Gulf Cartel
Criminal group based in Tamaulipas
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| March 2023 | A Gulf Cartel splinter faction called the Scorpions Group, led by La Kena, publicly accepted responsibility for kidnapping four Americans, which resulted in two victims being killed. The group subsequently handed over the gunmen responsible to authorities and issued a public apology. |
| June 2020 | InSight Crime journalist Victoria Dittmar reported that the Gulf Cartel had undergone significant internal fragmentation, with Los Pelones emerging as an independent cartel during this period. Remnants of the Gulf Cartel continued to exist in Tamaulipas. |
| January 2020 | Jorge Costilla-Sanchez, a high-ranking U.S. Gulf Cartel member, pleaded guilty to an international drug trafficking conspiracy involving cocaine and marijuana distribution into the United States. |
| June 2019 | Carlos Abraham Ríos Suárez (El Oaxaco) was arrested while serving as the head of the cartel's operations in Oaxaca. |
| June 30 2019 | Mario Alberto Cárdenas Medina, son of Osiel's brother Mario, was arrested in the state of Mexico, along with a female companion identified as Miriam 'M'. He was accused of being responsible for recent violence in Tamaulipas. |
| 2018 | The Netflix series Narcos: Mexico begins portraying the Gulf Cartel's history from the late 1980s and early 1990s, with Jesús Ochoa playing Juan Nepomuceno Guerra and Flavio Medina portraying Juan García Ábrego. |
| 2018 | The Gulf Cartel is featured in the film Sicario: Day of Soldado, depicting a fictional scenario where the CIA frames the 'Matamoros Cartel' to instigate a conflict between rival cartels. |
| June 5 2016 | Fransico Javier Garcia Cabeza de Vaca was elected governor of Tamaulipas, breaking the 87-year PRI party control of the state. |
| November 10 2014 | Mexican government releases a document revealing potential alliance plans between Los Rojos faction of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas, involving Juan Reyes Mejía González and Rogelio González Pizaña. |
| August 18 2013 | Gulf Cartel leader Mario Ramirez Trevino was captured by authorities. |
| May 2013 | Aurelio Cano Flores (alias El Yankee), a former Mexican police officer, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for conspiring to import multi-ton quantities of marijuana and cocaine into the United States. He was the highest-ranking Gulf Cartel member convicted by a U.S. jury in 15 years. |
| September 2012 | Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez was arrested, ending his role as the sole head of the Gulf Cartel. |
| January 2012 | Omar Ortiz (El Gato), a former C.F. Monterrey soccer star, was arrested for working in a Gulf Cartel kidnapping ring. |
| January 30 2012 | The Attorney General of Mexico issued a communiqué ordering the past three governors of Tamaulipas and their families to remain in the country for investigation of potential cooperation with drug cartels. |
| December 2011 | Human trafficking in the Rio Grande Valley was considered 'ground zero' and the 'new Arizona' by Homeland Security Today. |
| November 12 2011 | Óscar Pérez Inguanzo, the municipal president of Tampico, was arrested for improper exercise of public functions and document forgery. |
| November 7 2011 | 1,660 policemen were released from their duties after failing control tests or refusing to take them, highlighting ongoing efforts to address police corruption. |
| September 2 2011 | Samuel Flores Borrego is killed, triggering intense infighting between the Rojos and Metros factions of the Gulf Cartel. This event leads to widespread firefights across Tamaulipas and theft of drug loads between the rival groups. |
| July 15 2011 | A confrontation inside a maximum security prison in Nuevo Laredo resulted in 7 inmates dead and 59 escaped. The 5 supervising guards were not found. |
| July 3 2011 | Jesús Enrique Rejón Aguilar, a Los Zetas boss, was caught and claimed the Gulf Cartel has easier access to arms in the United States. |
| June 2011 | Tamaulipas state government requested federal troops to combat drug cartels and strengthen local institutional capacity. |
| May 9 2011 | Mexican government and Sedena disarmed all police forces in Tamaulipas, starting with the cities of Matamoros and Reynosa, in response to widespread police corruption. |
| April 2011 | In Reynosa, Tamaulipas, 68 kidnapped victims from different parts of Mexico and Central America were found in a Gulf Cartel safe house. |
| 2010 | Cárdenas was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being charged with 22 federal charges in a closed courtroom in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Brownsville, Texas. |
| 2010 | The assassinated governor candidate Rodolfo Torre Cantú highlighted the extreme violence and political instability in Tamaulipas. |
| 2010 | Ezekiel was killed in a shooting with Mexican Marines in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, significantly impacting the Gulf Cartel's leadership structure. |
| December 17 2010 | About 141 inmates escaped from a federal prison in Nuevo Laredo, with initial estimates slightly higher before exact figures were determined. |
| November 2010 | Following Antonio Cárdenas Guillén's death, a spiral of violence erupted in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, and a turf war with Los Zetas began in Ciudad Mier, Tamaulipas, leading to the exodus of over 95% of the city's population. |
| November 5 2010 | Massive military operation in Matamoros, Tamaulipas involving over 660 marines, 17 vehicles, and 3 helicopters, resulting in the death of Antonio Cárdenas Guillén (Tony Tormenta). The eight-hour shootout began around 10:00 am and ended around 6:00 pm, with eight people killed, including three marines, one soldier, and four gunmen, including Cárdenas Guillén. |
| November 5 2010 | During the military operation, Los Escorpiones members Sergio Antonio Fuentes (El Tyson/Escorpión 1), Raúl Marmolejo Gómez (Escorpión 18), Hugo Lira (Escorpión 26), and Refugio Adalberto Vargas Cortés (Escorpión 42) were killed. |
| October 5 2010 | Gulf Cartel kills two Zeta members in Brownsville, Texas, extending their conflict to U.S. soil. |
| September 10 2010 | 85 inmates escaped from a prison in Reynosa, with initial reports differing from the final confirmed number of fugitives. |
| April 5 2010 | A convoy of 10 trucks filled with gunmen broke into a prison in Reynosa, liberating 13 inmates, 11 of whom were described as 'extremely dangerous'. |
| March 25 2010 | In Matamoros, 40 inmates escaped from a federal prison under mysterious circumstances, with authorities conducting an investigation. |
| February 2010 | Major cartels aligned into two main factions: one including the Juárez Cartel, Tijuana Cartel, Los Zetas, and Beltrán-Leyva Cartel; the other including the Gulf Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel, La Familia Cartel, and Knights Templar Cartel. |
| February 24 2010 | Hundreds of trucks marked with Gulf Cartel insignias begin hitting the streets of northern Tamaulipas, marking the start of a violent conflict with Los Zetas. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article Gulf Cartel, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.