The alleged Mexican drug cartel bosses arrested or extradited in recent years
The two detained men belong to the Sinaloa cartel, one of the world’s most powerful drug-trafficking organizations, thought to be responsible for the trafficking of vast amounts of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the US.
Investigators exploited a rift in the cartel and used the help of Guzmán López to lure the other suspect, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, onto a flight bound for El Paso, Texas, where they were eventually arrested. Zambada is a co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel.
“‘El Mayo’ and Guzmán López join an increasingly long list of Sinaloa Cartel leaders and associates whom the Department of Justice holds accountable in the United States,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Here are some of the men they join on that list:
José Antonio Yépez, “El Marro” (August 2020)
José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, arrested in August 2020 in Guanajuato, was considered by authorities to be the leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel.
At the time, Mexico’s Secretary of Security Alfonso Durazo confirmed Yépez’s arrest via his official Twitter account, noting that “El Marro” was detained under a warrant for “organized crime and fuel theft.”
In January 2022, a court in Guanajuato sentenced Yépez to 60 years in prison for kidnapping, according to the State Attorney General’s office.
The Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel has generated most of its income through fuel theft and extortion, according to Mexican authorities. “El Marro” had been sought for months, with authorities targeting his family and close associates amid a surge in violence in Guanajuato, an area controlled by the cartel.
Rafael Caro Quintero (July 2022)
Rafael Caro Quintero, one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives, was arrested in July 2022 by the Mexican Navy, having been on the run since 2013.
Born in 1952, Caro Quintero founded the now-defunct Guadalajara cartel in the 1970s with Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and other drug traffickers, according to the US State Department. He is allegedly responsible for the cultivation, shipment, and distribution of large amounts of marijuana in Mexico.
An extradition order to the United States is pending against him. However, in July 2022, a judge temporarily suspended the extradition process. Caro Quintero is accused of kidnapping, torturing, and murdering Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985.
Ovidio Guzmán “El Ratón” (January 2023)
Ovidio Guzmán López, another son of “El Chapo,” is believed to play a significant role in the Sinaloa cartel, according to the US Department of the Treasury.
Guzmán was extradited from Mexico to the US in September 2023, as confirmed by the US Department of Justice. He faces charges in the US for conspiracy to import and distribute drugs, along with his brother Joaquín Guzmán López.
In 2019, the Mexican government captured Guzmán in Culiacán, Sinaloa, but later released him amid a tense situation between government forces and armed groups loyal to his organization. In October of that year, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador admitted his government had ordered the release, stating that it had prevented “a bloodbath.” Guzmán López was later recaptured on January 5, 2023, in a raid in Sinaloa, according to Mexican authorities.
His defense has requested additional time to review documents presented by US prosecutors during a recent hearing concerning the charges against him. According to the case file, the defendant’s lawyers sought a review under Rule 16, which mandates information exchange between attorneys and prosecutors for trial preparation. Consequently, a new hearing has been scheduled for October 1.
Néstor Isidro Pérez “El Nini” (November 2023)
Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas was arrested in November 2023 in Culiacán and subsequently extradited to the United States. The US considers him one of the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel and linked with the security apparatus of Los Chapitos, a faction of the cartel associated with the children of El Chapo.
Pérez faces charges in two federal indictments. The first, in the District of Columbia, includes cocaine and methamphetamine importation, firearm possession, and conspiracy to obstruct justice through murder.
The second, in the Southern District of New York, accuses him of leading a criminal enterprise responsible for multiple deaths – including of a DEA informant – fentanyl trafficking, obstruction of justice through the murder of an informant, kidnapping with fatal outcomes for eight people, including a minor, and money laundering.
On May 30, Pérez pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces in New York.
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López (July 2024)
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was arrested on Thursday, July 25, 2024, in El Paso, Texas, alongside Joaquín Guzmán López, 38, son of El Chapo. Both are in US custody, according to the Department of Justice.
Zambada is considered by US authorities to be the current leader of the Sinaloa cartel. His name has appeared in drug trafficking files for years, but there are no known charges against him in Mexico.
The US Department of Justice stated that both face several charges “for leading the cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks.”
Authorities had been searching for Zambada for years, and in 2021 increased the reward for information leading to his arrest to $15 million.
On July 26 Zambada pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in the United States.
The Sinaloa cartel's influence extends beyond the Americas, as vast amounts of their trafficked drugs, including fentanyl, find their way into the world's drug markets.
The arrest of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada in El Paso, Texas, in July 2024, marks another significant blow to the Sinaloa cartel's leadership in the Americas.
