 Matta-Ballesteros had originally introduced Félix Gallardo's predecessor, Alberto Sicilia-Falcon, to Santiago Ocampo of the Cali Cartel, the head of one of the largest U.S. cocaine smuggling rings.Rather than taking cash payments for their services, the smugglers in the Guadalajara cartel took a 50% cut of the cocaine they transported from Colombia.This was extremely profitable for them due to already established marijuana distribution networks ; some estimate that the trafficking network operated by Felix Gallardo, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, and Caro Quintero was pulling in $5 billion annually.