Illegal drug trade The War on DrugsThe United Nations' Drugs and Crime Tsar Antonio Maria Costa claimed that illegal drug money saved the banking industry from collapse. He claimed he had seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse during 2008. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result. "In many instances, the money from drugs was the only liquid investment capital. In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system's main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor...Inter-bank loans were funded by money that originated from the drugs trade and other illegal activities... There were signs that some banks were rescued that way". Costa declined to identify countries or banks that may have received any drug money, saying that would be inappropriate because his office is supposed to address the problem, not apportion blame.The birth of all Mexican drug cartels is traced to former Mexican Judicial Federal Police agent Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo ('The Godfather'), who in the 1980s controlled all illegal drug trade in Mexico and the corridors across the Mexico-USA border. He started off by smuggling marijuana and opium into the U.S.A., and was the first Mexican drug capo to link up with Colombia's cocaine cartels in the 1980s. Through his connections, Félix Gallardo became the point man for the Medellin cartel, which was run by Pablo Escobar. This was easily accomplished because Félix Gallardo had already established an infrastructure that stood ready to serve the Colombia-based traffickers.EuropeImproved cooperation of Mexico with the U.S. led to the recent arrests of 755 Sinaloa cartel suspects in U.S. cities and towns, but the U.S. market is being eclipsed by booming demand for cocaine in Europe, where users now pay twice the going U.S. rate.[23] U.S. Attorney General announced September 17, 2008 that an international drug interdiction operation, Project Reckoning, involving law enforcement in the United States, Italy, Canada, Mexico and Guatemala had netted more than 500 organized crime members involved in the cocaine trade. The announcement highlighted the Italian-Mexican cocaine connection.In December 2010 the government of Spain remarked that Mexican cartels have multiplied their operations in that country, becoming the main entry point of cocaine into Europe. Illegal drug trade Black market Drug Opium Heroin Capital punishment for drug trafficking Cannabis (drug) Antonio Maria Costa Drug cartel Legality of cannabis Cannabis Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia) French Connection Ike Atkinson Methamphetamine Clandestine chemistry Rolling meth lab Temazepam Benzodiazepine War on Drugs Cocaine Coup Che Guevara Project MKULTRA Psychoactive drug Coca Luis Carlos Galán Jaime Pardo Leal Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa Álvaro Gómez Hurtado Carlos Pizarro Leongómez Medellín Cartel Cali Cartel Norte del Valle Cartel Pablo Escobar Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela José Santacruz Londoño Money laundering Valle del Cauca Department Diego León Montoya Sánchez Wilber Varela Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía Barranquilla Alberto Santofimio Proceso 8000 Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo Vicente Fox Felipe Calderón Kevlar Stratfor Tijuana Cartel Beltrán-Leyva Cartel Sinaloa Cartel Juárez Cartel La Familia Michoacana Gulf Cartel Los Zetas Cartel Knights Templar Cartel Enrique Plancarte Solís Servando Gómez Martínez Los Negros Edgar Valdez Villarreal Noé Ramírez Mandujano SIEDO José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos Julio César Godoy Toscano Naval operations of the Mexican Drug War Juan José Esparragoza Moreno