Juan Rucío

## Juan Rucío de Guzmán

### Overview

**Juan Rucío de Guzmán**, also known as "**El Saguaro**" due to having spent a large part of his childhood in the isolated Sonora Desert, was an international crime boss and the founder of the Saguaro Cartel and The Federation. Juan began his career as a hitman for the Ladrón Familia gang in Mexico City. Eventually, Juan organized an alliance within the gang, and formed the Saguaro Cartel. After partnering with the Caracas Cartel, Juan overtook the drug trafficking industry in Mexico and the Americas. In 1986, Juan established The Federation, which went on to became the world's premier organized crime group.

## Biography

### Early Life

Juan Rucío de Guzmán was born in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico on January 15th, 1934. Juan's father, Javier Rucío, was an up-and-coming gang leader in Juarez until the eventual dissolution of his gang. Juan's mother was killed by the opposing gangsters in Chihuahua, and Javier and him fled to Sonora where they resided in isolation. Juan's father fell to poverty and alcoholism, and Juan subsequently did not receive formal education and often suffered physical abuse. In 1943, Javier died of liver failure, after which Juan traveled throughout several neighboring towns, living homeless and as a thief.

### Organized Crime

At 15 years old, Juan arrived in Mexico City and eventually began to earn payment as a fighter in the underground boxing scene. He was eventually recruited by a local gang leader under the Ladrón Familia Gang. Juan began his career as a low-level enforcer, and later became a trusted hitman as he established a relationship with the organization's leaders, Alejandro and Antonio Ladrón. In 1953, Juan was arrested for the murder of two men in an alleyway, but was later acquitted of both counts of homicide. Due to not disclosing information about the Ladrón organization, Juan proved his allegiance and was made a powerful figure in the group. Post-1953, Juan oversaw the trafficking of cannabis throughout Mexico, and later expanded the group's illicit activities into heroin and human smuggling.

### The Saguaro Cartel

In 1979, the Ladrón Familia became an early participant in the cocaine trade, however their success was hindered by the opposing Juarez Cartel, which controlled all smuggling operations in Chihuahua and to the United States. A feud eventually broke out between the Ladrón brothers and Juan, as the latter sought an alliance, while Juan pushed for war between the two organizations. The disagreement led to the murder of both Alejandro and Antonio Ladrón, as Juan established his own following within their cartel and caused the dissolution of the Ladrón Familia in the same year of 1979. With the disbandment of the former, the Saguaro Cartel was formed, and Juan began a gang war with the Juarez Cartel. The conflict continued until 1986, when the Juarez Cartel ceased all operations and at the same time, Juan entered a criminal alliance with the Caracas Cartel in Venezuela.

### The Federation

The coalition, which became known as the Rucío-Menéndez Federation, came into existence to cripple the Colombian cartels, which had controlled the cultivation and trafficking of cocaine out of South America since the industry began. This partnership became the early model for The Federation, as by the 1990s, both the Fortaleza Command of Brazil and the Buenos Aires Cartel of Argentina had joined the alliance. Despite a successful relationship between the Saguaro Cartel and the Caracas Cartel, Juan betrayed the Venezuelan gang in 1995, and quickly ordered the assassination of Víctor Menéndez and the ceasement of all operations with his organization. Within months, the Caracas Cartel crumbled and Juan claimed Venezuela and several neighboring nations as the sole territory of the Saguaro Cartel.