2 leaders of Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa cartel, including son of “El Chapo,” arrested in Texas, officials say

The leader and co-founder of Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa cartel, along with a son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, were arrested Thursday by the FBI, federal authorities announced.

The Justice Department confirmed that Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez were arrested in El Paso, Texas. One senior official familiar with the arrest told CBS News that Zambada was taken into custody by the FBI without incident along the U.S. border.

“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,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. 

Zambada was indicted in Brooklyn in February for fentanyl trafficking among other charges, and both men are facing multiple charges in the U.S. for leading the cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks.

“Garcia and Guzman have allegedly overseen the trafficking of tens of thousands of pounds of drugs into the United States, along with related violence,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.   

Zambada was arrested after having been a U.S. fugitive for many years. The State Department in 2016 had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture, and the DEA’s profile of the kingpin said the reward was up to $15 million.

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said the arrest of Zambada “strikes at the heart of the cartel that is responsible for the majority of drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, killing Americans from coast to coast.”

The Tijuana-based Sinaloa cartel, which has operated since the 1980s, is one of Mexico’s most powerful and violent criminal organizations. Zambada founded the cartel along with “El Chapo,” who was captured in 2016 and is currently serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in the U.S. after being convicted on charges including drug trafficking and money laundering. Zambada took over the cartel after “El Chapo” was arrested. Milgram said Lopez and several of his brothers have also led the cartel since their father’s arrest. 

Lopez is one of El Chapo’s 12 children, four of whom go by the nickname “Los Chapitos” because they are accused of being heavily involved in Sinaloa’s operations. Lopez was first indicted on federal drug trafficking charges in 2018 and has had multiple charges since then. 

In April 2023, the three other Chapitos were among 28 alleged members and associates of Sinaloa accused of orchestrating a transnational fentanyl trafficking operation into the U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Justice Department officials blamed the defendants for the loss of hundreds of thousands of American lives from fentanyl.

— Robert Legare, Andres Triay and Kerry Breen contributed to this report.