The capture in Mexico of drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is not likely to stanch the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S., experts tell the Christian Science Monitor. The huge operation does not require the oversight of just one man to keep it going, and the cartel is deep in experienced hands who understand the nature of the business. Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel squashed most competitors and has come to dominate the drug-trafficking industry.
It’s responsible for 80 percent of the U.S. meth trade, says a study by Seguridad con Democracia, a think tank in Mexico that focuses on security issues. Central to the Sinaloa's US traffic-distribution network is Chicago. The centrally located city has become a hub for distributing drugs to other cities across the U.S. and its sizable Mexican population (both legal and illegal) provides the cartel with ready access to foot soldiers. “The Sinaloa presents its Chicago operatives with the drug of the day, and then those operatives have the organization that accomplishes the distribution to several dozen states,” says George Grayson, an emeritus professor of government at William and Mary College and the author of “The Cartels: The Story of Mexico's Most Dangerous Organizations and their Impact on US Security.”