Merger Analysis

The capture of a capo of La Familia Michoacana has provided new information about the redistribution of the power in Mexico's drug trade over the past couple of years. La Familia first emerged in its home state as a local affiliate of Osiel Cárdenas and the Zetas in 2006, but Alfredo Barrón, the captured kingpin, had negotiated the alliance between La Familia and El Chapo Guzmán. Presumably, they did this in response to the Zetas' alliance with the Juárez cartel and the Beltrán Leyva brothers. Or perhaps it was the other way around. Whatever the case, it's a highly fluid industry; if you stop paying attention for a couple of months, everything is changed.