The Underworld Podcast - The Tijuana Cartel's Bloody Rise and Fall

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

When the godfather Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo got busted in '89, he divvied up his empire from a prison cell and handed the coveted Tijuana plaza to the Arellano Felix Brothers, who transformed it into one of the most violent drug organizations in Mexico. At their peak, the brothers, led by Benjamin, were pumping an estimated 40 percent of America's cocaine through their border kingdom recruiting both rich kids from elite Tijuana families and gangbangers from the states as sicarios. But when psychotic enforcer Ramón tried to take out El Chapo at the Guadalajara airport in '93, his gunmen accidentally murdered a Catholic cardinal instead, bringing the full heat of Mexican and U.S. law enforcement down on the family and signaling the beginning of the end for the infamous Tijuana cartel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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at Yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. November 1992 in the resort town of Porto Vallada Mexico and two of the Ariano Felix brothers are in the club partying it up.

They're part of an extremely powerful narco family. Seven brothers, four sisters, who sit at the top of the recently formed Tijuana cartel. After the fall of the first national Mexican cartel a few years earlier, the Guadalajara cartel, Mexico is divided into separate narco-kingdoms, and the Ariano Felix brothers have claimed the city of Tijuana as their own. And they're doing quite well, because an estimated 40% of the powder coming into the States is going through their network. You see, they're the ones who got the prime border territory after the Guadalajara system they

once worked under fell apart. Tijuana is right over the border from San Diego, and it's a massive transit hub, the busiest border crossing into the U.S., which makes it some of the best drug trafficking territory in the country. They're making money handover fix, but not all is going well for them. They're starting to have issues with a rival cartel,

run by some former friends they've always had a little bit of an issue with. Some of the leaders of that cartel, the Sinaloa cartel are not happy with the taxes the Ariano Felix family is making them pay to use their territory, or plaza. Specifically, El Chapo Guzman, co-leader of the Sinaloa cartel is getting tired of the arrangement. Everyone's been trying to work things out for a year or so, but the bickering has not stopped, and some of Chappo's guys have gotten killed. That's just how negotiating works in the Mexican cartel world.

Some people die during it. So far, though, El Chapo has surprised everyone by keeping his cool, which is why the two brothers are parting it up, not in their territory, and with only a small security detail led by David Baden Corona, aka Popeye, a San Diego gangbanger who had met a couple of the cartels traffickers in prison in the States, and now was working for them down in Mexico. Inside the club, the brothers are having a great time, when a few dozen Sicarioes dressed as policemen enter and enter,

and just start shooting. Chappos finally had enough. Corona quickly kills one of them and takes the man's AK-47. He's able to hold off the attack as the brothers run into the bathroom looking for an exit. And then he helps them escape through a window

in that bathroom as the shooting continues. Corona or Popeye impresses the brothers so much, they ask him to go recruit more American gangbangers. He heads to Logan Heights San Diego, where his gang associates are currently being squeezed by the cops, and are happy to go across the border to put in work for the cartel. He then hires Mexican police and others to train the 30-year-so gangbangers. He has them dress in polos and khakis with neatly trimmed hair,

they're armed with AK-47s, grenades, night vision goggles, and bulletproof vest. And then, they're sent out to Rome, Tijuana, and deal with anyone thinking of ever trying to go after the brothers and their business again. But the real war, the one with the feared and rising Sinolaa cartel, It's only just begun. This is the underworld podcast. Welcome back to the only podcast that dares to ask the question, exactly how many episodes can a podcast do about the Mexican cartels?

How many cartels are there exactly? Is it actually an infinite number? I'm one of your host Danny Gold. I am joined by Sean Williams. We are two journalists who have reported on organized crime and gangs all over the world. And now we do the show. Sean, you actually still write other stuff, which I mostly don't, about the human condition and whatnot, not just gangs.

Like, I think you just had a massive long-form piece come out on guys who set the world record for holding their breath, right? Isn't that? I haven't read yet. I really sure. Yeah. I remember talking to you about this in Sparks like a year ago. But, yeah, anyone wants to check it out. It's called The Man Who Held His Breath for 24 Minutes at Outside Magazine.

I do not write the headlines. It is about a pretty amazing guy. He became a world record holder by learning to cope with his daughter's illnesses. And he's 60 years old and he works out like four hours a day. It looks like a 25-year-old. He gets into, he does rowing and he gets into like 210 beats per minute. So the guy is surely going to die of a heart attack very soon. But he's very entertaining and, yeah, read the story.

Did you tell him that as you were hanging out with him? Yeah. Oh, like loads. And he just kind of laughs. He's like a, he's a balking guy. So he just laughs and doesn't care and just carries on. Yeah. Yeah, so it's done.

And when this comes out, you're actually, I mean, we're going to be reunited again. You're going to be in New York City. will probably be four martineas deep at the strip house, which is a steakhouse, please. Not a strip club, you animals. That's a shame. It's not what you told me last week.

As always, bonus episodes are up on patreon.com slash norel podcast, and you can sign up on Spotify or iTunes. You can also just throw us $3 a month there to support what we're doing here. Email us with story ideas, tips, compliments, or if you want to advertise on our show at the Underworld Podcast at gmail.com

and merch for all your holiday needs, underworldpod. and click on the merch section there. All right. Surprisingly, the Ariano Felix family are not from Tijuana. They're actually from drum roll, Sinolawa,

like pretty much every other narco from this era. They are seven brothers and four sisters. They grow up middle class. And information about their early lives is kind of scarce, but the Narco News website Info Bay, which is actually a great website, even though the name sounds like a tween sort of entertainment TikTok or thing.

Info Bay is what it's called. They have said that the brothers, led by Benjamin, the second oldest, they started out smuggling clothing and electronics, right? The Ariano Felix family then, they kind of moved to Halisco at some point, and apparently the family starts doing pretty well financially doing the smuggling, and they buy like two opulent mansions with big yards and pools, all that kind of stuff, almost like a family compound. And this is really before they're smuggling drugs.

It's in the early 1970s when a young Benjamin also said to be the smartest of the brothers, meets Javier Cato Payon. Payon is described in the LA Times as a cousin of Rafael Caracantero. Caracanaro, along with Miguel Anhe Felix Gallardo, are two of the co-founders of the Guadalajara cartel. And apologies, you know, if this is a lot of names to throw out you guys at once, we've talked about both these guys quite a bit before. They're two of the most powerful narcos Mexico has had over the last 40 years or so.

They're really like the building blocks of the cartel world. Yeah, I mean, I've been writing about these guys for, years. I did a show on them last week and I still need the table set when we're doing episodes about them. I mean, yeah, there are so many. They're almost infinite. I mean, we just did that show about Juan Matta about Astiris in Honduras and he's just like one of hundreds in his constellation. So yeah, we always need that little run up at these kind of shows. And the way you can remember Carol Cantero, it's he's the guy like five years ago that ruined the cartel embed I was supposed to get with that guy in El Durango. That's how always remember. Yeah, yeah, yeah, because he was out of

prison then and he was fighting Durango's unit which was aligned with Sinolawa and his guys I think there was some something what happened where essentially the police the Mexican Marines the Federals raided the guy

Durango we were supposed to hang out with like four days before he's supposed to get there and Roont would probably would have been one of the biggest stories I'd ever done so you know Caracanaro you were messaging me um you said like who is this dickhead like if I ever get to meet him I'm gonna I'm gonna

or teach him a few things. I think he's like 82 years old, so I think I could take him at this point in our lives. The Ariano Felix family, maybe. The Ariano Felix family, they've been family friends with Felix Gallardo since back in the Similowen days. Like, it's never not shocking how much a lot of these early, incredibly powerful traffickers are related through marriage or somewhere else

or, like, knew each other. It's all very incestuous. A bunch of articles, say Felix Garado is actually the uncle of the Ariana Felix brothers. Others say Felix Gallardo married the Ariano Felix Brothers' aunt, but this could be just one journalist. He says it once and it gets repeated as fact, which happens all the time. Malcolm Bath in his book, The Last Narco, which is a fantastic book on the Narco Wars,

says it's not true, and the family lawyer also says he's denied it as well. So, anyway, Carol Payon, he meets Benjamin and takes him under his wing, seeing some promise in the young smuggler. And in 1975, he convinces Benjamin to move to Tijuana with him, to move into smuggling drugs. In 1980, Felix Gallardo forms the infamous Guadalajara cartel, which despite its name is a national cartel,

a federation, and it unifies all the different independent Sinelhoan traffickers under one branch and basically forms one unified Mexican organization minus the Gulf cartel to traffic drugs. Carapayan becomes the Tijuana boss for the Guadalajara cartel. At this time, the focus is really majorly on weed, maybe a little opium,

But of course, things are really about to change. And as soon as Benjamin sets up shopping Tijuana, a few of his brothers start to trickle in there as well to help out the family business. Did you do a Spanish lesson or saying this week? Because your pronunciation is. Absolutely. You're nail it, man.

You know, every now and then there's like one word I can actually pronounce well. And that might be it. I'm sure I'll butcher. And that is Tijuana. Yeah, Tijuana. I'm sure I'm butchering Piaan or the other names will not be that well.

But I appreciate your vote of common. It always helps, you know, the self-esteem and whatnot. Just a little bit about Tijuana. Now, see, I'm going to overdo it, which I'm sure you guys have heard of. Tijuana is a big old city in Mexico right on the border with San Diego. It's founded in the late 9th century and for decades after its founding. It's basically just a few hundred farmers and fishermen. But then prohibition starts in 1920, and Tijuana turns into a boom town like so many other Mexican

border towns in that period. Not just for smuggling alcohol, but also as a kind of sin. city for Americans, bars, brothels, nightclubs, casinos, and racetracks all pop up, and all the gringoes pop over for a good time, anybody from soldiers to Hollywood stars to American mafiosos, living it up for some R&R. It also becomes a place where migrants coming from as far south as Argentina, it's their last stop before coming into the States. So even before the drugs come into play, really, it becomes something of a hub and the population booms from a few hundred before prohibition, to 600,000 by 1990.

As far as of 2023, its population is 2.3 million. So still growing and expanding. And of course, it still has the reputation of a Sin City of sorts, you know, for bachelor parties, American teenagers going down there. I think, Sean, you've spent a couple nights in jail over there throughout the years, right? Like, what, do you care to chime in on what you've been getting up to over there? Yeah, yeah. Let me just check my phone one minute.

I got pre-prepared something. I think all I'm allowed to say is. that I was treated very well by the authorities, and I think that the Mexican government is doing a great job cleaning up crime on the streets of Tijuana, and let's just leave it there. Yeah, you still have a career to maintain, so we're not really going to dive into details. But if you Google some articles in Spanish,

there are some things you can find. What did they call the El Gringo Madman? What was your nickname? Let's not get into that too much, but you know, you're not a million miles off. That's true. All right. So back to the 1980s. man. The good times do not last because the Guadalajara cartel offs DEA agent Kiki Kamerena

after he helps take down one of the massive weed plantations that was rumored to be worth, I think, about a billion dollars in 1985. We've covered this a ton, not going to go too far in depth here. The U.S. government obviously goes ballistic in response to the murder, and the first domino falls when Rafael Carrickontero is arrested in 1985. Another domino falls when Javier Caro Payan, the guy the Fila Arianna, Felix brothers are working with, he's arrested in Canada in 1987. Says the LA Times, quote, Francisco Javier Carapayan 29 is charged with running a drug ring that bribed American and Canadian border inspectors and shipped more than 100 tons of marijuana

into the United States from Mexico and collected more than 25 million in profits in one seventh month period alone. The article goes on to say that he was lured to Canada by undercover agents to conduct a big drug deal, but I've got other sources that say he was just kind of hiding out there. But that was a big thing I feel like in the 70s and 80s, still kind of now where they try to lure these guys into the States for like a promised big deal and then bag him up here. Felix Gallardo, the boss of bosses at this point.

He goes on like the semi-run, right? Two of his top guys get arrested. While he's on the run, sometime between 1987 and 1989, he convenes a meeting of the top Sinolaan traffickers in the country at a house in Acapulco. Yeah, I feel like I could say this with half the words in this script, but you did a great show on Acapulco. couple years back right i think that did really well yeah yeah because it got i had gone to actually gone down the for spring break in the 2000s uh which is right before it started this

projection this whole this whole story well this like momentous uh decline and then i was there in 2018 i think for pbs news hour on the cartel wars that were going on after there and akapoko you know was the jewel of of of the pacific coast for a long time it was like this you know Alcapulco Bay. Who's Snotra? Fly me to the moon? Tony Bennett. Was it?

Oh my God. No, the guy with Barry Manalo? Not Barry Manolo. Is that Barry Manil? No, Snatra, dude. Barry Manelow. But yeah, it was this jewel. It started a decline.

I feel like in the 90s and the 2000s. It was at one point, I think, one of the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous cities in Mexico. There was a war there. I think the Beltron, Lava brothers, fought Sinoloa over it. And then it just had this decline throughout the 2010s, super dangerous in late 2010s because it wasn't under one control. There were a bunch of smaller gangs fighting for control there.

So I went down there for a news hour and did a piece there. But yeah, it's still a cool city. But it's the four tops. I was thinking of that song by the four tops, Loco Dan in Acapulco. I don't know that song. Oh my God. Go in loco. You know that one?

Do you not know that one? It's like at every wedding. Please keep singing, I was growing up. I shall not, no. I'm going to have to do some karaoke when you're here. Where was I? Right.

Okay. Meeting in Acapulco. Then he decides, there, in Acapulco, he decides to divvy up territories and responsibilities to various people. You got the Ariano Felix brothers. They get Tijuana and form the Tijuana cartel. The Carrillo Fuentes family,

led by Amato, aka the Lord of the Skies, gets Juarez and forms the Juarez cartel. And finally, the area of Sinolaoa, goes to El Chapo and Amayo, and they go on to bring back Hector Palma, who had fallen out of favor with Gallardo to form the Sinaloa cartel. Gallardo then tries to keep a low profile

with continuing to oversee the different groups that gets arrested in 1989. He tries to run the organization from prison for a little bit with a phone, but eventually is transferred to maximum security and is out of the picture. So the deal Gallardo works out with all the cartels before you fades is simple.

You do your own thing in your territory, but if you want to use someone else's territory, also known as a plaza, you've got to pay them a tax to move stuff through. For the Ariano Felix Brothers and the Tijuana cartel, this is great because Tijuana is right across from San Diego. It's already a major hub for all types of commerce moving across, tons of trucks,

so it's smuggler's life on Easy Street. And it also works out fine for the Juarez cartel because Juarez is right across from El Paso. Sinolaoa, of course, is nowhere near the border. So it's not the best thing for them. More on that later, they're going to have to pay taxes, and they do not like to be taxed. The whole deal works out well for a time.

These guys are all doing deals with each other. They're keeping it buddy, buddy. The money is flowing. They all either know each other from way back in the Sunalowan days or at minimum. They know each other from working together under Gallardo in the Guadalajara cartel. They got so close, El Mio, one of the Sinola bosses, names Benjamin Ariano Felix as one of his kid's godfathers when he's born in 1990. Now, back in Tijuana

to get a handle on things, the Ariano Felix looked to make their presence known and reassert their power. The murder rate skyrockets. This is when Tijuana really gets that violence and bloody reputation.

Independent traffickers who aren't paying their taxes are killed. Even police and judges, anyone who doesn't go along with the new plaza bosses. They also start mingling with Tijuana's high society,

political elites, the rich, and the celebrities, they are a capitalist guys. It's pretty different from Mayo and Chappos end, the Sinoloan cowboys, who are basically kind of like bros. I mean, Narcos has a great depiction of them. They're just like, they're kind of like Mexican good old boys, you know, just like pranksters.

They follow the sort of Sean Williams School of Narcoa leader. They start building infrastructure, churches, hospitals, doling out cash to the dirt, poor Sinaloans. Sean, if there was a famous character, who would you compare them to? It's on the tip of my tongue. I can't, I can't think of it. Is it like something about Britain? I don't know.

I don't know. We'd just move on. You know, dude. He's a fox in the cartoons. Yeah, yeah. Robin Hood. Robin Hood. He's a fox.

He's a fox. That's the main thing I remember he's a fox. That great movie. He is the Robin Hood of, oh, they are the prototypical Robin Hood drug cartel guys or gangsters. They also, surprisingly hear this now considering what transpires over the next 30 years. They try to keep things common, Sinolaa and keep the violence down, which, you know, they still kill a lot of people, but they're not as blood. he has a lot of the others. But yeah, I think they do away with making an effort on that part down the road. The Ariano Felix family does not even bother. They spread violence when they

re-sure control. They spread violence when they have control. And this is like Tijuana in its heyday as like murder capital of Mexico. They also do not care about the poor, kind of because they were like never really poor. And they recruit from the kids of Tijuana's elite, the rich kids to join the cartel. If I remember right in Narcos Mexico, which I've been rewold, watching and, you know, dramatizes this, but keeps it most, pretty, pretty, pretty true to reality, but not, not 100%. Bad Bunny plays the role of a rich kid later dubbed Narcos Juniors. Oh, sounds like the foreign desk at New York Times, but with guns, so slightly less nausea. This got taken shots.

Here we go. Yeah. But yeah, the, uh, the RL. Wait to meet the other there in a couple weeks. Literally meeting with them right now as we speak. But yeah. listen to my podcast. That's how do they get their ideas. But yeah, the Ariano Felix brothers, they're all about these guys. They're going out and about the nightclubs,

it's boxing matches. They're really living it up in Tijuana society. By the way, I think there's a misconception a lot of people have of Tijuana, you know, that it's like this really dirt, poor city of donkeys painted like zebras and cheap brothels. But there is money there, right?

A lot of money. It's got beautiful neighborhoods. There's fancy stuff there. It's a big city, a prosperous city. So the brothers, they also mix it up with the children of Mexico's political elite, the offspring of the top-level corrupt officials of the PRI, aka the institutional revolutionary party. Mexico is essentially a one-party country from 1920 to 2000,

and that was the party. And one of the kingmakers of that party is Carlos Hank Gonzalez, who is boys with the Ariano Felix Burroughs. Also a great quote from him, quote, a politician who is poor politician, which is just a great thing to say for an infamously corrupt politician. And also a Mexican politician

named Hank, which I hope is like a Hank Williams thing, but it's a pretty cool name in any case. I mean, I'm sure his first name was Henrique or something like that. That's a shame. But I mean, that's up there with like, you know, calling someone Mr. 10%.

I think there's another great quote. It might be a Louisiana guy. Maybe Virginia, Alabama, or Texas. Like, someone in the South, they were asking whether he was going to lose an election. And he said, the only way I lose is if I get caught with a dead girl or a live boy, which is like one of the all-time, one of the all-time

politician quotes right there. You know, you really feel bad for like Howard Dean when he got done for that screen, right? When people are going around saying stuff like this. I mean, the guy couldn't, I should have Googled it before this, but I like keeping the mystery, but that, what an incredible quote for a politician to give. Yeah. In Malcolm Bates, The Last Narco, which is a great source for this in all narco episodes. He quotes a senior Mexican law enforcement source who calls Hank Gonzalez, quote, the primary intermediary between the multinational drug trafficking enterprises

and the Mexican political system. So these are some high-level government officials that Tijuana boys have on the payroll. And of course, they're also bribing all the local politicians and police forces as well, as one does. As I was editing this episode, actually, I saw an article about Hank Gonzalez's son and grandson.

They've both recently been sanctioned by the U.S. as being suspected money launderers for the Maito faction of the Sinaloa cartel, so still kind of, keeping it all in the family, just doing the family business right there. So they bribe and they rule by fear and intimidation and just straight up murking whoever gets in their way in a noticeably more aggressive way than the other cartel guys at the time who, yes, killed a lot of people but aren't so gratuitous with the violence. Like Elmayo, we've talked about this before.

He kills for business in a cold calculating manner, whereas the Ariano Felix bros, they just kill, just because. And no one better represents this than Ramon Ariano Felix. What's up, guys? I want to tell you about something I've been using that is just like changing the game, blowing my mind. It's called Wave.C.O. And it's an app. It's changed my life and the way that we make the show. It is an AI note-taking app for interviews, podcasts, meetings, phone calls, any audio.

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That's Uncommodngoods.com slash underworld for 15% off, Uncommon Goods were all out of the ordinary. Un, C-O-M-M-O-N goods. He is 10 years younger than Benjamin, and is the cartels enforcer extraordinaire. Just a real piece of work. Many view him as the second in command, and a Mexican journalist once likened Benjamin to Michael and the godfather. the CEO cold calculating businessman, where Ramon is the more impulsive, hot-headed sunny,

but Ramon is no sunny, shout out to James Kahn. He is a complete psycho lunatic. And the book El Narco, which is written by a friend of the pod, Owen Grillo, also a great source for this and all other narco stuff. It actually refers to him as the pioneer of narco terrorism. So, you know, we've seen it a million times with the Zetas and with Halisco New Generation, but Owen contends that Ramon is actually the, originator of some of these narco-terror tactics, whether it was throwing someone into a barrel of

acid or leaving a body on the street in public with a statement not attached, his most preferred method of taking someone's life is actually barbecuing entire families while him and his goons party or on the fire pit with tequila and cocaine. So really like, like, you know, a nut job. Do we have to start saying like unaliving? Is that someone if they do, Sean? Like, do you, can you imagine we to do that in all this art-outel episodes replacing every incident in the, in the world? in the, that we say with on a while. I don't know, man. Maybe, maybe eventually we'll stop getting demonetized on YouTube.

Wait, this is a thing. People are saying unaliving. Oh, yeah, you do it. Everyone does it so they don't get demonetized, which we keep getting. I'm embracing old age. I don't, I can't be doing with this. No, I'm good. To quote a 2001 Thai magazine article on the brothers,

according to testimony from former associates, Ramon often rises in the morning announcing, I feel like killing somebody today. Yeah, I mean, you know, I do that too, but then I just internalize it all. I drink tons of coffee. I kind of get into peck spats with my family and then I do road rage, which is the correct way of getting that. Yeah, I think the difference between like me waking up and then you waking up and doing that is that Ramon follows through with it repeatedly, you know?

Yeah, what would Huberman say about the difference between me and him? He's a go-getter, dude. You're just, you know, not about that life. She's a never lose a salary man. And I know we, yeah, you're not, you're not in the, what's it called in the, in the, in the, in the, in the Coliseum, in the forum. What is there? Yeah. Well, I, I listen to an embarrassingly little amount of that, but what I do know, I love it, actually. Yeah, I need to rise and grind a lot more, not rise, rise and be mediocre. That could be our new T-shirt, actually. Oh, rising's the worst. I know we talk about how stuff gets exaggerated and lore and rumors and all that, but there's lots of articles and sources that that basically see. say the same thing. Ramone just would feel like killing someone and then him and his goons

would just go kill somebody. I mean, if you listen to our Amato Carrillo-Fentez or Amayo episode, his contemporaries, these guys did not act like this. Though there is a different account. There's an old front-line episode about the drug war when they're discussing the Tijuana cartel, and an independent trafficker says that the Tijuana cartel are actually quite amicable to work with as long as you pay the tax, and they'll even help you move the drugs as long as you pay. Granted, he also says that if they caught you trying to move drugs without their they would kill you in a second. So maybe it's not that differing, you know, in account.

It's the old, but he was nice to his mom thing that they deal with, with mafiosas. Yeah. So the Ariana Felix Burroughs, they're doing their thing, getting along somewhat with the other cartel bosses for the time being. But in early 1991, the brothers, El Chapo and Sinolaa cartel co-founder, Hector Palma, they start having issues with a trafficker who isn't paying taxes. And the thing is, when Miguel Onex Felix Gallardo, the founder of the founder of the super cartel, Guadalajara, goes to prison.

He breaks up the cartels into these smaller cartels, but he also designates a couple of traffickers that are able to freely move between the Sinolawa cartel and Tijuana cartel territory without paying them so they could kind of coordinate deals between everyone. But after a while, the cartels decide they've had enough of this arrangement, so they conduct one of these traffickers,

they take him out to a farm, and they put both his hands in the Thresher machine, essentially amputating them in the worst way possible. Do you think they asked him beforehand to calm it down, like they gave him a chance to pay the taxes. It kind of seems unfair if they didn't. Beforehand, is that an intentional pun? No, but I see that.

I see that now. Because they might not have, because even after that, the guy, or they might have, because he just doesn't listen. He has no hands, but he does have 12 bodyguards for protection driving around with him afterward. And the fellas deciding to send a message, so obviously they pick Ramon to kill him. Ramon gets a bunch of hitmen and waits for them on the road and then puts 600 bullets in the car.

So, yeah, these guys, you know, the other cartel guys are getting along. Jeez. Sinolawa and Ramon and the Ariano Felix with the occasional bickering. But, you know, they're killing people together, and that's really hard cartel guys. That's really how the boss is bond. This story, by the way, it comes from the book El Cartel Los Ariano Felix, La Mafia Mas Pororosa, and La Historia de America Latina, which translates into the cartel, the Ariano Felix family, the most powerful mafia in Latin American history by Jesus. Blancornelius. And remember that name?

How did I do? What do you think? What are you there? I'm giving you a solidite out of ten there. I understand Spanish. I just can't. I just can't pronounce words any language. Remember the name Jesus Blancornelius.

You remember that name. Yeah. Because he's going to be in the episode later on in an absolutely insane story. The honeymoon with these guys, though, in Neverlast. Does it, Sean? Was that just an underhand comment? on my failed marriage, Danny. No, no, no, no, no, dude.

You're doing great. Well, you're doing great. I'm doing great. Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, what happens in Oklahoma... No one expects anything that happens in Oklahoma to last or be good, you know? Like, that wasn't your fault. You knew nothing.

Screw that place. By the summer of 1999, Tijuana is starting to have more issues with Sinaloa, specifically El Chapo and Hector Pama, not so much with O'Mayo. As we've detailed many times previously, the Sinaloa cartel isn't like the other cartels with a top-down structure. You know, Amato at the head of Juarez or the Ariano Felix at the head of Tijuana Cartel. In Sinaloa, there are multiple allied organizations

that often work together, pool resources and corrupt politicians and agree on an overall strategy, but there's still their own independent operations with their own people. That's why the Tijuana cartel can get into it with Hector Palma and Chappo and not get into it with Mayo,

which is weird, because I feel like if I was in something with my two bros and an outsider was class with them, like I'd be on their side. You know? I mean, maybe that's just me, though. I'm built different, you know, Sean? This kerfuffle starts because the Sinaloa cartel doesn't have any border territory like the other three cartels, Juarez, Gulf, and Tijuana, and they want to move stuff through Tijuana now

without paying the Tijuana tax. This is around when and why El Chappo actually starts using the tunnels he later became famous for. So Chapa and the Ariano Felix brothers, they start having problems. Even though in Annabelle Hernandez's book, Narco Land, she quotes Chappo is saying he used to be friends with the Ariano Felix brothers. Again, these guys were all boys or relatives. Some sources say is isn't even the tax that causes the tension. It's when the brothers actually kill a close friend of Chapo and Palmas,

and that sets them off. And I think that's how the show Narcos paints it, although there is a dispute over the tunnels in that too. But likely, it was over drug trafficking routes and taxes. El Mio, always the diplomat of the bunch. He brokers a meeting at his house in Kulia Khan between Benjamin and El Chapo to try to work out their issues. and we know all this from a top Tijuana lieutenant who turns FBI informed.

Benjamin is apparently conciliatory at the meeting, saying they want mediation, they don't want to do anything untowards the Chappos people. But shortly after the first meeting, 30 Tijuana cartel members get arrested, and the Ariano Felix brothers think it has something to do with a dirty federally operating in Tijuana that is connected to Chapo. So now, the Ariano Felix Brothers call for a second meeting at Almayo's house with Chapo, but this time, Ramon's going to be there and he's planning on killing Chapo.

So Ramon flies down to Kulia Khan, the capital of Sinola with an associate. But the story goes that the associate, he's so nervous. He freaks out. He gets paranoid and he physically delays Ramon so that they miss the meeting. It doesn't take place. And then Ramon returns back to Tijuana, and he tells Benjamin, don't worry, he'll find a way one way or another to kill Chappo later on. Then in early 1992, the Tijuana cartel discovers one of Chappo.

Chappos' elaborate tunnels in their territory and kills six of his men in Tijuana. Shortly after that, a bomb goes off outside one of Chappo's houses in Kulia Khan. Then the Tijuana cartel puts out the word that taxes in their territory are going up to all the other traffickers, really putting the screws on Chapa and Sinaloa. And then their shipments start getting seized all over the states, and Tijuana starts to seem like it's getting a lot less friendly from there. In their eyes, it's Chappo pulling the strings with his contacts and making their lives and their business difficult.

So once again, a meeting is planned this time in Mexico City between Benjamin, another top Tijuana cartel leader, El Mio and Al Chappo, to bury the hatch at once and for all. This time, though, apparently Chappo is planning to kill Benjamin and the other Tijuana leader, and they find out.

So they don't end up going to Mexico City after all. And it's kind of like the road run over here, like Looney Tunes, right? These guys, they're zany hijinks and planning meetings and trying to kill each other. And that's when we get the cold open, And the clowns. Send in the clowns, Sean.

Send in the clowns. I would actually like that able to play the music at this point because it's a, that is a stone cold bang of that song. Which song? Send in the clowns. I don't know if you can do it. Stephen Sondheim, man, in a little night music. We might get dinged on the, on the eye.

I thought you meant the, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. Is that called the entertainer, I think. When they send in the actual clowns in like a circus, you know? Yeah, that's, I think that's called the entertainer. And that's by some French person. So that's probably what I've deleted it from my memory. But yeah, the Sondheim one. Stone Cold.

Awesome. Maybe Dale can do, he's a musician. He could just make his own version. We could rip a rip. Yeah, Dale, just make your own version of it today. In response to the hit at that party, the Ariano Felix brothers, they turn to their American gangbanger friend, David Baron Corona, who we said recruits 30 of his friends.

I think they're from Logan Heights, San Diego. One of the gangbangers would later write, like a really terrible. book. But in it, he details that their schedule, they've got five days on, two days off, like a regular job. I think they pay is 500 bucks a day with large irregular bonuses for successful missions and businesses. For example, if they kill Chapo, each one gets a million dollars and a ranch to boot. It also creates an interesting mix of the Sicarios and soldiers for the Tijuana cartel, right? Because you've got regular Mexican dudes coming up in the game. You've got the narco juniors, the board rich kids of the Tijuana elite. And you've got these poor gangbangers from the

States all working together, which, um... Yeah, I mean, this is, this is basically a sales company, right? That's, that's exactly how it works. Yeah, I mean, they must, uh, there must have been some, some cultural foibles that they all mixed up and got into, but I bet it fostered a lot of understanding. Uh, for the next six months, El Chapo and the Ariana Felix brothers are just hunting each other and their own imposing men down. Well, Amayo still remains in the shadows.

Then in May of 1993, after spending a few days hunting for Chapo and Guadalajara, uh, Before giving up, a couple of Ariana Felix brothers and a team of hitmen are heading to the airport to go back to Tijuana, while at the airport, they get word that El Chapo is actually there, like right at the airport as well. There's an infamous crazy shootout, more like a running gun battle in the parking lot, and the Tijuana cartel, thinking they know El Chapo's car, shoot up a white mercury. But in the white mercury, it isn't El Chapo, but a cardinal, the Archbishop of Guadalajara, and he's hit 14 times. And this obviously is a big deal. The Ariano Felix brothers have a secret meeting with the higher-ups in the Mexican Catholic Church to try to smooth things over.

But it's unclear of this actually does anything. They also send $10 million to the Mexican version of the Attorney General and have two of their men turn themselves and then try to buy them sometime. David Baron Corona, the California gangster, flee south to a different part of Mexico, while his men return back to California. Benjamin similarly goes deeper into Mexico to parts unknown. Ramon and another brother go to Santa Monica. Everyone kind of disperses into the wind. What? I just don't get what this guy says to the Catholic prelates to try and calm tensions.

Like what can they offer? What can they even say? Sorry, that's it, right? $10 million. I mean, actually, that's the cheat code because you've got to forgive them. So that's all they can say, right? Confession in $10 million, dude. Maybe.

I don't know. I don't think it works. Probably some other stuff. Sometime in 1993, the eldest brother of the Iron & Felix family, walks down legendary boxer Julio Cesar Chavez into the ring during a fight. If you don't know, he's one of Mexico's most famous ever boxers, and boxing is huge down there. So that is a big deal. Probably should try to have had someone walk out Canello last time he fought.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have lost all the goddamn money on that fight. Anyway, a side note. That was a great fight. Canel has looked better. Sign out, though, I think his son, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., just this summer got deported from the U.S. and arrested in Mexico for involvement with the Sinaloa cartel on crimes related to arms trafficking, probably sending guns down there. I don't know what's going on that case, but definitely, I think he was arrested. I'm not sure what exactly happened. By this point,

the Ariana Felix family clan, their name is starting to pop up on the U.S. radar, which is never a good thing, especially some of those, after some of those California gangbangers, they go back to Cali. They're caught by the police and interrogated, and they give up a lot of info. They give everyone new insight into the Tijuana cartel. By 1995, the DA forms a Tijuana task force to focus solely on the Ariano Felix brothers and their organization. But like I said, they're kind of dispersed with all the attention after the Cardinal killing. So things in Tijuana are getting sloppy and with the organization. Ramon sends its Sicario to San Diego to kill the sisters of a woman he had been seeing because she had threatened to call the police.

But the sisters survived and they talk to the feds. In another incident, the Tijuana cartel gets their hands on some high-grade explosives and plan to use it to blow up a building Guadalajara to take out some Machapo's guys, but they pull a wily coyote, they blow themselves up instead after it goes off prematurely. Not a Looney Tunes reference this episode. Yeah.

A similar screwy explosion occurs in 1996 when they land the trafficking plane in the desert, but screw up the construction of the airstrip and the plane gets stuck and starts to sink. So they unload the product and try to blow up the plane to sort of destroy the evidence, but again, they screw it up. A couple of people actually die,

Then they try to bury it. They screw that up, and the Mexican military finds it. All of these incidents, you know, they're showing weakness, poor planning, just all the thing a cartel in power wants to avoid. Remember earlier how I referenced the journalist named Jesus Blancornelius and his book on the Tijuana Cartel? Back in 1980, he founds the weekly news magazine called Zeta, which nothing to do with the Zetas cartel. And that magazine is the first to focus solely on the Mexican underworld and is based in Tijuana. He produces endless pieces on the Ariana Felix Brothers and becomes the go-to journalist for anything related to the Tijuana cartel. By 1997, two of his co-founders have already been killed, and he's the last man standing, and he does not slow down.

That year he publishes a letter from the mother of one of Ramon's victims in the magazine addressing Ramon. This enrages Ramon, who sends David Barron and a hit team to take him out. The hit team ambushes him, and his bodyguard, and spray their car with bullets. The bodyguard's killed, but Blanc Cornelius takes four shots and he's still breathing. When David Barron approaches him for the kill shot, he fires a shot, it misses, it hits the concrete, and it ricochets to hit Barron in the eye, killing him instantly. The rest of the Sicario's shocked, maybe realizing the hand of God is not with them. They flee, and Jesus Blancornelius survives. Wow.

That is a genuinely incredible moment. I mean, I'm real. I'm like 90% believe it. You know, it sounds pretty insane now. Yeah. But yeah, yeah, pretty nuts. Exema is unpredictable. But you can flare less with ebbglis.

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See website for full details, restrictions, and important safety information. Shortly after that incident, Ramones actually filmed on a segment of the David Lettermanor show, which, for my money, best late night talk show host of all time, not even close, maybe like early Conan comes a little close,

but David Lederman was the king. So they're doing this like man on the street segment, which meant a lot more before like every jerk off with an Instagram account infested our streets like a play of cockroaches. And Ramon, he's nearby rocking a Michael Jordan jersey. And the guy asked in the questions, he tries to mess with him and he yells,

hey, everybody, look, it's Michael Jordan, which, you know, he's like an overweight Mexican guy with a mullet. You don't really kind of whatever. Not the best joke, but, you know, can't win them all. Ramon just kind of mumbles something in Spanish and tries to shroom away. I think the clip, it's actually on YouTube, if you search for it, but it is pretty wild. Right? This is in the midst of him being one of the most dangerous men in Mexico.

Speaking of which, around that time, Cairo Payan, who we spoke about earlier, he was the guy who took Benjamin under his wing when he was a smuggler, and former boss of the Tijuana cartel when it's first formed, he gets out of prison and goes back to Tijuana. And he asks the brothers if he can get back in the game, Ramon promptly has him killed, which I mean, like, come on, man.

Like, why? Why do they have to be so mean and dramatic about everything? You know, let this guy live. Give him, like, a little junior, like, assignment, you know? Yeah, yeah. It's just mean. By 1997, Ramon lands himself on the FBI top-town list. Remember, he's actually been in the States,

but as soon as that happens, he heads back to Mexico, and the brothers, kind of thinking the heat from the Cardinal shooting has died down, they sort of reassembling Tijuana. They're reclaiming their control and eager to start making expansion moves. They're hardcore eyeing the Juarez cartels territory now that the founder, Amato Carrillo Fuentes,

who he recently did an episode on, dies in a botched facelift when he is trying to flee Mexico. Juarez is prime location wide open, and they want to move on it before Sinaloa or the Gulf can get to it. If Tijuana can seize it, they then control a massive sway through the border. Like, I think like two-thirds it, basically, if you're on that level. Elsewhere in Mexico, another narco summit is held with a whole bunch of nationwide traffickers,

but the Ariano Felix brothers are not invited. And that's because they are on the agenda. They actually pretty much are the agenda. Tijuana's gotten super violent again, and it's just creating too much noise for everyone. It is bad for business. And they're encroaching on the Juarez territory, which O'Mayo, one of the leaders of Sinola, wants to put a stop to. He's very close with Amato Carrillo Fuentes brothers,

his brothers who have taken over in Juarez. And on top of that, Mayo is in a personal dispute with Ramon over an alleged $20 million Rimon claims he's owed. So Mayo, this acts the former alliance with the Juarez cartel to start going after the brothers. And he starts by ordering a series

of high-profile assassinations, including the murder of the Tijuana Police Chief, who was on the take, obviously, and so enters a new phase of the brewing war between in Sinolawa and Tijuana. And this time, El Mio, who kind of sat out the last war between Chapo and the brothers, is leading the chars as Chappo is still locked up.

And then in 2000, Benjamin gets designated under the USA Campaign Act, which is never a good sign. To add to their issues, Chapo escapes prison shortly after, and he's always had it out for them, and now him and Mayo can team up. In February 2002, Ramon gets information that El Mio was going to be in a resort town in Sinolawa. He heads down there with some Sicario's to take him out, which is a bold move, since that's, you know,

the Sinolo is the stronghold. Some would say foolish. And what happens is he's pulled over by the local Mexican police who are all on Amayo's payroll, and they get into a shootout with them and he's killed. And it's just a real bonehead move. I'm so glad this guy's dead. It's a terrible person.

Not very nice at all. Like, uh, the portrayal in, um, in Arco's just like kind of, he's just like such a weirdo psychopath. It's a very funny portrayal. Yeah. A DEA format later says that Ramon was actually lured down there by Elmayo. Whereas others say was just a random occurrence and Ramon did what Ramon does because, you know, he's crazy. It is a huge blow to Juana.

Roman is basically the number two in the brother's hierarchy and the chief enforcer. And not only that, but at this point, he is viewed as one of the most feared killers in all of the Mexican underworld. And everyone is scared of him and like drawing his wrath. A few months after Ramon is killed, Benjamin, the number one, he's arrested in the suburbs of Mexico City, which deals a massive blow to the Tijuana cartel. He's replaced by a guy named Javier Ariano Felix. He's the youngest brother at the age of 32. He actually never wants anything to do

or never wanted anything to do with the family business and had gone to business school. But now with his brothers in the family business taking kid after hit, he's called back to Tijuana and into service. It's kind of like the Michael Corleone plot line as long as we're doing Godfather references. I'm actually pretty impressed.

We haven't had a Sopranos one in like forever. Are you going off the show? I actually just binge watch like nine episodes of season two on a hungover Sunday. Let me tell you. Wow. How many times have you seen it through now? I've probably seen it like probably five times through all the way.

But I watch clips on YouTube like almost every day. My little brother's at the point where he can, if you just name a scene, he can basically do the lines from it. Like it's just, uh, if you're ever bored and want to find the actually only good place on the internet. The Sopranos Reddit board is just like Someone will like go in there and like make a comment about the show That's like really thoughtful about like something that happens And then it's just like 400 commenters Like doing lines from the Sopranos to make them relevant to to the conversation

Just non-stop it's incredible It's the best place on the internet That's good Yeah I mean I'm kind of going off the internet Because I just read that Harper's piece I'm gooning And now I know what gooning is And then I went on the Reddit for that And now I want to kill myself

I saw people talking about that piece, I don't feel the need to read it, but we should all get off here. It's good, but don't. It's too sad. I don't need that. Anyway, Javier, the youngest brother, he's sharp. He seems to really have a knack for it, right? He starts off strong, but the DEA is probing a new top-level informant at the time who just happens to be Chapo's lawyer, who starts to cooperate allegedly because he has an old trafficking charge hanging over him. But the thing is, he hasn't even been arrested or charged, I think, in the States. In fact, he's still in Mexico. It's just Chapo and Mayo have this brilliant idea,

they're going to start feeding information to the DA about the enemies of the Sinolaoacartel. And no one is a bigger enemy at that point than Tijuana and the Ariano Felix's. The DA officials meet with the lawyer in restaurants of Mexico City in Tijuana, says the Atlantic, quote, even more unusual, he came with the blessing of his boss.

I met with my compadre, he might say, meaning Guzman. He sends his regards. The DA obviously knows what's up, like they're not idiots, but the information is gold, right? it's going to help them take these guys down. So they help the Emmexian authorities start bagging some top Tijuana lieutenants

and clue in a number of police that actually are being targeted by the Tijuana Sicario's, and they in effect save their lives. And this lawyer, he loves cooperating so much that even after the DA drops the charges against them, I guess they had charged him. He still continues to give them information. Allegedly, Chappo himself had sent word that he wants to cooperate, but they pass on that. The DA eventually learns through a whole host of informants that Javier,

Javier is going to be on a deep sea fishing trip in 2006. They track his boat, and when he's in international waters, they swoop down and raided arresting him. Javier's arrest is kind of like the death blow to the one's fear Tijuana cartel. It's already been severely weekend, but now it's the shell of its former self. And a different no-name brother takes over, but he's arrested within two years. After that arrest in 2008, there's a split in the organization into two factions. One's led by a former lieutenant and one's led by Fernando Sanchez. as Ariano, who is from the next generation of the clan.

It's actually hard to tell whose son he is. I can't pinpoint which one as five different sources, say five different siblings. But joining him atop the cartel is Anadena, who is the sister of Benjamin, Ramon, and the brothers. And if you watch Narcos again, she actually is a central plot line. She's always been involved in the money laundering operations, but she takes a bigger role in cartel business when Benjamin gets arrested, and now with the last brother getting arrested in 2008, she steps up even bigger.

She's said to be like strictly business, much different than her brothers, not a fan of psychotic violence, actually looking to make alliances. So when this rogue lieutenant starts getting backing from the Sinaloa cartel, and Edina forms an alliance with the Belcher and Lava brothers. Again, we've talked about them before. They're a powerful faction in the Sinaloa cartel who end up breaking away from them and then battling El Bishapo and El Mio. So Nadeena, she teams up with them and it seems that paid off when in 2010 the rogue lieutenant gets arrested, leaving her faction. in total control of the Tijuana cartel. Granted, it's in a much weaker state, no more a national cartel,

but still doing business. There is still one brother left remaining that is out of jail. He's the oldest, the one that walked out the boxer Julio Cesar Chavez to the ring got arrested after the Cardinal killing. He's out of prison, though,

and at this point, but it's never really been a big player in the cartel. Nevertheless, in 2013, he's killed by an assassin dressed up as a clown. They seem to love that. You know, like a birthday clown with the red nose and everything.

and he gets killed by a clown at his birthday party in Cabo, which is a brutal way to go out, or is it kind of an awesome way to go out? The last thing you see is a clown. I'm not sure. Yeah. It's bad. Fernando, the second generation leader, he gets arrested in 2014,

leaving Enidina as the sole top dog in the Tijuana cartel, which is the first woman leading of a major modern Mexican drug cartel. You know, the mid-2010s, it was a very progressive era. You had female cartel bosses. Sean was going by they, them. It was just a wild time out there. It was Zay-Zem, actually. And I had a walking stick and pink hair.

Actually, this is the kind of chat that would get us tons more listeners. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Actually, we mentioned it at Dina on a show we did with Deborah Bonello, who wrote the book Narcas a few years ago. I think even when I was living in Berlin, it was a while ago. But a really fascinating show on a lot of female narcos in the world. Yeah, what did they say? Do you remember anything that came across about her?

Give me about an hour and 10 minutes, Denny, I'll just go back and figure that all out for you. Well, what we know about Anadena is that she had long-time contacts with the Colombian cartels. Not only that, but also a ton of connections still with the political and business elite of Tijuana, despite all the drama her brothers had brought. Remember, she handles the money aspects, right? So she's often intertwined with all of them. Many of them were in on it in one way or another, laundering, financing, donations, going in on businesses together.

At their peak, Tijuana was bringing in like billions of dollars a year. And the sophisticated money laundering investigations, they weren't quite there yet, as we learned from the Inside the Cartel, Mandy Suarez episode with Ian Frisch. And of course, the Ariano Felix's own a ton of businesses and properties around Tijuana. In 2016, the organization rebrands as Cartel Tijuana Nueva Generation, and aligns itself with the Halisco New Generation Cartel and the Belgian Lave Organization to create an anti-Sahua,

and a low allowance, but it does not last long. Things have kind of been quiet on that front for a while now. I think the Tijuana cartel is a small kind of local faction. Tijuana, it's the south. The city isn't controlled by one cartel anymore. A lot of them have a presence there. So, and Adina, I think, is still around, still said to be playing a role in a much smaller version of the Tijuana cartel.

And somewhat there, but you don't really see them in the news that much. At least I wasn't able to find much. And that's the story of the Tijuana Cartel and the Ariano Felix brothers. and sister. Yeah, another lovely tale of psychopaths, mass murderers and state corruption, which we love to see. I just want to do a quick shout before we go to my pal Greg Brown, who's actually running seven marathons in seven days from Men's Mental Health Charity here

in Enzad. I did 10 miles with him this morning just before we recorded the show. And I worked out that that is 1 18th of what he is doing, which is insane. I'm going to put a link to his fundraising page if anyone can slim a couple of bucks because he's a cool guy. But, yeah, seven marathens, seven days. Yeah, why? I guess there's money.

That's the why. I had, I think, a couple of corrections. One was that a couple people wrote in after our episode on the state line mob that I think Southern cops, like state line jurisdiction was pretty much taken seriously back then, is what they were telling me. So that's interesting. Like, it was between two borders. Apparently, it was very serious.

I think our homie Rex, who we've hung out with the New York, who's a lawyer too. said about that question that it would be where the person got hit would be the jurisdiction if like you're on one side and you throw a pine at someone in the other side. That's interesting. Someone corrected me on like juke joot. A juke joint did not mean that it had just had a jukebox. There was like a different, um, a different name for it. I feel like that was an email that we got.

Uh, but we definitely want to correct the record on that. But yeah, it was cool. Anyway, Patreon.com, Sessnerworld podcast. What else did I say? Yeah, $5 a month. You actually get an ad-free $3 a month here. So definitely sign up for that.

And thank you guys again for joining us. We really appreciate all the love and support. Yeah, cheers. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile, the message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop. With Mint, you can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments, but that's weird.

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