Two Top Mexican Cartel Leaders (Sinaloa) Arrested by U.S. Authorities in El Paso...
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The two men, Ismael Zambada García and Joaquín Guzmán López, run the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most dominant criminal groups in Mexico.
By Alan Feuer and Natalie Kitroeff
American law enforcement officials arrested two top leaders of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most dominant criminal organizations in Mexico, the Justice Department said on Thursday.
The two operatives, Ismael Zambada García and Joaquín Guzmán López, are among the most powerful drug traffickers in Mexico and command massive transnational cocaine and fentanyl businesses that move narcotics into the United States, Europe and elsewhere.
The Sinaloa Cartel they help lead is one of the two biggest drug trafficking groups in Mexico, and is among the most sophisticated and dangerous criminal enterprises in the world. Both men were in custody in El Paso, Texas.
“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “The Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable.”
Mr. Zambada García, 76, who is known as “El Mayo,” has been pursued by the U.S. government for years as a co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel and has been charged in several federal indictments stretching back more than two decades.
Mr. Guzmán López is a son of the notorious crime boss Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as El Chapo, and is said to have been elevated to a leadership role in the cartel along with his three other brothers after the extradition of his father to the United States in 2017. His brother Ovidio Guzmán López was arrested in Mexico and extradited to stand trial in Chicago in September.
Joaquin Guzman Lopez is expected to appear in the coming days in Federal District Court in Chicago. It remains unclear at this point where Mr. Zambada Garcia will be prosecuted.
Mr. Zambada has never spent time in jail, according to the U.S. government, unlike his top ally El Chapo, who was extradited to the United States, convicted in Brooklyn federal court in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison on drug conspiracy charges.
The arrest was a victory for American federal investigators in the F.B.I., the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations, which have for years been chasing the top ranks of the Sinaloa Cartel.
While the successful case against El Chapo was a major step in that effort, the U.S. authorities were always rankled by their inability to secure a case against Mr. Zambada Garcia.
They had captured Mr. Zambada Garcia extensively on wiretaps over the years and had come very close to apprehending him just before El Chapo was taken into custody.
El Chapo cultivated the media and attained something of a global celebrity status. Mr. Zamabada Garcia, by contrast, has always been a quieter and more old-school criminal figure. He has long been less flashy than El Chapo, content to live a simple, almost rustic life in his compound in Sinaloa, known as El Alamo.
Behind the scenes, Mr. Zambada Garcia, known as a pragmatist at heart, has been in communication with U.S. federal officials for the last three years at least, discussing the terms of his potential surrender, according to five people briefed on the matter.
Mr. Zambada suffered a brutal public betrayal during El Chapo’s trial: his own son testified for the prosecution, offering an explosive and detailed account of every aspect of the cartel’s sprawling criminal enterprise. His son, Vicente Zambada Niebla, had been previously arrested by the Mexican authorities and extradited to the United States in 2010.
At trial, Mr. Zambada Niebla demonstrated a remarkable mastery of the inner-workings of the cartel empire, revealing how his father helped traffic tons through a vast network of smuggling routes and money laundering schemes.
His father’s bribery budget was as high as $1 million per month, he said, and included payments to an army general and a military officer who once served as a personal guard to Mexico’s former president, Vicente Fox.
Alan Feuer covers extremism and political violence for The Times, focusing on the criminal cases involving the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and against former President Donald J. Trump. More about Alan Feuer
Natalie Kitroeff is the Mexico City bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. More about Natalie Kitroeff
By Drazen Jorgic
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexican drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and the son of his former partner, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, were arrested on Thursday in El Paso, Texas, in a major coup for U.S. authorities that may also reshape the Mexican criminal landscape.
Zambada is one of the most consequential traffickers in Mexico's history and co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo, who was extradited to the United States in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison.
Both Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of El Chapo, face multiple charges in the U.S. for funneling huge quantities of drugs to U.S. streets, including fentanyl, which has surged to become the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.
Zambada, who is believed to be in his 70s, and Guzman Lopez, who is in his 30s, were detained after landing in a private plane in El Paso, two U.S. officials told Reuters.
Guzman Lopez is one of four sons of El Chapo -- known as Los Chapitos, or Little Chapos -- who inherited their father's faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. His brother, Ovidio Guzman, was arrested last year and extradited to the United States.
In recent years, the Sinaloa Cartel has become the biggest target for U.S. authorities, who have accused the crime syndicate of being the biggest supplier of fentanyl to the United States.
Zambada and Guzman Lopez face multiple charges in the U.S. "for heading the Cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
The arrest of Guzman Lopez was first reported by Reuters, ahead of the Justice Department statement where it was confirmed they were detained in El Paso.
The U.S. authorities had a $15 million reward for Zambada's capture, while Guzman Lopez had a $5 million bounty on his head.
The Sinaloa cartel traffics drugs to more than 50 countries around the globe and is one of two most powerful organized crime groups in Mexico, according to U.S. authorities.
Zambada and El Chapo's sons belong to two different generations of traffickers, with differing styles.
Zambada is known for being an "old-school" narco, avoiding the limelight and operating in the shadows. El Chapo's sons, by contrast, have a reputation for being flashy narcos who courted attention as they ascended the ranksof the cartel.
El Chapo's sons are also known to be more violent and hot-headed than Zambada, who had a reputation as a shrewd operator.
Zambada and El Chapo's sons have had a fractious relationship since their father was extradited in 2017, and the arrests of Zambada and Guzman Lopez may trigger instability or even violence in their heartlands in the northern state of Sinaloa.
Their arrests were part of a joint operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agencies, two U.S. officials said.
U.S. authorities have over the past year launched fresh indictments against Zambada and Guzman's sons on new charges in the United States that focus on fentanyl smuggling, as well as the flow of precursor chemicals to the illicit labs operated by their crime syndicate.
Over decades, the cartel has set up sophisticated supply chains to move drugs across the globe and to source heavily regulated chemicals to their home base in Sinaloa.
Earlier in the day on Thursday, Reuters published an investigation that revealed how fentanyl precursor chemicals are astonishingly easy and cheap to buy online from Chinese sellers that ship the substances door-to-door in North America.
"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 added.
(Reporting by Drazen Jorgic; Additional reporting by Andrew Goudsward, Sarah Lynch; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle, Anthony Esposito, Leslie Adler and Michael Perry)
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Statement on Arrests of Alleged Leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel Ismael Zambada Garcia (El Mayo) and Joaquin Guzman Lopez
The Justice Department issued the following statement from Attorney General Merrick B. Garland on the arrests of alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael Zambada Garcia (El Mayo) and Joaquin Guzman Lopez:
“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. Ismael Zambada Garcia, or “El Mayo,” cofounder of the Cartel, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of its other cofounder, were arrested today in El Paso, Texas.
Both men are facing multiple charges in the United States for leading the Cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks.
El Mayo and Guzman Lopez join a growing list of Sinaloa Cartel leaders and associates who the Justice Department is holding accountable in the United States. That includes the Cartel’s other cofounder, Joaquin Guzman Loera, or “El Chapo”; another of El Chapo’s sons and an alleged Cartel leader, Ovidio Guzman Lopez; and the Cartel’s alleged lead sicario, Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, or “El Nini.”
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.”
Confirma la DEA detención de ‘El Mayo’ Zambada en El Paso
Funcionarios de la DEA (Administración de Control de Drogas, por sus siglas en inglés) en El Paso, Texas, confirmaron a El Diario que fue detenido el líder criminal Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada en esa ciudad fronteriza de Estados Unidos.
Hasta el momento no han surgido más detalles en torno a la caída del supuesto líder del Cártel de Sinaloa.
A sus 76 años de edad, trasciende que él mismo se habría entregado a las autoridades estadunidenses, aunque otros trascendidos aseguran que fue capturado en la Sierra de Sinaloa y traído a El Páso para ser presentado como entregado.
Ismael Mario Zambada García
Ismael Mario Zambada
- Nació en El Álamo, Sinaloa, 1 de enero de 1948
- Es conocido como el Mayo, o don Mayo.
Junto con “El Chapo” Guzmán y “El Azul”, lidera el Cártel de
Sinaloa, siendo el máximo líder de la organización criminal desde la
captura de El Chapo.
Se le señala de exportar cocaína y heroína de México a Estados Unidos Inició su trayectoria criminal en el Cártel de Guadalajara durante los años setenta, organización dirigida por Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo y Rafael Caro Quintero.
Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo
Se le vinculó con el Cártel de Juárez de Amado Carrillo, "El Señor de los Cielos", aunque también colaboró con Edelio López, del Cártel del Golfo
Amado Carrillo, "El Señor de los Cielos"
Registros de internet refieren que Zambada se cambió el rostro con una cirugía plástica en los dosmiles.
Tomó el mando del Cártel de Sinaloa luego de la caída de el Chapo a prisión en febrero del 2014, siendo considerado el capo más poderoso del norte del país. Nunca había sido detenido hasta la fecha.
Según internet, tiene 4 hijos y 4 hijas; entre ellos,Vicente Zambada Niebla, alias "El Vicentillo", operador también del mismo cártel sinaloense. Otro de sus hijos es Serafín Zambada Ortiz, arrestado en noviembre de 2013 cuando cruzaba la frontera en Nogales, Arizona, junto con su esposa. Mientras que el tercero es Ismael Zambada Imperial, alias "El Mayito Gordo", también capturado.
Vicente Zambada Niebla, "Vicentillo"