Osiel Cárdenas Guillén is the former leader of the Gulf Cartel (Cartel del Golfo – CDG).
At the height of his power, he was one of Mexico’s most powerful crime bosses. Cárdenas created the Zetas, which he used as an armed wing before the group outgrew its master and went its own way, ushering in an arms race and new levels of brutal violence never before seen in Mexico’s crime wars.
His power and willingness to directly confront authorities would put him on the map of law enforcement both in Mexico and the United States.
Cárdenas was arrested in 2003 by the Mexican army and extradited to the United States in 2007. In 2010, after he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges, US authorities sentenced him to 25 years in prison. He was released on August 30, 2024.
History
Osiel Cárdenas Guillén is a native of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, on Mexico’s border with the United States. His criminal career reportedly began when he started dealing cocaine while working as a car mechanic.
A pivotal moment in his criminal career came in January 1996, when former CDG leader Juan García Abrego was arrested and extradited to the United States.
Following García’s arrest, several attempts to take control of the CDG failed, including that of Humberto García Ábrego, Juan’s brother. Eventually, Cárdenas, together with Salvador Gómez Herrera, alias “El Chava,” took the reins.
The duo, who had developed networks among both Tamaulipas’ criminal underworld and its security forces, quickly set about expanding the organization’s influence. They began threatening local news outlets to prevent them from reporting on CDG activities.
They also began bolstering the organization’s military strength. The most significant step in this process was taken by Cárdenas. In early 1997, he began to create the Zetas, a force formed predominantly of deserters of an elite unit of the Mexican armed forces, which would become the armed wing of the CDG and provide Cárdenas the means to counter rival groups, including the Sinaloa Cartel, and aggressively expand the CDG’s control of territories and criminal markets. The creation of the Zetas would be a landmark moment in Mexico, ushering in a form of extreme and brutal violence never before seen in the country, and detonating an arms race would see crime groups battle with military-grade weaponry.
In 1999, one of the Zetas’ top original leaders, Arturo Guzmán Decena, alias “Z1,” shot dead Gómez Herrera, allegedly on the orders of Cárdenas. With the killing, Cárdenas gained complete control over the CDG, and earned himself the nickname “Mata Amigos,” or “Friend Killer.”
Cárdenas was aided by several close family members during his leadership of the group, including his nephew and both his brothers. One brother, Antonio Cárdenas Guillén, alias “Tony Tormenta,” (Tony Storm) shared Osiel’s violent temperament and would later lead the organization.
In 1999, Osiel and Antonio demonstrated their fearlessness and willingness to get their hands dirty. Firstly, in May, Osiel Cárdenas threatened to kill a US sheriff. Then, in November of that year, the brothers and several other CDG henchmen, stopped two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as they drove through Matamoros. The brothers threatened to kill the agents before eventually allowing them to leave.
In 2001, Osiel was sanctioned under the United States Kingpin Act, and a $2 million bounty was placed on his head.
Two years later, on March 14, 2003, Osiel was arrested in Matamoros following a gunfight with Mexico’s armed forces.
He was extradited to the United States in 2007. In 2010, at the age of 42, he was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment by the United States for crimes related to drug trafficking and money laundering.
Criminal Activities
During Osiel Cárdenas’ leadership, the CDG was responsible for trafficking tons of cocaine and marijuana across the US-Mexico border. According to the FBI, the group moved drugs over the border and to multiple areas of the United States, including Houston, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia. The FBI tied Osiel directly to 2 tons of cocaine trafficked across the border between July 2000 and September 2001. Ledgers found in Atlanta suggested the group earned $41 million during a three-and-a-half month period solely from the cocaine they were trafficking to that city.
The CDG was also involved in heroin and methamphetamine trafficking during Cárdenas’ leadership, and its corruption of security and political figures was methodical.
Geography
Osiel Cárdenas is a Matamoros native and grew up knowing criminal and political figures in the city and other parts of Tamaulipas. Due to its geographic position on the US-Mexico border, the city has long played a role in smuggling and trafficking illicit goods from Mexico into the United States.
Cárdenas maintained control over Tamaulipas with the help of various armed wings based in major cities. Aside from the Zetas, which roamed throughout Tamaulipas and other parts of Mexico, there were the Metros in Matamoros, the Rojos in Reynosa, and the Lobos in Nuevo Laredo. While these groups are no longer tied to their home cities, they remain active in Tamaulipas, fighting among themselves for control of territory and trafficking more modest amounts of drugs across the border.
Allies and Enemies
Many of the crime bosses Cárdenas fought during the peak of his power have been killed or arrested while he was in prison.
The Zetas, which turned against the CDG following Cárdenas’ extradition, have now crumbled and its leaders have been killed. Other former rivals, including Sinaloa Cartel leaders Joaquín Guzmán Loera, alias “El Chapo,” and Ismael Zambada García, alias “El Mayo,” have been arrested. El Chapo is serving a life sentence in the United States, while El Mayo is, as of August 2024, awaiting trial in the United States.
The same can be said about his friends and partners. His brother Tony Tormenta was killed in 2010 after a six-hour shootout with Mexican security forces, while Jorge Eduardo Costilla-Sanchez, alias “El Coss,” who worked with Cárdenas and was one of the leaders of the CDG following his arrest, was apprehended by Mexican authorities in 2012. With the capture of José Alfredo Cárdenas Martínez, alias “El Contador” (the Accountant), in February 2022, Osiel lost his last formal connection to the CDG. However, the Cárdenas family remains a powerful underworld force in Tamaulipas.
Prospects
Osiel Cárdenas was released from US prison on August 30, 2024. It is not clear whether he will remain in the United States or be removed to Mexico.
He no longer has any clear connection to the CDG, which has splintered into rival factions since Cárdenas’ sentencing. That said, the Cárdenas family remains influential in the Tamaulipas criminal landscape. Cárdenas’ experience could prove useful for one of those rival factions.
Cárdenas faces multiple criminal charges in his native Mexico, including some related to organized crime and drug trafficking.