Juárez Cartel

The Juarez Cartel is a Mexican drug cartel based out of Juarez, Chihuahua. One of Mexico's oldest cartels, it was originally part of the Guadalajara Cartel. Following the arrest of that cartel's leader, its leader, Rafael Aguilar Guajardo, took control of the drug smuggling routes through Juarez. In 1993, Guajardo died under mysterious circumstances, and his lieutenant Amado Carillo Fuentes became the new leader. Fuentes became known as the "Lord of the Skies" because of his extensive usage of aircraft to bring cocaine in from Colombia. Following his death, his brothers Rodolfo and Vicente would take over; the cartel was also known as the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Organization from the latter.

The Fuentes brothers led the cartel into an alliance with the Sinaloa Cartel. However, because of disagreements over pisos(fees to use trafficking routes), the two cartels would soon become enemies, and remain so to this day. Much of the violence in northwestern Mexico is attributed to turf wars between them. The cartel itself does not engage in fighting; it relies on enforcer gangs such as La Linea in Mexico and Barrio Azteca in the USA for this purpose.

In 2011 it was reported that the cartel is also known as the New Juarez Cartel. Following Vicente's arrest in 2014, Juan Pablo Ledezma, the leader of La Linea, is believed to be in charge of the entire cartel.

It is likely that the Juarez Cartel is behind the massacre of the American-Mexican LeBaron family.

Trivia

 * A fictionalized version of the cartel appears in the American television series Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.