US authorities arrest 'El Mayo' Zambada, a historic leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a historic leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, and Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of another infamous cartel leader, were arrested by U.S. authorities in Texas, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.

A leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel for decades alongside Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Zambada was known for running the cartel’s smuggling operations while keeping a lower profile.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to his capture.

“The Justice Department has taken into custody two additional alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. They were arrested Thursday in El Paso.

Zambada’s detention follows some important arrests of other Sinaloa cartel figures, including one of his sons and another one of Guzmán’s. Guzmán López was also a son of “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Garland’s statement said both Zambada and Guzmán López were facing multiple charges “for leading the cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks.”

“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable,” Garland said.

In recent years, Guzman’s sons have lead a faction of the cartel known as the little Chapos, or “Chapitos” that has been identified as one of the main exporters of fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid, to the U.S. market. “El Chapo” Guzmán was sentenced to life in prison in the US in 2019.

They were seen as more violent and flamboyant than Zambada. Their security chief was arrested by Mexican authorities in November.

One of them, Ovidio Guzmán López, was arrested and extradited to the US last year. He pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in Chicago in September.

In February, Zambada was charged in the Eastern District of New York with conspiring to manufacture and distribute fentanyl. Prosecutors described him as continuing to lead the Sinaloa cartel, “one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world.”

A son of Zambada’s pleaded guilty in a US federal court in San Diego in 2021 to being a leader in the Sinaloa cartel.

Ismael Zambada Imperial admitted in a plea agreement to being a major coordinator in the trafficking operation, including importing and distributing tons of cocaine, heroin and marijuana from Mexico into the U.S.

Zambada, one of the longest-surviving capos in Mexico, was considered the strategist of the Sinaloa cartel, more involved in day-to-day operations than his flashier and better-known boss, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who was serving a life sentence in the United States.

Strong ties to Colombian cocaine suppliers and his cells across the United States made Zambada one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the world. He had been among the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel since the 1970s, with their principal livelihood being the sale of narcotics in the United States, according to a U.S. Justice Department.

Zambada was an old-fashioned capo in an era of younger kingpins known for their flamboyant lifestyles of club-hopping and brutal tactics of beheading, dismembering and even skinning their rivals. While Zambada fought those who challenged him, he was known for concentrating on the business side of trafficking and avoiding gruesome 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 would contemplate suicide rather than be captured.

“I’m terrified of being incarcerated,” Zambada said. “I’d like to think that, yes, I would kill myself.”

The interview was surprising for a kingpin known for keeping his head down, but he gave strict instructions on where and when the encounter would take place, and the article gave no hint of his whereabouts.

Zambada reputedly won the loyalty of locals in his home state of Sinaloa and neighbouring Durango through his largess, sponsoring local farmers and distributing money and beer in his birthplace of El Alamo.

Although little is known about Zambada’s early life, he is believed to have gotten his start in drug trafficking as an enforcer in the 1970s.

By the early 1990s, he was a major player in the Juarez cartel, transporting tons of cocaine and marijuana.

Zambada started gaining the trust of Colombian traffickers, allegiances that helped him come out on top in the cartel world of ever-shifting alliances. Eventually, he became so powerful that he broke off from the Juarez cartel, but still managed to keep strong ties with the gang and avoided a turf war. He also developed a partnership with “El Chapo” Guzman that would take him to the top of the Sinaloa Cartel.

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Verza reported from Mexico City. AP writer Christopher Sherman in Mexico City contributed to this report.