The DEA released its new list of top 10 drug traffickers Thursday with a few new faces. They represent the current Arellano-Felix cartel leadership but are currently not under indictment, according to investigators. See the entire poster here.
These individuals are principle cell leaders under Fernando Sanchez-Arellano aka "El Ingeniero" with the exception of Eduardo Teodoro Garcia-Simental aka "El Teo", Raydel Lopez-Uriarte (Top lieutenant for "El Teo") and Jose Filiberto Parra-Ramon (Top lieutenant for "El Teo").
Eduardo Teodoro Garcia-Simental and Fernando Sanchez-Arellano are currently engaged in a power struggle for control of the Tijuana/Baja drug trafficking corridor, according to the DEA.
“This is the new hierarchy, who's basically running the show down there now,” said Eileen Zeidler, the DEA's spokeswoman in San Diego told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Tijuana is the birthplace of the Arellano Felix cartel, which rose to power in 1980s. The city bordering San Diego recorded 843 killings last year, up from 337 a year earlier.
