Alberto "El Cubano" Sicilia Falcon (born 30 April 1945) was a Cuban drug trafficker and arms smuggler during the mid-20th century. His organization formed the nucleus of the former Tijuana Cartel; he mentored future Tijuana bosses Benjamin and Ramon Arellano Felix before his 1985 arrest.
Biography[]
Alberto Sicilia Falcon was born in Matanzas, Cuba on 30 April 1945, and he was a troublesome and psychopathic child; he was arrested several times for vandalism, disorderly conduct, and sodomy. He took part in the Cuban Revolution against Fulgencio Batista, only to flee to the United States after Fidel Castro's regime began executing dissidents. Sicilia Falcon became an arms dealer who was backed by the CIA in smuggling arms to anti-communist guerrillas in Latin America, but he was arrested in Mexico City in 1976 and bribed his way out of captivity. He escaped aboard a helicopter, only to be recaptured. Sicilia Falcon went on to tunnel his way out, only to be recaptured again and sentenced to 20 more years in prison. He made another escape attempt, this time succeeding and becoming a cocaine trafficker in the Tijuana corridor. "El Cubano" mentored Benjamin and Ramon Arellano Felix, allowing them to establish marijuana shipping routes through his territory; he became known for his lavish parties and his high-society connections, such as Honduran airline mogul Juan Matta-Ballesteros.
War with Guadalajara[]
Sicilia Falcon supervising the 1984 Tijuana raid
In 1980, Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo approached Sicilia Falcon with a business offer: he wished to form a single organization which controlled all the cultivation and distribution of marijuana in Mexico, which would mean less violence. Sicilia Falcon was persuaded by Sandra Avila Beltran to accept Gallardo's offer in exchange for a promise that Miguel Angel would not compete with his own business; Miguel Angel agreed. However, after the shutdown of Miguel Angel's Caribbean route in 1984, Miguel Angel was forced to move his drugs through Sicilia Falcon's corridor, leading to a betrayed Sicilia Falcon to organize a military raid on Rafael Caro Quintero's marijuana warehouse. Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo responded by sending corrupt police to attack and burn down Sicilia Falcon's Tijuana warehouse and recover Caro Quintero's stolen marijuana, and Avila Beltran negotiated a truce between Miguel Angel and Sicilia Falcon. Shortly after Avila Beltran left, however, the DFS arrested Sicilia Falcon, and he finally obtained his liberty in 1999 at the age of 54.
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