'Mayo' Zambada: old-guard cartel boss who evaded arrest for decades

Ismael "Mayo" Zambada, the Sinaloa Cartel co-founder arrested Thursday in the United States, is one of Mexico's most-wanted drug traffickers who evaded justice for decades.

Before his startling capture in El Paso, Texas, the 76-year-old had never been to jail.

Despite his efforts to keep a low profile, the elusive boss was one of the US Drug Enforcement Administration's top targets.

The United States had offered a $15 million reward for information leading to Zambada's arrest, accusing him of trafficking cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines and fentanyl.

The bounty exceeded the $10 million offered for Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera, head of the rival Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

Zambada was detained Thursday along with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of the Sinaloa Cartel's founder Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is serving a life sentence in the United States.

Unlike Zambada, El Chapo was arrested three times before being extradited to the United States.

Zambada, who was born in the Sinaloa state capital Culiacan, was the long-time leader of a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, according to US authorities.

He was "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," the US State Department said in 2021.

After El Chapo's arrest and extradition, Zambada became the "unquestioned senior leader of the Sinaloa Cartel," it added.

A former farmer, Zambada started working with the Juarez Cartel in the 1980s and 1990s.

After the death of that cartel's head Amado Carrillo Fuentes, he decided to create his own organization, according to the InSight Crime think tank.

In recent years, Zambada had been weakened by the arrests of his brother, two sons and a nephew, it noted.

Two of them even served as witnesses in El Chapo's trial in New York.

El Chapo's lawyers argued that the real leader of the cartel was Zambada.

Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman alleged that Zambada paid former Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto a bribe of $100 million.

In 2017, Zambada survived an attack allegedly carried out by another Sinaloa Cartel leader.

In 2010, the veteran drug lord gave a brief interview to the Mexican magazine Proceso, which revealed that he had begun committing crimes at the age of 16.

Zambada said that he had come close to being captured by the Mexican army on several occasions.

But it was not until Thursday that he was finally taken into US custody in circumstances that were not immediately clear.

Zambada is, according to InSight Crime, "one of the most storied drug traffickers in Mexican history," known for maintaining a low profile and focusing on business over violence.

"In addition, he is one of the few old-guard bosses who has managed to evade justice throughout his criminal career," the think tank said before his detention.