Meet Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo's wife, María Elvira Murillo
From 2018 to 2021, the Netflix drama series Narcos: Mexico depicted the rise and fall of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, founder of the Guadalajara Cartel. The Mexican drug lord married María Elvira Murillo, whose story was revealed in the series. Hence, many people are curious and concerned about Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo's wife and her role in the life of the former drug lord.
Source: UGC
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Key takeaways
- Dubbed the "Queen of the Pacific," the Narcos series described María Elvira Murillo as a key player in establishing Gallardo's drug empire.
- She was the second wife of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, alias El Jefe de Jefes (The Boss of Bosses) or El Padrino (The Godfather).
- The Chilean actress Fernanda Urrejola played her character in Narcos.
- Some sources report that Miguel and Maria are still married, while others say they parted ways when Miguel was imprisoned.
Profile summary
Full name | María Elvira Murillo |
Gender | Female |
Place of birth | Mexico |
Current residence | Mexico |
Nationality | Mexican |
Ethnicity | Mixed |
Sexual orientation | Straight |
Religion | Christianity |
Hair colour | Black |
Marital status | Divorced |
Ex-spouse | Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo |
Profession | Businesswoman |
Who is Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo's wife?
María Elvira Murillo is the ex-wife of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, a renowned Mexican drug lord. Born in Mexico, she came from humble beginnings and was raised in a devoted Catholic family. She married Félix Gallardo in 1971 and initially supported his small-scale drug dealing before his imprisonment.
For over 32 years, the drug kingpin has been behind bars. Miguel Ángel is now incapacitated, and in 2021, during his first-ever interview since confinement, he told Noticias Telemundo:
My health is terrible. My family is digging a grave so that I may be buried next to a tree. My life expectancy is nonexistent. I lost everything: I lost sensitivity, my hearing, my eyesight.
What is María Elvira Murillo's age?
Her exact age and date of birth are unknown. She is a Mexican of mixed ethnicity.
Source: Original
Career
María Elena Félix Gallardo is a businesswoman. Not much is known about her career, but she was a stakeholder in Delia Real Estate alongside her husband. After her husband's arrest in 1989, the Attorney General's Office (PGR) seized Delia's Real Estate assets.
What happened to Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo's wife?
Maria's current location is unknown. In 2011, Miguel Angel Félix Gallardo's son and daughter, with their mother, wrote an open letter stating that their dad was not getting proper treatment. This prompted his release to a better prison.
What is María Elvira Murillo's net worth?
The businesswoman's net worth is uncertain since she lost everything after her husband's arrest. According to Oprah Daily, Miguel was worth $500 million.
What happened to Félix Gallardo?
According to the real-life events and Narcos: Mexico's storyline, he was one of the founders of the Guadalajara Cartel alongside Rafael Caro Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo. They controlled much of conveying drugs illegally in Mexico and the US-Mexico border in the 1980s.
The cartel reportedly made $5 billion annually from smuggling drugs illegally. Before this, Gallardo worked as a family bodyguard for the governor of Sinaloa state, Leopoldo Sánchez Celis. In 1985, as per the Los Angeles Times, Félix Gallardo ordered the kidnapping and murder of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena.
He was eventually arrested in 1989 and sentenced to 40 years in prison for the killing. While incarcerated, Félix Gallardo continued to run his organisation using a mobile phone. Due to health issues, he was transferred to a medium-security facility in Guadalajara in 2014.
In 2017, Félix was imprisoned for an additional 37 years after a retrial. As of 2025, he still serves his sentence at a maximum-security prison in Mexico. In the drama series, actor Diego Luna depicted Miguel's character as a quiet, loyal, and ambitious man.
Did Félix Gallardo have a wife?
His first wife died of leukaemia before he married María Elvira. Reports state that he had 17 children with Maria, but only two names are mentioned.
Félix Gallardo's kids are Abril Félix Murillo and Miguel Jr. Félix Murillo. In an interview with Noticias Telemundo, Miguel said his two kids were present when he was arrested. He noted that they knocked down the door without any arrest warrant or search warrant, beating him down in less than a minute.
Who is Félix's third wife in Narcos?
Daniela was his third wife and had one child with him in 1986. So, who played Daniela in Narcos Mexico? Alejandra Guilmant played Daniela in the TV series.
Source: Facebook
What happened to Maria in Narcos, Mexico?
In the Netflix series Narcos: Mexico, María Elvira Murillo is a loving and supportive wife to her husband and his drug business. She becomes increasingly disillusioned with her husband's growing preference for the cartel over family and extramarital affairs.
Maria tries to persuade him to run the drug cartel from Sinaloa, but he refuses. The couple divorced, and María relocated to Sinaloa with their children. She stops her husband from seeing the kids. She later reunited with Félix after he rigged the 1988 elections in favour of the PRI, the party of Carlos Salinas.
But their reunion is short-lived due to his involvement in the tragic murder of Guadalupe Leija Serrano and her two kids. Maria even stabbed Miguel with a knife due to the argument. The duo later parted in 1989 after his arrest.
FAQs
- Is Miguel Félix Gallardo still alive? Yes, the former drug cartel is reportedly still alive as of recent public reports, though he is elderly and has faced serious health issues while serving his sentence.
- How did Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo get caught? He was arrested in 1989 after Mexican authorities linked him to major drug trafficking operations and the murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena.
- When will Félix Gallardo be released? There is no officially confirmed release date. He was sentenced to 37 years.
- Where is Sandra Avila Beltran now? Also known as “La Reina del Pacífico,” she was released in 2015 and is believed to be living a low-profile private life in Mexico.
- Why did Felix's wife leave him? The marriage collapsed due to the pressures of his criminal life, long imprisonment, and the dangers surrounding his activities.
- What is Sofia Conesa known for? She is known as a Mexican journalist and photographer who conducted rare interviews and documented Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo while he was in prison.
- Where is Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo now? He remains under Mexican custody and has reportedly spent time in house arrest due to age and health concerns.
- Are Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and Pablo Escobar related? No. They were not related by blood or family, though they were contemporaries in the international drug trade during the 1980s.
Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo's wife, Maria Elviria, was the backbone during his days of conveying drugs illegally. His murder crimes separated them when he was imprisoned, and she has been quietly living her life off the public radar.
As published on Briefly.co.za, El Chapo is a former Mexican drug lord and one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the world. He was also the head of the Sinaloa Cartel, the largest drug-dealing empire in the world, with distribution centres across the globe. Discover more about his net worth by clicking the above link.
Source: Briefly News
Favour Adeaga (Lifestyle writer) Dr. Favour Adeaga is an author, speaker, and coach. He graduated with a degree in Mass Communication from The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Nigeria. He did his internship at The Nation Newspaper and taught diploma students in Newspaper and Magazine courses at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi. He has curated the facts and life hacks category since 2018. Dr Favour is the author of several books available on Amazon. He currently lives in Nigeria. Email: favouradeaga@gmail.com
John Ouma (Lifestyle writer) John Ouma is a journalist with six years of experience. He has published sharply argued think pieces that live at the intersection of power, politics, and society. He was awarded the FirstGen scholarship by Biola University and a merit-based scholarship by AMDA College and Conservatory of the Performing Arts in January 2021. He has worked for The Standard and Nation Africa as an opinion columnist between 2018 and 2022. He is currently working on his first novel—a literary fiction that traces the life of a contemporary Kenyan artist. Email: gervasjohn97@gmail.com
