Barrio Azteca

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Barrio Azteca (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈbarjo asˈteka]), or Los Aztecas (pronounced [los asˈtekas]), is a Mexican-American street and prison gang originally based in El Paso, Texas, USA and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The gang was formed in the Coffield Unit, located near Tennessee Colony, Texas by Jose "Raulio" Rivera, a prisoner from El Paso, in the early 1980s. It expanded into a transnational criminal organization that traded mainly across the US-Mexico border. Currently one of the most violent gangs in the United States, they are said to have over 3,000 members across the country in locations such as New Mexico, Texas, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania as well as at least 5,000 members in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. In 2008, Barrio Azteca formed an alliance with La Línea, the armed wing of the Juárez Cartel, to fight off the forces of the Sinaloa Cartel, who were attempting to take over the drug smuggling routes in the area. Control of the routes in Ciudad Juárez, known as the "Juárez plaza," is vital for drug trafficking organizations, since they are a major illicit conduit into the United States. The DEA estimates that about 70% of the cocaine to enter the United States does so through the area. The gang's primary source of income derives from smuggling drugs across the border from Mexico to the United States. They are also responsible for the distribution and sale of narcotics both in and outside prisons. Besides drug trafficking, they have been charged with a medley of different crimes. The gang, which operates in the U.S. and Mexico, has morphed into a prime example of the "cross-border nature of Mexico's drug war." Members may either be US or Mexican citizens. Most of the violence associated with the gang occurs in Mexico. By June 2020, the Sinaloa Cartel's Los Salazar cell,...