Gangs are enlisting ruthless female assassins to strengthen their forces, in a brutal effort to eliminate their rivals and assert control over the drug trade.
One of the most infamous figures is Juana N, also known as La Peque, who swiftly climbed the ranks from a challenging background to a key position within the Mexico-based Los Zetas cartel.
Hailing from Hidalgo, Juana became a mother at 15 and faced financial struggles. With limited choices and increasing poverty, she turned to the sex trade, which eventually led her into the world of organized crime.
Through her connections, she was recruited by Los Zetas, initially serving as an informant. It is reported that she engaged in brutal acts such as decapitations and mutilations while working for the cartel.
She recounted spending hours on surveillance duty to watch for law enforcement, facing punishment of confinement and minimal food for any failures in her monitoring tasks.
In an interview from prison, she shockingly claimed to have bathed in her victims’ blood, consumed it while warm, and engaged in sexual acts with corpses. She is currently awaiting sentencing for her heinous crimes.
Los Zetas is not the only criminal group with ruthless female members. Claudia Ochoa Félix, known as the ‘Kim Kardashian of organized crime,’ was associated with the Sinaloa Cartel and reportedly linked to its enforcement arm, Los Antrax.
She gained attention for posing with pink AK-47s, luxury vehicles, and stacks of cash on social media. Félix was allegedly married to Jose Gamboa, another drug trafficker who led Los Antrax before his incarceration.
Following Gamboa’s arrest, Félix reportedly took charge of the deadly hit squad, known for their diamond-adorned skull rings and extreme acts of violence to solidify the gang’s power.
In a clash with Mexican soldiers in southern Culiacan in 2011, the gang encountered three kidnapped individuals in a nearby safe house, one of whom had been subjected to severe mutilation.
After the assassination of Los Antrax’s former leader Francisco Arce Rubio, the group carried out a series of 20 murders in Sinaloa. Three bodies were discovered hanging from a bridge in Guamuchil, with one victim tortured and mutilated.
The other two victims were kept in a freezer until disposal. In 2019, Félix was found deceased in Culiacán, with reports suggesting various theories including accidental overdose or potential cartel retaliation.
María Guadalupe López Esquivel, known as “La Catrina,” emerged as a notorious and feared female assassin for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
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