Mexican drug lord Ismael Zambada Garcia, also known as “El Mayo” and co-founder of the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel, was taken into custody in El Paso, Texas, on Thursday, according to the Department of Justice.
Also detained was Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of the cartel’s other co-founder, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
“The Department of Justice has arrested two more alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the world’s most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations,” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Cartel co-founder Ismael Zambada Garcia, known as ‘El Mayo,’ and Joaquin Guzmán Lopez, the son of the other co-founder, were arrested today in El Paso, Texas.”
Zambada Garcia and the now-imprisoned drug lord “El Chapo” founded the Sinaloa Cartel.
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Ismael Zambada is seen in an undated police-distributed photograph. (Provided by the Republic’s Prosecutor’s Office/Distribution via REUTERS/File Photo)
“El Mayo,” for whom the Department of Justice was offering a $15 million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction, currently faces numerous indictments on charges related to drug trafficking and organized crime in the United States.
Federal prosecutors indicted Zambada Garcia in February on charges of conspiring to manufacture and distribute fentanyl, which authorities say is the leading cause of death among Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.
The indictment extends the deadline for the previous indictment from May 2014 to January 2024, and Zambada Garcia was a fugitive at the time the indictment was filed.
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Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted by helicopter to Mexico City after his arrest in the beach resort town of Mazatlan. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
Guzman was convicted by a federal grand jury in Brooklyn in February 2019 and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years.
According to a press release issued by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York in February, Zambada Garcia continued to evade arrest and continue to operate the Sinaloa Cartel from Mexico.
According to the indictment, from 1999 to 2024, Zambada Garcia headed a continuing operation responsible for the importation and distribution of large quantities of narcotics, generating billions of dollars in profits.
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Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted by soldiers during a presentation in Mexico City on January 8, 2016. (Reuters/Thomas Bravo/File Photo)
To ensure the cartel’s continued success, Zambada Garcia allegedly hired individuals to secure transportation routes and warehouses for the import and storage of drugs, as well as hired “sicarios” (hit men) to carry out kidnappings and murders in Mexico in retaliation for rivals who threatened the Sinaloa cartel.
Millions of dollars generated from the operation were then shipped to Mexico.
“El Mayo and Guzmán López join a growing list of Sinaloa Cartel leaders and associates the Department of Justice is pursuing in the United States, including the cartel’s other co-founder, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, a.k.a. ‘El Chapo,’ El Chapo’s other son and alleged cartel leader, Ovidio Guzmán López, and alleged cartel mastermind, Nestor Isidro Pérez Salas, a.k.a. ‘El Nini,'” Garland said. “Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our nation has ever faced, and the Department of Justice will not rest until all cartel leaders, members and associates who poisoned our communities are held accountable.”
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Following Guzmán’s conviction, his name was removed from the indictment against Zambada García.
Reuters contributed to this report.
