Juan Jose "El Azul" Esparragoza Moreno (3 February 1949 – 7 July 2014) was a Mexican drug lord, a co-founder of the Guadalajara Cartel in 1980, a lieutenant of the Juarez Cartel, and later a major leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Biography[]
Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno was born in Badiraguato, Sinaloa, Mexico in 1949, and he joined the Federal Security Directorate (DFS) during the 1970s. He was nicknamed "El Azul" because he was said to be so dark that his skin was a shade of blue, and he engaged in corrupt dealings with the Guadalajara marijuana dealers Hernan and Hernin Naranjo until 1980. That year, he met Pedro Aviles Perez's lieutenants Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, and Rafael Caro Quintero after they were arrested for Hernin's murder, and Esparragoza was impressed by Miguel Angel's knowledge of how to grow and sell marijuana efficiency, and by his offer of partnership. The meeting was interrupted by Hernan, who sought to avenge his brother's death, only for Esparragoza to execute Hernan and agree to work with Aviles' men. Together, the four partners founded the Guadalajara Cartel, and they became major drug lords during the cocaine boom of the 1980s. He was implicated in the kidnapping, torture, and murder of undercover DEA agent Kiki Camarena in 1985, and he was imprisoned from 1986 to 1992, despite pleading his innocence. When he became a free man, he joined the Juarez Cartel, one of the new cartels to emerge from Guadalajara's disintegration. After Amado Carrillo Fuentes' death in 1997, Esparragoza disputed Vicente Carrillo Fuentes' rise to power, and he joined forces with El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel. In May 2014, he was involved in a car crash, and he died of a heart attack on 7 July 2014.
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