MEXICO CITY — 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 official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the operation. The elder Guzmán and his son Ovidio are imprisoned in the United States.
The two men detained Thursday are among the U.S. government’s most-wanted drug traffickers, and the State Department had offered $15 million for information leading to Zambada’s capture.
The news of Zambada’s arrest was first reported by the Reuters news agency.
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.
“This is huge,” said John Callery, a 30-year veteran of the DEA who retired in 2022 and pursued “El Mayo” and other Sinaloa cartel chiefs as the head of the San Diego field division.
Zambada was low key, unlike flashy narcos
Zambada, 76, was known for keeping a low profile and eschewing the flashy lifestyle of other drug lords whom he outlasted. His sons Ismael and Vicente, along with his brother Jesus “El Rey” Zambada, were detained and extradited to the United States on drug charges several years ago. Yet their father was never detained.
“He was the most careful out of all of them,” Callery said. “I never thought the old man would ever leave Mexico for any reason.”
“There were so many operations to try to get him in the past, and he was always very smart, very slippery,” Callery added.
“This guy was a legend,” said John Feeley, a former U.S. ambassador with extensive experience in Mexico. Zambada was so elusive, Feeley said, “we would only hear about him in whispers.”
While El Chapo was the more notorious Sinaloa co-founder, Zambada was an equal kingpin who functioned as the organization’s operations chief in the cartel’s early years, Feeley said. “He was the logistician, the guy who made the trains run,” he said.
Since El Chapo was arrested, his sons — known as “Los Chapitos” — have shared leadership of the cartel with Zambada. But one of them, Ovidio Guzmán, was arrested by the Mexican army in 2023 and extradited to the United States. The U.S. government has offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the two oldest brothers, Iván and Jesús Alfredo, and a $5 million award for the younger brother, Joaquín.
According to Callery, “El Mayo” Zambada suffers from diabetes, and he has been in poor health, but he remains a “godfather” figure in the Mexico drug world — capable of brokering deals and maintaining fragile accords between warring groups.
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.
It did not provide details of how the two were detained. They were not arrested in Mexico, according to a senior Mexican official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the issue was related to delicate law enforcement operations. 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.
U.S. authorities have aggressively targeted the Sinaloa cartel, which is “the largest trafficker of fentanyl into the United States,” Anne Milgram, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said in February.
The synthetic opioid has detonated the most lethal drug epidemic in U.S. history, causing tens of thousands of American deaths in the past few years.
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. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the operation.
The detentions occurred as Republicans are sharpening their attacks on the Biden administration for the fentanyl epidemic as both parties gear up for the November presidential election. In the past, Mexico has captured drug kingpins at key political junctures when it sought to improve relations with Washington. It detained Ovidio Guzmán in January 2023, days before President Biden paid a visit to Mexico.
Yet it was not clear what role, if any, the Mexican security forces played in Thursday’s operation.
Callery said there was a risk that Zambada’s capture could unleash new violence. The trafficker 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.
The detention of the top Sinaloa Cartel figures is unlikely to dry up the supply of fentanyl to the United States. Many of those who manufacture the potent opioid are believed to be small-scale producers who supplied the cartel.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned two Mexican members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel for alleged involvement in the fentanyl business. The Treasury statement noted that the group “is one of the largest producers and traffickers of illicit fentanyl to the United States.”
Joe Evans, who ran the DEA office in Mexico when the United States worked closely with former president Felipe Calderón to take down drug bosses, said Zambada’s capture marked the bookend for the cartel that has long been the most dominant player. “He had a lot of power,” Evans said.
But new traffickers quickly step in, he added.
“We were very effective at capturing or killing these guys, but they just splinter into new groups,” Evans said. “That’s the history of it. You take a guy out and it becomes a power grab because there’s so much money in it.”
Miroff reported from Washington. Lorena Rios in Monterrey, Mexico, contributed to this report.
correction
An earlier version of this story said that DEA Administrator Anne Milgram made her statement on Sinaloa being the principal supplier of fentanyl to the United States in January. She made that statement in February. The article has been corrected.
