By Drazen Jorgic
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and the son of his former partner, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, were arrested in El Paso, Texas on Thursday in a major coup by to US authorities that it could also reshape the Mexican criminal landscape.
Zambada is one of the most important traffickers in Mexican history and co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo, who was extradited to the United States in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison.
Both Zambada and Joaquín Guzman López, El Chapo's son, face multiple charges in the United States for transporting large quantities of drugs to US streets, including fentanyl, which has become a leading cause of death among Americans aged 18 to 18. 45.
Zambada, believed to be in his 70s, and Guzman Lopez, who is in his 30s, were detained after landing on a private plane in El Paso, two US officials told Reuters.
Guzman Lopez is one of the four sons of El Chapo, known as Los Chapitos or Little Chapos, who inherited his father's faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. His brother, Ovidio Guzman, was arrested last year and extradited to the United States.
In recent years, the Sinaloa cartel has become the main target of US authorities, who have accused the crime syndicate of being the largest supplier of fentanyl to the United States.
Zambada and Guzman Lopez face multiple charges in the United States “for spearheading the Cartel's criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement .
Guzman Lopez's arrest was first reported by Reuters, before the Justice Department's statement confirming they were being held in El Paso.
US authorities had a $15 million reward for Zambada's capture, while Guzman Lopez had a $5 million reward on his head.
According to US authorities, the Sinaloa cartel traffics drugs to more than 50 countries around the world and is one of the two most powerful organized crime groups in Mexico.
The children of Zambada and El Chapo belong to two different generations of traffickers, with different styles.
Zambada is known to be an “old school” narco, avoiding the spotlight and operating in the shadows. El Chapo's sons, on the other hand, have a reputation for being flashy narcos who drew attention as they rose through the ranks of the cartel.
El Chapo's sons are also known to be more violent and hot-headed than Zambada, who had a reputation as a shrewd operator.
Zambada and El Chapo's sons have had a contentious relationship since their father was extradited in 2017, and the arrests of Zambada and Guzman López could spark instability or even violence in their heartland of Sinaloa state, in the north
Their arrests were part of a joint operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agencies, two US officials said.
Over the past year, US authorities have launched new indictments against Zambada and Guzman's sons on new charges in the US that focus on the smuggling of fentanyl, as well as the flow of precursor chemicals to illicit laboratories managed by their criminal syndicate.
For decades, the cartel has established sophisticated supply chains to move drugs around the world and to obtain highly regulated chemicals from its base in Sinaloa.
Yesterday, Reuters published an investigation that revealed how fentanyl precursor chemicals are surprisingly easy and cheap to buy online from Chinese sellers who ship the substances door-to-door in North America.
“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Department of Justice will not rest until all cartel leaders, members and associates responsible for poisoning our communities are held accountable,” Garland added.
(Reporting by Drazen Jorgic; Additional reporting by Andrew Goudsward, Sarah Lynch; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle, Anthony Esposito, Leslie Adler and Michael Perry)
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