María Elvira Murillo is the ex-wife of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, She worked with her husband in running the Guadalajara Cartel and also had huge stakes in the property business known as Delia Real Estate.
Marie and Miguel wedded in 1971 and lived together for many years running their drug cartel together. The couple’s union ended in 1989 after the drug mogul was arrested by the Mexican authorities. Following her husband’s arrest, Maria relocated to the United States where she is currently living.
Summary of María Elvira Murillo’s Biography
- Full Name: María Elvira Murillo
- Gender: Female
- Ethnicity: Latina
- Nationality: Mexican
- Sexual Orientation: Straight
- Religion: Christianity
- Marital Status: Divorced
- María Elvira Murillo’s Husband (Wife): Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (ex-husband)
- María Elvira Murillo’s Children: 17
- Famous For: Being the wife of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo
What is María Elvira Murillo’s Nationality?
María Elvira Murillo is a citizen of Mexico as she was born in the state of Michoacan in Mexico, precisely in the town known as Tepalcatepec. Details about her date of birth are not known, thus, her age cannot be calculated.
Maria came from humble beginnings. Though the names of her parents have never been mentioned to the hearing of the public, she is said to be the daughter of a peasant father. She spent her formative years living a rural lifestyle on her father’s farm.
One glaring fact about the Michoacan native is that she was born into a devoted Catholic family and has remained a Catholic faithful all her life.
Despite being the wife of a notorious drug lord of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo’s caliber, Maria managed to keep her details away from public scrutiny. Nothing has been said about her academic journey but she is said to be educated to an extent.
María Elvira Murillo was the second Wife of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo
Before Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo met and married Maria, he had already gone through one marriage. His wife was an unidentified lady that suffered from leukemia. Miguel never divorced his first wife, she reportedly died from the complications of her health condition.
It was after the drug kingpin lost his wife number one that he courted and married Maria and their nuptials reportedly took place in 1971, though the details are not known. Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo is a Mexican drug baron also known as El Padrino meaning The Godfather. He founded the Guadalajara Cartel during the 1980s.
Things really went smoothly for the duo; Maria played the role of a supportive wife to Miguel, assisting the drug baron make his way through the high society of Jalisco. They were very good friends with the then governor of Sinaloa who also attended their wedding ceremony.
While María Elvira Murillo was highly supportive of her spouse’s drug dealing business during their early days when Miguel was pedaling hard substances on a small scale, things changed as time rolled by. As his cartel grew bigger, Miguel started devoting more time to the business while neglecting his wife; this made Maria feel disgruntled.
In addition to that, Miguel’s newly found wealth and elevated social status led him to start having extra-marital affairs with multiple women while lavishing them with expensive gifts. With this development, Maria made several efforts to convince Miguel to consider running the cartel from their home in Sinaloa, but the drug mogul was blunt in his refusal.
As if that was not enough, Miguel coldly asked Maria to leave his life as she was no longer needed. This was what led to the couple’s divorce and the Michoacan native took her children and moved back home to Sinaloa.
In the long run, the Gulf cartel made an attempt on Miguel’s life which saw him running back home to Sinaloa but María Elvira Murillo saw it as payback time and refused o accept him back.
Following that, Miguel informed his ex-wife to prepare to protect the kids and herself from Colombian retaliation as he may not be able to deliver a consignment of 70 tonnes of crack cocaine meant for Hélmer Herrera.
In 1988, Miguel played a major part in rigging the elections in favor of the PRI, this led the couple to reunite and they were even spotted together at Carlos Salinas’ success party.
The couple’s reconciliation didn’t seem to last long as they started going through a new set of issues after Maria learned that Miguel had a hand in the murder of Guadalupe Leija Serrano, including her two kids.
María Elvira Murillo wasn’t cowed in confronting her spouse and while berating Miguel for the level of brutality he displayed, she stabbed the drug mogul with a knife while he was trying to bring the situation under control. It was this particular incident that made Miguel finally cut ties with Maria and relocated to Guadalajara where he continued doing his drug business.
Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo’s Children With María Elvira Murillo
María Elvira Murillo reportedly had 17 children with her ex-spouse, however, nothing much is known about their kids. We were only told that the children had to grow up under the watch of their mother after the drug baron was arrested and imprisoned.
Considering that they were born in the 1970s and 80s, Maria’s children are all grown up and forging their own paths in life. To date, none of them has emerged into the limelight for good or bad.
What did Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo’s Wife do for a Living
The Jalisco Public Property Registry revealed that María Elvira Murillo has a huge stake in Delia Real Estate as one of the co-owners of the real estate firm. The other known co-owner happens to be her husband, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo.
However, Delia Real Estate firm only remained under their management until Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo was arrested and jailed in 1989. Following the drug kingpin’s incarceration, the lucrative business was confiscated by the Mexican government through the office of the country’s Attorney General.
While she was still married to the notorious drug lord, María Elvira Murillo played a major role in the company, the Guadalajara Cartel right from inception when Miguel was still pedaling drugs in minor quantities.
Maria was the one Miguel trusted enough to put in charge of the cartel s finances and from what is obvious, she did a good job of handling his wealth. This conclusion is drawn from the fact that Miguel was already worth $1 billion as at the time of his arrest and imprisonment.
Apart from the financial department of her husband’s drug cartel. The Michoacan native also took charge of negotiations. She headed the team that was saddled with the responsibility of negotiating with sister cartels.
Where is María Elvira Murillo Now?
Following Miguel’s final arrest in 1989, Maria had no choice but to leave the drug business and went to settle down to raise her children. Nothing was heard from the Michoacan native for a long time, though news surfaced claiming that relocated to the United States but what she is doing in the country was not revealed.
The last time her voice was heard was in 2011 when she joined efforts with her children in writing a letter to their country’s government about Miguel’s failing health condition and the fact that he was not getting the required medical attention in prison. Their open letter yielded results in December 2014 when Miguel was moved to a medium-security prison in Guadalajara.