How much money do Mexican/S. American drug cartels have access to?

Eventually their business model will lead them to corrupting higher US officials than border patrol and a smattering of cops here and there. How they will do it, I have no clue because they can't do it directly.

So, what influential industries does the amount of money they have put them on par with? Utilities? Coal? Insurance?

They have lots of money, if it was a legal company then it would be on the forbes 100..

I don't know it because I never sat down and did the math.

I was watching a snippet of Drugs Inc last night. The show said that one kilo of cocaine costs only 3 dollars when it is first produced. This is one of the prices it holds before it reaches big distributors like Jon Roberts, and certainly before it hits the street at retail value, which makes the price soar.

The cartels are rich, and they are selling hundreds and thousands of kilos every so often, but it's not street value for them.

Mexicans make a thousand truck loans of money.:)every 6 months Probably more then that.They can buy their fucking country. Wait they already did.

They deal in every drug you can think of and its pretty much better then everyone else's Heroin I heard is fantastic I almost wish i was on it.

Pointless question, just like those silly Forbes estimates.

Go ask the Zetas for their tax returns, see what happens .

cartels? only three thing I know.

unregulated.
untaxed
unstopable

50% of the heroin consumed in the USA produced in mexico.

The Arrelano Felix family operating out of Tijuana were said to earn 7billion USD a year in narcotics.

Here's a link to a big cash bust in Mexico City in 07.

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clHmPwmF2bw[/video]

obviously I'm not expecting exact numbers...found this on wiki so....


Profits[edit]



In December 2009 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa claimed illegal drug money saved the banking industry from collapse. He claimed he had seen evidence that the proceeds of organized crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse during 2008. He said that a majority of the US$352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result. "In many instances, the money from drugs was the only liquid investment capital. In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system's main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor...Inter-bank loans were funded by money that originated from the drugs trade and other illegal activities... There were signs that some banks were rescued that way". Costa declined to identify countries or banks that may have received any drug money, saying that would be inappropriate because his office is supposed to address the problem, not apportion blame.[34]

I remember a cartel leader's house in Mexico was raided and they found 500 million in cash and gold in the walls. The guy was actually from China named Ye Gon

And his Brother HoLee Phuck.

His cousin was the pedophile, right? Wee Fuckem Yung?

/me chuckles

Its hard to put a real legit price on how much money they make because you also have to count in the money they make locally in Mexico too. The cartels make a lot off money off immigrant smuggling, the local drug sales, extortion, kidnapping, etc. They are diversefying very quickly they are even getting into product knock offs etc.

I saw that episode too the other day. Wasnt it like 20,000 per kilo once it reached Mexico and double that once it reached the U.s? Btw I think the end product was like 80,000 per kilo but I think that was in retail or how much money you make off a kilo of coke if you sold the kilo in baggies.

altogether probably as much as bill gates probably a little more.

the mexican cartels are the criminal groups that earn currently the most they supply almost all the american drug market
i think they earn at least 50 billions at year
they are also the most violent and powerful nowadays
they are like italian mafia in the 1980s