Drug trafficking

Sinaloa Cartel is the greatest criminal drug threat to the U.S. and 'maintains the most expansive footprint' in the country despite its leader El Chapo being locked up for life

Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel is the greatest criminal threat to the United States despite its notorious leader Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán serving a life sentence behind bars, according to a new report.

The Drug Enforcement Agency on Thursday released its 2019 National Drug Threat Assessment report and found that the criminal syndicate, founded in 1988, 'maintains the most expansive footprint in the United States'.

The study found that El Chapo's old cartel is among the Mexican groups that pose 'the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States' and that there are no other organizations in the distance that are 'positioned to challenge them'.

'The Sinaloa Cartel maintains the most expansive footprint in the United States,' the report stated. 'While the Jalisco New Generation Cartel [Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación or CJNG] has become the second-most dominant domestic presence over the past few years.'