How Mexico Became a Gangster Haven

By Boss Gu, rewritten in English by Mr. Y

A recent news story has gone viral on the Chinese internet, causing a stir in online public opinion. This story is about a Chinese man who became a major drug lord in Mexico. Zhang Zhidong, born in Beijing in 1987, graduated from the Spanish Department of Peking University, and is fluent in Spanish and chemistry.

From 2016 onwards, using the alias "Brother Wang", he purchased large quantities of fentanyl precursors from China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and other countries, transporting them to Mexican ports before distributing them to drug manufacturing plants of the two biggest cartels in Mexico. He also served as a chemical consultant, guiding the synthesis of high-purity fentanyl.

Using foreign trade companies and shell companies spread across multiple countries, he not only continuously supplied drug-making materials to Mexican drug cartels but also laundered huge sums of drug money through a complex money laundering network, becoming a transnational drug trafficking intermediary with an annual turnover exceeding $100 million.

He was wanted by both the US and Mexico and was finally arrested in Cuba in October 2025 and extradited to the US.

For a long time, Mexico has been perceived by the world as a haven for drug traffickers and gangs. This news undoubtedly reaffirms this stereotype.

Mexico's appearances in international news are always about gang warfare or armed clashes between gangs and the government. For example, last year's Mexican election was accompanied by the brutal violence of gangs. Dozens of candidates were eliminated by gangs, some even murdered in public. The reason for the massacres was that any candidate who dared to declare their intention to fight the gangs would be targeted.

Why are Mexican gangs so rampant? Mexicans have their own explanation: because Mexico is too far from paradise and too close to the United States. What is the rationale behind this statement? Isn't having the world's largest developed country nearby a good thing? Even a small leak of wealth from the US can make Mexico incredibly rich. When American companies want to relocate, Mexico is their first choice—it's so close, labor is cheap, and transportation costs are low; they can easily transport goods back by truck.

When American companies want to relocate, Mexico is their first choice—it's so close, labor is cheap, and transportation costs are low; they can easily transport goods back by truck.

However, the most common destination for American industrial relocation was not Mexico, but East Asia. Why was this? This brings us back to a key item we just mentioned-drugs.

In the early 20th century, drugs were legal in the United States, and American doctors used opium extensively to treat patients. At that time, people did not fully understand the addictive nature of opium. Opium derivatives, such as tincture, morphine, and heroin, were used as painkillers.

In 1906, the United States enacted the Pure Food and Drug Act, which required manufacturers to list any narcotic ingredients contained in their food products. In 1909, the United States officially enacted the Opium Prohibition Act, simultaneously banning and closing all opium dens.

Even many American housewives would give their crying children a few sips of tincture.

In 1906, the United States enacted the Pure Food and Drug Act, which required manufacturers to list any narcotic ingredients contained in their food products. In 1909, the United States officially enacted the Opium Prohibition Act, simultaneously banning and closing all opium dens.

Because only opium was prohibited and its derivatives were not, users switched from opium to the more dangerous morphine and heroin.

In 1914, the United States issued another ban, prohibiting all non-medicinal opioid preparations and cocaine, but marijuana remained legal. By this time, high-purity heroin had emerged, becoming the most dangerous drug.

With demand for drugs, the drug trade naturally became a business for gangs.

To facilitate transportation and evade inspection, gangs refined opium into high-purity heroin before selling it. With the gradual tightening and implementation of US laws, large-scale opium cultivation is no longer possible within the United States. Mexico's climate was ideal, and from the early 20th century, Mexico became a major drug-producing nation.

After the US enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act, many Chinese migrated to Mexico; one of the main industries these Chinese engaged in was opium cultivation.

Opium cultivation has always been a livelihood for the poor, even the poorest people in many impoverished countries, such as the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia, Mexico, and Afghanistan. The Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century, with its war and subsequent impoverishment, led even more people to join the opium industry.

Thus, Mexico gradually became the most important source of drugs for the United States.

In 1920, the United States enacted Prohibition. People then established numerous distilleries along the Mexican border and smuggled alcohol into the United States.

It is clear that it was the United States' control over drugs and alcohol that turned Mexico into a hub of the “dark” economy. Therefore, the Mexican saying "Mexico is too close to the United States" is not merely a joke; it reveals a dark and poignant chain of cause and effect.

In 1937, the United States further intensified its anti-drug efforts, including marijuana in the list of prohibited substances, and marijuana entered the black market from then on. Naturally, Mexicans began cultivating marijuana again.

The US-Mexico border is very long, making smuggling virtually uncontrollable, resulting in large quantities of Mexican-made drugs being smuggled into the United States.

Had the US government done anything about it? Of course. As early as 1917, at the request of the US government, Mexico began an anti-drug campaign. However, with the outbreak of World War II, all production revolved around the war. Morphine was a crucial battlefield drug, and rope weaving required hemp fiber. Consequently, Mexican opium and marijuana became encouraged industries.

During this period, drug cultivation and production in Mexico were considered agriculture, with little involvement from gangs. At most, farmers would bribe local police, as the anti-drug campaign was relatively moderate.

The transportation and trafficking of drugs, however, were entirely dominated by gangs.

It was in the 1970s that Mexico truly became a country rife with drug lords.

US President Nixon officially established the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and launched the War on Drugs.

This war began in 1971, and the US waged it for nearly half a century, accumulating over $1 trillion in expenditure. However, the results were less than satisfactory. In 2017, the year drug kingpin Guzman was extradited to the United States, more than 70,000 people died from drug abuse in the U.S., more than ten times the number in 1971; and the shipment of drugs from Mexico to the United States continues to increase.

In 1977, US reconnaissance aircraft were allowed to enter Mexican airspace at low altitudes, and the US directly used aircraft to spray pesticides on opium and marijuana farms, destroying them. The Mexican military also deployed tens of thousands of troops to clear out plantations. This was the famous Operation Condor.

Such a massive effort naturally yielded some results. According to official statistics, two years later, the amount of marijuana flowing from Mexico into the US decreased by half. At the same time, prices nearly doubled.

The joint crackdown by the US and Mexican governments made it unsustainable for small-scale farmers; as a result, some plantations either united or merged, gradually becoming concentrated in the hands of large-scale farmers. This allowed them to obtain higher incomes, which they used to bribe local politicians, the military, and the police.

These large farmers, on the one hand, bribed local Mexican officials, and on the other hand, purchased weapons and equipment to resist. Thus, drug lords began to emerge in Mexico.

At this time, drug lords primarily relied on bribery, with little armed confrontation. Drugs had become a pillar industry in Mexico, supporting millions. Drug traffickers employed large numbers of young people and maintained strict control over their staff; employees were forbidden from using drugs or drinking alcohol, and their earnings had to be deposited in local banks. Local police and officials, bribed into service, were not enthusiastic about anti-drug efforts.

In 1995, the brother of a former Mexican president was arrested; an investigation revealed that he had hundreds of accounts in Swiss banks with deposits totaling $500 million, primarily derived from bribes from drug traffickers. The fact that even the president's brother was bribed by drug traffickers demonstrated the deep quagmire Mexico was mired in.

This posed a significant headache for the US government: how could it ensure the integrity of the Mexican government? Moreover, during the decades of Prohibition, numerous US officials had also been corrupted, with even gang members becoming members of Congress.

The real large-scale confrontation between Mexican cartel and the government began in 2006. Newly inaugurated President Calderón launched a new drug war.

Previous Mexican presidents were not particularly enthusiastic about combating drugs. In the 1970s, when Nixon requested Mexico's cooperation in the anti-drug campaign, the Mexican government even ignored him. Nixon then ordered a complete closure of the more than 4,000-kilometer US-Mexico border, deploying about 420K military and police personnel and over 100,000 vehicles. The Mexican government was greatly shocked and, under pressure from the US, had no choice but to cooperate.

After Calderón came to power, he made combating drug cartels his top priority; his reasoning was that drug cartels had become powerful enough to threaten the government's authority. Thus, the real drug war began. The Mexican government launched a massive joint anti-drug operation, including clashes between rival drug cartels for territory and low-intensity asymmetric warfare between drug cartels and the Mexican government.

According to Mexican media, the "drug war" has so far claimed over 300,000 lives and left 73,000 missing. On January 30, 2019, then-Mexican President López Obrador announced the end of Mexico's "drug war". Whether such a devastating war was necessary has been a focal point for media in both the US and Mexico.

In comparison, in 2012, the US saw 3,635 deaths from heroin use, 88,000 from alcoholism, and a staggering 480,000 from smoking.

Unexpectedly, the biggest consequence of the drug war has been that Mexico has become a country where most of its territory is controlled by gangs.

Some might say, "Just arrest all the bosses, what's so difficult about that?" That's exactly what the Mexican government thought, and Calderón's government forces were no pushovers. From 2006 to 2012, 25 of Mexico's 37 major drug lords were captured or killed. And the result? The void left by the dead or captured drug lords has been filled by countless smaller gangs within the original criminal organizations.

This is the Hydra principle of organized crime: take down one big one, and nine smaller ones will emerge.

Because drug profits weren't high enough, these small criminal organizations diversified their operations, including kidnapping. During the drug war, kidnappings in Mexico surged by 317%. Not only the rich were kidnapped, but the poor were also targeted for money.

Countless new small gangs engaged in large-scale shootouts to seize territory. In 2006, when the drug war began, Juárez, Mexico's most important drug city, saw 178 organized crime murders. In 2007, this number rose to 2,673, and in 2009, it reached 6,525. Juárez suddenly became the world's most violent city, with 132 murders per 100,000 people and 142 kidnappings per million. On October 29, 2010, Juárez surprisingly saw no murders, and the next day, the local newspaper's headline read, "No one was killed yesterday".

Even more interestingly, after the Mexican government withdrew its troops from Juarez, a drug lord known as "El Chapo" gradually regained control of the city. By 2012, the total number of violent deaths in Juarez had actually dropped to 750.

The war on drugs led to a surge in drug prices, which in turn provided drug traffickers with more funds, allowing them to purchase large quantities of weapons to fight against government forces. Moreover, their equipment was generally superior to that of the police, and in some cases even superior to that of the military. The enormous sums of money could also be used to bribe a large number of government officials. Even some members of the Mexican special forces who had received counter-terrorism training ended up joining criminal organizations.

Fueled by the profits from drug trafficking, Mexican gangs have grown to a terrifying level of power.

In the Mexican gangs' mindset, those who accept bribes are friends, those who refuse are to be killed.

The drug war has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of mayors and thousands of police officers, a staggering number.

The Mexican drug war not only failed to eliminate drug lords but also turned Mexico into a haven for organized crime.

Meanwhile, the situation in the United States is no better. The anti-drug campaign launched since the 1970s has resulted in a staggering 30 million marijuana users in the US today. In 1970, the number of habitual marijuana users in the US was only 180,000.

Today, in New York City alone, 600,000 people are arrested for drug possession, 56% of whom are Black.

In 2013, the number of prisoners in the US increased by 800% compared to 1980; the US population accounts for 5% of the world's total, but its prison population accounts for nearly a quarter of the world's total. More than half of these prisoners are involved in drug-related crimes.

A U.S. Department of Education investigation found that between 1979 and 2012, state and local government spending on elementary and secondary education increased by 107%, while spending on criminal penalties increased by 324%. During the same period, the number of state and local prisons and punishment facilities more than quadrupled, exceeding the U.S. population growth rate by more than seven times.

There has been a persistent force in the U.S. pushing for marijuana legalization. This is also a focal point of partisan politics, with Democratic states generally legalizing marijuana while Republican states have largely refused.

After legalization, the price of marijuana plummeted to a quarter of its original price. Mexican drug cartel farms began abandoning marijuana cultivation, resulting in a significant decrease in income.

Therefore, there is a basic consensus among the U.S. middle and upper elites that marijuana legalization is the most effective way to combat drug trafficking. However, Republicans have a particular preference for regulating personal matters such as gambling, drug use, prostitution, and abortion, and are naturally unwilling to support the proposal for marijuana legalization.

Of course, an even bigger issue lies ahead. While marijuana has low addictiveness and a near-zero mortality rate, what about more potent drugs like heroin?

Banning it would mean feeding drug smuggling; not banning it, however, seems difficult to justify.

But it's conceivable that as long as the US maintains a strong anti-drug stance, drug profits will remain a hundredfold, and the entire Central and South America will continue to serve as a cultivation base for American drug consumers.

Similarly, China's ban on gambling has led to a surge in the number of casinos in neighboring countries, primarily targeting Chinese customers. The gambling industry has also spawned numerous organized crime groups. Whether local underground casinos or licensed casinos in Southeast Asia, most are controlled by gangs. Even in Northeast China, a underground casino operator surnamed Zhao has become a local emperor with 100 km² of autonomy in Myanmar's Golden Triangle, where a large number of black industries gathered.

Black industries and organized crime are natural twins; they are like a malignant tumor that is difficult to eradicate.

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