Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a Mexican drug kingpin, and the son of his former partner, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, were apprehended in El Paso, Texas, the US Justice Department disclosed.
“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,” according to a statement issued by the agency.
Zambada and El Chapo’s son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, are facing several accusations in the United States “for heading the Cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks,” according to the statement.
Two US officials clarified that Zambada and Guzman Lopez were apprehended after landing in a private plane.
Zambada is one of Mexico’s most powerful traffickers, having co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel alongside El Chapo, who was extradited to the United States in 2017 and is currently serving a life term in a maximum-security prison.
Following El Chapo’s extradition, four of his sons, nicknamed Los Chapitos, or Little Chapos, inherited his criminal empire and took over his branch of the cartel, becoming some of the largest fentanyl exporters to the United States.
US federal prosecutors charged Zambada in February with conspiracy to manufacture and sell fentanyl, which the Drug Enforcement Administration says is the leading cause of death among Americans aged 18 to 45.
