At least nine social media influencers have been killed in the Mexican state of Sinaloa since 2024, many of them shot during live broadcasts, a pattern that exposes how deeply cartels have infiltrated online culture.
The latest victim was Cesar Gastelum, a 25-year-old TikTok creator with more than 600,000 followers. Gastelum was shot in the head while livestreaming outside a fast food restaurant in Culiacán, Sinaloa's state capital. Two masked men on a motorcycle pulled up and opened fire. He had been filming a comedy challenge with two friends dressed as food delivery workers. TikTok halted and later removed the livestream, but footage and images continued to circulate online.
Local police initially reported the death as that of a delivery worker before identifying the victim as Gastelum. Soldiers and police deployed to the scene, and forensic experts collected evidence and removed the body. The killing took place at a busy shopping plaza near the Sinaloa prosecutor's office, a detail that underscores how brazen cartel violence has become even in areas adjacent to law enforcement.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on July 29 that she had discussed Gastelum's death with her cabinet. She pledged to find those responsible, telling reporters:
"The perpetrators, and the mastermind, must be detained, and the reason for this tragic homicide must be uncovered."
Sheinbaum has faced pressure from Washington for what critics describe as an insufficient response to cartel violence across Mexico. Whether her pledge leads to arrests remains an open question, no suspects in the Gastelum case have been publicly identified.
Gastelum's killing did not happen in a vacuum. His recent Instagram posts showed him posing in front of the grave of Leobardo Aispuro, an influencer known as "El Gordo Peruci" who was shot dead in Sinaloa in 2024. Police believe Aispuro's killing may be linked to the rivalry between two warring factions of the Sinaloa Cartel.
In other videos, Gastelum made reference to spending time with Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, the co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel who was captured and extradited to the United States in 2024. He wore signs relating to the gang leader in some posts. Those affiliations, broadcast to hundreds of thousands of followers, placed Gastelum squarely in the middle of a factional struggle he may not have fully controlled.
Zambada's capture fractured the Sinaloa Cartel into two rival camps: the Mayiza faction, which revered Zambada as its leader, and Los Chapitos, aligned with the sons of imprisoned kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. That split has driven a violent struggle for territory and loyalty, and influencers who publicly align with one side become targets for the other.
The U.S. government's decision to designate certain Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations reflects the scale of the threat these groups pose, not just to Mexico but to American national security.
Gastelum's death follows a pattern that has grown disturbingly familiar. Last May, Valeria Marquez, a 23-year-old influencer and beauty salon owner, was shot and killed while livestreaming on TikTok from her salon in Zapopan, a city in the state of Jalisco. A masked man posing as a delivery driver entered the salon. Marquez acknowledged the hitman on camera before he shot her once in the chest and twice in the head. Her followers watched the killing in real time.
Mexican federal prosecutors accused Ramón Ángel Álvarez Ayala, known as "R1," of ordering the hit. Álvarez Ayala is a senior figure in the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, a rival organization the U.S. Treasury Department has described as "one of the most powerful cartels in the world." Prosecutors said his son Francisco, Marquez's ex-boyfriend, requested the killing. Francisco had previously threatened her on several occasions, the New York Post reported.
Mexico's Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, addressed the case directly:
"He [Álvarez] had threatened her on several occasions and everything indicates, and this will be proven, that the son asked his father, R-1, to carry out the femicide."
Álvarez Ayala was captured by special forces in Atotonilco el Alto, Jalisco, and is now held in Altiplano maximum security prison. He was also linked to the assassination of Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo during Day of the Dead celebrations in November 2025, a killing that resulted in 31 arrests, Fox News reported.
The CJNG's operations span multiple Mexican states, including Michoacán, where cartel gunmen recently ambushed a police patrol and killed five officers.
The killings are not random acts of violence against celebrities. Chris Dalby, a senior analyst at Dyami Security Intelligence, a security think-tank, explained to The Telegraph how cartels use influencers as financial tools. Influencers with large followings and visible income streams offer cartels a ready-made laundering mechanism.
Dalby described how influencers can serve as fronts for cartel money:
"They can be front businesses, lending their names such as beauty salons, clothing brands, restaurants, music labels or event companies."
Beyond front businesses, Dalby said cartels exploit the financial infrastructure of online fame itself. Sponsorship deals, appearance fees, and promotional earnings can all be inflated to disguise cartel cash flowing through legitimate-looking channels. Music streaming royalties, YouTube advertising revenue, influencer marketing contracts, and licensing deals provide additional cover.
But the same visibility that makes influencers useful to one cartel faction makes them targets for another. As Dalby put it: "That puts a target on someone's back if you are representing the wrong cartel, and you're very popular, and someone takes offence there."
The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on more than 50 individuals and entities linked to the CJNG alone. Washington has also targeted the Jalisco cartel's fuel theft operations with sanctions and bank alerts, reflecting the breadth of criminal enterprises these organizations run.
The list of dead and targeted influencers extends well beyond Gastelum and Marquez. Kevin Kaletry, another influencer, was shot in the head while filming at a hotel in Mexico City. José Carlos González Herrera was killed while livestreaming at a market. Camilo Ochoa, a Sinaloa Cartel boss who had turned to YouTube, was killed in 2025. Ochoa was described as open about his relationship with cartels.
Gail Castro, a 32-year-old YouTuber and brother of the popular influencer Markitos Toys, was shot more than 15 times in the stomach and chest outside an upscale hotel in Baja California. Castro was accused of laundering money for a Sinaloa faction. Others connected to him were also killed or threatened.
Markitos Toys, who has millions of followers, has proudly shown off his relationship with El Chapo's sons. That kind of public alliance may generate clicks and followers, but it also paints a target on anyone in the influencer's orbit.
Then there is Agustin Paul, a 22-year-old online personality known as "El Pinky." His final moments were captured on camera and shared on social media. He appeared battered, one eye swollen shut. When asked on camera why he was there, Paul said he was being punished "for passing information to MF [the son of El Mayo]... the location he could find Los Chapos." His body was later found in Culiacán with his hands and feet bound with rope.
The situation in cartel-dominated regions has grown so dangerous that the United States suspended all government operations in parts of Michoacán after receiving direct threats.
Mexico has reported an overall decrease in homicides nationwide, but narcoviolence is on the rise, particularly in Sinaloa. Nearly 200 reporters have been killed in Mexico for their work over the last two decades. Influencers are now joining that grim tally, young people drawn into cartel ecosystems by money, fame, or proximity, then discarded when alliances shift or rivalries flare.
Sheinbaum's government faces mounting criticism from Washington for its handling of cartel violence. The diplomatic relationship between Mexico and the United States has grown increasingly strained over law enforcement and border security issues, adding another layer of tension to an already volatile situation.
Whether the arrest of "R1" in the Marquez case represents a genuine turning point or a one-off success remains unclear. No suspects have been publicly named in Gastelum's killing. No one has been held accountable for the deaths of Kaletry, González Herrera, or Agustin Paul. The investigations, where they exist at all, move slowly while the killings continue at the speed of a live broadcast.
Cartels have learned that influencers are useful right up until they are not, and in a country where the government cannot protect its own mayors from assassination, a 25-year-old with a TikTok account never stood a chance.
