Osiel Cárdenas
Encyclopedia
Osiel Cárdenas Guillén was a Mexican
drug lord
and former leader of the Gulf Cartel
. Originally a mechanic in Matamoros, Tamaulipas
, where he was born, he entered the Gulf Cartel by helping Juan García Abrego
, the capo at the time; when García was arrested in 1995, some infighting erupted within the cartel. Osiel Cárdenas eventually took control by killing his friend and contender Salvador Gómez, earning Cárdenas the nickname "El Mata Amigos" (The Friend-Killer).
Osiel's brother Mario
works for the Gulf cartel, as did another brother, Ezequiel
, who was killed by Mexican Marines on November 5, 2010.
, by the FBI and DEA
. According to the story mentioned in the interviews 11 years after this life-or-death incident, the DEA
agent Joe DuBois and FBI agent Daniel Fuentes were riding in a white Ford Bronco with diplomatic plates along the streets of Matamoros
, Tamaulipas
. For years, both were working for the disarticulation of the cartels in Mexico, and both knew how the drug cartels worked south of the border. In the back seat of the car, a Mexican informant from a local newspaper on crime coverage guided the two agents and gave them a tour on the city's drug routes and on the homes of the drug lords of the city. They even cruised on Cárdenas' house, a pink-colored mansion with tall walls, security cameras, armed guards and roof-snipers. Within moments, according to DuBois, a Lincoln Continental
was on their tail, then a stolen pickup truck with Texan plates. The federal agents were cut off and surrounded by at least five vehicles, including one by a former state police officer. Just yards away from Matamoros' police department, the agents were surrounded by a convoy of gunmen from the Gulf Cartel. Some wore police and military uniforms. Nearby, other men, also in police uniform, directed traffic.
Cárdenas and his men intercepted and surrounded the vehicle on a public street and demanded for the informant to be released to him. According to the two agents, the Gulf Cartel sicarios outnumbered and outgunned them. Their only way out was to talk their way out. Cárdenas arrived seconds later in a white Jeep Cherokee
, approaching the two agents with the swagger of the man in charge. In his waistband, he wore a Colt pistol with a gold grip; in his hands, a gold-plated AK-47
. Cárdenas pounded the Ford Bronco and calmly asked for the informant. Fuentes flashed his FBI badge, giving Cárdenas a smile. In an ongoing discourse, Cárdenas told the agents that he would shoot them if they did not surrender. The two agents refused to do so, saying they were dead either way. He gave them another choice: to hand over the informant. Again, they refused.
DuBois, who grew up in Mexico
and was a police officer
in neighboring Brownsville
, Texas
, recalled how Cárdenas "did not give a damn who [they were]," while DuBois replied to him: "You don't care now, but tomorrow and the next day and the rest of your life, you'll regret anything stupid that you might do right now. You are fixing to make 300,000 enemies." Then, Fuentes reminded Cárdenas how the U.S.
launched a massive manhunt and investigation after the kidnap, torture
, and assassination
of the DEA
agent Enrique Camarena
in 1985 in Mexico. All of the killers and accomplices were captured in that U.S. operation.
After a tense standoff
, DuBois and Fuentes, along with their informant, were released. The two agents and the informant headed off to Brownsville, Texas
. As for Cárdenas, the damage had been done by taking on the U.S. government, which placed pressure on the Mexican government to apprehend Cárdenas. The two agents, Joe DuBois and Daniel Fuentes, were recognized by the U.S. attorney general for their 'exceptional heroism,' and both are still on the job. The Mexican informant is living somewhere in the United States.
, on March 14, 2003 in a shootout between the Mexican military and Gulf Cartel gunmen. He was one of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
, which was offering $2 million for his capture. According to government archives, this six-month military operation was planned and carried out in secret; the only people informed were the President Vicente Fox
, the Secretary of Defense in Mexico, Ricardo Clemente Vega García, and Mexico's Attorney General, Rafael Macedo de la Concha. After his capture, Osiel Cárdenas was sent to the federal, high-security prison La Palma. On May 1, 2008, while still in jail, Cárdenas threw a 'Day of the Child' party for 2,000 people in Ciudad Acuña
, Coahuila
, complete with banners, ponies, clowns, food and music.Because it was believed that Cárdenas still controlled the Gulf Cartel from prison, he was later extradited to the United States in January 2007.
, drug trafficking, homicide
and death threats to U.S. federal agents on Thursday, July 30, 2009. Cardenas appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Hilda Tagle in Houston, Texas
on Wednesday, February 24, 2010. Judge Tagle sentenced Cardenas to 25 years in a prison, fined him $100,000 dollars and accepted a $50 million dollar forefeiture.
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
drug lord
Drug lord
A drug lord, drug baron or kingpin is the term used to describe a person who controls a sizable network of persons involved in the illegal drugs trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they might never be directly in possession of something illegal, but are insulated from...
and former leader of the Gulf Cartel
Gulf Cartel
The Gulf Cartel is one of the most powerful drug cartels in Mexico, and perhaps the oldest organized crime group in the country...
. Originally a mechanic in Matamoros, Tamaulipas
Matamoros, Tamaulipas
Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern part of Tamaulipas, in the country of Mexico. It is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas, in the United States. Matamoros is the second largest and second...
, where he was born, he entered the Gulf Cartel by helping Juan García Abrego
Juan García Abrego
Juan García Ábrego was a Mexican drug lord who started out his criminal career under the tutelage of his uncle Juan Nepomuceno Guerra, who is reported to be the former head of a criminal dynasty along the U.S.-Mexico border now called the Gulf Cartel....
, the capo at the time; when García was arrested in 1995, some infighting erupted within the cartel. Osiel Cárdenas eventually took control by killing his friend and contender Salvador Gómez, earning Cárdenas the nickname "El Mata Amigos" (The Friend-Killer).
Osiel's brother Mario
Mario Cárdenas Guillén
Mario Alberto Cárdenas Guillén is believed to be a top liutenant of the Mexican criminal group called the Gulf Cartel.-Biography:...
works for the Gulf cartel, as did another brother, Ezequiel
Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillen
Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén , nicknamed Tony Tormenta, was a Mexican drug lord and co-leader of the criminal organization known as the Gulf Cartel...
, who was killed by Mexican Marines on November 5, 2010.
Cárdenas' encounter with U.S. agents
In a November afternoon of 1999, Cárdenas learned that a Gulf Cartel informant was being transported through Matamoros, TamaulipasMatamoros, Tamaulipas
Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern part of Tamaulipas, in the country of Mexico. It is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas, in the United States. Matamoros is the second largest and second...
, by the FBI and DEA
DEA
DEA is the commonly used acronym for the Drug Enforcement Administration, a United States law enforcement agency.DEA or Dea may also refer to:- Organizations :* DEA , UK development education charity...
. According to the story mentioned in the interviews 11 years after this life-or-death incident, the DEA
DEA
DEA is the commonly used acronym for the Drug Enforcement Administration, a United States law enforcement agency.DEA or Dea may also refer to:- Organizations :* DEA , UK development education charity...
agent Joe DuBois and FBI agent Daniel Fuentes were riding in a white Ford Bronco with diplomatic plates along the streets of Matamoros
Matamoros, Tamaulipas
Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern part of Tamaulipas, in the country of Mexico. It is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas, in the United States. Matamoros is the second largest and second...
, Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 43 municipalities and its capital city is Ciudad Victoria. The capital city was named after Guadalupe Victoria, the...
. For years, both were working for the disarticulation of the cartels in Mexico, and both knew how the drug cartels worked south of the border. In the back seat of the car, a Mexican informant from a local newspaper on crime coverage guided the two agents and gave them a tour on the city's drug routes and on the homes of the drug lords of the city. They even cruised on Cárdenas' house, a pink-colored mansion with tall walls, security cameras, armed guards and roof-snipers. Within moments, according to DuBois, a Lincoln Continental
Lincoln Continental
The Lincoln Continental is an automobile which was produced by the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company from 1939 to 1948 and again from 1956 to 2002...
was on their tail, then a stolen pickup truck with Texan plates. The federal agents were cut off and surrounded by at least five vehicles, including one by a former state police officer. Just yards away from Matamoros' police department, the agents were surrounded by a convoy of gunmen from the Gulf Cartel. Some wore police and military uniforms. Nearby, other men, also in police uniform, directed traffic.
Cárdenas and his men intercepted and surrounded the vehicle on a public street and demanded for the informant to be released to him. According to the two agents, the Gulf Cartel sicarios outnumbered and outgunned them. Their only way out was to talk their way out. Cárdenas arrived seconds later in a white Jeep Cherokee
Jeep Cherokee
Jeep Cherokee may refer to:* Jeep Cherokee * Jeep Cherokee * Jeep Grand Cherokee , , and * Jeep Liberty, a.k.a. Jeep Cherokee...
, approaching the two agents with the swagger of the man in charge. In his waistband, he wore a Colt pistol with a gold grip; in his hands, a gold-plated AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
. Cárdenas pounded the Ford Bronco and calmly asked for the informant. Fuentes flashed his FBI badge, giving Cárdenas a smile. In an ongoing discourse, Cárdenas told the agents that he would shoot them if they did not surrender. The two agents refused to do so, saying they were dead either way. He gave them another choice: to hand over the informant. Again, they refused.
DuBois, who grew up in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and was a police officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
in neighboring Brownsville
Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville is a city in the southernmost tip of the state of Texas, in the United States. It is located on the northern bank of the Rio Grande, directly north and across the border from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Brownsville is the 16th largest city in the state of Texas with a population of...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, recalled how Cárdenas "did not give a damn who [they were]," while DuBois replied to him: "You don't care now, but tomorrow and the next day and the rest of your life, you'll regret anything stupid that you might do right now. You are fixing to make 300,000 enemies." Then, Fuentes reminded Cárdenas how the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
launched a massive manhunt and investigation after the kidnap, torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
, and assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
of the DEA
DEA
DEA is the commonly used acronym for the Drug Enforcement Administration, a United States law enforcement agency.DEA or Dea may also refer to:- Organizations :* DEA , UK development education charity...
agent Enrique Camarena
Enrique Camarena
Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Salazar (Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico July 26, 1947 - c. (Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, February 9, 1985) was an undercover agent for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration who was abducted on...
in 1985 in Mexico. All of the killers and accomplices were captured in that U.S. operation.
After a tense standoff
Standoff
A standoff is used in mechanics and electronics to separate two parts from one another. Standoffs can be many shapes and sizes and made of many different materials. Insulating standoffs may keep two parts from touching each other, thereby preventing an electronic short...
, DuBois and Fuentes, along with their informant, were released. The two agents and the informant headed off to Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville is a city in the southernmost tip of the state of Texas, in the United States. It is located on the northern bank of the Rio Grande, directly north and across the border from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Brownsville is the 16th largest city in the state of Texas with a population of...
. As for Cárdenas, the damage had been done by taking on the U.S. government, which placed pressure on the Mexican government to apprehend Cárdenas. The two agents, Joe DuBois and Daniel Fuentes, were recognized by the U.S. attorney general for their 'exceptional heroism,' and both are still on the job. The Mexican informant is living somewhere in the United States.
Arrest
The former leader of the Gulf Cartel, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, was captured in the city of Matamoros, TamaulipasMatamoros, Tamaulipas
Matamoros, officially known as Heroica Matamoros, is a city in the northeastern part of Tamaulipas, in the country of Mexico. It is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas, in the United States. Matamoros is the second largest and second...
, on March 14, 2003 in a shootout between the Mexican military and Gulf Cartel gunmen. He was one of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and William Kinsey Hutchinson, International News Service Editor-in-Chief, who were discussing ways to promote capture of the...
, which was offering $2 million for his capture. According to government archives, this six-month military operation was planned and carried out in secret; the only people informed were the President Vicente Fox
Vicente Fox
Vicente Fox Quesada is a Mexican former politician who served as President of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006 and currently serves as co-President of the Centrist Democrat International, an international organization of Christian democratic political parties.Fox was elected...
, the Secretary of Defense in Mexico, Ricardo Clemente Vega García, and Mexico's Attorney General, Rafael Macedo de la Concha. After his capture, Osiel Cárdenas was sent to the federal, high-security prison La Palma. On May 1, 2008, while still in jail, Cárdenas threw a 'Day of the Child' party for 2,000 people in Ciudad Acuña
Ciudad Acuña
Ciudad Acuña, also known simply as Acuña, is a city located in the Mexican state of Coahuila, at and a mean height above sea level of 271 meters...
, Coahuila
Coahuila
Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...
, complete with banners, ponies, clowns, food and music.Because it was believed that Cárdenas still controlled the Gulf Cartel from prison, he was later extradited to the United States in January 2007.
Guilty Plea/Sentencing
Many details about Cardenas' court records remained sealed. Partially unsealed records clearly show that he pleaded guilty to money launderingMoney laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
, drug trafficking, homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
and death threats to U.S. federal agents on Thursday, July 30, 2009. Cardenas appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Hilda Tagle in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
on Wednesday, February 24, 2010. Judge Tagle sentenced Cardenas to 25 years in a prison, fined him $100,000 dollars and accepted a $50 million dollar forefeiture.
See also
- Mexican Drug WarMexican Drug WarThe Mexican Drug War is an ongoing armed conflict taking place among rival drug cartels who fight each other for regional control, and Mexican government forces who seek to combat drug trafficking. However, the government's principal goal has been to put down the drug-related violence that was...
- Illegal drug tradeIllegal drug tradeThe illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...
- Mérida InitiativeMérida InitiativeThe Mérida Initiative is a security cooperation agreement between the United States and the government of Mexico and the countries of Central America, with the declared aim of combating the threats of drug trafficking, transnational organized crime and money laundering...