This is a list of Mexico's 37 most-wanted drug lords as published by Mexican federal authorities on 23 March 2009. According to a BBC Mundo Mexico report, the 37 drug lords "have jeopardized Mexico national security."[1] [2]
The list of drug lords is grouped by their drug cartels. Mexico has offered up to 30 million pesos for the capture of each of the fugitives.[2] [3] [4] The United States also offers rewards for two of them.[5]
The most-wanted of the 37 drug lords was Joaquín Guzmán Loera, for whom Mexican and U.S. governments offered a total bounty of US$7 million.[6] He was captured on 22 February 2014 in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, where he was staying at a hotel.[7] He escaped on 11 July 2015 through a 1.5 kilometer long tunnel from his cell in the Mexican maximum security prison but was recaptured by Mexican Marines following a gun battle on 8 January 2016.[8] On 25 July 2024, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, the last remaining drug lord yet to be arrested, incarcerated, or killed, surrendered to U.S. authorities.
As of 18 January 2011, Mexico had captured or killed 20 of the 37 in the most-wanted list.[9] The 21 June 2011 arrest of José de Jesús Méndez Vargas,[10] a.k.a. "El Chango", brought the total to twenty-one captured or killed.[11] [12] On 4 November 2011, Francisco Hernández García was captured. A leader of the Zetas drug cartel, Raúl Hernández Lechuga was captured on 12 December 2011.[11] [12] [13] On 26 September 2012, Iván Velázquez Caballero was captured by Mexican security forces.[14] The 7 October 2012 killing of Heriberto Lazcano brought this total to 25 captured or killed so far.
On 15 July 2013, Miguel Treviño Morales was apprehended by the Mexican Marines in a town called Anáhuac, Nuevo León, near the border of the state of Tamaulipas.[15] Then, the 27 January 2014 apprehension of Dionisio Loya Plancarte,[16] a.k.a. "El Tío" left the Mexican government with 10 fugitives still on the loose. On 23 June 2014, Fernando Sánchez Arellano was arrested by soldiers of the Mexican Army and federal agents of the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) at the La Mesa borough of Tijuana, Baja California. On 1 October 2014 Héctor Beltrán Leyva was arrested by the Mexican Army inside a restaurant in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. On 9 October 2014, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes was arrested by Mexican authorities in Torreón (Coahuila). On 27 February 2015, Servando Gómez Martínez, the leader of the Knights Templar cartel, was arrested by Mexican security forces in Morelia, Michoacán.[17] On 4 March 2015, Omar Treviño Morales was captured inside a residence in Fuentes del Valle, an upper-class neighborhood in San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, by the Federal Police and the Mexican Army. On 8 January 2016, Mexican Marines captured Joaquín Guzmán Loera after a heavy firefight in the city of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, bringing the total captured or killed to 33.
Mexico offered up to 30 million pesos (about 1.76 million U.S. dollars in 2024) for each of the following:
| No. | Cartel | Name | Alias | Reward (Mexican pesos) | Status | Date of status | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -align="left" bgcolor="Cornsilk" | 1 | Beltrán-Leyva | Arturo Beltrán Leyva | El Barbas | $30M | Killed | 16 December 2009 | |||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 2 | Beltrán-Leyva | Héctor Beltrán Leyva | El General | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 1 October 2014 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 3 | Beltrán-Leyva | Sergio Villarreal Barragán | El Grande | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 13 September 2010 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 4 | Beltrán-Leyva | Edgar Valdez Villarreal | La Barbie | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 31 August 2010 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 5 | Beltrán-Leyva | Francisco Hernández García | El 2000 | $15M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 4 November 2011 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="Cornsilk" | 6 | Beltrán-Leyva | Alberto Pineda Villa | El Borrado | $15M | style= style="background:Cornsilk;" | Killed | 12 September 2009[94] [95] | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="Cornsilk" | 7 | Beltrán-Leyva | Marco Antonio Pineda Villa | El MP | $15M | style= style="background:Cornsilk;" | Killed | 12 September 2009 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 8 | Beltrán-Leyva | Héctor Huerta Ríos | La Burra | $15M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 25 March 2009 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="Cornsilk" | 9 | La Familia Michoacana | Nazario Moreno González | El Chayo | $30M | style= style="background:Cornsilk;" | Killed | 9 March 2014 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 10 | La Familia Michoacana | Servando Gómez Martínez | La Tuta | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 27 February 2015 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 11 | La Familia Michoacana | José de Jesús Méndez Vargas | El Chango | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 21 June 2011 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 12 | La Familia Michoacana | Dionisio Loya Plancarte | El Tío | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 27 January 2014 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="Cornsilk" | 13 | Los Zetas | Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano | Z-3 | $30M | style= style="background:Cornsilk;" | Killed | 7 October 2012 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 14 | Los Zetas | Raúl Lucio Hernández Lechuga | El Lucky | $15M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 12 December 2011 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 15 | Los Zetas | Sergio Peña Solís | El Concord | $15M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 14 March 2009 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 16 | Los Zetas | Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales | Z-40 | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 15 July 2013 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor=LightSteelBlue | 17 | Los Zetas | Omar Treviño Morales | L-42 | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 4 March 2015 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 18 | Los Zetas | Iván Velázquez Caballero | L-50 | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 26 September 2012[96] | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 19 | Los Zetas | Gregorio Sauceda Gamboa | El Goyo | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 30 April 2009 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 20 | Los Zetas | Flavio Méndez Santiago | El Amarillo | $15M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 18 January 2011 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 21 | Los Zetas | Ricardo Almanza Morales | El Gori I | $15M | style= style="background:Cornsilk;" | Killed | 4 December 2009 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSalmon" | 22 | Los Zetas | Eduardo Almanza Morales | El Gori II | $15M | style= style="background:LightSalmon;" | Allegedly dead | 4 December 2009[97] | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 23 | Los Zetas | Raymundo Almanza Morales | El Gori III | $15M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 22 May 2009 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 24 | Gulf Cartel | Sigifredo Nájera Talamantes | El Canicón | $15M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 23 March 2009 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="Cornsilk" | 25 | Gulf Cartel | Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén | Tony Tormenta | $30M | style= style="background:Cornsilk;" | Killed | 5 November 2010 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 26 | Gulf Cartel | Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez | El Coss | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 12 September 2012[98] | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="Cornsilk" | 27 | Gulf Cartel | Sergio Enrique Ruiz Tlapanco | El Tlapa | $15M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 8 September 2009 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 28 | Juárez Cartel | Vicente Carrillo Fuentes | El Viceroy | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 9 October 2014 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 29 | Juárez Cartel | Vicente Carrillo Leyva | El Ingeniero | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 3 March 2009 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSalmon" | 30 | Juárez Cartel | Juan Pablo Ledezma | El JL | $15M | style= style="background:LightSalmon;" | Disputed (Reportedly Killed or Fugitive)[99] [100] | No longer reported as La Linea leader[101] [102] [103] [104] by 2020[105] | Bounty for his death was offered by El Chapo. | |
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 31 | Sinaloa Cartel | Joaquín Guzmán Loera | El Chapo | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Recaptured | 18 January 2016 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 32 | Sinaloa Cartel | Ismael Zambada García | El Mayo Zambada | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 25 July 2024[106] | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 33 | Sinaloa Cartel | Ignacio Coronel Villarreal | El Nacho Coronel | $30M | style= style="background:Cornsilk;" | Killed | 29 July 2010 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSalmon" | 34 | Sinaloa Cartel | Juan José Esparragoza Moreno | El Azul | $30M | style= style="background:LightSalmon;" | Allegedly dead | 7 June 2014 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 35 | Sinaloa Cartel | Vicente Zambada Niebla | El Vicentillo | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 19 March 2009 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 36 | Tijuana Cartel | Teodoro García Simental | El Teo | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 12 January 2010 | ||
| -align="left" bgcolor="LightSteelBlue" | 37 | Tijuana Cartel | Fernando Sánchez Arellano | El Ingeniero | $30M | style= style="background:LightSteelBlue;" | Captured | 23 June 2014 |
Policing
General