Benjamín Arellano Félix

The strategic leader of the Arellano Félix Organization (Tijuana Cartel), which controlled the lucrative Tijuana-San Diego border corridor. A nephew of Guadalajara Cartel boss Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, he inherited the Tijuana territory in the 1989 partition.

Along with his brother Ramón (the enforcer, killed in 2002), Benjamín built one of Mexico’s most feared cartels in the 1990s, engaging in a prolonged war with the Sinaloa Cartel. Arrested in March 2002, his capture — combined with Ramón’s death the same month — began the organization’s decline. His sister Enedina later became one of the few women to lead a major cartel faction.