Referred to as “El Güero,” or “Blondie,” Palma was a founder and chief of the Sinaloa cartel, together with imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. He and Guzman drew undesirable consideration in 1993, when a Roman Catholic cardinal was killed in a shootout between Sinaloa gunmen and the rival Arellano Félix gang at an airport in Guadalajara. The gunmen apparently mistook the cardinal’s luxurious automobile for that of a rival.