A cartel is a group of up to 5 players who work as a team. The idea is to have as many players in your cartel as you can get in order for the cartel to grow quickly. When you are in a cartel, the creator of the cartel is the one who is in charge of it. All players in the cartel will donate a percentage of their drugs made when making drugs, and also a percentage of the cash their whores make when using turns. The percentage you donate is decided by the leader of the cartel, and can range from 0% to 60%. The drugs and cash donated to a cartel by the cartel members can be used to buy thugs, Uzi's and glocks. The cartel thugs are there to protect you when other players try to drive by attack you. In order for a person to win a drive by attack on you, they will need to have more thugs than your thugs plus your cartel thugs. Your cartel thugs get killed in attacks, but the cartel guns you will never loose, unless you sell them. Any sensible cartel leader will only buy uzi's or the cartel thugs, the same as a sensible player will only pack ak's.

The drugs in your cartel can also be donated to players in the cartel in order to help them if they have been attacked, or in order to help them build on thugs and guns to attack other players. You can only donate drugs twice every twelve hours and only the cartel leader or co-leader can donate drugs.

The best advantage of being in a cartel is the protection you get from your cartel thugs. The disadvantage is that you could be loosing out on 0-60% of your drugs and cash, so make sure that if you are in a cartel you are not donating too much of your assets to the cartel. If you feel that the cut is too high for your liking, then simply leave the cartel. Cartels have a limit of 5 players, and cartel members can only tag team another player in an attack with their cartel members, if a cartel member is found to be tag teaming another player with a player from another cartel, these players could find themselves being warned, or maybe even banned from the game. A cartel has a limit of 5 players for a reason. it is so that a player cannot be unfairly tag teamed in an attack. i.e. 3 cartels vs. 1 cartel.

Once you are in a cartel, it is against the rules to buy, or sell items with any of your cartel members. You can also get warned or evicted from the game if you are found to be doing this.