00:00 "Does your boss know what you're doing? What he's gonna do to you, Johnny, when he finds out?"
00:04 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the most infamous female narcos,
00:08 ranging from assassins to money launderers to cartel bosses.
00:12 "When she was taken into custody a few months later, her brothers were arrested,
00:16 so she was pretty fundamental in bringing down her entire clan."
00:20 Griselda Blanco. Some called her the cocaine godmother. Others dubbed her the Black Widow,
00:27 a title attributed to the deaths of her three husbands.
00:30 The name Griselda alone was enough to intimidate anyone, which allegedly included Pablo Escobar.
00:36 "Was it for Griselda Blanco, there would be no Pablo Escobar."
00:39 Before she was even a teenager, Blanco was linked to kidnapping and murder.
00:45 Blanco only got more blood on her hands as she became a leading figure in the Miami drug war.
00:50 "En esta maletica, nosotros tenemos el poder de devolverle la emoción a esas vidas aburridas,
00:58 y que se les vuelvan excitantes otra vez."
01:02 It'd take the authorities nearly a decade to arrest Blanco.
01:05 "After over 10 years of intense investigation, Miami and Metro Police say they have enough
01:10 evidence to pin the 1982 murders of three Dade County people on this woman, 51-year-old Grisela
01:16 Blanco." While Blanco could have been responsible for over 200 deaths, most of them didn't factor
01:22 into the charges against her. Released and deported in 2004 due to health issues, Blanco
01:28 survived another eight years before she was gunned down by a motorcyclist, a move from her own
01:34 playbook.
01:34 Growing up in Guatemala near the border of Mexico, Cotón Vázquez was abducted and forced into
01:42 marriage by the time she was 18. After her cruel husband left, she provided for her five children
01:48 by selling illegal goods. Cotón Vázquez's second husband was Juan Alberto Ortiz López,
01:54 a drug lord whom she inherited the business from. Gaining ties to Sinaloa cartel leader
01:59 Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, Cotón Vázquez became known for her violent tendencies and
02:04 taking on a hands-on role in trafficking. The formerly low-income woman reportedly moved 40
02:10 tons of cocaine between Central America and North America before being captured in 2014.
02:15 Cotón Vázquez regained her freedom by supplying testimony that would put away fellow narcos,
02:20 supposedly returning to her hometown of Maracatán.
02:23 "Queenpin" is a term that can be applied to many women, but there's only one "Queen of the Pacific."
02:32 Whereas Griselda Blanco and Sebastiana Cotón Vázquez essentially came from nothing,
02:39 Sandra Ávila Beltrán was born into the drug world. She shares family ties with Rafael
02:44 Caro Quintero and Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, co-founders of the Guadalajara cartel. Don't call
02:50 her a "Nepo" narco, though. This drug lord ascended to the top of the cartel world,
02:55 commanding ships that smuggled tons of cocaine between Mexico's Pacific coast and North America,
03:00 hence the "Queen of the Pacific" title.
03:02 No, no descansas. Estás cambiándote constantemente de ciudad, de casa. No puedes tener amistades,
03:12 no puedes ver a tu familia. Es agobiando.
03:19 After being arrested in 2007 and extradited to the U.S. five years later, Ávila Beltrán was
03:24 released in 2015. She currently resides in Guadalajara a free woman.
03:29 Enedina Arellano Félix Enedina Arellano Félix is another
03:34 drug queenpin who has kept it in the family. Along with her six brothers, Félix became synonymous
03:39 with the Tijuana cartel. Initially, money laundering and finances were Félix's areas of
03:45 expertise. After her brother Eduardo was arrested in 2008, Enedina stepped up as the organization's
03:50 head.
03:51 Me pareció buena idea que nos conociéramos todos. Necesitamos más.
03:57 Al menos 700 kilos esta vez.
04:00 Enedina's tactics might be more business-oriented than her brothers,
04:03 who were more prone to violence. Of course, nobody becomes the leader of a cartel without
04:09 being ruthless. As journalist Javier Valdez said,
04:12 "The women who rise high in it are very rare. They have to be extremely intelligent,
04:18 talented, and brave." Enedina Arellano Félix is a prime example,
04:23 making connections with other prominent traffickers while keeping the authorities at a distance.
04:27 Where Enedina Arellano Félix has a fairly peaceful approach,
04:38 Melissa Calderón is as violent as they come. By the time she was in her 20s,
04:43 this Mexican native had joined the Sinaloa cartel, eventually becoming the head of its
04:47 subdivision, the Damaso Cartel. Following the death of her boyfriend,
04:51 Calderón lost this position to Sergio Villareal Barragán, aka "El Grande."
04:56 Unwilling to take this lying down, Calderón teamed up with another boyfriend,
05:01 Héctor Pedro Camarena Gómez. Adopting the names "La China" and "El Chino,"
05:06 the couple commanded an army of killers known as "Las Fuerzas Especiales de los Damaso."
05:11 More than 150 deaths have been traced to Calderón,
05:15 who led an estimated 300 sicarios before her capture in 2015 and subsequent incarceration.
05:21 Earning the alias "Doña Digna," Baye came from a notorious drug trafficking family.
05:28 Every month, they transported cocaine said to be worth tens of thousands.
05:33 Locals feared Baye's brothers, who were known for capturing and assaulting women.
05:38 Baye herself was every bit as callous, believing anyone who knew too much about her family should
05:43 be killed. At the same time, Baye and her family commanded respect throughout their community.
05:48 In exchange, Baye supplied security and jobs with limitless wealth at her disposal.
05:53 "So you have families like the Baye Cartel sort of being these alternative powers
05:58 and creating their own kind of governments."
06:00 After Baye was arrested while visiting Miami in 2014,
06:04 her brothers unsuccessfully plotted to assassinate the president of Honduras for
06:08 failing to protect them. Baye ultimately pleaded guilty to drug trafficking,
06:12 although she'd serve a little over half of her 10-year sentence.
06:16 "If the Baye family ever felt that that loyalty was not honored, they would often
06:21 send out people to kill villagers that they didn't think were onside."
06:26 María Guadalupe López Esquivel
06:29 This cartel boss gained a reputation for being as alluring as she was lethal.
06:33 Esquivel joined the New Generation Cartel in 2017 upon entering a romantic relationship with fellow
06:39 member Miguel "El M2" Fernández. It didn't take long for Esquivel to climb up the chain of command,
06:45 becoming much more than an assassin. She was practically a soldier,
06:49 leading charges against the police, military, and National Guard.
06:53 Esquivel became known as "La Catrina," a name linked to the Day of the Dead.
06:58 Although this spoke to Esquivel's merciless methods, it also foretold her fate.
07:03 In January 2020, Esquivel was hit in the neck during a shootout.
07:07 A helicopter arrived to escort her out of the area, but the 21-year-old died shortly after liftoff.
07:12 Mareixa and Mayra Limos
07:15 It's not uncommon for drug traffickers to have government connections.
07:19 The Limos sisters had especially close ties, their brother Magno being mayor of Mojuta.
07:24 After a heart attack claimed his life in 2009, Mayra stepped in to finish his term.
07:29 Feared by the community, rumors circled that Mayra murdered her husband, among others.
07:34 Mayra aspired to remain in office, organizing a campaign in 2011.
07:39 That same year, Mayra and seven others were gunned down in the massacre at Los Cuernos.
07:44 Mareixa attempted to run in her sister's place, only to lose.
07:48 Not long after, Mareixa was brought in on kidnapping and murder charges,
07:52 receiving a 94-year sentence. Keeping her locked up has proven easier said than done,
07:58 as Mareixa successfully escaped twice before being apprehended.
08:02 Luz Irene Fajardo Campos
08:05 Born in the Mexican city of Cozalá, Fajardo Campos initially had aspirations to be a lawyer.
08:11 Her career went in a slightly different direction.
08:14 With drug trafficking being rampant in her hometown,
08:16 Fajardo Campos was no stranger to this world. Yet she rose higher than anyone could have anticipated,
08:22 leading a narcotics organization alongside her grown children
08:26 and forming connections with the Sinaloa cartel.
08:28 Living up to her title of "la comadre," Fajardo Campos oversaw aircraft that
08:33 transported substances between borders. Her reign ended in 2017 after she was
08:38 arrested at a Bogota airport, with her two sons being murdered around the same time.
08:43 In addition to paying $18 million, Fajardo Campos was sentenced to 22 years in prison,
08:49 with another five years of supervised release.
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09:07 Jocelyn Alejandra Niño
09:11 This assassin rose to notoriety in January 2015,
09:15 when an image of her sporting a large firearm was shared online.
09:18 The post connected her to the Gulf Cartel, who reportedly gave her the nickname "La Flaca,"
09:23 or "The Skinny One." The name is also connected to "Our Lady of Holy Death."
09:28 Both descriptions are accurate, with Niño proving deadlier than she looked.
09:32 As the image went viral, users analyzed the backdrop, which didn't exactly paint the
09:37 picture of luxury that people associate with high-ranking cartel members.
09:41 Whether or not this is where Niño lived, her moment in the spotlight didn't last long.
09:46 A few months after the image surfaced, what was left of Niño was found in an ice cooler
09:50 at a Matamoros parking lot. Can you think of any other female narcos? Let us know in the comments.
09:59 Thanks for watching!
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