One of the world’s most powerful drug lords, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, has been arrested by US federal agents in El Paso, Texas.
Zambada, 76, co-founded the criminal organization with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is currently imprisoned in the US.
Alongside Zambada, Guzman’s son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, was also arrested on Thursday, according to the US Justice Department.
In February, US prosecutors charged Zambada with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute fentanyl, a drug more potent than heroin and a major contributor to the US opioid crisis.
In a written statement on Thursday evening, US Attorney General Merrick Garland described the two men as leaders of “one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world.”
“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,” Mr Garland said.
“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,” added Mr Garland, the top law enforcement officer in the US.
American prosecutors claim that the Sinaloa cartel is the largest supplier of drugs to the US.
US authorities have highlighted that fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had been offering a reward of up to $15 million (£12 million) for Zambada’s capture.
During Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s trial in 2019, his lawyers accused Zambada of bribing the “entire” Mexican government to live openly without fear of prosecution.
“In truth he controlled nothing,” Guzman’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, told jurors of his client. “Mayo Zambada did,” he claimed.
According to the US State Department, Zambada owns several legitimate businesses in Mexico, including a large milk company, a bus line, a hotel, and various real estate assets.
In addition to fentanyl charges, he faces numerous charges in the US, including drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping, money laundering, and organized crime.
In May, Zambada’s nephew, Eliseo Imperial Castro, known as “Cheyo Antrax,” was killed in an ambush in Mexico. He was also wanted by US authorities.
Zambada is arguably the world’s biggest drug lord and certainly the most influential in the Americas.
Having evaded authorities for decades, his arrest has shocked Mexico.
Details of the arrests remain unclear, but it appears they flew into the United States.
According to the Wall Street Journal, citing Mexican and US officials, Zambada was tricked into boarding the plane by a high-ranking Sinaloa member following a months-long operation by Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI. He believed he was inspecting clandestine airfields in Mexico.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas stated that the Sinaloa cartel “pioneered the manufacture of fentanyl and has for years trafficked it into our country, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans and devastating countless communities.”
FBI Director Chris Wray said the arrests demonstrate the FBI’s and its partners’ commitment to dismantling violent transnational criminal organizations like the Sinaloa Cartel.
As more information emerges, Zambada’s arrest will likely be hailed by President Joe Biden’s administration as one of the DEA’s most significant operations in years.
Zambada co-founded the Sinaloa cartel after the collapse of the Guadalajara cartel in the late 1980s. While Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was the public face of the organization, many believed El Mayo was the true leader.
Not only ruthless, he was also innovative, establishing early links with Colombian cartels to flood the US with cocaine and heroin, and later fentanyl.
His leadership endured through changing presidents in Mexico and the US, repeated anti-drug offensives, and constant efforts by rival drug-trafficking organizations to bring him down—a remarkable feat in the violent, dangerous, and treacherous underworld in which he operated as an unassailable kingpin for many years.
However, his extraordinary resilience appears to have ended in El Paso, Texas, a city plagued by the influx of fentanyl, much of which was smuggled in by his organization.