A cartel in Mexico refers to an illicit consortium of independent organizations formed to limit competition and control the production and distribution of illegal drugs. Mexican cartels are the bigger suppliers of illegal drugs into the United States, moving heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl. The cartels are combated by the Mexican government in the Mexican War on Drugs. The cartels are known by various names, including la Mafia, La Maña, and narcotraficantes. The cartels are constantly evolving, growing, splintering, forging new alliances, and battling one another for territory. The cartels that pose the most significant drug trafficking threats to the United States, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), are the Sinaloa cartel, Jalisco New Generation cartel, and Tijuana cartel. The cartels use a portion of their vast profits to pay off judges, officers, and politicians, and they also coerce officials into cooperating. The cartels are involved in criminal activities like extortion, kidnapping, and money laundering. A study published in Science estimated that Mexican cartels recruit about 360 workers each week to replace those lost to violence or other reasons, and there were an estimated 175,000 active cartel members in Mexico at the end of 2022.