Originally Posted by TheKillingJoke
Thanks for the info. It's rather interesting they've been around for so long. The general view on the Mexican cartels is that these are criminal organizations that can grow immensely wealthy and powerful in a short time, but they mostly don't have a lot of longevity. They often don't stay on top for a really long time and disintegration is common. While the Gulf Cartel has certainly suffered from setbacks - most infamously of course being directly challenged by a group they spawned themselves, the Zetas - it also seems to keep on rebuilding itself. This considered they actually pique my interest more than the Sinaloa Cartel.

The groups in the northeast of the country also seem to be exceptionally violent compared to those in western Mexico. This may just be an idea of course.

True, Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas are more violent than the Sinaloa Cartel which relies more on corruption than violence but they also don't have the same connections to the federal government and institutions as the Sinaloa Cartel has. I think Sinaloa Cartel is the only group that effectively CAN corrupt the Mexican government in terms of federal level and military. The other groups don't have the same connections that's why yous see so much violence. The Gulf Cartel is a an old group and has peaked my interest too because they I live on the border and have followed the violence since they waged war between them, the Gulf and Los Zetas. Most of the beheading and so on can be attributed to these two groups Los Zetas and Gulf Cartel, Sinaloa like I said relies more on corruption than bullets or intimidation.