Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
Insider Shares How Sinaloa Became Mexico’s Biggest Cartel...
17 Nov 2025
Chapter 1: What led to the rise of the Sinaloa cartel?
By 2005, they're making $20 to $30 billion a year. And this is the cartel operating at its peak. They blow the doors off the vaults. People start running in and start stealing money. And so that creates the distraction necessary for their leaders to get away. The authorities were able to get a lead on Chapo Guzman. They had a tunnel underneath the bathtub.
So he's naked running through the tunnels. Today, my guest is... Right? Like that's how I should do it. So today my guest is Pierre Rossini, my buddy Pete. And Pete was charged in 1998 under the Federal Drug Kingpin Charge. Is that wrong? Statute. Statute. Does it matter? He was a Beverly Hills-based...
your face you're so disappointed come on listen so pizza buddy of mine he was charged as a king under the kingpin statute in 1998 and he has an extensive knowledge on the cartels and the underworld and we're going to get into um the the rest of the cartel story from we're roughly around the year 2005-7-8 ish early 2000s we're going to bring it all the way to current times
When people talk about the Sinaloa cartel, the images that they come to mind are essentially that stretch of period between mid-2003 and mid-2010, what we refer to generally as the Golden Era. And so by 2004, they had established themselves as the preeminent group. They had gone from being the weakest group to the most powerful in a span of about 15 years.
And by 2005, they're generating somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 billion a year. You got $2 to $3 billion a month coming to Los Angeles. It's a lot of pesos. No, they're American dollars. Oh, okay. Yes, so that's where you get the fields of cash just buried in Mexico because there's literally trailers filled with cash that they are scrambling to try to surface.
You know, Guadalajara quickly became the money laundering capital of the world. Los Angeles became the money laundering capital of the United States. In particular, the passports would have been enormous. The false identities would have been enormous. Maybe that would have allowed them to set up offshore trusts that were not tied to Americans. Yeah.
And so like in my case, I had Brazilian passports. But I wasn't utilizing it for... Like, I didn't have the knowledge that I have now that I... Then I was just duffel bags of cash. Now you're just... Now you're dangerous. They fucked up. So what else happened? What's going on? Where's Chapo?
Well, by 2004, okay, the Sinaloa Federation exercised control over an 800-mile stretch of the border, encompassing some two dozen ports of entry. And... What distinguished Sinaloa from the other groups was the fact that they were very disciplined and they focused only on drug trafficking. Whereas the other syndicates were more of your conventional organized crime.
That's really what got the Zetas in trouble. When they took over a town, they took over everything. Stolen cars, prostitution, fencing stolen goods. Well, you create a lot of antipathy with the local authorities. Whereas if you're just passing through town, paying them some money, and we're taking this to the gringo, say, yeah, yeah, yeah, keep it going. Right.
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Chapter 2: How did the Sinaloa cartel establish its dominance by 2005?
And so they kind of had to have like long simmering conflicts that every once in a while had a sporadic outbreak. but then it was quickly put back in line. And so, you know, by 2005, which is where we stopped the last podcast, essentially Sinaloa had utilized that model to now have, you know, access to the plaza in Tijuana, access to the plaza in Juarez, access to the plaza in Nuevo Laredo.
Well, all of a sudden they now had the ability to take the sum total of all the cocaine or other contraband that Tijuana and the Gulf are doing, they can now handle it all themselves. And so what they did is they established a model where they're saying we're going to create disarray in the local community. So they have the Americans unleash the Mexican military.
You've got the gunmen coming into town, destabilize the local venue, and then come in and say, hey, look, we're here, but we're willing to share. And ultimately that proved to be very successful because they didn't have the responsibility of maintaining control, but they got all the benefits. Now, what was your earlier question? My question was, where's Chapo in this whole thing?
Like he's got a, he's been, where was the last podcast he was? He arrested and he was just hanging out? No. And then they broke him out. They broke him out of prison. Oh, that's right. In 2001. That's right. And so between 2001 and 2004- That's when they were effectively utilizing the American authorities to target their enemies.
So by the time 2004 came around, you know, Chapo was actually going into Nuevo Laredo. This is a key Gulf cartel territory. And so, remember, the purpose of the Federation, the 28 organizations coming together, was to stop the Gulf cartel juggernaut.
And through a pincer movement where they were targeted law enforcement action with targeted military action, allowed them to say they were able to stop the Zetas and the Gulf from advancing. And then what Guzman did was he had his cousin, Beltran Leyva, they put together their own essential paramilitary type group called Los Negros, who was under the leadership of a guy named Barbie. Oh, Barbie.
Barbie's the American, right? He's the American. He's a Texan, you know, and blonde hair, blue eye, good friend with the guy that we knew from prison. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, loved his women, loved fashion, fashionable attire. That's why they called him Barbie. See, he looks like a kindle, like a kindle, right? Yeah, yeah.
And so Barbie put together a group known as Los Negros, and they took it to the golf cartel in their own territory. Yeah. So obviously they had no chance of knocking them off in Matamoros or knocking them off in Reynosa. Nuevo Laredo was different, but the other two, they couldn't.
But by attacking them in their backyard, now the Gulf people had to call back their own military personnel to come defend. Right. So that stopped the onslaught. So they've achieved their goal. By 2005, things were stabilized. And... That's when Chapo started pulling off his, you know, his silliness, which sometimes they just couldn't leave well enough alone. What's silliness?
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Chapter 3: How did the Sinaloa cartel manage money laundering operations?
They utilized the Juarez plaza, moved product through, developed a relationship with the locals. Then Chapo ends up, he's eyeing that territory. So he ends up entering into a deal with Espada Goza, the number two in Juarez. And they decide, you know what, let's remove the leadership and take over. Now, these are the kind of moves that Zambada was famous for.
He's like, he'll encourage, like, Zambada will fight Juarez to the last of Chapo's men. Right, right. You know what I mean? I'm willing to spend every single dime of his money. That's essentially what happened. And so, you know, they put together this plan where they... Rodolfo had family members in Sinaloa. They ended up killing the guy when he was visiting. That's the guy at the shopping mall.
Oh, yeah, yeah. And then they... That launches a little war within waters. And you have to understand, this... By 2005, it kind of stalemated, and then it just started picking up. You know, by 2007, 2008, waters is the murder capital of the world. There's more fatalities in waters than in Baghdad. Right. I mean, it just escalated into this enormity.
But at the outset, it was just a pure double cross. And it was the same model based on the Tijuana model, where they said, okay, you know what? We don't have enough strength to overtake it. but that's not necessary because now they've got their man, these two groups are fighting each other, but they've got access to the importation route.
So again, they benefited from destabilizing the locals and then they kept their, you know, one step removed. And so, and Chapo did this with several groups, you know, and later on this became an issue because the subordinates that he was farming out to actually do the dirty work started accumulating too much power. You know, Beltran-Leyva comes to a negotiated standstill in Nuevo Laredo.
That's the biggest port of entry in the United States for commercial trucks. You're 30 miles from San Antonio. From there, it's a straight shot up to Chicago. I mean, that's an enormous asset. You know, they took over the entire Arizona border. They knocked off the Sonora cartel. Beltran-Leyva, again, stepped in, took all of that. That's the guy from the story you wrote, Unlikely Narco. Right.
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Chapter 4: What strategies did Sinaloa use to outmaneuver rival cartels?
You know, between Arturo and Barbie. And, you know, they ended up getting on a run there where they essentially took from Arizona through New Mexico was theirs. Then this one port in Texas. And so you see this happening where the subordinates start accumulating too much power and Chapo being Chapo decides to start double-crossing that.
And so the way, at this point, he's launched an unprovoked attack on Lourdes, launched an attack on Nuevo Laredo, after already having secured Tijuana. And so by 2005, like I said, they're making $20 to $30 billion a year. And this is the cartel operating at its peak. And so you have like a seven-year run before the wheels ultimately fell off.
And so when people talk about today, we would have seen a lower cartel. Look, what they're talking about has almost no correlation to what was happening back then. Right. You know, the groups today are just essentially a fraction of that operation. That was truly something that, and the annals of organized crime or drug trafficking has never been replicated, has never even been approached.
You know, Well, at what point does Chapo get caught? Like, at some point it falls apart. He gets caught again and goes back to prison. Yeah, that's in 15. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Yes, and so— Where are we now? You're in 2005. My God. Let's move forward here. Well, the thing is this. You know, the backdrop to the story is his underhandedness.
You know, in one of the main individuals who were— Are you suggesting that a cartel member isn't playing fair? My God, Pete. Look, a lot of it was— Just unadulterated greed. Right. You know, there was a guy named Armando Valencia, enormous trafficker, and one of the main guys in the backstory of my case. And Valencia was the one who created, essentially, the market for the synthetics.
And so, and he had, you know, labs all over the world, all over the place in Jalisco, Michoacan, Colima, Nayarit. It was the world's largest trafficker of ephedrine. And so he forms an alliance with Natural Coronel. Well, this is an independent revenue stream that Chapo Guzman and Malazan Bada had no part in. This is how Coronel developed so much power. Okay.
And so they had 100% control, essentially. of, we'll say at one time, the methamphetamine market. Right. And none of the other groups had any access to it. So this enormous war chest. And so what happens, all of a sudden in 2003, Armando Valencia gets knocked off. Like he's at a bar having drinks with his buddies. Here's the article from the New York Times.
You know, Mexico arrests eight top drug smugglers, one of whom is Armando Valencia. Just by a fluke? Just by, essentially. And later on, of course, when Lindsay and I are bullshitting together in prison, I'm like, what happened? All right. You know, like at that point, they're not thinking it's Chappell. Yeah. He's just thinking, man, what happened? His political protection broke down.
Like, you know, every once in a while, you know, a highway patrol officer stumbles upon something. Right. Yes, yes. You know, you can't eliminate that. And so, but at that point... You know, Valencia gets moved out of the way. Well, his brother takes over, but Oscar Valencia isn't on the same stature. You know, Valencia was the guy dealing with Mayo and dealing with Amaro Carrillo.
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Chapter 5: What role did Chapo Guzman play in the cartel's operations?
So they were able to grab him. Like he retired with his millions, moved to Miami. They snatched him up. Could you imagine? You've done all this and you thought, I pulled it off. You're kicked back. You're playing fucking shuffleboard. He's a private security guard. He's a private security consultant. So he's collaborating with the CIA. He's collaborating with federal lawyers. It's even worse.
I'm even deeper in now. Deeper, deeper. And so, yeah, he recently went to trial. He was convicted. He's looking at life. And so, in fact, his story would be a great Patreon. And so, yes. And so, so long as he was in a position to deflect for them. Once again, they were the beneficiaries. So it kind of gives you a little sense of how you were able to create such an enormous juggernaut.
Because it wasn't simply just serendipity. It was actually orchestrated through primarily, you know, corruption, but to a lesser extent, violence. With the corresponding benefit of removing from the equation pretty much most of Sinaloa's enemies. Hey, real quick, just wanted to let you guys know that we're looking for guests for the podcast.
If you think you'd be a good guest or you know somebody, do me a favor. You can fill out the form. The link is in our description box, or you can just email me directly. Email is in the description box. So back to the video. After the leader of the Gulf cartel was extradited to the United States in 2007, the fact of O.C.L. Cardenas' cooperation became publicly known.
That's what prompted the Zetas to completely just go to war against the Gulf. Right. Because at this point, a number of their highly ranking individuals were already knocked off, presumably because of Cardinus' cooperation. Boatloads of money had already been lost. And so for them, they're like, you know what, screw this. We're not going to be listening to these flunkies anymore.
And so what you had was a military campaign against the Gulf against where the Zetas essentially took over that cartel. This, of course, works to Sinaloa's benefits because the Zetas at this point had created so much attention from the government that they essentially declare war against that particular cartel. Not just the crooked FBI director they have down there, but the government itself.
The Calderon administration is like, look, we got to take these individuals out because they're just literally going on rampages. Or, you know, multiple dozen police officers getting killed. They're just dumping the bodies out there. I mean, it was just, you know, the kind of actions that make no sense. Right.
And the greater the atrocities, the more attention and the more of a pretext it gives them to say, you know what, we're going to focus all our attention over here.
So while you've got the northeast of Mexico being completely destabilized as these two groups are going to war with each other, you had an event out in Sinaloa that was critical in the sense that it was the first of the main Sinaloa drug lords gets apprehended. There's a guy named... On purpose? Just an accident? Yes, not Arturo's older brother. Okay. And so when he gets taken down...
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Chapter 6: How did the Mexican government's war on drugs affect the cartels?
And they just found out it was him by checking the cameras and seeing that he is the one who left. There wasn't cameras. No, there's no cameras. How do they know it was him? Well, because they start checking the motels. And it's like anybody who's out of town, who fits this description or whatever it was. And somehow or another, he's on some list. Or if I forget, I mean, I don't know exactly.
But either way, they figure out this is a person of interest. And he's driving out of town and he gets pulled over. The FBI had infiltrated all those groups. Right. So they must have. Yes. And so on an investigation of that nature, they bring in a thousand agents. But he was caught right away. This wasn't six months or two years later. A day later or something. Yeah.
And he's pulled over and he doesn't fight it out. I think he had a weapon and everything. He doesn't shoot it out. He gets arrested. He goes downtown. He doesn't deny that he's done any of these things. He starts talking because he kind of feels like I'm going to be a... you know, a beacon or a martyr to this group.
And, you know, yeah, and we're going to start the, it's all going to be the Turner Diaries, you know, all for it. And of course, you know, it doesn't. He ends up, he actually, the FBI had not turned over a whole bunch of evidence and he could have probably gotten a retrial. And not—but he'd already gotten a death penalty. And they're like, do you want a retrial? And he said no.
Like, he was okay with dying. No, they were filing— No, they were filing on his behalf, but he wasn't fighting it. Like, my understanding is he wasn't even really interested in having a retrial or having anything. He was ready to go. Yeah, a new sentencing proceeding they were asking for. Right. But, I mean, I don't know. You probably know more than me, but I had heard that, like—
They were trying to get his lawyers were trying to get overturned. He wasn't concerned about getting it overturned. He was like, I'm ready. This is it. I mean, to me, if I had done something that horrific and killed that many people and done that to me, I'd be like, look, ultimately, this is what's going to happen. And he didn't mind being an inspiration.
I don't know anybody that has been inspired. But I know his co-defendant was at ADX Nichols. Oh, OK. Yeah. In fact, the guy that you had spoken with that wanted to come on your show, Scarpa Jr. Oh, yeah, yeah. Was in there with Nichols. Oh, yeah. And the guy that did the original bombing from 93. Oh, yeah, yeah. What, original bombing for what? The World Trade Center. World Trade Center.
Okay, yeah, yeah. Which, because, you know, the World Trade Center, somebody had tried to take down the World Trade Center, and they blew up a truck and everything. Yeah, I didn't know that. I know it had caught fire before, but... Yeah, it caught fire. No, they tried bombing it. They tried to blow it up, but it didn't. It just shook the building.
It wasn't enough to... And that got tracked down because somebody had rented the van in their real name, and they found... Mahmoud Abu Hima or something like that. They found the VIN number. They had the VIN number. They tracked the VIN number all the way back. Rental car, boom, got him. When they really want to bust you, they're going to figure it out.
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