The Sinaloa Cartel, often described as the largest and most powerful drug trafficking organization in the Western Hemisphere, is an alliance of some of Mexico’s top capos. The coalition's members operate in concert to protect themselves, relying on connections at the highest levels and corrupting portions of the federal police and military to maintain the upper hand against its rivals.

US authorities are set to invest millions of dollars to tackle drug and arms trafficking in Puerto Rico, according to the island's resident commissioner, highlighting the growing influence of organized crime on the Caribbean territory. 

The Urabeños, also known as the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces, are one of the most ambitious, ruthless and aggressively expansionist of Colombia's drug trafficking organizations. One of a number of groups made up of former mid-level paramilitary leaders, they have caused homicide rates to skyrocket wherever they have appeared.

This Nicaraguan drug trafficking group is linked to the Reyes Aragon family, headed by Augustin Reyes and his six brothers. The organization primarily handles drug transport operations, as well as the movement of precursor chemicals for methamphetamine productions, and weapons trafficking. The group primarily works as “transportistas” (transporters) for Colombian drug traffickers.

Based primarily in Nicaragua's South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS), the Reñazco family is active primarily in this department’s capital, Bluefields, as well as San Juan del Norte in the Rio San Juan department. The family is believed to move cocaine shipments along Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast and provide other services to international trafficking groups, such as refueling the go-fast boats that move drug shipments northwards.

The Zetas, once the military wing of the Gulf Cartel, are among one of the most violent groups in Mexico, with a growing presence in neighboring Guatemala. The Zetas started out as an enforcer gang for the Gulf Cartel, taking their name from the radio code used for top-level officers in the Mexican army. Not only are they highly organized, but their use of brutality and shock tactics -- petrol bombs, beheadings, and roadblocks -- has led the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to describe them as perhaps “the most technologically advanced, sophisticated and violent of these paramilitary enforcement groups." However, a series of arrests and killings of their top leaders, and a rumored split within the group, have left them weaker than before.

Unlike some Central American gangs that have earned fame for their brutality and their liberal use of violence, the Cartel de Texis has developed a reputation for a more business-like approach to the drug trade. But as the report by Salvadoran news site El Faro about the group illustrates, while the gang isn’t known for leaving a trail of dead behind, it has nonetheless turned itself into one of the more formidable groups in El Salvador, and has become a vital link for Colombians and Mexicans seeking to pass cocaine through the small Pacific nation.

The Perrones are El Salvador’s most infamous transportation group. Made up of a mix of hoteliers, human smugglers, and contraband traders, the group’s activities stretch from Panama to Guatemala. Working from their eastern front, along the border with Honduras, many of them carry dual citizenship with the neighboring country, which allows them to move easily across the porous borders they use to move their products. They appear to answer offers of many suitors, mostly Colombian and Mexican groups but also Guatemalan organizations, that move large quantities of drugs and other contraband north toward the United States and bulk cash south. Many of the Perrones’ leaders have been arrested and charged with various crimes, but the cases against them have fallen apart in El Salvador’s weak justice system.

The 18th Street Gang, also known as "Barrio 18" or the "M-18," is one of the largest youth gangs in the Western Hemisphere. Like its better known rival, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), the M-18 has cells operating from Central America to Canada, including the United States. With thousands of members across hundreds of kilometers, and interests in a number of different illicit activities, M-18 is one of the more significant emerging criminal threats in the region. Still, it is questionable how far its different units are coordinated across borders, or even within the same city.

The 18th Street Gang, also known as "Barrio 18" or the "M-18," is one of the largest youth gangs in the Western Hemisphere. Like its better known rival, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), the M-18 has cells operating from Central America to Canada, including the United States. With thousands of members across hundreds of kilometers, and interests in a number of different illicit activities, M-18 is one of the more significant emerging criminal threats in the region. Still, it is questionable how far its different units are coordinated across borders, or even within the same city.