Rosalino Sánchez Félix was born on "Las Flechas", a small ranch in El Guayabo, a small farming municipality in
Sinaloa. He was the youngest of eight children. Sánchez's parents were Santos Sánchez, who died when Chalino was six years old; He then moved to
Tijuana, where he worked as a "
coyote", smuggling
undocumented immigrants into the United States. In October 1975, Sánchez himself fled to the U.S. to avoid Mexican authorities. He worked on farms across the
Pacific Northwest before moving in with his aunt in
Inglewood, California, in January 1983. In Inglewood he washed dishes, sold cars and dealt small quantities of
marijuana and
cocaine. He also had a stint as a driver for Rigo Campos, the owner of a restaurant in
Bell Gardens who was involved in the drug business, and who was eventually assassinated. In addition, Sánchez helped his older brother, Armando, run an immigrant-smuggling operation. In July 1984, Sánchez's brother Armando was shot and killed in a hotel in
Tijuana, which inspired Sánchez to compose his first
corrido, "Recordando A Armando Sánchez." He first began recording in the studio in 1987 and would record fifteen songs, each commissioned by a local "valiente", and make a single copy for each client. By the third recording, his clients were ordering extra copies for their friends, and Parra suggested producing 300 cassettes, which sold easily and were followed by reorders. Sánchez connected with Pedro Rivera, who had set up Cintas Acuario, a small recording studio in
Long Beach, California, to which Sánchez signed a
recording contract. Rivera, the father of
Lupillo Rivera,
Juan Rivera, and
Jenni Rivera, was one of the first to release Sánchez's albums.
Coachella shooting (January 1992) • C. Sánchez,
M1911 (
10mm) • E. Gallegos,
Pistol (
.25ACP)}} }} On 25 January 1992, Sánchez performed at the Plaza Los Arcos restaurant and nightclub in
Coachella, California, with 400 people in attendance. Eduardo Gallegos, aged 32, an unemployed mechanic from
Thermal who was under the influence of
heroin and
alcohol, requested the song "El Gallo de Sinaloa" to be played. Immediately afterwards, Gallegos jumped on stage and fired four shots at Sánchez. Gallegos, who survived his wounds, was convicted of
attempted murder and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison; he was
paroled in 2023. The shooting gave Sánchez additional press, and his sales and radio airplay increased, particularly for his non-narco song "Nieves de Enero". At his next performance in
Los Angeles, the club reached capacity six hours before Sánchez was due to perform. ==Murder==