US Arrests Heads of Sinaloa Cartel     07/26 06:10

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a longtime leader of Mexico's 
Sinaloa cartel, and Joaqun Guzmn Lpez, a son of another infamous cartel 
leader, were arrested by U.S. authorities in Texas on Thursday, the U.S. 
Justice Department said.

   A leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel for decades alongside Joaqun "El 
Chapo" Guzmn, Zambada is one of the most notorious drug traffickers in the 
world and known for running the cartel's smuggling operations while keeping a 
lower profile.

   A Mexican federal official told The Associated Press that Zambada and Guzmn 
Lpez arrived in the United States on a private plane and turned themselves in 
to authorities. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was 
not authorized discuss the matter.

   The U.S. government had offered a reward of up to $15 million for 
information leading to the capture of Zambada, who eluded authorities for 
decades.

   Zambada and Guzmn Lpez oversaw the trafficking of "tens of thousands of 
pounds of drugs into the United States, along with related violence," FBI 
Director Christopher Wray said, adding that now they will "face justice in the 
United States."

   "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," 
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

   Mexican authorities didn't immediately comment on the arrests.

   U.S. officials have been seeking Zambada's capture for years, and he has 
been charged in a number of U.S. cases. He was charged in February in the 
Eastern District of New York with conspiring to manufacture and distribute the 
synthetic opioid. Prosecutors said he was continuing to lead the Sinaloa 
cartel, "one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in 
the world."

   Zambada, one of the longest-surviving capos in Mexico, was considered the 
cartel's strategist, more involved in day-to-day operations than his flashier 
and better-known boss, "El Chapo" Guzmn, who was sentenced to life in prison 
in the U.S. in 2019 and is the father of Guzmn Lpez.

   Zambada is an old-fashioned capo in an era of younger kingpins known for 
their flamboyant lifestyles of club-hopping and brutal tactics of beheading, 
dismembering and even skinning their rivals. While Zambada has fought those who 
challenged him, he is known for concentrating on the business side of 
trafficking and avoiding gruesome cartel violence that would draw attention.

   In an April 2010 interview with the Mexican magazine Proceso, he 
acknowledged that he lived in constant fear of going to prison and would 
contemplate suicide rather than be captured.

   "I'm terrified of being incarcerated," Zambada said. "I'd like to think 
that, yes, I would kill myself."

   The interview was surprising for a kingpin known for keeping his head down, 
but he gave strict instructions on where and when the encounter would take 
place, and the article gave no hint of his whereabouts.

   Zambada reputedly won the loyalty of locals in his home state of Sinaloa and 
neighboring Durango through his largess, sponsoring local farmers and 
distributing money and beer in his birthplace of El Alamo.

   Although little is known about Zambada's early life, he is believed to have 
gotten his start as an enforcer in the 1970s.

   By the early 1990s, he was a major player in the Juarez cartel, transporting 
tons of cocaine and marijuana.

   Zambada started gaining the trust of Colombian traffickers, allegiances that 
helped him come out on top in the cartel world of ever-shifting alliances. 
Eventually he became so powerful that he broke off from the Juarez cartel, but 
still managed to keep strong ties with the gang and avoided a turf war. He also 
developed a partnership with "El Chapo" Guzman that would take him to the top 
of the Sinaloa Cartel.

   Zambada's detention follows some important arrests of other Sinaloa cartel 
figures, including one of his sons and another son of "El Chapo" Guzmn, Ovidio 
Guzmn Lpez. Zambada's son pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court in San Diego 
in 2021 to being a leader in the Sinaloa cartel.

   In recent years, Guzman's sons have led a faction of the cartel known as the 
little Chapos, or "Chapitos" that has been identified as a main exporter of 
fentanyl to the U.S. market.

   They were seen as more violent and flamboyant than Zambada. Their security 
chief was arrested by Mexican authorities in November.

   Ovidio Guzmn Lpez was arrested and extradited to the U.S. last year. He 
pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in Chicago in September.

   Mike Vigil, former head of international operations for the DEA, said 
Zambada's arrest is important but unlikely to have much impact on the flow of 
drugs to the U.S. Joaqun Guzmn Lpez was the least influential of the four 
sons who made up the Chapitos, Vigil said.

   "This is a great blow for the rule of law, but is it going to have an impact 
on the cartel? I don't think so," Vigil said.

   "It's not going to have a dent on the drug trade because somebody from 
within the cartel is going to replace him," Vigil said.