The North Valley Cartel (Spanish: Norte del Valle Cartel) was a Colombian drug cartel which operated primarily in the Valle del Cauca department of Colombia. The cartel gained prominence after the collapse of the both the Medellín and Cali cartels.
Formed in the 1980s, the cartel during its initial years worked under the much powerful Cali cartel. In 1986, Henao Montoya upstarted the Cali cartel by selling cocaine to Isabella Bautista and Enedina Arellano Félix. After the collapse of Pablo Escobar's drug empire in 1993, the Norte del Valle often locked horns with the much powerful Cali Cartel. The aggression morphed into an all-out war following Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela's announcement in 1995 that the Cali cartel would be surrendering to the government in six months. To complicate things, Hélmer Herrera had Claudio Salazar's body ripped apart by two motorcycles. Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela then sent Navegante and Jorge Salcedo to kidnap Claudio's son from Gerda Salazar.
Taking advantage of the Cali cartel's exit, the Norte del Valle became the exclusive suppliers of the Juárez cartel of Mexico. As part of the agreement between Henao and Amado Carrillo Fuentes, Henao was permitted to send his men to kill Herrera as he lay low in Mexico. This attack coincided with another attack targetting Miguel Rodriguez at the opening of the Cali Fair. Both the Cali cartel leaders escape unharmed, but Herrera's brother Álvaro was left permanently paralyzed. Herrera retaliated by assassinating Ivan Urdinola Grajales and wiping out the remnants of Salazar family.
Henao, who supplied information about the Salazar family's whereabouts to Herrera, consolidated power with his right-hand man Wilber Varela and became the main leader of the cartel. After all Cali cartel leaders were imprisoned, he had Varela kill Miguel's son David. He later sent a sicario to murder Herrera in prison. After Carlos Castaño Gil killed José Santacruz Londoño and the Rodriguez brothers were stated to be extradited to the United States, the Cali cartel was effectively finished. With his cartel leading the cocaine production in Colombia, Montoya took some very radical steps to decentralize his operation.