Overview
- At least seven groups — CJNG, Sinaloa (Los Chapitos), Nueva Familia Michoacana, Gulf, Northeast, Cárteles Unidos and La Unión Tepito — now rely on illicit vapes and tobacco as a steady cash source.
- The study estimates annual revenues of 15–20 billion pesos that cartels use to finance weapons, vehicles, communications gear and logistics for other crimes.
- Networks import devices clandestinely from Asia, repackage them, push sales through digital channels and street distribution, and track retailer sales through façade firms such as “Distribuidora del Sur.”
- CJNG operates clandestine factories in Jalisco, Estado de México and Morelos and is experimenting with transgenic tobacco, while the Gulf Cartel has shifted routes to move vapes and tobacco instead of fentanyl.
- Local control includes extortion of small shops and cartel-branded packs, with Nueva Familia Michoacana’s boxes reportedly selling for about 150 pesos, and lawmakers on the Health Commission have advanced a bill to impose a full ban with criminal penalties.