The Sylmar raid occurred on 28 September 1989 when the LAPD and DEA carried out the largest yet drug bust in history in a north Los Angeles warehouse, capturing 20 tons of cocaine worth $7 billion and confiscating $12 million in cash.
Background[]
In late 1986, Mexican Guadalajara Cartel boss Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo met with Colombian Cali Cartel lieutenant Helmer Herrera in Panama, where Felix - hoping to prove himself the Colombians' best ally in Mexico (at the expense of Juan Nepomuceno Guerra's rival Gulf Cartel) - agreed to take on a shipment of 70 tons of cocaine, which he would transport from Mexico to the United States. Losing the shipment would mean a death sentence for Miguel Angel and his lieutenants, so he had his top man Amado Carrillo Fuentes assemble a six-plane air fleet to transport the cocaine for the Colombians. The DEA's Operation Leyenda task force aimed to bust the shipment before it could leave the refueling station at the Chiapas airfield, but Amado discovered a tracking device in one of his planes and decided to set a trap. In the 1988 Chiapas airfield ambush, all but three members of DEA agent Walt Breslin's team were killed, and the team was then withdrawn from Mexico and reassigned. This allowed for the shipment to go as planned, and Miguel Angel had the cocaine divided among his four plazas, with each receiving equal shares of 17.5 tons. He then had his share of the cocaine sent to the warehouse at Sylmar, California (a northern Los Angeles neighorhood), its final stop before the Colombians would pay him.
Raid[]
On 28 September 1989, acting on a tip from a local resident, the LAPD, DEA, and SWAT were led to the North Los Angeles suburb in the San Fernando Valley, where they broke a $6 padlock on the warehouse. A SWAT van crashed through the gate, and, after just a few gunshots, the Guadalajara smugglers were arrested. The FBI seized a cache of at least 20 tons of cocaine - with a street value of $7 billion - and also seized $12 million in cash (in $20 and $100 bills) in the biggest drug haul in history as of that date (beating the 11 tons captured in the Tranquilandia raid).
Aftermath[]
It was later rumored that Guadalajara boss Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo had tipped off the authorities about Sylmar in order to gain leverage over the Colombians, forcing them to give half of their shipments to Guadalajara for them to traffick directly into the United States. Allegedly, Felix confessed to this allegation at a conference that same year, and, at that same conference, his plaza bosses decided to desert him due to his double-dealing.