Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza

drug trafficking and organized crime.^[4][6][7]

Federal Ministerial Police (PFM) went into a neighborhood where Inzunza was staying to carry out an arrest warrant. Though the police were going after a person who was not involved with the drug lord, his gunmen stopped the PFM cars and ordered them to call their boss. When the police commander arrived at the scene minutes later, Inzunza walked up to him and smacked him several times, telling him he had no permission to be in his territory and to never stop by again. When the drug lord ordered them to leave, his gunmen took away their weapons for a couple of days.^[4] On 12 November 2002 in Culiacán, the Federal Preventive Police (PFP) intercepted a convoy of gunmen in which Inzunza was traveling. A shootout eventually broke out, resulting in the death of four policemen and one gunman. However, Inzunza managed to escape the scene.^[11] Three years later in April 2005, Inzunza intimidated several police officers who were patrolling his neighborhood and forced them to return to their headquarters. On 5 May 2005, Inzunza travelled to Mazatlán to attend a rehab center for his drug addiction. While heading there, he was arrested by the Mazatlán Municipal Police with eight of his men.^[4] The police confiscated several assault rifles, handguns, grenades, and grenade launchers. The arrest of Inzunza was initially reported by a photojournalist who managed to take a picture of him, but the drug lord never made it to prison; unconfirmed reports stated that he bribed the police to avoid going to jail.^[11][12] He escaped with Ismael Bernal Cristerna (alias "El Mongol"), an individual who was later killed by Inzunza in 2013 because Inzunza feared betrayal.^[4]

Nogales, Sonoyta, and Caborca in Sonora.^[16][17] His operational capacity also reached the states of Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Nayarit, Jalisco, and Sinaloa.^[18] With the help of his brother, who is identified by Mexican authorities by his alias "El Peque", Inzunza received large quantities of narcotics in Sinaloa from South America.^[17] He also had three major smuggling routes across Mexico that he oversaw to move narcotics to the United States. The first route was through a smuggling network that started in Venezuela, crossed through Honduras, Costa Rica, and ended in Sinaloa. The second route started in Chiapas and connected that state with Acapulco, Mexico City, Jalisco, and ended in the U.S. The third and final route started in Sinaloa, crossed through Sonora, Mexicali, Tijuana and ended north of the U.S.-Mexico border.^[19] Inzunza was known for using violence to exercise control in the territories he oversaw for the Sinaloa Cartel to move marijuana and cocaine through the Calexico–Mexicali corridor.^[20]

Guadalajara, Jalisco. His body bore signs of torture and a bullet hole in the head, usual signs to distinguish common murders from killings committed by organized crime.^[27] His death caused the CJNG to break away from its loose connection with the Sinaloa Cartel and operate independently in Jalisco in efforts to fight the Sinaloans for the control of the drug market in the state.^[28]

Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, on 18 December 2013.^[35][36] The Sonora authorities confirmed that the shootout, which occurred at around 04:00 A.M. that day, left a total of five dead and three vehicles incinerated.^[16] Authorities confirmed that two gunmen were killed on the scene during the firefight, while two others died by wrecking their vehicle while attempting to flee the crime scene; the remaining gunman died of gunshot wound complications.^[37] Preliminary reports stated that gunmen held several hostages at a hotel during the raging gunfire, but the Sonora authorities denied the authenticity of these initial reports.^[38] The shootout was reported to have lasted at least four hours. An eye-witness close to the crime scene said to the press that a police helicopter was involved in the fire exchange from mid-air with the gunmen, who fired at the chopper from the ground.^[39]

U.S.-Mexico border.^[38][45]

Black Hawk helicopters were used in the operation, and that there were at least 10 vehicles of the alleged gunmen of the Sinaloa Cartel present during the fire exchange. The police confirmed that they found 14 high-calibre assault rifles at the scene. They also confirmed that five criminals were killed in the shootout (not six, as stated by other sources) and two officers were wounded.^[48][49] The authorities also confirmed that they had an undercover federal agent staying at the complex where Inzunza was hiding for about 15 days prior to the shooting. By spying on him throughout the day and passing that information to his counterparts, authorities were able to use those intelligence reports to hunt down the drug lord.^[42]