- Oct 17, 2011
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Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was fooled into boarding a U.S.-bound private plane with Joaquin Guzmán, El Chapo’s son, who was also detained, a DHS official said.
A longtime senior leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Ismael Zambada Garcia, or “El Mayo,” and a son of famed drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán were taken into custody Thursday by U.S. authorities in Texas, according to senior Mexican and U.S. officials. It was a major blow to the Sinaloa federation, a global drug-trafficking syndicate considered the No. 1 supplier of fentanyl to the United States.
A Department of Homeland Security official with knowledge of the arrest said Zambada was fooled into boarding a private plane bound for the United States with the former drug lord’s son, also named Joaquin Guzmán.
The elder Guzmán was arrested in 2016 and convicted of multiple drug charges in the United States. He is serving a life sentence in a Colorado maximum-security prison. He and Zambada were considered co-founders of the Sinaloa cartel.
The operation appeared to be part of a deal with Guzmán; it was not clear what potential benefits his family might receive. The two men were arrested in El Paso by the FBI, officials familiar with the operation told The Washington Post.
El Chapo’s son Joaquin had been under pressure from his family to turn himself in to U.S. authorities, according to a former U.S. official with knowledge of the joint investigation by the FBI, DEA and Homeland Security Investigations agents.
[Zambada] is also in a position to provide U.S. authorities with information on corrupt Mexican officials, Callery noted. “We’ll see who he is willing to give up,” he said.
A longtime senior leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Ismael Zambada Garcia, or “El Mayo,” and a son of famed drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán were taken into custody Thursday by U.S. authorities in Texas, according to senior Mexican and U.S. officials. It was a major blow to the Sinaloa federation, a global drug-trafficking syndicate considered the No. 1 supplier of fentanyl to the United States.
A Department of Homeland Security official with knowledge of the arrest said Zambada was fooled into boarding a private plane bound for the United States with the former drug lord’s son, also named Joaquin Guzmán.
The elder Guzmán was arrested in 2016 and convicted of multiple drug charges in the United States. He is serving a life sentence in a Colorado maximum-security prison. He and Zambada were considered co-founders of the Sinaloa cartel.
U.S. had targeted Sinaloa cartel fentanyl production
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed that U.S. authorities had “taken into custody” both Zambada and the younger Guzmán on Thursday in El Paso. They face multiple U.S. charges, including for involvement in the cartel’s “deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks,” according to his statement.The operation appeared to be part of a deal with Guzmán; it was not clear what potential benefits his family might receive. The two men were arrested in El Paso by the FBI, officials familiar with the operation told The Washington Post.
El Chapo’s son Joaquin had been under pressure from his family to turn himself in to U.S. authorities, according to a former U.S. official with knowledge of the joint investigation by the FBI, DEA and Homeland Security Investigations agents.
[Zambada] is also in a position to provide U.S. authorities with information on corrupt Mexican officials, Callery noted. “We’ll see who he is willing to give up,” he said.
