Enedina Arellano Félix de Toledo (born April 12, 1961)^[1] is a Mexicandrug lord who, alongside her brothers, founded theTijuana Cartel and played a role as a logistical accountant for the criminal organization.

Throughout most of the 1990s, the Tijuana Cartel was headed by her six brothers, while Enedina advised and helped them inmoney laundering and financial administration. But after the fall of a financial mastermind in the cartel in 2000, Enedina took up the position.^[2] She first started working behind the scenes as a money launderer for the Tijuana Cartel but then ended up leading the cartel after the arrest of her brotherEduardo Arellano Félix in 2008.^[3][4]

Since most of her brothers are either incarcerated or deceased, Enedina has managed the financial aspect of the organization, overseen alliances, and taken the lead of the Tijuana Cartel alongside Luis Fernando (before his capture in 2014).^[3] Her historical contacts with drug suppliers inColombia managed to keep the organization afloat.^[5]

Enedina Arellano Félix was born inMazatlán,Sinaloa, on April 12, 1961, in a family of drug traffickers.^[6] In 1977, when she was 16, Enedina reportedly harbored a dream of becoming the Mazatlán Carnival Queen but abandoned it after her two brothers,Ramón andBenjamín, were wanted by the United States and the Mexican government. During that time, her older brothers were working forMiguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, who would eventually give them the drug corridor inTijuana, Baja California.^[7]

Enedina enrolled at a private university in Guadalajara, Jalisco, graduating with a bachelor's degree inaccounting.^[7] By the mid 1980s, Enedina was working with the family business, but was never considered by the authorities as a visible head in theTijuana Cartel. Nonetheless, after the fall of the former cartel's financial brain, Jesús Labra Avilés, aliasEl Chuy, in the year 2000, Enedina began to directly manage the money laundering activities of the criminal organization.^[2]

Enedina is the sister of former cartel leadersBenjamín,Carlos,Eduardo,Francisco Javier,Francisco Rafael andRamón.^[3]Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano captured in 2014, the son of Alicia,^[8] Enedina's husband, Luis Raúl Toledo Carrejo, was accused by theUnited States Department of Treasury in the year 2005 for having links with the Tijuana Cartel.^[9] Alicia Arellano Félix, the sister of Enedina, is currently a leader in the Tijuana Cartel.^[10]

Since the apprehension of Benjamín in 2002, the Mexican government was able to severely undermine the Tijuana Cartel but failed to destroy it. Enedina has been a leader in the organization since 2003.^[11] After the arrest of Eduardo in 2008, Enedina finally became the leader of the Tijuana clan along with her nephew.^[4]

Enedina has helped contribute a more "business-like vision" instead of the old and violent practices of her brothers, who previously led the Tijuana Cartel before they were arrested or killed.^[12] She forged alliances with other criminal organizations, as opposed to her brothers, who often resorted to violence.^[6] TheDrug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Mexican media identify Enedina as the first and one of the few women to lead a criminal organization in the world other thanSandra Avila Beltran in Mexico andGriselda Blanco in Colombia and the USA, activities historically reserved for men.^[2][13]

Enedina has several aliases, including:La Jefa,La Madrina, andLa Narcomami. The authorities in the United States and Mexico consider Enedina the "financial brains" of the Tijuana Cartel.^[3][14]

In June 2000, theUnited States Department of the Treasury sanctioned Enedina under theForeign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.^[15]

Enedina Arellano Félix is portrayed inNarcos: Mexico byMayra Hermosillo.

• Griselda Blanco
• Illegal drug trade
• Mexican drug war

• Vulliamy, Ed (2010).Amexica: War Along the Borderline. Macmillan Publishers.ISBN 978-0374104412.
• Blancornelas, Jesús (2010).El cártel: Los Arellano Félix: la mafia más poderosa en la historia de América Latina. Random House.ISBN 978-9707809628.

• 1961 births
• Arellano Félix family
• Félix Gallardo family
• People from Mazatlán
• 20th-century Mexican businesswomen
• 20th-century Mexican businesspeople
• Female drug traffickers
• Mexican drug traffickers
• Mexican crime bosses
• Mexican female gangsters
• Mexican gangsters
• Tijuana Cartel traffickers
• Living people
• People sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act
• 21st-century Mexican businesswomen
• 21st-century Mexican businesspeople

• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages using infobox person with multiple criminal charges
• Articles with hCards