Los Negros

Los Negros
Founded2003
Founded byEdgar Valdez Villarreal
Founding locationNuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Years active2003−2010[1]
EthnicityMexican
Criminal activitiesDrug trafficking, people smuggling, money laundering, extortion, kidnapping, murder and arms trafficking
AlliesIsraeli mafia
RivalsBeltrán-Leyva Cartel
Gulf Cartel
MS-13
La Familia Cartel
Sinaloa Cartel
Los Zetas[citation needed]

Los Negros ('The Black Ones') was a criminal organization that was once the armed wing of the Sinaloa Cartel and after a switch of alliances, became the armed wing of the Sinaloa splinter gang, the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel. In 2010 it went independent and had been contesting the control of the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel. It was then the criminal paramilitary unit of Édgar Valdez Villarreal (a.k.a. "La Barbie") in Mexico. Valdez was arrested on August 30, 2010, near Mexico City.[2] Los Negros was led by Valdez at the time they merged with the Sinaloa Cartel.[3]

  1. ^ Vega, Aurora (7 August 2011). "Surgen cuatro grupos del narco en 2011; El Chapo es el capo más poderoso". Excelsior (in Spanish). Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  2. ^ "Mexico arrests 'drug lord' Edgar Valdez". BBC News. 2010-08-31. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  3. ^ "The Mexico drug war: Bodies for billions". CNN. 20 January 2012.