Paid off cops, soldiers, local leaders, etc. Not brutes in balaclavas but in plain sight and plain clothes, but outfitted with expensive things and efficient, but cold.
Look into corporations for influence and not some Robin Hood or rag-tag band.
this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2026
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Maybe adding the brutes as a contrasting element, will make the protagonist even more believable.
Broad strokes: Coincidentally having read up on both, it's kind of like pirates vs navy in the 1700s: They're both capable forces, but one side is superior in material while the other is superior in training.
Doctrines on the cartel side will be pseudo-militaristic in that some may have had military training at some point. But the cartel haven't had the chance to drill the fundamentals on a daily basis.
And going back to the pirate analogy: A pirate ship is specifically tailored towards piracy, and will easily outgun any naval vessel of the same size. But while pirates can fire a huge fucking ~~salmon~~ salvo (ducking autocorrect), the navy is able to unleash a (slightly) smaller salvo at a higher rate of fire.
What I'm gett8ng at is that an army, due to the nature of how armies operate, may have trouble equipping Private First Class Gonzales with the latest and greatest hardware. But Gonzales' vocational is to use his pewpew shooter all day every day to the best of his ability, and will therefore be better trained.
Cobain money can buy you bling, but it won't buy you man-hours dedicated to army drills and squad tactics.
as a firearm enthusiast I'm curious what kinda guns they'd use
Like any other military force, cartels are run by their supply chain. As such they use whatever is the most plentiful and easiest to procure and supply ammo for in their area of operations.
E.g, cartels in a middle east/European scenario will most often be using surplus Russian military gear and ammunition, central/south America will rely more on NATO and US calibers imported south, Africa will use a smattering of both European and Russian calibers depending on the local colonial influence, east Asia will be dominated by Chinese and Japanese specs (themselves also often derived from Russian designs). And almost everywhere you will find Russian equipment, they made and sold so so fucking much of it.
Since they are more clandestine that government forces they overwhelmingly rely on small caliber arms that can be concealed and shipped. Not too many mounted machine guns except in very large centralized operations.
Do you have a bit more info? General plot, year and what role the cartel plays? Are they playing defense, offence, or more like a coincidence type gun fight.
There was an article not long ago about a normal delivery truck but it had a turret inside, so they could park, bring up the door and start shooting. Kind of cool.
Watch Sicario.
Kinda like black hawk down mixed with the raid , an entire city controlled by the cartel is turned on the Mexican Special Forces and Delta Force attempting to capture a cartel boss in a compound and they have too fight their way out of the city with HVT with support from the Mexican Military and police
Entire city and home turf gives some ideas. I think drones launched out of windows would be cool (controlled by kids maybe). Also, maybe a controlled demolition of a building as a trap. Like the squad gets to a central square, and then the bottom floor of a nearby building explodes and the whole thing tips and falls on the square. Kind of crazy but it would make for a dope action sequence. In the same vein, a little shanty shed on a rooftop that the cartel can quickly break down the walls and open it up to show a SAM emplacement.
The view I have of cartels from YouTube is that they are better equipped than people expect. Also, lots and lots of drugs. I expect these guys to be doing lines in the middle of gunfights.
I'd check how the Brazil drug dens work and what the cops have to deal with. Maybe those cartel prisons in Guatemala or San Salvador can give inspiration. I also remember a famous gangbanger from the same place, but it was a girl and she was super hot but ruthless as fuck. Kind of cool as well.
The year in the story is 2009
You seriously can't think of a way to do this yourself?