THE EVIL EMPIRE

DEALING vast quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl - a drug 100 times more potent than heroin - is all in a day's work for the the most violent cartel in the world.

- BY CRAIG MCDONALD

Add in weapons trafficking, money laundering, gun battles, kidnapping and murder, and it's clear that few groups are as brutal as Mexico's feared Sinaloa Cartel.

The organisation traces its roots to the city of Culiacan, capital of Mexico's western Sinaloa state, in the 1960s when Pedro Aviles Perez - known as El Leon de la Sierra, or The Mountain Lion - became one of the first traffickers to use aircraft to smuggle drugs into the US.

The modern incarnation evolved in the late 80s, the cartel emerging from the remains of others dismantled by law enforcement in the region.

A boom period in the demand for narcotics, particularly cocaine and heroin in the US, provided the opportunity for vast profits.

Rivals or anyone who stood in its way were ruthlessly dispatched.

The group also systematically corrupted officials, realising that a payoff was the best way to ensure the drugs reached the market.

Once an official was on the payroll, there was no way out.

Via its ruthless but effective leadership, willing footsoldiers and the never-ending demand for drugs, the Sinaloa grew throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

Law enforcement estimated that Mexican cartels were responsible for 90 per cent of the cocaine smuggled into the US.

The Sinaloa became the dominant cartel, expanding into neighbouring states of Mexico such as Baja California, Sonora and Chihuahua.