A really nice historical-style harness costs in the low tens of thousands (
Jeffrey Hedgecock was quoting 20-40k USD for a 1470s kit last time he was making custom armour), so budget should not be an issue for a drug cartel. There are plenty of skilled armourers in eastern Europe whose customers play games on the edge of the law, and it is so hard to make a living as an armourer that I don't have trouble imagining a shop in Russia selling a dozen harnesses to a Special Client. But working with fancy alloys in the thicknesses you need to stop modern rifle rounds is its own game. Spring stainless destroys smiths' elbows, but many sports armourers work in it, at least while they are young and foolish.
One simple option would be having someone make the helmet, bevor, breast, and back in thick special alloy (probably using machines not hammers and getting shapes which look wrong but will be wearable), and a different someone sew an arming doublet of ballistic fibres (I think that there are already businesses which will tailor a blazer and interline it with with kevlar), then have a regular armourer fit arms and legs in spring stainless to that. Those parts will be about 1 or 1.5 mm thick, so no good against bullets.
It is the shops in places like Ukraine and Russia which have the capacity to make a dozen kits on short notice anyways.