Title: Drug cartel | Britannica
Headings: Drug cartel
Drug cartel
Colombian drug cartels
Mexican drug cartels
Other cartels
Narco-terrorists
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Drug cartel

Content: The Sinaloa cartel amassed power through murder, bribes, and innovative smuggling techniques, notably the use of tunnels. In the early 2000s, the Mexican government, aided by U.S. officials, intensified its efforts to crack down on cartels, imprisoning numerous leaders. The resulting turf battles sparked unprecedented violence in Mexico. Joaquín Guzmán
Joaquín (“El Chapo”) Guzmán following his capture, 2014. Eduardo Verdugo/AP Images
Other cartels
Organized-crime groups in Asia, Africa, Italy, and the former Soviet Union have also been linked to the sale and production of illegal narcotics. Israeli, Russian, and west European drug traffickers are primarily responsible for the sale and distribution of Ecstasy. Criminal groups in Southeast and Southwestern Asia use New York City as a hub to move heroin into the United States. The sale and distribution of marijuana from Southeast Asia is generally limited to the West Coast, but marijuana also enters the United States from Canada. Narco-terrorists
The end of the Cold War and a new focus on terrorism altered the terminology of the drug war. The narco-terrorist organization emerged as a new threat, defined as an organized group that participated in drug trafficking in order to fund politically motivated terrorist activities.