In a significant victory for US law enforcement, Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, the son of notorious cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, have been apprehended in El Paso, Texas.
This high-profile arrest has the potential to significantly impact the Mexican criminal underworld, potentially leading to a shift in the balance of power among cartels, according to reports.
According to two US officials who spoke to Reuters, Ismael Zambada Garcia, a man in his 70s, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a man in his 30s, were taken into custody upon arrival in El Paso after disembarking from a private plane.
“The Justice Department has taken into custody two additional alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organisations in the world,” the US Department of Justice said on Thursday.
The arrests of Zambada Garcia and Guzman Lopez resulted from a collaborative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), as announced by HSI in a statement.
As a co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel alongside El Chapo, Zambada is considered one of Mexico’s most significant drug traffickers.
Following El Chapo’s extradition to the US in 2017 and subsequent life sentence in a maximum-security prison, US authorities have pursued fresh indictments against Zambada and Guzman’s sons over the past year. These new charges focus on fentanyl smuggling and the illegal supply of precursor chemicals to their crime syndicate’s clandestine labs.
The Sinaloa Cartel, led by Zambada and the Guzman family, has established complex global supply chains to traffic drugs and source restricted chemicals for their operations in Mexico.
Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, son of El Chapo, face multiple US charges for smuggling large quantities of drugs, including fentanyl, which has become the leading cause of death among Americans aged 18-45.
Guzman Lopez is one of El Chapo’s four sons, known as Los Chapitos, who took over their father’s faction of the cartel. His brother, Ovidio Guzman, was arrested and extradited to the US last year. The Sinaloa Cartel is one of Mexico’s most powerful organized crime groups, trafficking drugs to over 50 countries worldwide, according to US authorities.
Zambada Garcia and El Chapo’s sons represent two distinct generations of drug traffickers, characterized by different approaches and personalities.
Zambada Garcia is considered “old-school,” preferring to operate discreetly and avoid publicity. In contrast, El Chapo’s sons have built a reputation for their flamboyant and attention-seeking behavior, often flaunting their wealth and power as they rose through the cartel’s ranks.
Additionally, El Chapo’s sons are known for their volatility and propensity for violence, whereas Zambada Garcia is regarded as a cunning and calculating operator.