This combination of pictures created on July 26, 2024, shows an undated image obtained from the US Department of State of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia (L), cofounder of the Sinaloa Cartel; and an undated image obtained from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of the cartel’s other co-founder, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and the son of his former partner, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, were arrested on July 25 in El Paso, Texas, in a major coup for U.S. authorities that may also reshape the Mexican criminal landscape.

Mr. Zambada is one of the most consequential traffickers in Mexico’s 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 Mr. Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of El Chapo, face multiple charges in the U.S. for funnelling huge quantities of drugs to U.S. streets, including fentanyl, which has surged to become the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.

Mr. Zambada, who is believed to be in his 70s, and Guzman Lopez, who is in his 30s, were detained after landing in a private plane in the El Paso area.

Mr. Zambada was lured to the United States by Guzman Lopez, according to three current and former U.S. officials familiar with the operation who sought anonymity to speak candidly about the events.

U.S. authorities have made drug bosses key targets, frequently striking plea bargain deals with them in exchange for information that leads to capture of other high-ranking cartel figures.

Mexican drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and the son of his former partner, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, were arrested in El Paso, Texas, on Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department said.

“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,” the department said in a statement.

Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of El Chapo, face multiple charges in the U.S. “for heading the Cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks,” the statement said.

The arrest of Guzman Lopez was first reported by Reuters, ahead of the Justice Department statement.

Two U.S. officials told Reuters that Zambada and Guzman Lopez were detained after landing in a private plane.

Zambada is one of the most consequential traffickers in Mexico’s 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.

After El Chapo’s extradition, his criminal empire was inherited by four of his sons — known as Los Chapitos, or Little Chapos — who took over his faction of the cartel and became some of the biggest exporters of fentanyl to the United States.

El Mayo and Los Chapitos have had a fractious relationship since El Chapo’s extradition, and the arrests of the two traffickers may trigger instability or even violence in Mexico.

U.S. federal prosecutors in February charged Zambada with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute fentanyl, which the Drug Enforcement Administration says is the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.

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Chicago:

Ovidio Guzman, one of the sons of incarcerated Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, pleaded not guilty to U.S. fentanyl trafficking charges on Monday in federal court in Chicago, according to the Chicago Tribune, three days after his extradition from Mexico.

Guzman, 33, is one of El Chapo’s four sons, known as “Los Chapitos,” who inherited their father’s trafficking empire after his conviction on U.S. murder and drug charges in 2019. “El Chapo” Guzman is serving a life sentence in a maximum-security prison in Colorado.

U.S. officials said Ovidio Guzman’s arrest and extradition represents a significant victory in the Biden administration’s campaign to stem the deadly flow of fentanyl across the southern border.

Guzman was briefly arrested in Culiacan in the northern state of Sinaloa in 2019. But President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ordered him released after hundreds of Sinaloa Cartel gunmen overwhelmed security forces in the city.

Guzman was captured again in January after an intense firefight. The U.S. requested his extradition in February.

Fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic opioid, is responsive for nearly 200 American deaths a day, a toll that has strained U.S.-Mexico relations and put domestic pressure on the Biden administration to slow the spread of the deadly drug.

The Sinaloa Cartel is primarily responsible for manufacturing and exporting fentanyl across the border, according to U.S. officials.

In court papers, prosecutors said Ovidio Guzman and his brothers operated a massive international trafficking operation that transported drugs to the U.S. using airplanes, submarines, fishing boats and rail cars and reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in profits.

The State Department has offered rewards worth millions of dollars for information leading to the capture of the Guzman brothers.

“El Chapo” Guzman rose to prominence at the helm of the Sinaloa Cartel and added to his infamy by escaping Mexican prisons not once but twice. He was extradited to the U.S. in 2017 and convicted in federal court in Brooklyn.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Los Angeles:

 Emma Coronel, the wife of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, is not facing charges in Mexico, the country’s prosecutors’ office said, after she was released from a U.S. federal institution on Wednesday.

An official from Mexico’s state prosecutor’s office said Coronel was not facing charges “for now.”

The U.S.-born 34-year-old was sentenced to three years in prison in 2021 after pleading guilty to helping Guzman’s Sinaloa drug cartel, including conspiracy to launder money and distribute illegal drugs and engaging in financial dealings.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed she had been released on Wednesday from a low-security confinement institution in Los Angeles, but did not give further information, citing privacy, safety and security reasons.

Coronel has two daughters with Guzman, whom she met when she was a young beauty queen and married in 2007 at age 18.

Guzman is meanwhile serving a life sentence in the U.S. after being extradited there in 2017 following two escapes from Mexican maximum-security prisons.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)