Guerreros Unidos, a transnational crime organization (TCO) based in the Mexican state of Guerrero, has been linked to violent crimes, including the disappearance of 43 university students in 2014. The organization’s history of widespread violence, drug trafficking, corruption, and other crimes has made the Guerreros Unidos a notable concern to both the United States and Mexico. Understanding how this illicit network operates can provide valuable information on how to disrupt other transnational crime organizations. Social network analysis was used to map the relationships of members of the organization and measure their centrality within the network. The data for this analysis was collected from the United States v. Cuevas et al. (2014) indictment, which included wiretaps and surveillance conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). This counternarcotics operation included the Illinois subnetwork of the Guerreros Unidos organization. This portion of the Guerreros Unidos ne
MEXICO CITY — It is perhaps Mexico’s most notorious cold case — 43 college students shot at by police, forced into patrol cars, handed over to a drug cartel and never seen again. The mystery has haunted the nation for nearly a decade. How could a relatively unknown gang pull off one of the worst atrocities in Mexico’s recent history, with the help of the police and the military watching the mass abduction unfold in real time? A vast trove of about 23,000 unpublished text messages, witness testim
The Guerreros Unidos cartel that authorities say brothers Adan and Mario Casarrubias Salgado led fed Chicago’s appetite for heroin and is blamed for the massacre of 43 students in Mexico.