A bit dated (2008) but interesting.

How does the Tijuana cartel even exist if there drug routes all go through the Sinaloa territory?

It's ashame the cartels can't work something out with each other and divide up the plazas and corridors into the U.S. I'm pretty damn sure there is enough turf along the border and enough money for everyone. The Mexican cartels of the 2000's have outdone the Colombian cartels of the 70's and 80's by a long shot. But yet they want more. Greedy fuckers.

The Gulf in the yellow is completely taken over by Los Zetas but that started around 2010.

Yea Los Zetas are the new sheriffs in town lol. Sinaloa still number 1 down there but Zetas are a ruthless bunch of lunatics.

Zetas have been hit pretty hard though. The government and the people are against them and seem to love El Chapo. Most of the original line up is dead or in prison....they pretty much were fucked from the get go with their ultra violent tactics (for instance highjacking buses and forcing the male passengers to fight in gladiatorial combat to become enforcers for their cartel..beheading 49 people at once etc.) they should have known everyone would hate them

Zetas aren't going anywheres. They operate mainly on the Eastern Coast of Mexico. The old leaders structured it so that one cell cannot identify another.

For example crews in an LCN family know other crews and do business with them. In Los Zetas, a cell in Cancun will only know cell members associated with their territory. If they traveled to another Plaza or town, they would have no idea who were members in that area unless informed by a high ranking leader. This creates problems for LE because although they catch these guys on the regular, they can't really snitch on an other cells except their own.

Oh and they pretty much control Guatemala. The president of Guatemala tried to erradicate the Zetas from the country but had to admit two years later that he had made no progress.

I doubt it. I think theyre finished

Read this book then get back to me.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Executioners-Men-Soldiers-Entrepreneurs/dp/141284617X

If you think the Zetas are finished, then come down to Texas and go visit Laredo, Eagle Pass, Del Rio, Acuna, McAllen or Brownsville.

The fighting between the Sinaloa cartel and Los Zetas for control of Laredo (and other territory formerly controlled by the Gulf cartel) was essentially finished in 2011. The Zetas expanded their territory, although there are still skirmishes, especially near El Paso / Juarez. The consensus is Los Zetas prevailed.

The Zetas are in near total control of the Texas border from the gulf to close to El Paso. The US government estimates that as much as 40% of the drugs from Mexico enter via Laredo, which Los Zetas control.

There are several good sites for current information on the Mexican Drug War and cartel activity. Links to 2 of them are below, with blogdelnarco being in spanish.

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/

and

http://www.blogdelnarco.com/

From what I've read, the Tijuana cartel, at least in more recent years, ended up being a "toll collector" of sorts. Meaning it would receive payments for shipments going through it's territory near the border into the U.S.

Ivy is spot on with that.

In reality all the cartels that have alliances will allow their allies to move shipments as long as they are paid for passing through their territoty. Zetas are teamed up with Beltran-Leyva Cartel and two others maybe Juarez and I can't recall the last one.

It is believed that the cartels have formed 2 alliances.

Alliance 1: Los Zetas, the Juárez Cartel, the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, and the Tijuana Cartel

Alliance 2: the Sinaloa cartel, Gulf cartel, La Familia Michoacana / Knights Templar and Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

La Familia has been hammered recently, and a new cartel called the Knights Templar has emerged and is led by former La Fam members.

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is a newer cartel, supported by the Sinaloa cartel, that is fighting Los Zetas for control of Guadalajara and Vera Cruz. They were fighting the Knights Templar, but that seems to be over.

Knights Templar is situated more towards the south central Mexico correct? I don't know much about them.

The Knights Templar and La Familia Michoacana are one and the same. Technically, La Familia became the Knights after La Familia was decimated by convictions and by external and internal conflicts. They have thrown an extra religious angle into their name to help to gain the support of local people in Mexico who are mostly Catholic and very devout. They claim to defend Mexico as the Knights Templar defended the Holy Grail (except the whole selling drugs thing lol).

Basically, all of the modern cartels (Sinaloa, Tijuana, Juarez, the Gulf) are all descended from Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo's Guadalajara Cartel. He split up his cartel to make it able to withstand indictments. Eventually, the newly formed cartels became rivals and the rest is history.

"It's ashame the cartels can't work something out with each other and divide up the plazas and corridors into the U.S."

It's a real shame.....

"I'm pretty damn sure there is enough turf along the border and enough money for everyone"

Why can't they be more generous and kind like normal career criminals?

We have had activity from both the Zetas and La Familia / Knights Templar in Austin. Last week, I saw a report on the evening news that the son of a Knights Templar boss was pulled over in Westlake, one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Austin, and the cops found a bunch of money in his car. I cannot find a link to it.

In the last year, there were some significant busts and the Zeta money laundering trial:

Zeta bust:
http://www.drugwar101.com/blog/archives/8067

Large scale La Fam distriubtion cell bust:
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2013/04/knights-templar-connected-drug-bust.html

The Zeta money laundering trial involved José Treviño Morales, brother of Miguel and Omar. Miguel Treviño Morales, aka Z-40, was the leader of Los Zetas until his arrest in July, 2013. Omar is believed to be leading the Zetas now.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crime...mebuilde/nXmwP/

In the Zeta money laundering case, 2 additional guys were arrested for trying to bride the judge:

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/crime...-in-zeta/nZpyZ/