The FBI arrested the head of the notorious Sinaloa drug gang in Mexico and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s son on Thursday, the federal government said.
It was reported by the Justice Department that Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez were caught in El Paso, Texas. A senior source who knew about the arrest told CBS News that Zambada was arrested by the FBI at the U.S. border without any problems. Zambada and “El Chapo” started the drug gang together.
A release from Attorney General Merrick Garland said, “The Justice Department has arrested two more people who are thought to be leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, which is one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking groups in the world.”
In February, Zambada was charged with fentanyl trafficking in Brooklyn, among other crimes. Both men are now facing multiple charges in the U.S. for running the cartel’s illegal activities, such as the dangerous fentanyl production and trafficking networks.
“Garcia and Guzman are said to have been in charge of bringing tens of thousands of pounds of drugs into the United States and the violence that went along with it,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.
Zambada was caught after years of running away from the U.S. In 2016, the State Department offered a $5 million prize for information that led to his capture. The DEA’s profile of the drug lord said the reward could be as high as $15 million.
The DEA’s head, Anne Milgram, said that Zambada’s arrest “strikes at the heart of the cartel that is responsible for most of the drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, that kill Americans from coast to coast.”
The Sinaloa gang has been around since the 1980s and is based in Tijuana. It is one of the strongest and most violent criminal groups in Mexico. Together with “El Chapo,” Zambada started the cartel. “El Chapo” was caught in 2016 and is now serving a life term in a maximum security prison in the U.S. after being found guilty of drug trafficking and money laundering. After “El Chapo” was caught, Zambada took over the drug gang. Milgram said that since their father was caught, Lopez and some of his brothers have also been in charge of the gang.
Lopez is one of El Chapo’s 12 children. Four of them are known as “Los Chapitos” because they are thought to be very active in Sinaloa’s business. Lopez was first charged with federal drug dealing in 2018, and since then he has been charged with many more things.
Along with 28 other people, the three other Chapitos were accused in April 2023 of being part of Sinaloa and trafficking fentanyl into the United States. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Justice Department officials said the defendants were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans from fentanyl.