Amado Carrillo Fuentes

* Narcos
* Real Life

**Amado Carrillo Fuentes** was a Mexican drug smuggler who led the Juárez Cartel. Known as the ***El Señor de Los Cielos*** (The Lord of the Skies) for his sophisticated air smuggling network using a fleet of private jets, he was one of Mexico's most powerful drug lords at the height of his career, having amassed a fortune of over $25 billion, rivaling Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

Initially, he was a part of the Guadalajara Cartel and was sent to Ojinaga to work under veteran smuggler Pablo Acosta and gained control of the Juárez plaza after Acosta's death in 1988. In 1989, he pulled the Juárez plaza out of the Guadalajara Cartel and formed the Juárez Cartel with Rafael Aguilar Guajardo. He seized power after murdering Aguilar in 1992 and quietly built his drug empire while the authorities were distracted by the conflict between the Sinaloa and Tijuana cartels. After getting the Cali Cartel to pay him in cocaine, he became Mexico's most powerful drug lord in 1994.

In 1997, his dealings with Carlos Hank González and General Jesús Gutiérrez Rebollo surfaced, and he became Mexico's most wanted drug trafficker overnight. Unable to flee the country, he relinquished power to his brother Vicente, staged his death and escaped to Chile.

## Biography

### Early life

Amado Carrillo Fuentes was born in Sinaloa On December 17 1956. He was the nephew of Ernesto "Don Neto" Fonseca Carrillo, one of the founders of the powerful Guadalajara Cartel. He grew up in poverty along with brother Vicente.

He worked in the Dirección Federal de Seguridad for two years, gained a pilot's license and purchased his first airplane. He also became involved in the marijuana trafficking business, and by 1980 had enough influence to run a small, heavily armed gang.

### Guadalajara Cartel

#### Félix's Pilot

In 1980, his uncle introduced him to Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, an ex-police officer from Sinaloa who worked for drug lord Pedro Avilés. Félix Gallardo hoped to create a confederation of drug traffickers and wanted someone to chauffeur him across the country to meet the leaders of each of the plazas to unite them under Avilés.

Carrillo who had recently purchased his first airplane, agreed to be Félix's pilot for the journey. He flew his uncle and Félix Gallardo to Ojinaga, where they met Pablo Acosta. After Acosta agreed to join the federation, Amado gave his fake Rolex to Acosta, which he gleefully accepted as a sign of the partnership. Then the trio headed to Tijuana and got the Arellano-Félix brothers on board and then met several other plaza leaders including Filemón Medina and Rene Verdugo Urquidez. Later, Amado and his uncle try cocaine for the first time at one of Alberto Sicilia Falcon's parties, beginning their addiction.

They return to Guadalajara, where Félix Gallardo hosted a meeting of all the smugglers to officially start their cartel. However, Pedro Avilés immediately removed Pablo Acosta from the partnership for not showing respect, breaking the consortium. Avilés decided to take Félix Gallardo back to Sinaloa and kill him for being an upstart. Carrillo offers to get his men and kill Pedro if necessary, but Félix Gallardo declined and politely thanked him.

Salvador Osuna Nava, the Director - General of the Dirección Federal de Seguridad (DFS) was one of the attendees of the meeting and was impressed by Félix's plan, and teamed up with Don Neto and rescued Félix Gallardo. Gallardo then shot and killed Pedro himself.

Félix later had Amado, Joaquín Guzmán Loera and Cuco to ambush a DFS agent responsible for the death of one of Ramón Arellano Félix's cousins. Amado and 'Chapo' Guzmán buried the agent alive after Ramón had shot him in his gonads.

Cartel leader Rafael Caro Quintero staged a fake kidnapping of his lover Sofia Conesa in order to elope, angering Conesa's father, who was the Secretary of Education. In exchange for Rafael's safety, Félix Gallardo agreed to do a personal favor for Osuna Nava. Carrillo is forced to fly a C-130 carrying high-grade American weapons to a rebel group in Nicaragua. However, upon landing, Félix and Carrillo are captured by the rebel group and are tortured as per Osuna Nava's orders till they are rescued by an American accompanying them.

Amado supported Félix's decision to shift the focus of the cartel from marijuana to cocaine, and often requested his boss to use planes to smuggle cargo instead of road vehicles. Amado also began repackaging marijuana before smuggling them across the border, angering Rafael, who found it to be disrespectful. The situation between Amado and Rafael worsened after Rafael angrily responded to Amado playfully flirting with Sofia. Rafael pointed a gun at Amado before he was stopped by Chapo and Cuco.

#### Under Pablo Acosta

In 1984, Félix Gallardo called in a meeting where he appointed Héctor Palma Salazar as the leader of operations in Mazatlan, and sent Amado to work under Acosta. Félix felt that Acosta was unreliable and wanted Amado to take over his operations, but Amado reported that he was impressed by Acosta's ingenious ways of hiding marijuana in trucks while transporting them and told him that it would be unwise to remove Acosta from the cartel.

November of that year, Rafael's prized farm: the Rancho Búfalo is raided by the Mexican military, causing damages worth up to $2.8 billion. Carrillo is sent to Ojinaga to convince Acosta that the game is still safe, and learned of Acosta's smuggling tricks, including carrying marijuana in the gas tanks of trucks. He also learned that Acosta valued human life more than other drug traffickers, and believed his men even if Amado thought that they were lying.

The source of the leak is found to be Enrique Camarena Salazar, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent. The DFS manipulate Rafael into ordering his kidnapping, and the agent is tortured and killed. His death sparks a retaliation from the United States, who close the Mexican border to apply pressure on the Mexican politicians. Caro Quintero fled to Costa Rica; but Félix Gallardo gave away his location in order to save himself. However, the bounty on Félix Gallardo's head is still not removed, and he, along with Don Neto go into hiding. Félix later also gave away the location of Don Neto, and disappeared with the help of Sinaloan governor Leopoldo Sánchez Celis.

After Félix Gallardo's disappearance, Benjamín called a meeting in Ensemada, which Carrillo attended, along with Acosta, Chapo, Ramon, Francisco Rafael Arellano Félix and Isabella Bautista. Benjamín proposed the organization to forget the arrests of the three leaders and continue smuggling, but he is interrupted when soldiers surrounded the compound, and Félix returned with a military escort to retake control of his organization. After the smugglers disperse, Amado told Félix that he is looking forward to working under Félix, subtly hinting that he is overlooking Félix's role in his uncle's arrest.

In order to establish Amado's aerial smuggling network, Félix Gallardo began funding the construction of two airstrips in Juárez. However, work on the airstrips came to a complete standstill after Acosta's mysterious disappearance. Upon Rafael Aguilar Guajardo's order, Amado began looking for Acosta, and was told that he was on the other side of the border. Amado crossed into the United States, and located his mentor, now living with Mimi Webb Miller, an American rancher, and contemplated retirement.

Acosta attempted to teach Amado about honor and morality, by warring against Fermín Arévalo who bailed Acosta out of prison when Acosta was 16 years old. Marco de Haro, Acosta's chief-of-security, killed one of Arévalo's sons after Acosta suspected them of stealing from him. Arévalo responded by sending a man to kill Acosta, but Acosta survived the attack. Pablo, Amado and Marco barge into the hospital where the assassin was being treated, and take him to the middle of a desert, where Marco began beating him, forcing the assassin to reveal that Arévalo paid him 2,500 pesos to kill Acosta. Acosta gathered a crew of heavily armed men to find and kill Arévalo. However, they discover that Arévalo wasn't there in his ranch, and instead find his wife Antonia. On their way back, their convoy is ambushed by Arévalo and his men. While Amado was distracted by the gunfight, Arévalo managed to sneak up behind and critically wound Acosta. Before he could fire the killing shot, he is shot dead by Amado.

Acosta returned to Mexico and met with Amado over dinner, bringing Mimi along with him. While Acosta went out to smoke, Mimi requested Amado to convince Acosta to retire; so that he could take over the Juárez plaza. Amado denied, saying that he would be unable to stop Miguel's retaliation in case of Acosta's retirement, and felt that Acosta would be safer in Juárez as opposed to the United States.

#### Dethroning Félix Gallardo

Meanwhile, Miguel wanted Amado to lead the cartel's transportation after Juan Matta-Ballesteros' arrest. He invited him to a meeting with Hélmer Herrera of the Cali cartel, to renegotiate terms of their agreement after Miguel won the support of the Gulf cartel, effectively monopolizing the Mexican smuggling industry. However, Juan Nepomuceno Guerra did not show up to the meeting, and Herrera informed him that his partners made a separate deal with the Gulf cartel, destroying Miguel's plan on dominating the Cali Cartel. In a desperate action to keep his organization relevant, Miguel told Herrera that he could transport 70 tons of cocaine in a day. The Colombians accept, and Miguel orders Amado to establish his air smuggling network.

Amado later went to Belize to purchase six Boeing 727s from a bankrupt Belizean airline. The newly purchased jets were flown to an airfield in Chiapas, and were stripped of the seats and other commercial airline amenities to make space for 70 tons of cocaine.

Acosta heard of Miguel attempting to smuggle 70 tons of cocaine, and sensed that the Guadalajara cartel was becoming weak. On his wife's insistence, he spoke to Walt Breslin about a possible witness protection program in the United States, but backed out and decided to give an interview to the American press about his relationship with the Guadalajara cartel. The interview angered officials on both sides of the border, and Acosta is killed in a joint MFJP-FBI raid on his hideout in Santa Elena.

The day before Acosta's death, Amado visited him and requested him to accept his help. Acosta mocked him, and said that he'd rather die as a *bandido* than as a rat. He then gave back the Rolex he received from Amado seven years ago; saying that he knew it was a fake all along. Amado began reconsidering his decision to work under Félix, as he felt that Félix might betray him in a whim for his own gains, just like he did to his uncle and Acosta.

However, the day before the delivery is to be made, one of the planes developed an electrical problem. Amado and one of his men spent the night stripping the plane apart, until they come across a tracker placed in the cockpit console. Knowing that his shipment is being tracked, he tells Miguel that he is delaying the shipment by a day, and set up an ambush while resulted in the death of several mercenaries hired by the DEA. The next day, the cocaine is flown from Chiapas to Juárez, and is split and given to all the plazas to smuggle it to the United States.

Félix Gallardo then tipped off the location of the warehouse holding the cocaine to the DEA, resulting in American authorities seizing cocaine valued at over $7 billion and money worth $12 million. While Félix Gallardo did this in order to gain leverage against the Cali Cartel, Herrera decided to push Félix out of the business by forming independent agreements with all plaza heads, including Amado. Amado was also disappointment with Félix's decision to have Hector Palma's wife and children brutally murdered for Palma's decision to leave the cartel.

In the subsequent cartel meeting, Benjamín announced that the Tijuana plaza would be leaving the cartel, followed by Chapo and Azul's announcement that the Sinaloa plaza would be leaving the cartel as well; just as Amado anticipated. After Aguilar announced that the Juárez plaza would be leaving as well, Amado told Félix that Acosta was mostly full of shit, but was right that the cost of doing business with Félix was too high. He revealed that he planned on the betrayal a long time ago, but instead opted to wait for the other plazas to leave him first due to Félix's tyrannical control over them. He and Aguilar then proceeded to form the Juárez Cartel.

After Félix's arrest, the leaders of the Juárez Cartel, Tijuana Cartel, Gulf Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel arranged a meeting and promised to work together in peace.

### Juárez Cartel

Working under Aguilar, Amado handled transportation for the newly formed Juárez Cartel. Sometime between 1989 and 1991, he married Marisol Ortiz, and the couple had their first child Anna in 1991. As Amado personally flew some shipments of cocaine across the country, he was unable to devote time to his family, and the couple separated with Anna living with her mother. Amado also developed a close and personal friendship with his supplier Pacho Herrera.

#### Reorganization

In 1992, Amado was forced to crash land a plane of cocaine in the desert in Chihuahua after one of the engines exploded. He had Manny bring his men and transfer the cocaine into their trucks. Military vehicles converge upon the crash site and corner Amado. The military commander General Jesús Gutiérrez Rebollo had Amado put under military arrest and had his men burn the cocaine and the $70,000 bribes offered to him.

Amado spent three months imprisoned at the Centro de Rehabilitación Social No. 4 in Parral. Seeing that nobody had arrived to pick him up, he took a bus to Juárez to see Aguilar. Aguilar said that it took him a lot of time to find the right people to bribe and blamed Amado for getting caught. Amado was further disappointed to know that Aguilar did not follow up on Amado's plan of buying warehouses on the other side of the border to spread out their operation, as Aguilar wanted to save money on rents.

He later went to his under construction home and had Manny tear it down and rebuild it. Manny informed him that he had received several calls from a woman named Marisol. Upon calling her back, Amado is devastated to learn that Anna had died of a respiratory attack while he was imprisoned. He drove to Marisol's home in Sinaloa and then to Anna's grave. Amado kept a toy biplane built by his daughter in her remembrance.

Amado and Aguilar head to a diner in the outskirts of the city to meet Carlos Hank González, a wealthy businessman and a powerful politician of the PRI party. Hank informed that his family-owned business conglomerate Grupo Hank is ostensibly expanding into Juárez in lieu of the signing of NAFTA, and he wanted to purchase land owned by the cartel. Additionally, he warned the drug traffickers to curb the violence and do their business discreetly, as negative publicity would affect his public perception.

Amado knew that Hank was not interested in drug trafficking as Hank's banking and transportation business netted better profit margins. However, he was enticed towards working with Hank as that would force the Juárez Cartel to be cautious and discreet in their actions. He also knew that Hank's racetrack casino in Tijuana laundered money for the Arellano-Félix family and was hoping that Hank could similarly help him launder money. At home, he phoned Marisol and told him that he was tired of being a bystander and staying on the outside of things. He went back to Aguilar's restaurant and executed his boss. After killing Aguilar, he went to the airport and had his men block the runway before Hank's plane could take off.

Amado told Hank that he was aware of the power he wielded over the President, and he would be giving the land Hank required for free. Hank pointed out that nothing gets done for free. Amado says that he wanted another meeting with Hank where he could present his business proposal. Hank informed their respective businesses do not have commonality, to which Amado replied that he is aware that he launders money for the Tijuana Cartel and wants something similar. Hank agreed and then inquired about Aguilar.

With Aguilar gone, Amado initiated a drastic reorganization of the cartel. He hired accountant Gerardo Corral to covertly steal funds from his business allies and brought his brother Vicente into the organization to kill Aguilar's allies. Amado then implemented the "cell system", in which the cartel functioned as an efficient collection of independent cells so that his organization isn't brought down in one swoop. He developed an automated system to coordinate drug shipments within the cells in which drug mules would move drugs across the border without the need for any human supervision.

To buy time for the sudden reorganization, he personally went to Colombia and asked Pacho Herrera to temporarily suspend drug shipments. While initially reluctant, Pacho changed his mind after he was impressed by Amado's persistence and heard of his daughter's demise. Pacho gave Amado a month to work on reorganizing.

After watching the news report on Pablo Escobar's death, Amado phoned Pacho to congratulate him and invited the leaders of the Cali Cartel for a meeting in Havana, Cuba. Cali leaders Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, José Santacruz Londoño, and Pacho were help up at the airport so Amado asked the hotel manager to extend his reservation and noticed the manager forcing the pianist to work overtime.

When the three Cali cartel leaders arrived, Amado congratulated them for their over the Medellín Cartel and told them it was time for renegotiations. He asked to be paid in cocaine for moving their loads and was met with laughter from Santacruz and Rodríguez. Amado reminded them that they became the DEA's main target after the fall of Escobar and told them that if he entered the cocaine retail business he would cut the Cali cartel's exposure in half and thereby take the heat away from them. Furthermore, he added that they would negotiate like proper businessmen to fix prices and divide territories, unlike "savages" like Félix and Escobar. After Pacho vouched for Amado the Cali Cartel agreed to pay Amado in cocaine.

Pacho warned that the other drug traffickers in Mexico wouldn't take too kindly to the deal they've made and also told that he had a flight to catch and wouldn't be able to celebrate with Amado. Amado then went to the hotel bar and apologized to Marta Linares, the pianist. A romantic connection soon began to develop between the two.

Meanwhile, the Tijuana and Sinaloa Cartel's conflict escalated into a full-scale war after Chapo attempted to assassinate the Arellano-Félix family at Puerto Vallarta. In retaliation for the attack, Ramón Arellano Félix tried to kill Chapo at the Guadalajara International Airport, but the ensuing shootout resulted in the death of Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo. The death of Cardinal Posadas led to a public outcry against the drug traffickers, forcing the leaders of the Sinaloa and Tijuana cartels to go into hiding.

Amado met Hank in Mexico City and informed him about his deal with the Cali Cartel. He proposed a partnership in which he would use Grupo Hank's transportation network to move cocaine into the United States in exchange for a cut in profits. Hank expressed his hesitance to invest in the drug trade following the Cardinal's death. Still Amado iterated that his organization was built to function discreetly. As the Tijuana and Sinaloa cartels occupied the spotlight, Amado's organization would expand quietly without attracting significant attraction from the media. Hank's agreement led to Amado becoming one of Mexico's most wealthiest traffickers. To ensure that the spotlight remained on the Tijuana and Sinaloa cartels, Amado began paying monthly bribes of $200,000 to General Rebollo. Rebollo deployed the Mexican Army in Tijuana and intensified military raids in Sinaloa as part of the deal.

#### Cali's Exit

After the fall of the Medellín Cartel in 1994, the Cali Cartel announce that they were in the midst of negotiating a surrender deal with the government of Colombia. As per the agreement, the cartel would cease it's cocaine production. Amado, whose operation heavily relied on the Cali Cartel, was disappointment by the news.

Colombia's Norte del Valle Cartel expressed disappointment over the surrender deal, and as a result, Pacho Herrera murdered one of the cartel's leaders. Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela decided to send Pacho to Mexico to lie low and inform Amado that they would doubling their output for the next six months.

Pacho and his brother, Alvaro Herrera arrived in Mexico and greeted Amado as he arrived in a plane full of U.S. dollars, half of it belonging to the Cali Cartel. Amado attempted to convince Pacho to form an independent venture after the Cali Cartel surrendered, but Pacho refused. Amado took him to Juárez, and explained to him the importance of the newly signed NAFTA between the USA and Mexico, and warned him that he is quitting the right business at the wrong time. Pacho refused again, reaffirming that his loyalty lied to the Rodriguez brothers, the leaders of the Cali Cartel.

Amado began searching for new suppliers, and was immediately contacted by Orlando Henao Montoya of the Norte del Valle cartel. Since Henao and Amado shared a similar view of the future, they agreed to work together. However, as part of their deal, Amado reluctantly gave away the location of Pacho's hideout in Mexico. Henao, who was looking to take revenge on Pacho for the murder of Claudio Salazar sent a brigade of *sicarios* to attack Pacho. The attack was unsuccessful, as Pacho had survived, but his brother was left permanently paralyzed.

## Personality

Like his mentor Felix Gallardo, Amado was shrewd and highly ambitious. He pioneered the idea of using private jets to fly cocaine across Mexico, revolutionizing his cartel. Amado was a highly astute cartel leader and saw the potential of cocaine way before Caro Quintero, causing Felix to favor him instead of Caro Quintero.

Amado was very laid back and likeable, and rarely made enemies while working under Félix Gallardo, unlike Chapo or Palma Salazar. However, despite this, as Acosta had noted, Amado lacked loyalty much like Félix Gallardo. Amado worked with Félix despite knowing that Félix betrayed his uncle, and betrayed Pacho Herrera despite forming a close friendship with him in order to work with the Norte del Valle cartel. This was ultimately demonstrated when he began plotting the overthrowing of Félix Gallardo in the late 1980s. Despite this, Félix, while imprisoned, recognized that Amado would be the wealthiest and most powerful drug trafficker Mexico has ever known (a prediction which came true). This is further proved by the fact that in 1994, the Cali cartel paid Amado in cocaine, something which Félix unsuccessfully tried to achieve. Although Amado regularly relies on his men to do jobs for him, he's not unwilling to do them himself.

Having been a pilot before, Amado knows how to fly planes, having flown planes that smuggled narcotics from Colombia to Mexico. He's also accustomed to use guns, but doesn't frequent them unless he's under attack.

## Gallery

Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and Amado.Amado and Acosta in Ojinaga.Amado protecting Acosta against an ambush set up by Fermín Arévalo. Amado ended up killing Arévalo.Amado purchasing jet planes at an auction in Belize.Amado tells Félix that his career is over.Amado arrested by the military in 1992.Amado gave the land Hank required for free.Amado convinced the Cali Cartel to pay him in cocaine following Escobar's death.Amado and Pacho in Juárez, 1994.Amado overlooking the city he controlled.
## Trivia

* He is one of the 12 characters that appears in both *Narcos* and *Narcos: Mexico* (the other characters are Orlando Henao Montoya, Jorge Velásquez, Blackie, Juan Diego Díaz, Poison, Hélmer Herrera, Chepe Santacruz, Miguel Rodriguez, Gilberto Rodriguez, Jorge Salcedo and Pablo Escobar)

## Appearances

 "**La Última Frontera**"**Appears**

 "**El Dedazo**"**Appears**

 "**La Jefa**"**Appears**