Fans of Narcos are about to be orphaned once again: the final season of the 2015 crime drama’s spin-off, Narcos: Mexico, was just released on Netflix, which means it’s time to say goodbye to the Mexican cartels. Well, at least in the realm of fiction. Created by Chris Brancato, CarlosBernard, and Doug Miro, Narcos: Mexico came out in 2018. While its parent show focused on the Colombian drug trade in the 90s, the spin-off centered on the rise and fall of the Guadalajara cartel in Mexico during the 80s, following real-life figures like Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, “El Chapo” Guzmán, and Kiki Camarena. Not everything that happens in the show is real, of course - Scoot McNairy’s Walt Breslin, for instance, never existed - but a lot of it is. As the final episodes of Narcos: Mexico stream on fans’ TVs, cellphones, and computers, here’s a list of the show’s main characters and their real-life counterparts.
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Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (Diego Luna)
Also known as “El Padrino” (The Godfather), former policeman Félix Gallardo was responsible for uniting the various smuggling territories known as “plazas”, serving as the de facto founder of the Mexican drug trade as we know it and becoming the leader of the Guadalajara cartel. In 1989, he was arrested for the murder of Kiki Camarena and drug trafficking, among other crimes. His arrest led to the dissolution of the cartel and kick-started the current Mexican drug war. In the show, Félix is arrested at the end of Season 2, putting an end to his storyline. Luna has not returned for the series’ final season.
The real “El Padrino” is still in prison today, though he was transferred to a medium-security facility in 2014 due to his declining health. In 2021, he gave his first interview after his arrest, in which he denied even knowing Camarena.
Enrique “Kiki” Camarena (Michael Peña)
Born and raised in California, the DEA agent played by Michael Penã, was sent to Mexico to gather information on the country’s increasing drug activity. In 1984, after a raid on a marijuana ranch, Camarena was kidnapped by men involved with the Guadalajara cartel and taken to a property owned by Rafael Caro, where he was tortured and killed. His body was found wrapped in plastic in the outskirts of the town of La Angostura.
Rafael Caro Quintero (Tenoch Huerta)
Caro was one of the founders of the Guadalajara cartel alongside Félix and Don Neto. He was involved in the deaths of Camarena, Camarena’s pilot Alfredo Zavala (Itza Sodi), journalist John Clay Walker (Brian Buckley), and dentistry student Albert Radelat (Jeff Grace), all of which appeared in the show. In 1985, Caro was arrested in Costa Rica. In the show, he’s extradited alongside his girlfriend, Sofía. In real life, he was in the company of 17-year-old Sara Cosio.
Caro was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murder of Camarena and other crimes. However, his conviction was overturned in 2013 after a judge ruled that there had been irregularities in the trial. In the same year, the Mexican Supreme Court invalidated the ruling, but it was already too late. Caro is currently on the FBI’s most-wanted list. In 2016, he gave an interview to Mexican magazine Proceso, in which he, just as Félix, denied his involvement in Camarena’s death.
Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán (Alejandro Edda)
The leader of the Sinaloa cartel is probably the most infamous name in Narcos: Mexico's list of characters. However, the Guzmán we see in the first two seasons of the show is not yet the drug kingpin that the world would come to know, but a cog in the Guadalajara’s cartel operation. El Chapo began his life of crimes as a lowly plaza boss, rising in the ranks of the cartel until he came to work directly under Félix Gallardo. Following his boss’ arrest, Guzmán started his own drug operation. In 1993, he was arrested for the first time, an event that takes place in the show’s third season.
After escaping prison in 2001, “El Chapo” went on the run up until 2014, when he was caught by Mexican authorities. He was convicted of numerous violent and drug-related crimes but escaped again in 2015. Arrested once more in 2016, Guzmán was extradited to the United States, where he was found guilty of drug trafficking, kidnapping, and murder, among other crimes. The trial took place in 2019 and was attended by none other than Edda himself, as part of his preparation for the role.
Ernesto “Don Neto” Fonseca Carrillo (Joaquín Cosio)
Don Neto was already a well-established drug smuggler in Mexico when Félix Gallardo began uniting the plazas. The third founding father of the Guadalajara cartel was arrested in 1985 for Camarena’s murder, but, much like his partners, he has always denied involvement in the crime. He’s currently serving the remainder of his 40-year sentence under house arrest due to his declining health.
Amado Carrillo Fuentes (José María Yazpik)
Fans of Narcos are already familiar with Carrillo from the show’s third and final season, in which he is also portrayed by Yazpik. However, in the original series, Amado is already the head of the Juarez cartel, a position he only comes to occupy in this final season of Narcos: Mexico. Don Neto’s nephew was instrumental to the foundation of Félix Gallardo’s operation. He was a big supporter of the Guadalajara cartel's shift from marijuana to cocaine and gained the nickname “El Señor de los Cielos” (Lord of the Skies) because of his preference for smuggling drugs through aerial routes. He died in 1997 due to complications from plastic surgery. At least two physicians that participated in the procedure were found dead in that same year.
Benjamín Arellano Félix (Alfonso Dosal)
Benjamín becomes a lead character in Narcos: Mexico in Season 2, after Félix Gallardo’s brief disappearance following Camarena’s death. Upon Félix’s arrest, Benjamín and his brother, Ramón, took control of the Tijuana plaza, forming what is now the Tijuana cartel. Though the show focuses on the two brothers and their sister Enedina, the three were part of a family of 11 children, of which at least six were involved in criminal activities. In 2002, Benjamín was arrested in Mexico. He was extradited to the United States, where he pleaded guilty to racketeering and money laundering. He’s currently serving a 25-year sentence.
Ramón Arellano Félix (Manuel Masalva)
Ramón joined the Guadalajara cartel alongside his brother, Benjamín. Still in the organization, he developed a rivalry with “El Chapo” that is at the root of much of the violence between the Sinaloa and the Tijuana cartels. After Félix’s arrest, Ramón became a high-ranking member of his brother’s organization. In 1997, he was included in the FBI’s most-wanted list, and, in 2002, he died in a gunfight with the police.
Enedina Arellano Félix (Mayra Hermosillo)
In Narcos: Mexico, Enedina is presented as the actual brains behind her brothers’ operation. Not only does she start her own drug-smuggling enterprise alongside Isabella, but she’s also the one responsible for convincing Benjamín to leave the Guadalajara cartel. None of this seems to be very far from the truth. The real Enedina was the head of the Tijuana cartel's financial operations. In 2015, with her brothers either dead or arrested, she took over as the leader of the organization.
Isabella Bautista (Teresa Ruiz)
Félix Gallardo’s old-time ally, Isabella Bautista, never actually existed. However, she is most likely based on Sandra Ávila Beltrán. Known as Queen of the Pacific, Ávila is considered an important link between the Sinaloa cartel and Colombian drug lords, much like Bautista. Differences between them start to become prominent when we look at the two women’s arrest histories. While Bautista is arrested in Season 2 of Narcos: Mexico, still in the 80s, Ávila managed to avoid the law for much longer. She was finally caught in 2007 for money laundering and served time up until 2015.
Sofía Conesa (Tessa Ia)
Much like Isabella Bautista, Sofía Conesa never existed, but this doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a real-life counterpart - with a much more complex life story. While in the show, Ia’s character is falsely kidnapped by Caro from her family home and seems more than on board with her lover’s criminal activities, the real Sara Cosio was kidnapped from a discotheque and returned home a few days later, on Christmas, according to her parents. When Cosio was found in Costa Rica with Caro, she was only 17 years old and told police officers she had been kidnapped once more. In spite of that, Rafael Caro and Sara Cosio have been frequently portrayed in the media as star-crossed lovers.
James Kuykendall (Matt Letscher)
Kuykendall was the head of the DEA Guadalajara bureau when Kiki Camarena was killed. The real Kuykendall released a book about his experience in 2005, titled O Plata o Plomo? Silver or Lead?, and has also served as a consultant for Narcos: Mexico.
Héctor Palma (Gorka Lasaosa)
A former underling of Pablo Acosta, Palma rose through the ranks and became the overseer of the Mazatlán plaza and, later, of the Sinaloa plaza, alongside Cochiloco (Andrés Almeida). After his wife and children were murdered by Clavel (Andrés Londono), he defected and helped form the Sinaloa cartel. In real life, Palma took his revenge on Clavel by killing his children and later ordering his death. Palma is currently doing time for the murder of two police officers.
Pablo Acosta (Gerardo Taracena)
In the show, the leader of the Juarez cartel serves as a mentor for Amado Carrillo and represents a kind of drug lord on the verge of extinction. Just like in real life, he has a romance with a horseback tour guide, Mimi Webber Miller, but, while Taracena’s character dies in a shootout with Mexican authorities after Breslin fails to get him out of the country, the real Acosta died in a cross-border raid in the Rio Grande led by the Mexican police and the FBI in 1987. Rumor has it that he trafficked up to 20 tons of cocaine in a single year and that he worked as a US informant on communist and guerrilla activity in Mexico.
Mimi Webb Miller (Sosie Bacon)
A tour guide from a prominent Texan family that fell in love with Pablo Acosta. Both in the show and in real life, the two had a romance that only ended with Acosta’s death. Miller currently lives in California, where she works as a casting director. She’s credited as a consultant in Narcos: Mexico.
Hélmer “Pacho” Herrera (Alberto Ammann)
Herrera is another character that fans will recognize from Narcos. One of the leaders of the Cali cartel, he was responsible for opening cocaine traffic routes to Mexico. In 1996, Herrera turned himself in to the authorities. He was killed in prison in 1998.
Herrera is the only character to appear in all six seasons of Narcos and Narcos: Mexico, always played by Ammann.
Juan José “El Azul” Esparragoza (Fermín Martínez)
A former director-general of the Mexican Dirección Federal de Seguridad, “El Azul” used his influence in the organization to run a drug-smuggling operation. In 1985, after the disbandment of the DFS, he joined the Guadalajara cartel, leaving with Palma to form the Sinaloa cartel.
In real life, however, Esparragoza only joined the Sinaloa cartel after the death of Carrillo. He was arrested in 1986 for his involvement in Camarena’s murder and left prison in 1993, upon which he joined the Juarez cartel. He’s currently wanted both by Mexican and American authorities. In 2014, he was reported dead from a heart attack, but the claims were never confirmed.
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