ALIASES: "Mario Armando Ramirez-Trevino," "X-20," "MarioPelon," "Pelon"
DOB: March 5, 1962
POB: Mexico
NATIONALITY: Mexican
CITIZENSHIP: Mexico
HEIGHT: 5’8”
WEIGHT: 200 lbs
HAIR COLOR: Black
EYE COLOR: Brown
The Gulf Cartel, originally founded in Mexico the 1930s to smuggle whiskey and other illicit commodities into the United States, expanded significantly by the 1970s under Juan Garcia-Abrego, who became the first drug trafficker to be placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List. Following his 1996 arrest by Mexican authorities and subsequent deportation to the United States, Oscar Malherbe-De Leon took control of the cartel until his arrest a short time later. He was replaced by Osiel Cardenas-Guillen, who was arrested in 2003, and extradited to the United States in 2007. The Department of State Narcotics Rewards Program played a significant role in the capture of all three of these Gulf Cartel leaders, with reward offers and subsequent reward payments. The Gulf Cartel controls most of the cocaine and marijuana trafficking through the Matamoros, Mexico corridor to the United States.
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