Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, commonly referred to as El Padrino (The Godfather) is a former Mexican drug lord who founded and led the Guadalajara cartel in the 1980s. In his prime, Félix Gallardo controlled almost all of the smuggling across the US-Mexico border.
Félix Gallardo was arrested in 1989 for the murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena, and is currently serving 37-year sentence in a maximum security prison in Mexico.
Biography
Early life
Félix Gallardo, as a police officer.
Born in 1948 in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, Felix began working as a Sinaloa State Police Trooper after completing his education. As a police officer, he soon became the bodyguard of Leopoldo Sánchez Celis, the then Governor of Sinaloa. Working under Sánchez enabled him to make connections to the underworld, and soon began working for marijuana smuggler Pedro Avilés. Concurrently, he married Maria Elvira and fathered two children.
Smuggling career
In the early 80s, Félix's friend Rafael Caro Quintero creates a new type of marijuana crop, one which can be grown without seeds. With the military aggressively cracking down on marijuana farmers, Félix sees an opportunity in growing Caro Quintero's plant in a secluded spot in Guadalajara. After preventing Rafael's capture by the military, Félix Gallardo convinces Avilés to relocate to the more busy area of Guadalajara. His boss sends him to Guadalara to negotiate with the Naranjo brothers, the bosses of the city. Accompanied by Rafael and a reluctant Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, Félix Gallardo arrives in Guadalajara, and proceeds to kill one of the brothers when his proposal is rejected and he is mocked. The trio are then arrested by the DFS, and Félix Gallardo convinces the DFS agents into taking him to Juan José Esparragoza Moreno, a DFS commander who also smuggled drugs. Esparragoza is intrigued by Caro's seedless sinsemilla weed, and he kills the other Naranjo brother and allows Félix Gallardo to grow his plants in Guadalajara. Later on, Miguel, Rafael and Ernesto drive over to the large patch of land in the middle of the desert, where Miguel announces his intentions of building a drug empire.
Founding the Guadalajara cartel
With support from the DFS, Félix Gallardo came up with a plan to change the 'plaza system' by unifying the drug lords of various regions into a common marijuana smuggling network under Avilés to maximize profits. He travels to Ciudad Juárez, and gets Ernesto's drug smuggler nephew Amado Carrillo Fuentes on board. Miguel, Ernesto and Amado meet the latter's mentor, Pablo Acosta. Acosta, who was involved in a bitter feud with Avilés agrees to the plan after Miguel convinces the him that his boss is looking for peace. The trio then travel to Tijuana and meet up with the Arellano Felix brothers, led by Benjamin and Ramon Arellano Felix, who said they'll only join after the receive consent from Cuban smuggler Alberto Sicilia Falcon. In order to meet Sicilia, Miguel took the help of Sinaloan socialite Isabella Bautista; who allows the trio to meet Sicilia in a house party. Sicilia, despite being skeptical, gives his approval.
Ahead of the big meeting between the smugglers, Miguel meets his boss Avilés and pleads him to co-operate with his rival Pablo Acosta. Despite agreeing to do so, Avilés locks horns with his rival during the meeting and walks away, causing the other smugglers to do so. Avilés forces Miguel back to Sinaloa in order to kill him, however on the way, they're pulled over by the police. DFS officers arrive at the scene along with Don Neto, and begin firing on Avilés' men after freeing Félix Gallardo. Félix Gallardo then uses the opportunity to shoot dead his mortally wounded boss. Pedro's driver is personally spared by Miguel after he promises his loyalty. With the control of Pedro's organisation under Félix, the plan is set into motion.