The lawyer representing captured drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada refuted claims that his client had been tricked into boarding a plane bound for the United States to be arrested on Thursday, alleging that he had instead been “forcibly kidnapped” by a son of the infamous Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera.
Zambada, 76, was arrested after arriving at a small airport near El Paso, along with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a 38-year-old son of El Chapo, who co-founded the Sinaloa cartel with Zambada.
The lawyer, Frank Perez, rejected reports that Zambada, who has pleaded not guilty to a range of drug trafficking, weapons and money laundering charges, had turned himself in or had been tricked into boarding the plane.
“My client did not surrender or negotiate any terms with the U.S. government. Joaquín Guzmán López kidnapped my client by force,” Pérez said in a statement first reported by The Times. “He was ambushed, thrown to the ground and handcuffed by six men in military uniforms and Joaquín. They tied his legs and placed a black bag over his head. He was then thrown into the back of a pickup truck and taken to a landing strip. There, he was forced onto a plane, his legs were tied to the seat by Joaquín, and he was brought to the United States against his will.”
Perez said the only people on the plane were “the pilot, Joaquin and my client.”
Guzman Lopez faces federal charges in Chicago and Washington, D.C., for drug trafficking and his role as a leader in the Sinaloa cartel. Court records do not show he has entered any pleas. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department declined to comment in response to a question about Perez’s statement or Guzman Lopez’s status.
Sources familiar with the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly about the arrests previously told The Times that Zambada had somehow been tricked into boarding the plane that brought him to American soil.
“An epic, once-in-a-lifetime prank,” a law enforcement source working in Mexico said of Zambada’s arrest. “The old man was set up.”
According to Pérez, who spoke briefly to The Times after issuing the statement, Zambada was tricked into a meeting with Guzmán López, a leader of the cartel faction known as Los Chapitos.
Zambada, known for his elusiveness after more than four decades on the run without being captured, traveled with a relatively light security detail, Perez said.
Caught by surprise, Zambada was overpowered, the lawyer said.
Several law enforcement sources have said the effort that led to Zambada’s capture was led by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations. It is unclear to what extent U.S. agencies were involved in orchestrating the flight carrying the two men, or in the alleged kidnapping, if true.
Mexican authorities were not involved, officials there said.
“You ask if it was a rendition, if it was a capture,” Rosa Icela Rodriguez, Mexico’s security secretary, told reporters this week. “That is part of the investigation and part of the information that we would expect from the United States government.”
Zambada is a living legend in the Mexican drug trade, having built the Sinaloa cartel into a multibillion-dollar empire that ships cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl and other illicit drugs around the world. The United States had offered a $15 million reward for his capture, and senior U.S. officials hailed his arrest this week as a massive coup. President Biden said it would help “save American lives.”
But exactly how U.S. officials carried out the arrests has remained the subject of rumor, speculation and conflicting reports. One version, reported by the Wall Street Journal, said Zambada had been lured onto the plane hoping to inspect clandestine airstrips. Others alleged the ruse was an elaborate cover story and that Zambada had secretly turned himself in with the promise of meeting a son, Vicente Zambada Niebla, who testified against El Chapo and is now believed to be in witness protection.
If Perez’s statements are true, Zambada’s capture would represent a massive betrayal by Guzman Lopez, who could receive leniency from U.S. authorities after handing over one of the most wanted fugitives on the planet.
Guzman Lopez’s brother, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, 34, was extradited from Mexico last year and pleaded not guilty to charges that he was one of the leaders of Los Chapitos. He has been jailed in Chicago, where his case is pending.
His father, Guzman Loera, is serving a life sentence in a U.S. federal prison following a 2019 conviction. Housed in an isolated facility dubbed the “Alcatraz of the Rockies,” he is under strict security measures that limit his contact with the outside world.
Some observers noted that Federal Bureau of Prisons records indicate Ovidio Guzmán López was “released” on July 23, just two days before the arrests, fueling speculation that there was advance notice of a plot with his brother to turn over Zambada.
A Justice Department spokesman said in an email Friday: “Ovidio Guzmán López remains in U.S. custody.”
Court records show Ovidio Guzman Lopez is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 30. A source familiar with his case, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said he had been moved into protective custody, not released.
The Guzmán and Zambada families have long been intertwined, through business partnerships and family ties. Zambada’s son, Zambada Niebla, 49, known as “El Vicentillo,” frequently referred to El Chapo as his “compadre” during his dramatic 2019 trial testimony, describing how the two cartel leaders had blessed his decision to abandon drug trafficking and seek a deal with U.S. authorities.
Zambada Niebla was also represented by Pérez, his father’s lawyer.
Two more of Zambada’s sons have faced justice in the United States, along with his brother, Jesus “El Rey” Zambada, who also testified against El Chapo.
“They were partners,” Jesus Zambada said of the cartel leaders on the witness stand, recounting how he and his brother had agreed to send a helicopter to rescue El Chapo after his escape from a high-security prison in Mexico in 2001.
Although armed groups claiming allegiance to Zambada have engaged in wars against rival cartels elsewhere in Mexico, the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa has been relatively quiet in recent years, a peace some have attributed to Zambada brokering truces and trying to avoid bloodshed in his own backyard.
However, there have been occasional flare-ups of violence, including in 2019 after El Chapo’s son Ovidio was first captured. That incident saw gunmen flood the streets of the state capital, Culiacán, and engage in shootouts with Mexican security forces. Ovidio, known as “El Ratón,” was eventually released and recaptured in January 2023 by Mexican authorities.
In its 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment, The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration described “internal power struggles and shifting alliances” at the top of the cartel.
“The Sinaloa Cartel does not have a leader. Instead, the cartel ‘umbrella’ covers four separate but cooperating criminal organizations,” the DEA said. “This structure theoretically gives the heads of independent drug trafficking groups the ability to share resources – such as smuggling routes, corrupt contacts, access to illicit chemical suppliers, and money laundering networks – without sharing profits or having to answer to a main chain of command.”
Another of Zambada’s sons, Ismael Zambada-Sicairos, born in 1982 and known as “Mayito Flaco,” is currently a fugitive in Mexico, wanted by the DEA for his alleged leadership role in his father’s operation.
The elder Zambada is believed to be in poor health; U.S. authorities have previously said he suffers from diabetes. Photos released after his capture show him gaunt and glowering at the camera, with dark hair and a mustache. Transcripts made public after his initial court appearance Friday say he sat in a wheelchair for part of the proceedings.
Miguel Ángel Vega, a journalist who covers organized crime for the Sinaloa newspaper Ríodoce, said the state is on edge and many fear violence could break out at any moment.
“There is tension right now,” Vega said. “Everyone is waiting for something to happen. Obviously, there is fear.”
In his only public interview, Zambada told Mexican magazine Proceso in 2010 what he predicted would happen if he was one day killed or captured.
“After a few days, we would see that nothing had changed,” he said. “The drug problem involves millions. If the bosses are jailed or killed, their replacements are already waiting.”
Times staff writer Kate Linthicum in Mexico City contributed to this report.
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