Héctor Luis Palma Salazar is a former Mexican drug lord and leader of the Sinaloa Cartel alongside Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. After the brutal murder of his young family ordered by his boss Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Palma became involved in a series of cruel crimes to avenge his lost.

Early life and career: Jesús Héctor Luis Palma Salazar was born in Noria de Abajo, Mocorito, Sinaloa, Mexico, on December 25, 1940. He began his life as a car thief and ended up working as a gunman for Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, under the umbrella of the Guadalajara Cartel. Palma rose in category and, along with Abelardo "El Lobito" Retamoza Machado, eventually became co-leader of the cartel. He was associated with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. After the loss of a large shipment of cocaine that was blamed by El Chapo and Palma, in 1988 El Lobito Retamoza was killed, but Palma was spared. After El Lobito's death, Palma contacted and created an alliance with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Palma chipped himself from the group, which was handed over to Felix Gallardo's nephews in Tijuana, who later formed the Tijuana Cartel (also known as the Arellano Félix Organization). Palma, along with a Venezuelan drug dealer named Rafael Enrique Clavel, the ex-boyfriend of Palma's sister, Minerva Palma, began operating their own cartel.

First arrest and family murder: In 1978, Palma was arrested in Arizona for drug trafficking and sentenced to eight years in an American prison. Upon his release, he discovered that his wife, Guadalupe Leija Serrano, had fled with Clavel and taken her and palma's two children. Clavel forced Guadalupe to withdraw $7 million from a bank account and then beheaded her and sent her head back to Palma. The two children, Jesús (5 years old) and Nataly (4 years old), were taken to Venezuela and thrown from a bridge called 'Puente de la Concordia', located in the town of San Cristóbal,Táchira, about 40 km from the border with Colombia. Soon after, Clavel began working for the Tijuana Cartel. In retaliation, Palma executed Gallardo's lawyer and Clavel's three children. Clavel would later be arrested and soon be murdered in prison by an inmate by order of Palma. Palma returned to trafficking, this time within the Sinaloa Cartel, sharing the lead with Adrián Palma Reyes and Joaquin Guzmán Loera (El Chapo) later became the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, while Adrian Palma Reyes became Guzman's lieutenant and leader of The Badiraguato square in Sinaloa with the Reyes family as his armed wing.

Second arrest: Palma was arrested on June 23, 1995, after a 12-seater Lear jet in which he was flying to attend a wedding party. He was traveling from Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, to Guadalajara, Jalisco, when the jet was diverted and unable to locate a new airstrip in time. Palma survived the landing and was later arrested by Mexican military officers; he originally escaped capture traveling in full uniformity as an officer of the Federal Judicial Police (PJF) complete with identification and an armed caravan of PJF personnel After serving nine years in Atwater Federal Prison, Palma was extradited back to Mexico in June 2016 when he was charged with double homicide of police officers in 1995 in Nayarit. He is currently being held in Altiplano Prison near Mexico City.

Sanction of the Kingcriminal's Law: On June 2, 2003, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Palma under the Foreign Narcotics Chiefs Designation Act (sometimes referred to simply as the Kings' Act) for his involvement in drug trafficking, along with six other international criminals and three entities. The act prohibited U.S. citizens and companies from doing any kind of business activity with it and virtually froze all of its assets in the U.S.

Corruption: Palma managed to insert himself into the depths of the Mexican Federal Judicial Police (PJF), avoiding detection by posing as a full uniform, with identification, and traveling in a heavily armed caravan of PJF officers. It was later discovered that he was able to escape capture by staying at the home of the local police commander. Corruption within the police force has been documented to have spread to the judicial system. By bribing judges, the Sinaloa Cartel has repeatedly avoided prosecution. In 2004, 18 men were arrested in possession of 28 machine guns, 2 handguns, 223 magazine stools, 10,000 rounds of ammunition, 12 grenade launchers, 18 hand grenades, smoke grenades and bulletproof vests. The men were released by Judge José Luis Gómez Martínez, who said there was no evidence that they were part of any criminal organization.