Jacob Diaz

Shortly after the federation was formed, Mexican federal police made its move to arrest Ramon Arellano Felix, the second in command of the Tijuana cartel, during a visit to the Sinaloa resort town of Mazatlan.

While attempting to evade capture, he was gunned down by federales.

Less than a month later, Ramon's brother, Benjamin Arellano Felix, the leader of the Tijuana cartel, was arrested by the Mexican military.

Nearly one year later, in March 2003, Osiel Cardenas was captured in the city of Matamoros after a shootout between the Mexican military and Gulf cartel gunmen.

By supplying the DEA with actionable intelligence, Guzman had orchestrated the capture or killing of the Federation's principal rivals, crippling the leadership of the Gulf and Tijuana cartels without his men ever firing a shot.

Arturo Beltranleva, on the other hand, handled the Sinaloa Federation's military strategy, organizing powerful groups of assassins who knocked off dozens of lower-level operatives from rival cartels.

Then, in 2004, Arturo orchestrated the killing of Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes, the operational head of the Juarez cartel, by having him gunned down while shopping at an upscale mall in Coluican, Sinaloa.

Also, by 2005, Arturo had established a heavily armed, well-trained enforcement group called Los Negros, whom, under the leadership of Edgar Valdez Villarreal La Barbe, engaged the Gulf Cartel in territorial disputes in the cities of Nuevo Lorero and Reynosa.

While the Beltran Leyva faction fought the Zetas for control of the Gulf Cartel's plazas in northeastern Mexico,

The seeds of a much more different relationship were being planted between these groups.

Most of the time, says Diaz, Ole and I just hung out.

He comprehended some English, so we'd go to movies, watch TV, go out to eat.

According to Diaz, Ole saw him as a son or a younger brother.

He bought me clothes, gave me money.

When Diaz's foster care ran out, he moved into Ole's rental, a one-bedroom, one-bath.

It was in the middle of nowhere on a farm, Diaz laughs.

I slept on the futon, but it was better than the group home.

Along the Mexican-American border, agents were being recruited by the cartels.

Some were lured by money, others by sexual favors, and, in at least one instance, an ill-advised romance.

The city of Reynosa, located in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, lies across the Rio Grande from McAllen, Texas.