“This is huge,” said John Callery, a 30-year veteran of the DEA who retired in 2022 and pursued “El Mayo” and other Sinaloa cartel chiefs as the head of the San Diego field division.
Zambada, 76, was known for keeping a low profile and eschewing the flashy lifestyle of other drug lords whom he outlasted. His sons Ismael and Vicente, along with his brother Jesus “El Rey” Zambada, were detained and extradited to the United States on drug charges several years ago. Yet their father was never detained.
“He was the most careful out of all of them,” Callery said. “I never thought the old man would ever leave Mexico for any reason.”
“There were so many operations to try to get him in the past, and he was always very smart, very slippery,” Callery added.
“This guy was a legend,” said John Feeley, a former US ambassador with extensive experience in Mexico. Zambada was so elusive, Feeley said, “we would only hear about him in whispers.”
While El Chapo was the more notorious Sinaloa co-founder, Zambada was an equal kingpin who functioned as the organization’s operations chief in the cartel’s early years, Feeley said. “He was the logistician, the guy who made the trains run,” he said.
Since El Chapo was arrested, his sons – known as “Los Chapitos” – have shared leadership of the cartel with Zambada. But one of them, Ovidio Guzman, was arrested by the Mexican army in 2023 and extradited to the United States. The US government has offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the two oldest brothers, Iván and Jesús Alfredo, and a $5 million award for the younger brother, Joaquín.
According to Callery, “El Mayo” Zambada suffers from diabetes, and he has been in poor health, but he remains a “godfather” figure in the Mexico drug world – capable of brokering deals and maintaining fragile accords between warring groups.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed US authorities had “taken into custody” both Zambada and the younger Guzman on Thursday in El Paso. Both face multiple US charges, including for involvement in the cartel’s “deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks,” according to his statement.
It did not provide details of how the two were detained. But US authorities have aggressively targeted the Sinaloa cartel, which is “the largest trafficker of fentanyl into the United States,” according to a statement by DEA Administrator Ann Milgram in January.
The synthetic opioid has detonated the most lethal drug epidemic in US history, causing tens of thousands of American deaths in the past few years.
El Chapo’s son Joaquin had been under pressure from his family to turn himself in to US authorities, according to a former US official with knowledge of the joint investigation by the DEA and Homeland Security Investigations agents. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the operation.
The detentions occurred as Republicans are sharpening their attacks on the Biden administration for the fentanyl epidemic as both parties gear up for the November presidential election. In the past, Mexico has captured drug kingpins at key political junctures when it sought to improve relations with Washington. It detained another of Guzman’s sons, Ovidio, in January 2023, days before President Biden paid a visit to Mexico.
Yet it was not clear what role the Mexican security forces played in Thursday’s operation.
Callery said there was a risk that Zambada’s capture could unleash new violence. The trafficker is also in a position to provide US authorities with information on corrupt Mexican officials, Callery noted. “We’ll see who he is willing to give up,” he said.
The detention of the top Sinaloa Cartel figures is unlikely to dry up the supply of fentanyl to the United States. Many of those who manufacture the potent opioid are believed to be small-scale producers who supplied the cartel.
On Tuesday, the US Treasury Department sanctioned two Mexican members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel for alleged involvement in the fentanyl business. The Treasury statement noted that the group “is one of the largest producers and traffickers of illicit fentanyl to the United States.”
Joe Evans, who ran the DEA office in Mexico when the United States worked closely with former president Felipe Calderon to target drug bosses, said Zambada’s capture marked the bookend for the cartel that has long been the most dominant player. “He had a lot of power,” Evans said.
But new traffickers quickly step in, he added.
“We were very effective at capturing or killing these guys, but they just splinter into new groups,” Evans said. “That’s the history of it. You take a guy out and it becomes a power grab because there’s so much money in it.”
