Beltrán Leyva Organization Map & Profile 2026: Leaders, Territory and U.S. Charges

What official records and reporting say about the Beltrán Leyva Organization: who leads it, where it is reported to operate, and how the U.S. has targeted it. Territory and leadership change fast, so each item links to its source and shows dates as reported. Allegations are as stated by the source; people who are charged are presumed innocent until convicted.

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Names and aliases

• The Beltrán Leyva brothers hail from Badiraguato, Sinaloa — the same municipality as Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán — and there is evidence they worked together as hitmen for the Guadalajara Cartel. [InSight Crime, 2021]

Origins

• The Beltrán Leyva brothers began their criminal careers working with small-time opium poppy growers in their home state of Sinaloa. [InSight Crime, 2021]
• The brothers later worked for Amado Carrillo Fuentes, alias "El Señor de los Cielos," who employed them as hitmen and transporters for the Juárez Cartel. [InSight Crime, 2021]

Leadership

• Mexican authorities arrested Héctor Beltrán Leyva ("El H") in October 2014; Alfredo Beltrán Guzmán ("El Mochomito") was arrested in December 2016; Juan Francisco Patrón Sánchez ("H2"), who had succeeded El H, was killed by Marines in February 2017; and El H died in custody in November 2018. (as of 2021) [InSight Crime, 2021]
• The BLO was led by the Beltrán Leyva brothers, all of whom have been captured or killed; currently, local leaders head splinter groups in Sinaloa and Sonora, such as Fausto Isidro Meza, alias "Chapo Isidro." (as of 2021) [InSight Crime, 2021]
• The Guerreros Unidos were founded by Mario Casarrubias Salgado ("El Sapo Guapo"), who served on the BLO security team, and Cleotilde Toribio Rentería ("El Tilde"), who belonged to La Barbie's hit squad, along with several former BLO bodyguards. (as of 2026-08) [InSight Crime, 2026-08]
• It remains unclear whether a single person controls the Guerreros Unidos after El Sapo Guapo's arrest and death; the group appears to have a decentralized structure with several leaders, including "El Chino," "El Molón," and "El Chucky" or "El Choky." (as of 2026-08) [InSight Crime, 2026-08]
• Alfredo Beltrán Leyva, alias "Mochomo," one of the BLO's leaders, was sentenced to life in prison for leading an international narcotics trafficking conspiracy; he had been indicted on August 24, 2012, extradited on November 15, 2014, pleaded guilty on February 23, 2016, and was ordered to forfeit $529.2 million. (as of 2017-04) [U.S. Department of Justice, 2017-04-05]

Factions and splits

• In 2010, Valdez Villarreal split to form his own organization, Héctor Beltrán Leyva regrouped the remnants as the South Pacific Cartel, and a wave of arrests followed: Carlos Beltrán Leyva in January, Valdez Villarreal in August, and his top security officer "El Grande" in September. (as of 2021) [InSight Crime, 2021]
• The main BLO splinter groups are the Guerreros Unidos and Los Rojos, both of which have been linked to the disappearances of 43 students in Ayotzinapa and to high levels of violence in Guerrero and Morelos. (as of 2021) [InSight Crime, 2021]
• The Guerreros Unidos operate primarily in Morelos and Guerrero and fight with Los Rojos over the heroin trade. (as of 2021) [InSight Crime, 2021]
• Los Rojos have become an important cell in central and southeastern Mexico, especially Guerrero, and are listed by the DEA as an active heroin trafficking group with ties in the US, with influence in Morelos, Puebla, the State of Mexico, and the Guerrero highlands. (as of 2021) [InSight Crime, 2021]
• Another top lieutenant, Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villarreal, took a faction loyal to him and formed the Independent Cartel of Acapulco, which he led until his arrest in 2010. (as of 2019-08) [Congressional Research Service, 2019-08-15]
• The Guerreros Unidos traffics cocaine as far north as Chicago and operates primarily in Guerrero, México, and Morelos; Mexican authorities stated the group was responsible for taking the 43 teacher trainees in Iguala. (as of 2019-08) [Congressional Research Service, 2019-08-15]

Allies and rivals

• After 2002 meetings with Guzmán, Juan José Esparragoza Moreno ("El Azul"), and Ismael Zambada García ("El Mayo"), the group formed what became known as the Federation, or the "Alianza de Sangre" (Blood Alliance). (as of 2021) [InSight Crime, 2021]
• The BLO's alliance with the Zetas was particularly fruitful: together, they were able to deal significant blows to the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico's Sierra Madre region. (as of 2021) [InSight Crime, 2021]
• In 2014, reports emerged that the BLO met with the Zetas, the Juárez Cartel, and the CJNG to mutually commit to battling the Sinaloa Cartel; currently, BLO splinter groups operate alongside the Sinaloa Cartel, mostly without conflict. (as of 2021) [InSight Crime, 2021]
• According to the DEA, Guerreros Unidos is currently working with the CJNG, partnering to control drug routes and access distribution networks in the United States. (as of 2026-08) [InSight Crime, 2026-08]
• The January 2008 arrest of BLO leader Alfredo Beltrán Leyva, through intelligence reportedly provided by Guzmán, triggered the BLO's split from the Sinaloa DTO, and the two organizations have remained bitter rivals since. (as of 2019-08) [Congressional Research Service, 2019-08-15]

What it does

• Guzmán tasked the Beltrán Leyvas with forming a security team to counter the Gulf Cartel, producing the Pelones under Edgar Valdez Villarreal ("La Barbie"), the Negros led by a former police detective, and Arturo Beltrán Leyva's FEDA unit. [InSight Crime, 2021]
• By 2005, the Beltrán Leyva Organization was reportedly operating in 10 states in addition to the Federal District (Mexico City). [InSight Crime, 2021]
• From the early 1990s until his indictment in August 2014, Alfredo Beltrán Leyva led the BLO in importing multi-ton quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States; Culiacán, Sinaloa, served as the central point for collecting billions of dollars in US drug proceeds. [U.S. Department of Justice, 2017-04-05]
• According to the DEA, Guerreros Unidos is currently an important player in the production and trafficking of heroin in Guerrero, and also operates in Morelos and the State of Mexico, where it is mainly involved in extortion and kidnapping. [InSight Crime, 2026-08]
• The capture of an alleged Guerreros Unidos financial chief in October 2014 revealed that the group allegedly spent close to $45,000 a month to pay off local police in the municipality of Iguala alone. [InSight Crime, 2026-08]
• Before 2008, the Beltrán Leyva Organization was part of the Sinaloa federation and controlled access to the US border in Mexico's Sonora state. [Congressional Research Service, 2019-08-15]
• According to the 2018 National Drug Threat Assessment, the BLO is a group of factions working under the BLO name that traffic mainly marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. [Congressional Research Service, 2019-08-15]

U.S. designations, sanctions and charges

• On May 30, 2008, the United States added the Beltrán Leyva Organization to OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals list under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act; on August 20, 2009, Beltrán Leyva was specifically designated as a drug trafficker under the same act. [U.S. Department of Justice, 2017-04-05]

Key events

• In 2005, the DEA recorded a conversation between Nahum Acosta, a close advisor to the Fox administration, and one of the Beltrán Leyvas, presumably Héctor, who was responsible for the group's payroll, which allegedly included AFI members and the country's drug czar. [InSight Crime, 2021]
• The country's drug czar at the time, Noé Ramírez Mandujano, was jailed for allegedly receiving $450,000 per month from the organization, though the charges were thrown out in April 2013. [InSight Crime, 2021]
• Tension boiled over when authorities arrested Alfredo Beltrán Leyva on January 21, 2008; Arturo Beltrán Leyva concluded Guzmán had provided the intelligence for his younger brother's arrest, war was declared, and Guzmán's son Edgar was killed. [InSight Crime, 2021]
• In December 2009, Mexican Marines killed Arturo Beltrán Leyva after he had barricaded himself in an apartment in an upscale neighborhood in Cuernavaca. [InSight Crime, 2021]
• In December 2012, the Guerreros Unidos sent hitmen disguised as doctors to kill the leader of rival BLO splinter group Los Rojos while he was recovering from another assassination attempt in a Mexico City hospital. [InSight Crime, 2026-08]
• On August 9, 2026, testimony presented by Mexico's Attorney General's Office during a hearing against former Guerrero Governor Ángel Aguirre Rivero again pointed to the role of Guerreros Unidos in the Ayotzinapa case; one witness said a nephew of Aguirre had ties to the group. [InSight Crime, 2026-08]
• The International Crisis Group described Guerrero as the epicentre of organized crime in Mexico, where at least 40 outfits fight over drug production and trafficking — above all heroin for the US market — and newer rackets, extortion foremost among them. [International Crisis Group, 2020-05-04]
• The International Crisis Group traced Guerrero's criminal fragmentation to the federal forces' 2009 killing of BLO leader Arturo Beltrán Leyva, after which organized crime spread geographically and broadened its range of enterprises. [International Crisis Group, 2020-05-04]
• Guerreros Unidos founder Mario Casarrubias Salgado ("El Sapo Guapo") was captured in April 2014 in the State of Mexico and later died after contracting COVID-19 in the Altiplano prison in July 2021. [InSight Crime, 2026-08]
• La Barbie was extradited to the United States in September 2015, changed his plea to guilty in January 2016 on drug trafficking and money laundering charges, and was sentenced in June 2018 to 49 years in prison and a $192 million fine. [Congressional Research Service, 2019-08-15]

Where it operates in Mexico

• The BLO formed in Mexico's Sinaloa state and, at the height of its power, operated in 11 different states plus Mexico City, including Guerrero, Morelos, Chiapas, Querétaro, Sonora, Jalisco, Quintana Roo, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, and the State of Mexico. (as of 2021) [InSight Crime, 2021]
• Currently, the presence of BLO splinter groups is concentrated in northern Sinaloa and southern Sonora, while the Guerreros Unidos and Los Rojos continue to operate in Guerrero, Morelos, and the State of Mexico. (as of 2021) [InSight Crime, 2021]

Reported U.S. footprint

• BLO subgroups maintain distribution links in the US cities of Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Atlanta. (as of 2019-08) [Congressional Research Service, 2019-08-15]

Reported presence by Mexican state

Beltrán Leyva Organization in the United States

States with specific evidence: California, Georgia, Illinois, Tennessee, Texas.

Federal cases since 2024 whose release names the group: 1.

Cartels in the U.S.: map and state-by-state evidence →

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Last reviewed: September 30, 2026. Territory, leadership and advisories change; tell us about errors via our corrections page.