"The Boss of the Boss" was never Felix Gallardo, the real leader of the Guadalajara Cartel was someone else: Hector Berrellez.

 

"El Jefe de Jefes" was never Felix Gallardo, the real head of the Guadalajara Cartel was someone else: Hector Berrellez

The former DEA agent demystified the halo of power that for decades has hovered over Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo and revealed the name of the man who had the power behind the throne.

The history of drug trafficking in Mexico is largely linked to the Guadalajara Cartel, the first criminal organization to dominate the large-scale drug trade. Its three founders, all from Sinaloa, were also the first drug traffickers to mobilize different governments to capture them.

Rafael Caro Quintero "The Narco of Narcos", Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo "Don Neto" and Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo were in the 1980s three of the most powerful men in Mexico who rubbed shoulders with both high society and the political class.

The Guadalajara Cartel was always thought to be headed by Felix Gallardo, who even came to be known as "The Boss of Bosses", in reference to the fact that he was the one who moved everything and had the best contacts in the highest spheres.

The cartel became one of the most powerful in Mexico thanks to its relationship with Colombian cartels through an agreement with drug trafficker Juan Matta-Ballesteros.

Until now, it has always been said that "Don Neto" would have provided the criminal organization with his experience in drug trafficking thanks to his contacts in the United States and Colombia, as well as helping them land ideas.

However, Hector Berrellez, a former agent of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), said in an interview with Infobae Mexico that the real power within the cartel was always Ernesto Fonseca, who even had access to where Felix Gallardo could not enter.

Berrellez coordinated the so-called "Leyenda" operation in Mexico in the 1980s, which began in 1985 and culminated in 1989 with the arrest of Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, who by then was one of the largest cocaine traffickers in the world.

Camarena's kidnapping was evidence of the complicity between authorities and drug traffickers (www.dea.gov).

The operation was launched after the murder of former DEA agent Enrique Camarena Salazar, with the aim of capturing those responsible for the kidnapping, torture and death of "Kiki". The first suspects were Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo and Rafael Caro Quintero.

Berrellez pointed out that one of the great difficulties to carry out investigations in Mexico is the level of infiltration of the narco that already existed in the police corporations and in the highest spheres of power.

"(The narcos) felt protected, how could they be arrested if the president himself protected them, they thought they were unpunished, just like the CIA," he said in an interview.

The real "Boss of Bosses"

Don Neto always thought that his contacts in power would help him get out of jail (Photo: archive).

Berrellez detailed that the three founders of the cartel were guarded by many local agents and the now defunct Federal Security Directorate (DFS), each one had his own team of bodyguards.

The one who gave the orders, he said, was "Don Neto," who had also imposed the old narco codes on the organization.

"The rules were that they didn't mess with the citizens and if they broke them they would see their faces with him," he said.

"The one who had all the controls was old Fonseca, he went to Los Pinos and I know that witnesses went to escort him to Los Pinos," said Berrellez, who caused controversy after participating in the docuseries The Last Narc (The Last Infiltrator) in which even the former bodyguard of "Don Neto" claims that two former presidents of Mexico sat down to consume drugs with him.

Thanks to these relationships, on the day of his arrest he asked his men to turn themselves in, because he thought everything was fixed. Whenever he appeared at the practice grid, he always smiled and made the sign of love and peace.

"Don Neto", born in Badiraguato, Sinaloa, on August 1, 1930, is the uncle of drug traffickers Amado Carrillo Fuentes "El Señor de los Cielos" and Vicente Carrillo Fuentes "El Viceroy".

U.S. authorities stated that it was during a Christmas party in 1984, organized by "Don Neto" and attended by Caro Quintero, that the kidnapping and murder of Camarena Salazar, who had managed to infiltrate the criminal organization, was planned.

However, the DEA had him on its radar since 1982 when it discovered his money laundering operations in San Diego.

Fonseca Carrillo, along with Caro Quintero, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murder and kidnapping of Camarena and pilot Alfredo Zavala Avelar.

After 30 years in prison, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) granted him the benefit of serving the remainder of his sentence in house arrest, a remedy granted to inmates who have already served most of their sentence, are in advanced age or have severe health problems. He is now almost blind and has colon cancer.