DEA Map of Gulf Cartel operations

Once led by Juan Garcia Abrego, it is now believed to be under the leadership of Oscar Malherbe de Leon. The group mostly traffics in cocaine, but distributes all over the U.S. as far north as Michigan and New York.

Juan Garcia Abrego is currently serving eleven life sentences in a U.S. jail for his drug trafficking.

Humberto Garcia Abrego is Juan's brother and a suspected drug boss himself. He was arrested but inexplicably released hours after Clinton's certification of Mexico on February 28, 1997. (He had been arrested and released twice in recent years.)

Oscar Malherbe de Leon, the supposed heir to Juan Garcia Abrego, is believed to be both the operations manager and chief hit man for the cartel. He was arrested in Mexico on February 27th on charges of murder and drug trafficking. He is wanted in the U.S. as a co-defender in the Juan Garcia Abrego case. Both Mexican and U.S. authorities are hoping he will help with future investigations.

Juan Antonio Ortiz is a member of the Gulf cartel who worked for Juan Garcia Abrego. Ortiz testified in the March 1997 civil trial in Houston that he organized the transportation of 10 tons of cocaine over the Mexico-U.S. border over a period of several years. Ortiz testified that his organization had bribed officials at all levels of the Mexican government.

• The DEA considers the Gulf Cartel one of the largest in Mexico. Read the DEA background on this cartel.

• "Prosecutors Claim Brother of Ex-President had Ties with Garcia Abrego" Reforma May 22, 1996. This article cites documents revealing Raul Salinas had ties with Mexican drug lords, specifically, the Gulf Cartel, as early as 1987.