Francisco Javier Arellano Félix

Who is Francisco Javier Arellano Félix?

Francisco Javier Arellano Félix, the brother of Ramón Arellano Félix, is a former Mexican drug lord and leader of the Tijuana Cartel involved in drug-smuggling operations from Mexico to the United States.

The Tijuana Cartel is one of the three large Mexican drug cartels, along with the Gulf Cartel and the Juárez Cartel. It is well known for its employment of enforcers recruited from Mexican and Los Angeles street gangs. In addition to enforcers, many Latin American street gangsters were trained to become assassins in the cartel, which has a reputation for extreme brutality and violence. At its height in the late 1990s, the cartel was believed to be responsible for supplying nearly half the cocaine sold in the United States.

The gang made headlines in January 2006 after it was discovered they had dug tunnels from Tijuana, Baja California, into the United States at Otay Mesa, California.