The Kingpin Fallacy: What Happens When You take out the leader of a Mexican Cartel?

The article documents escalating violence and disappearances linked to fragmented criminal groups in Jalisco and Sinaloa, citing discoveries of human remains, piles of clothing and alleged makeshift crematoriums at a ranch tied to CJNG, and a dramatic rise in missing-persons reports. It also highlights how authorities have reclassified many violent deaths—creating a statistical mirage of falling homicide rates—while analysts warn that removing cartel leaders has reconfigured, not dismantled, criminal networks and their elite support structures.