Cartel led by his nephews, the Arellano Félix brothers, and the Sinaloa Cartel, run by former lieutenants Héctor Luis Palma Salazar, Adrián Gómez González and Joaquín Guzmán, El Chapo.[citation needed]
Many[who?] say his political protector was his godfather, Governor Leopoldo Sánchez Celis.[citation needed] Miguel Ángel Félix, who would later go on to become the largest drug trafficker in the Western Hemisphere, began his career as Leopoldo's family bodyguard. He used Sánchez Celis' extensive political connections to create the largest cartel in Mexico. Eventually he partnered with Pablo Escobar in Colombia. Félix Gallardo was also the godfather of the Governor's son, Rodolfo. This relationship led to the kidnap, torture, and assassination of the Governor's son by Héctor Luis Palma Salazar and Joaquín Guzmán Loera.[citation needed] In retribution, Félix Gallardo kidnapped and decapitated the wife of Héctor Luis Palma Salazar.[citation needed] This led to a longstanding drug war between the Tijuana Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel.
His nephews, the Arellano Félix brothers, were said to have been protected by the late kingmaker Carlos Hank González.[citation needed][citation needed] Governor Sánchez Celis was a close associate of Hank González, who had been described as the “primary intermediary between the multinational drug trafficking enterprises and the Mexican political system.”[citation needed] Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and Carlos Hank González shared the same private aviation pilot.
The two other participants who stepped forward, Roberto Gonzalez Barrera and Carlos Hank Rohn, share two obvious qualities with Peralta. Both come from families that have long been tied to the Salinas family, and both are prominent businessmen whose enterprises received lavish support during the presidency of Carlos Salinas de Gortari.[citation needed]
Sandra Ávila Beltrán, the largest female drug trafficker in the world, is the niece of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and the cousin of Adrián Gómez González.[citation needed]
Relations
It has been said by Miguel Félix Gallardo himself that the Arellano Félix brothers are not his kin, other than the coincidence that they are both Félix, the Arellano Félix side of the family come from a different part of the state.[citation needed]
References
See also
- Mexican drug war
- Juarez Cartel
- Sinaloa Cartel
- Gulf Cartel
- Tijuana Cartel
- Drug lord
- Mérida Initiative
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External links
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