The son of Mexican drug kingpin, El Chapo’s reportedly lured a cartel boss into boarding a plane to the US to be arrested after he accused him of being responsible for his father’s arrest.
Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, 76, founded the Sinaloa Cartel along with now-jailed drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman and faces indictments for crimes relating to drug trafficking and organized crime in the US.
According to the Wall Street Journal, he was tricked by El Chapo’s son Joaquín Guzman Lopez into boarding a private plane to inspect airfields for drug planes following a months-long operation by Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI.
Zamabda believed the plane would fly south in Mexico, but it landed north in El Paso, Texas, where he and El Chapo’s son were arrested.
Guzman Lopez is said to have surrendered to US authorities and turned on Zambada because he ‘blamed Mayo for the capture of his father’, according to a Fox News Correspondent.
Joaquín Guzmán Lopez is one of El Chapo’s sons and was elevated to the cartel’s top leadership in 2017 when his father was extradited to the US.
The pair were arrested in El Paso after getting off a private plane that was flown in from Mexico by the FBI.
Lopez cut a deal with American law enforcement to surrender and turn in Zambada at the same time, a source told DailyMail.
What prompted Lopez to turn himself in after years as most-wanted, and to take Zambada down with him, is unclear.
Zambada lived a simple life behind the scenes at his El Alamo compound, in contrast to El Chapo’s larger-than-life persona, and was suffering from diabetes.
He was reportedly in communication with American law enforcement for the past three years at least, discussing the possibility of surrendering, but never did.
Zambada said in 2010 in a rare interview ‘I’d like to think so, that I’d kill myself’ if he faced police capture.
Lopez is expected to face the Federal District Court in Chicago in the coming days, and Zambada will go to New York.
Attorney-General Merrick Garland called the cartel one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world as he detailed the arrests.
‘El Mayo and Guzmán López join a growing list of Sinaloa Cartel leaders and associates whom the Justice Department is holding accountable in the US,’ he said.
Garland said others from the cartel now behind bars included El Chapo and another of his sons and alleged leader of the Cartel, Ovidio Guzmán López.
The alleged main hitman of the cartel, Néstor Isidro ‘El Nini’ Pérez Salas, was also in American custody, he said.
American federal prosecutors in February charged Zambada with conspiracy to make and distribute fentanyl, but he has never been behind bars.
The US State Department earlier put up a $15 million bounty on Zambada’s head, for any information leading to his arrest or conviction. A $5 million bounty was offered for Lopez’s arrest.
Joaquín’s brother Ovidio Guzmán López was also arrested in Mexico and extradited to the US in September to face his own long list of charges.
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 US.
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.
Garland said fentanyl was the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.
‘The Department of Justice will not rest until every leader, member, and associate of the cartels responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable,’ he said.
Zambada helped ‘El Chapo’ construct a network that has exerted its influence in illicit markets as close as the US and Colombia, and as far as New Zealand and Russia.
They distributed cocaine, heroin and other drugs while tapping into the lucrative human trafficking business.
