The infamous story of Juan José el “Azul” Esparragoza, the treacherous police officer who founded the Guadalajara cartel

Before joining two of Mexico’s most famous drug traffickers: Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Juan José Esparragoza “The Blue” He worked as a detective in the Federal Security Directorate, an intelligence agency of the Mexican government.

There he began to get involved with corrupt police officers linked to organized crime and later became one of the founders of the Guadalajara Cartel, a criminal organization that would lead nearly all drug operations in Mexico between the late 1970s and early 1980s.

However, his role in the drug trade is less well known than that of his colleagues in the Sinaloa cartel.

He is believed to have been born on February 3, 1949 in Huixiopa, a community of no more than 500 residents and located in Badiguarato: the same Sinaloan municipality where “Chapo” Guzmán was born.

In the last decade of the last century, US authorities called him the “peacemaker(Mediator), because several intelligence reports stated that he organized several meetings to discuss violent disputes between the cartels of Sinaloa, Juárez, Tijuana and the Gulf.

The organization agrees on this Insight Crime, who pointed out that “El Azul” served as a negotiator and intermediary between various drug trafficking organizations.

According to the magazine Method, “El Azul” got into the drug trade financing of marijuana crops and it became so important that his role played a key role in the development of drug traffickers in Sinaloa, particularly the Sinaloa Cartel.

When Esparragoza was one of the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, along with Guzmán Loera and Zambada, he served as central link in family relationships between criminal groups. Often he was chosen as a mediator in their conflicts.

Not few media have described it as “a drug lord“and”godfather of godparentsFor its ability to resolve issues with the authorities and other cartels. They have even pointed to him as the one responsible for maintaining relationships with political, police and military commanders.

Like “El Chapo”, Esparragoza has also been imprisoned three times, but unlike Guzmán Loera, he was released legally.

The first dates back to 1970, when he was arrested with him in Culiacán 700 kilos of marijuana. According to investigation by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), he was subsequently charged with crimes against health and sentenced to five years and three months in prison, although he was released on appeal nine months later.

Thirteen years later, in 1983, he was arrested in Baja California. According to the weekly ZetaBefore being arrested, he tried to bribe the judicial officers who had captured him with 7 million pesos in cash ($ 370,480). That time he was only three months behind bars, as his lawyers pleaded for freedom over the disappearance of evidence.

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