WASHINGTON – Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, former leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, and Joaquín Guzmán López, son of another infamous cartel leader, were arrested by U.S. authorities in Texas on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel for decades, alongside Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Zambada is one of the most notorious drug traffickers in the world and known for directing the cartel’s smuggling operations while remaining discreet.
A Mexican federal official told the Associated Press that Zambada and Guzmán López arrived in the United States on a private plane and turned themselves in to authorities. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.
The US government had offered a reward up to $15 million for information leading to the capture of Zambada, who has eluded authorities for decades.
Zambada and Guzmán López oversaw the trafficking of “tens of thousands of kilograms of drugs into the United States, along with related violence,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray, adding that they will now “face justice in the United States.”
“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Department of Justice will not rest until every cartel leader, member and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement.
Mexican authorities did not immediately comment on the arrests.
US authorities have been seeking Zambada’s capture for years and he has been charged in several cases in the US. He was charged in February in the Eastern District of New York with conspiring to manufacture and distribute the synthetic opioid. Prosecutors said he continued to lead the Sinaloa cartel, “one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world.”
Zambada, one of Mexico’s longest-surviving capos, was considered the cartel’s strategist, more involved in day-to-day operations than its flashier and better-known boss, “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the US in 2019 and is the father of Guzmán López.
Zambada is an old-fashioned capo in an era of younger kingpins, known for their extravagant clubbing lifestyle and brutal tactics of beheading, dismembering and even skinning their rivals. Although Zambada fought back against those who challenged him, he is known for focusing on the business side of trafficking and avoiding the horrific cartel violence that would draw attention.
In an April 2010 interview with the Mexican magazine Proceso, he acknowledged that he lived in constant fear of going to prison and that he would consider suicide rather than be captured.
“I’m terrified of being incarcerated,” Zambada said. “I would like to think so, I would kill myself.”
The interview was surprising for a bigwig known for keeping his head down, but he gave strict instructions about where and when the meeting would take place, and the article gave no clues as to his whereabouts.
Zambada is said to have earned the loyalty of locals in his home state of Sinaloa and neighboring Durango through his generosity, patronizing local farmers and distributing money and beer in his hometown of El Alamo.
Although little is known about Zambada’s childhood, it is believed that he began as an enforcer in the 1970s.
In the early 1990s, he was a major player in the Juarez cartel, transporting tons of cocaine and marijuana.
Zambada began to gain the trust of Colombian drug lords, loyalties that helped him emerge victorious in the world of cartels’ ever-shifting alliances. Eventually, he became so powerful that he broke away from the Juarez cartel, but still managed to maintain strong ties with the gang and avoided a turf war. He also developed a partnership with “El Chapo” Guzmán that would take him to the top of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Zambada’s arrest follows some high-profile arrests of other Sinaloa cartel figures, including one of his sons and another son of “El Chapo” Guzmán, Ovidio Guzmán López. Zambada’s son pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court in San Diego in 2021 to being a leader of the Sinaloa cartel.
In recent years, Guzman’s sons have led a faction of the cartel known as the Little Chapos, or “Chapitos,” which has been identified as the main exporter of fentanyl to the U.S. market.
They were seen as more violent and extravagant than Zambada. Your security chief was arrested by Mexican authorities in November.
Ovidio Guzmán López was arrested and extradited to the US last year. He pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in Chicago in September.
Mike Vigil, the DEA’s former chief of international operations, said Zambada’s arrest is important but is unlikely to have much impact on the flow of drugs into the United States. Joaquín Guzmán López was the least influential of the four sons who made up the Chapitos, Vigil said. .
“This is a huge blow to the rule of law, but will it have an impact on the cartel? I don’t think so,” Vigil said.
“This will not affect the drug trade because someone from within the cartel will replace him,” Vigil said.
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Verza and Sherman reported from Mexico City.
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