Who Is Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada? Cartel Leader in US Custody

U.S. authorities have taken Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia, co-founder of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel, into custody.

The Justice Department issued a statement Thursday announcing Zambada’s arrest, who was detained alongside Joaquín Guzmán López, another leader of the Sinaloa cartel, in El Paso, Texas.Attorney General Merrick Garland describes the drug ring in the statement as “one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world.”

“Both men are facing multiple charges in the United States for leading the Cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks,” read Garland’s statement.

Zambada was indicted in 2012 on murder and conspiracy charges connected with drug trafficking, money laundering and organized crime. One of his top allies and fellow Sinaloa co-founder, Joaquin Guzmán Loera, known as “El Chapo,” was convicted in federal court in 2019 after being extradited by Mexican authorities and sentenced to life in prison.

Following Guzmán’s arrest, Zambada was left as the most senior figure in the drug ring. Guzmán López, son of El Chapo, is believed to have been elevated to a leadership role in Sinaloa following his father’s arrest in 2017. Another son of El Chapo, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, was arrested in Mexico and extradited to the U.S. in September 2023.

The fifth and most recent superseding indictment against Zambada, filed in February, alleges that he oversaw the importation of “massive quantities of narcotics” from 1989 to 2024. Zambada is accused of employing individuals to obtain “transportation routes and warehouses” to distribute the illicit drugs in the U.S., along with hit men tasked with carrying out kidnappings and killings in Mexico “to retaliate against rivals who threatened the cartel.”

The DOJ said in a statement at the time that the amount of trafficked fentanyl attributable to Zambada in the case “was at least 400 grams or more, but a vastly larger quantity would be proven at trial.”

Zambada had been pursued by the U.S. government for decades. Reuters previously reported that he was listed as a defendant in a 1978 case related to Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, who was shot dead in 1993. In 2007, the U.S. Treasury Department designated a network of six companies based in Mexico that acted as fronts for Zambada. Those behind the companies included Zambada’s ex-wife, Rosario Niebla Cardoza, and the couple’s four adult daughters.

Details of Zambada and Guzmán López’s arrests are unknown at this time. Following February’s indictment, the DOJ was offering up to a $15 million award for anyone with information that led to Zambada’s capture.

Newsweek reached out to the DOJ’s press office for additional information on Thursday night.

The arrest comes amid the ongoing opioid crisis in the U.S., as President Joe Biden’s administration is facing immense pressure for his handling of immigration across the southern border. The Drug Enforcement Administration says that illicit fentanyl is primary manufactured in labs outside of the U.S. and smuggled into the country though Mexico.

“Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable,” Garland said in the statement Thursday.

Update 07/25/24, 9:39 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and background.