How Their “King” Ended Up in the Hands of FBI Agents drug cartels, a powerful criminal who eluded authorities for more than 50 years? According to authorities, it all started with an act of treason.
Details are still emerging about one of the most significant arrests in the global war on drugs. The operation, mounted by Sinaloa cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, was the result of a deal reached with authorities by Joaquín Guzmán López, son of the notorious El Chapo. Sinaloa, among other things, flooded the U.S. with fentanyl.
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The betrayal
Lopez tricked Zambada, now 76, into orchestrating his arrest. El Mayo believed the two were flying to northern Mexico to look at real estate, authorities said. But instead, his small private plane landed north of the border, near El Paso, Texas, where U.S. authorities were waiting.
But how could Guzman Lopez commit this treason? Why did he want to burn Zambada? So far, we have not heard from either side about what happened. Zambada pleaded not guilty to all charges in his first appearance in federal court on Friday. “I do not normally comment on my criminal cases. However, I will say that my client did not come to the United States voluntarily,” his attorney, Frank Perez, told CNN.
Guzman Lopez, 38, is scheduled to appear in federal court on Tuesday in Chicago, his attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, told CNN. He declined further comment.
Questions and doubts
An expert on dismantling drug cartels said he was skeptical about some of the details released by authorities. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the story changed tomorrow or next week,” said Stephen Dudley of InSight Crime, who has spent more than a decade investigating drug trafficking and organized crime.
And as reporters pressed for answers at a contentious press conference Friday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador He also emphasized that there are many questions that need to be answered. “The US government must present a full report. It cannot be limited to general statements. There must be transparency,” he stressed.
One thing is certain: The arrests of El Mayo and Guzmán López mark a major development in the decades-long effort to capture and prosecute cartel bosses. And the details revealed so far about what led up to this dramatic moment offer a glimpse into the inner workings of what authorities describe as one of the world’s most notorious and nefarious criminal organizations.
Only the army caught up with his trail 4 times – He always escaped
In a 2010 interview with the Mexican magazine Proceso, Zambada said the Mexican military had come close to arresting him at least four times before. “I came from the mountains, where I know the branches, the streams, the rocks, everything. They catch me if I’m standing still or careless, like El Chapo,” he said.
At the time, Zambada told Proceso that the fear of being arrested weighed constantly on him. “I’m afraid they’re going to lock me up,” he said. This 2010 interview was one of his last known public appearances.
His name came up in 2018 and 2019 during Guzmán’s trial, where Guzmán’s lawyers argued that Zambada was the true leader of the cartel. Lichtman even claimed at the time that Zambada had bribed the Mexican government so that he would remain free to run the cartel. In 2021, U.S. authorities increased the reward for information leading to Zambada’s arrest to $15 million.
Bribery or not, for half a century he was never arrested, never prosecuted. Dudley of InSight Crime pointed to this aspect of Zambada’s past when he told CNN en Español that he was skeptical of the FBI’s narrative, which portrayed the Sinaloa cartel leader as a naïve victim of betrayal.
“I’m not 100 percent convinced that this happened. I see in El Mayo a very experienced person, a person who knows exactly when and where any mistake comes from,” Dudley said. “That’s why he never set foot in prison until yesterday. So I have my doubts.”
“A quiet arrest, it seemed planned”
Authorities who spoke to CNN said Zambada boarded a plane with Guzman Lopez on Thursday thinking they were going to inspect some properties near the border together. Zambada did not realize that U.S. investigators had exploited a rift in the Sinaloa cartel and that Guzman Lopez was actually helping to arrest him.
What was the motivation? According to the FBI, a power struggle was brewing between Zambada’s sons and El Chapo, also known as Chapitos.
An airport employee told Reuters he saw a Beechcraft King Air land on the tarmac on Thursday afternoon, where federal agents were already waiting. “Two people got off the plane … and were calmly detained,” said the man, who declined to be identified out of concern for his safety. “It seemed like a very calm and planned arrest,” he added.
The entire operation, a source told CNN, went surprisingly well given the gravity of the arrests and the disruption it could cause to Mexico’s drug trade.