Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, better known as "El Jefe de Jefes" (The Boss of Bosses), was considered one of the greatest and the first cocaine distributor to the United States, as well as the leader of the "Guadalajara Cartel." Born in 1946 in Culiacán, Sinaloa, the man also nicknamed "El Padrino" (The Godfather) was a member of the now-defunct Federal Judicial Police when he was young. He also served as a bodyguard for the children of the former governor of Sinaloa, Rodolfo Sánchez Celis, who led the state from 1963 to 1968. He was sponsored by Pedro Avilés Pérez, who commanded marijuana and heroin trafficking to the North American country in the 1970s and 1980s. Félix Gallardo allegedly managed to forge alliances with the violent leader of the Medellín cartel, Pablo Escobar Gaviria, and with the Honduran criminal Ramón Matta Ballesteros. At 43 years of age, "El Jefe de Jefes" caused a stir among various police forces, as his presence was known in cities such as Culiacán, Guadalajara, Tijuana, Tegucigalpa, and Medellín. On April 8, 1989, Félix Gallardo was arrested at one of his residences in Guadalajara, and was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2003. Additionally, in 2017, while serving his sentence, he was sentenced to another 37 years in prison for the murder of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena in 1985. In 2023, the former criminal leader was granted house arrest; he had been held at the "Puente Grande" prison in Jalisco due to health complications; however, as of 2026, his transfer had not been carried out due to the lack of a monitoring device that authorities consider adequate. Just two days ago, the transfer of the drug trafficker, now 80 years old, to a private hospital in Guadalajara was reported after he presented low blood oxygen levels, altered consciousness, and disorientation. The former criminal leader suffered from chronic illnesses, as well as loss of sight and hearing, which is why in 2023 he commented: "My health is terrible, my family is digging a hole for me to be buried in a tree."
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