Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leader of one of the world's most powerful drug traffickers from Mexico known for running a low profile and carrying a bounty of $15 million, was arrested by the US authorities in Texas on Thursday.
Along with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a longtime leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, Joaquín Guzman Lopez, son of another infamous cartel leader - El Chapo - was also arrested.
A leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel for decades alongside Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Zambada is known for running the cartel's smuggling operations while keeping a lower profile, according to an Associated Press report.
The US government had announced a bounty of $15 million for information on Zambada. The Justice Department said the men were arrested in El Paso but didn't immediately provide details about how they were taken into custody.
Zambada and Guzmán López have managed to elude authorities for decades and oversaw the trafficking of “tens of thousands of pounds of drugs into the United States, along with related violence,” the AP report quoted as saying FBI Director Christopher Wray, who added that they will now "face justice in the United States.”
“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,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement cited in the report.
Mexican authorities didn't immediately comment on the arrests.
Zambada, who has been charged in a number of US cases, was being hunted by the authorities of the country for years. He was charged in February in the Eastern District of New York with conspiring to manufacture and distribute the synthetic opioid.
Prosecutors said he was continuing to lead the Sinaloa cartel, “one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world.”
Zambada is believed to be one of the longest-surviving capos in Mexico and was considered the cartel's strategist, more involved in day-to-day operations than his better-known boss, “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was sentenced to life in prison in the US in 2019 and is the father of Guzmán López.
In the era of younger kingpins known for their extravagant lifestyles, and brutal tactics of beheading, dismembering and even skinning their rivals, Zambada is an old-fashioned capo. Even though Zambada has fought those who challenged him, he is known for looking after the business side of trafficking and avoiding gruesome cartel violence that would draw attention, the AP report said.
In an April 2010 interview with the Mexican magazine Proceso, he acknowledged that he lived in constant fear of going to prison and would contemplate suicide rather than be captured.
I'm terrified of being incarcerated,” Zambada said. “I'd like to think that, yes, I would kill myself.”
