Inside the Cartel

LA Times series of the Sinaloa cartel's drug trafficking distribution in the United States by Richard Marosi.

Part 1: Unraveling Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel
As drug smugglers from the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico sent a never-ending stream of cocaine across the border and into a vast U.S. distribution web in Los Angeles, DEA agents were watching and listening. Read more.

Part 2: The strands of the Sinaloa drug cartel web
Channeling the Mexican cartel's nonstop river of cocaine onto trucks bound for cities in the U.S. requires a vast labyrinth of smugglers working in L.A. And women like Lupita, a no-nonsense psychic with a short fuse. Read more.

Part 3: Flying high for the Sinaloa drug cartel
Times were good for Carlsbad pilot John Ward as he smuggled cocaine across the U.S. for Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. But the men at the other end -- they worried him. Read more.

Part 4: Suspicion in Mexico's Sinaloa cartel
Richard Marosi and Tracy Wilkinson. Why were drug smugglers' cocaine shipments being seized all over the U.S.? The boss in Mexico was demanding answers. He had no idea he was being targeted by the DEA's Operation Imperial Emperor. Read more.