British Columbia Cartel


 * "BCC" redirects here; for other uses of this acronym, see BCC (disambiguation).

The British Columbia Cartel (BC Cartel or just BCC) is the largest and most powerful drug trafficking organisation and organised crime group in Canada. It is based in the port city of Vancouver, the third-largest city in Canada and largest city and economic hub of the province of British Columbia (BC) and the Canadian West Coast. The British Columbia Cartel is headed by Enrique Sebastián Castro Marqués, known as Coba, whose real identity is unknown; Coba Castro is one of the most wanted persons by the governments of Canada, the United States and Mexico.

The British Columbia Cartel controls at least 85% of the narcotics trade through Vancouver, importing Cocaine and Methamphetamine from Mexico and/or South America and opioids from East and Southeast Asia, selling in the Lower Mainland and the rest of BC, and distributing to Vancouver Island as well as to the rest of the country, especially Eastern Canada, also frequently trafficking to the United States, United Kingdom and Continental Europe. The British Columbia Cartel's primary local allies are the Mafia and Hells Angels, while their primary international allies are the Sinaloa Cartel and Gulf Cartel. While possessing its own hierarchy of roadmen, enforcers, hitmen and even a corps of paramilitary squads, the British Columbia Cartel contracts out many of its needs to allied local gangs, including enforcement, hits and other violent acts, but even more commonly dealing cartel product at the street level, which as a rule cartel members themselves avoid.

Hierarchy

 * Capo – cartel boss: oversees entire organisation;
 * tenientes – lieutenants/deputies: oversee part(s) of organisation on behalf of the Capo;
 * sicarios – assassins/enforcers: working either alone or in pairs, responsible for carrying out targeted killings cleanly and quietly, as well as various enforcement duties including control of lower cartel members, espionage, sabotage, robberies and executions;
 * escuadronos – members of the cartel's paramilitary factions: responsible for protecting senior cartel members and cartel operations, defending territory, and engaging in major armed confrontations with law enforcement and rival groups alike;
 * negociantes – traders: responsible for distributing cartel product to dealers, collecting, and returning profit to cartel;
 * halcones – falcons, the lowest level of the organisation: the eyes and ears of the cartel, responsible for observing and reporting on the activities of the police, military and rival groups, assisting the negociantes, keeping an eye on dealers with a cartel contract and reporting any issues, such as arrest(s), threats/attacks from rivals, or two-timing (a dealer under contract secretly selling for a rival/rivals of the cartel).