Powerful cartel leader was duped by El Chapo’s son into flying to U.S., sources say

A frontrunner and co-founder of the highly effective Sinaloa Cartel is in U.S. custody because of a shocking betrayal by one of many sons of imprisoned Mexican kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, a supply informed CBS Information. 

The arrest of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada ended greater than 4 many years of his management of the lethal legal group he based with Guzmán Loera, who’s serving a life sentence in a most safety jail in Colorado after being convicted in 2019 of prices together with drug trafficking, cash laundering and weapons-related offenses.

Considered one of El Chapo’s sons, Joaquín Guzmán López, 38, allegedly duped Zambada into boarding a aircraft on Thursday, telling him they had been going to have a look at property in Mexico, an individual accustomed to the investigation confirmed to CBS Information. As an alternative, the aircraft landed close to El Paso, Texas, the place Zambada, 76, was arrested by U.S. legislation enforcement brokers from the FBI and HSI.

Each males had been taken into custody on the tarmac. The flight and subsequent touchdown occurred “in a short time and really quietly” with no incident as soon as the lads exited the aircraft, a senior legislation enforcement official confirmed to CBS Information. 

Joaquín Guzmán López, who is thought for working cartel funds whereas retaining a low profile, lower a deal on behalf of him and his brother Ovidio Guzmán López, a senior legislation enforcement official confirmed to CBS Information. Three sons of Guzmán Loera —together with Ovidio— had been charged final yr with orchestrating a transnational fentanyl trafficking operation into the USA. Ovidio was extradited to the U.S. in 2023, months after U.S. prosecutors unsealed sprawling indictments in opposition to him and his brothers, identified collectively because the “Chapitos.”

The Sinaloa Cartel runs “the biggest, most violent and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation on the planet,” in keeping with U.S. officers. 

El Chapo is alleged to have 12 youngsters, however the Chapitos ran an especially violent offshoot of the cartel identified for its brutal torture of rivals. A few of their victims had been “fed useless or alive to tigers,” in accordance to a federal indictment. 

Ovidio Guzmán López, generally known as “the Mouse,” was captured by Mexican safety forces in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa state, in January 2023 in a violent sting that killed 30 individuals.

Bureau of Prisons inmate information present Ovidio Guzmán López was apparently faraway from his detention heart three days in the past, however a spokesperson from the U.S. Division of Justice confirmed to CBS Information that Ovidio remained in custody. 

The joint DHS-FBI operation to seize Zambada had been within the works for months; him and Joaquín Guzmán López had been taken into custody by a number of the similar brokers engaged on Ovidio Guzmán López’s case,  a senior legislation enforcement official confirmed to CBS Information. 

A senior legislation enforcement official described the arrests to CBS Information as a “let’s examine if this works” form of operation that sprung into movement in current days, although planning had been occurring for a lot longer. 

Zambada and “El Chapo” partnered within the late Eighties to tremendous cost their cocaine and marijuana smuggling operations. After “El Chapo” was captured in 2016, Zambada grew to become probably the most senior chief of the Sinaloa Cartel and have become identified for his extraordinary potential to keep away from seize. 

—Nicole Sganga and Pat Milton contributed reporting. 

Extra from CBS Information