The co-founder of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel is in U.S. custody, the Department of Justice revealed, ending a manhunt with a $15 million prize. The son of the drug cartel's other co-founder, Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, more commonly known as "El Chapo," was also arrested.
Details remain scarce about the circumstances of the arrest, but NewsNation's Ali Bradley, who covers America's southern border, reported that El Mayo turned himself in to the FBI near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, which is in the El Paso, Texas, sector.
She reported that he stepped off an unmarked plane and surrendered to the American authorities. He reportedly led the Sinaloa Cartel while in hiding, working with El Chapo.
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U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland released a statement on Thursday about the arrests. According to a DOJ press release , the attorney general said, "The Justice Department has taken into custody two additional alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world. Ismael Zambada Garcia, or 'El Mayo,' cofounder of the Cartel, and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of its other cofounder, were arrested today in El Paso, Texas."
The statement continues, "Both men are facing multiple charges in the United States for leading the Cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks.
"El Mayo and Guzman Lopez join a growing list of Sinaloa Cartel leaders and associates who the Justice Department is holding accountable in the United States. That includes the Cartel’s other cofounder, Joaquin Guzman Loera, or 'El Chapo'; another of El Chapo’s sons and an alleged Cartel leader, Ovidio Guzman Lopez; and the Cartel’s alleged lead sicario, Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, or 'El Nini.'
"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."
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On a "fugitives" page for El Mayo, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) wrote, "Fugitive may be armed and dangerous. Do not attempt to apprehend this individual." The page also advertises the $15 million reward for information leading to El Mayo's arrest or conviction.
The reward, which was being offered by the DEA through the authorization of the State Department, which was footing the money, stemmed from the desperation of several government agencies to capture the drug kingpin.
The State Department provided a wealth of information on El Mayo on its website , writing, "Ismael Mario Zambada Garcia is the long-time leader of the Zambada Garcia faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. Zambada Garcia is unique in that he has spent his entire adult life as a major international drug trafficker, yet he has never spent a day in jail."
"With the arrest, extradition, conviction, and sentencing of fellow Sinaloa Cartel faction leader Joaquin Guzman-Loera, a/k/a Chapo Guzman, Zambada Garcia is the unquestioned senior leader of the Sinaloa Cartel," the release continues.
The release goes on to list a series of indictments filed against El Mayo over the years, with the first sprouting out of the District of Columbia in late January 2003. Then, another came in late August 2009 out of the Northern District of Illinois, which encompasses Chicago.
In mid-April 2012, El Mayo was slapped with yet another indictment out of the Western District of Texas, and then two more over the next four years — one in late July 2014 out of the Southern District of California and another in mid-May 2016 out of the Eastern District of New York.
"All of the indictments involve a major violation of U.S. narcotics laws," the State Department wrote in the release. Of the indictments, however, the one out of Chicago seems to be the most damning — or at least the most likely to see El Mayo convicted, with his own son, Vicente Zambada Niebla, testifying against him.
Zambada Niebla had been arrested by Mexican authorities in 2009 and then extradited to Chicago to face charges. He pled guilty after a while, the release stated, and then agreed to cooperate. He testified against El Chapo at his trial in Brooklyn in January 2019, the release stated, and then was sentenced to 15 years in prison in May 2019.
The bombshell was that Zambada Garcia's 2019 testimony also implicated his father, as he "recounted the shipment of tons of drugs by his father." The release continues, "He also testified that his father's bribery budget was often as much as $1 million per month, with bibes going to many high-level Mexican public officials."
The State Department's release concluded, "If you have information, please contact the DEA at +1-619-540-6912, which can accept messages from the social messaging applications, by email at TIPS@usdoj.gov. If you are located outside of the United States, please contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate. If in the United States, please contact the local Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Homeland Security Investigations office in your city."
The department noted that the $15 million reward is not only for information leading to the arrest of El Mayo but also information that leads to his conviction — meaning that it didn't go away when he reportedly turned himself in on Thursday. The State Department did add, however, that "government officials and employees are not eligible for rewards."
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