HomeNewsBriefUS Gangs Increase Links to Mexican Cartels
BRIEF

US Gangs Increase Links to Mexican Cartels

BARRIO AZTECA / 13 OCT 2014 BY MARGUERITE CAWLEY EN

A series of reports highlights growing ties between US gangs and Mexican drug cartels, and the corruption north of the border that helps facilitate drug trafficking -- dynamics that echo what is seen in Mexico.

In El Universal, Jose Luis Pardo and Alejandra S. Inzunza, members of the journalist collective Dromomanos, documented Mexican criminal organizations' relationship with both gangs and law enforcement in the United States.

They reported how US gangs associated with Mexican cartels -- primarily the Sinaloa Cartel and the Zetas -- flourish in Texas border counties. In the outskirts of one county, Zapata, the local sheriff told the reporters that nearly everyone in the neighborhood was involved in criminal activity and that the zone was a hotspot for drug stash houses.

Groups like Tango Blast and Texas Syndicate, as well as transnational gangs like the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) and Texas-born prison gang Barrio Azteca, serve as muscle, couriers and local drug vendors for the Mexican groups, Texas officials told the reporters. 

Mexican cartels also rely heavily on corruption in the US border region, paying off sheriffs, border agents and customs officials. Sometimes these ties go much deeper than a bribe. One notable example was that of the Panama Unit, an anti-drug police unit in Hidalgo, Texas, which became involved in guarding and stealing drug loads. Cases of drug-related official corruption have emerged in most Texas border counties, according to Pardo and Inzunza.  

InSight Crime Analysis

Official reports published this year by California and Texas discussed the increasingly close relationship between gangs in these states and Mexican cartels. In the most recent US National Gang Report, 23 percent of police surveyed said gangs with ties to Mexican organized crime were present in their jurisdiction.

Mexican groups have long maintained a relationship with US gangs, but in the past this was largely limited to drug sales. Now, the gangs carry out more sophisticated criminal activities on behalf of cartels, allowing the larger groups to reduce their operational risks in US territory. In return, the gangs receive discounts on the drugs they buy.

This is a dynamic also seen within Mexico, where some 43 gangs -- including groups like Los Rojos and Guerreros Unidos, as well as lesser-known gangs -- are now affiliated with the major cartels. This outsourcing of labor is largely a product of a fragmenting criminal landscape, in which the major syndicates no longer enjoy the hegemony they once had. 

SEE ALSO: Barrio Azteca Profile

Payoffs to officials is a common phenomenon on the Mexican as well as the US side of the border, with Mexican government officials at various levels, as well as in law enforcement, known to associate with drug groups.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

ELITES AND CRIME / 30 JUN 2021

The embattled governor of a northern border state in Mexico is touting the timely arrests of those allegedly responsible for…

FEATURED / 28 APR 2021

The deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl has displaced heroin as the leading driver of the ongoing opioid crisis in the United…

EXTORTION / 7 OCT 2021

Despite the pandemic’s economic fallout being felt throughout the Riviera Maya, cartels have continued their extortion schemes in Mexico's popular…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…