The Mexican drug kingpin Ismael Zambada Garcia, also known as “El Mayo,” who co-founded the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel was brought into custody in El Paso, Texas on Thursday, according to the Department of Justice.
Also brought into custody was Juaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of the cartel’s other co-founder, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
“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,” U.S. Attorney General Merick B. Garland said. “Today, in El Paso, Texas, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of the other cofounder of the Cartel, and Ismael Zambada Garcia, also known as ‘El Mayo,’ were apprehended.”
The Sinaloa Cartel was established by Zambada Garcia and the drug lord “El Chapo,” who is currently incarcerated.
“El Mayo,” who the Department of Justice was paying a $15 million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction, suddenly finds himself besieged with charges for crimes connected to drug trafficking and organized crime in the United States.
U.S. federal prosecutors charged Zambada Garcia with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute fentanyl in February; U.S. officials claim this is the main cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.
MEXican presidential candidate pledges to assist the already active fighting back on the carts.
Following a Brooklyn federal grand jury’s finding of Guzman guilty, he was sentenced to thirty years in prison plus more.
Zambada Garcia continued to elude capture and reportedly continued to run the Sinaloa Cartel from Mexico, according to a news statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York in February.
According to the superseding indictment, Zambada Garcia, from 1999 until 2024, maintained a continuous operation in charge of importing and distributing massive volumes of pharmaceuticals, generating billions of dollars in profit.
MEXICAN CARTELS OPERATE IN ALL 50 STATES, BRING TURF WARS TO US: DEA “MOST RUTLESS”
Zambada Garcia allegedly hired people to get transportation routes and warehouses to import and store drugs and “sicarios,” or hit men, to execute kidnappings and murders in Mexico to exact revenge against rivals who threatened the Sinaloa Cartel, so ensuring the cartel stayed successful.
The millions of dollars the operation produced were then flown back to Mexico.
Given Guzman’s trial conviction, his name has been taken off of Zambada Garcia’s superseding indictment.
Reuters helped to compile this report.