The Guadalajara Cartel, led by Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, dominated the Mexican drug trade throughout the 1980s, operating primarily from Guadalajara, Jalisco. It was a precursor to the more powerful cartels that would emerge later, marking a turning point in the history of Mexican drug trafficking by consolidating the trade and establishing the infrastructure for the modern cartel system.

The Guadalajara Cartel's story is a foundational narrative in the 'narcocorrido' tradition, Mexican folk ballads that narrate the exploits of drug traffickers. The cartel's legacy has also inspired a generation of Mexican novelists and poets, such as Élmer Mendoza and César López Cuadras, who have turned the drug war into a central theme of contemporary Mexican literature.