Ismael Zambada Garcia, alias “El Mayo,” is the leader of a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. Along with his now captured and convicted partner, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, alias “El Chapo,” El Mayo is one of the most storied drug traffickers in Mexican history.
He is known primarily for maintaining a low profile and a focus 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.
History
Originally a farmer from the western state of Sinaloa, El Mayo started working with the Juarez Cartel in the 1980s and 1990s. After the death of the head of the Juarez Cartel, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, alias “El Señor de los Cielos,” El Mayo created his own organization. With the slow demise of the Tijuana Cartel, El Mayo has sought to expand his routes through the northwestern states of Sonora and Baja California. He also controls much of the heroin production and shipment from Mexico into the United States.
In recent years, El Mayo has suffered the loss of several key members of his inner circle. Authorities have arrested his brother, two sons, and a nephew. His sons Ismael Zambada Imperial, alias “El Mayito Gordo,” and Vicente Zambada Niebla, alias “El Vincentillo,” as well as his brother Jesús “El Rey” Zambada, were captured and extradited to the United States between 2010 and 2019. Another of his sons, Serafín Zambada Ortíz, was arrested in Arizona in 2013 and released in 2018. All of them came to collaborate in various measures with the US justice system, which guaranteed them reduced sentences and early releases. In fact, El Rey and Vicentillo served as witnesses in El Chapo’s trial in New York in 2019.
Some analysts surmised that El Mayo might be easing into the shadows, or even retiring, after he appeared on the front cover of the Mexican investigative news magazine Proceso in 2010. However, El Mayo survived a February 2017 attack allegedly carried out by Dámaso “Licenciado” López Núñez, another Sinaloa Cartel leader. The ambush also targeted two of El Chapo’s sons, suggesting an internal struggle for power following the drug boss’s capture and extradition to the United States earlier that year.
However, Licenciado was arrested soon after in Mexico City in May 2017. Then Licenciado’s son, Damáso López Serrano, alias “Mini Lic,” turned himself in to US authorities in July. This left El Mayo at the top of the Sinaloa Cartel, alongside El Chapo’s sons, known as the “Chapitos.” Each faction has its own collaborators and armed factions, which work together most of the time but have occasionally clashed violently.
Criminal Activities
Networks associated with El Mayo control much of the heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, and fentanyl production in Mexico, and are also involved in cocaine trafficking from South America.
El Mayo and his associates have also managed to set up various money laundering schemes that extend throughout the country, according to investigations by the US Treasury Department. These have involved several companies, some of which have allegedly received government contracts.
Geography
El Mayo is originally from Sinaloa, and allegedly operates from the mountainous area known as the Golden Triangle linking the states of Sinaloa, Durango, and Chihuahua. His family and associates have been deeply rooted in the communities of this region for years and have allegedly become providers of some basic services.
El Mayo’s associated armed factions, such as the Rusos and Anthrax, operate from the states of Sonora and Baja California, as well as Sinaloa, to guarantee access to border crossings.
Drug trafficking networks associated with El Mayo send emissaries to Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela to guarantee the flow of cocaine. They also have suppliers of precursor chemicals in Asia, which facilitate the production of synthetic drugs.
Finally, the clients of the drug trafficking networks associated with El Mayo are spread across every continent.
Allies and Enemies
El Mayo has made and broken many alliances with other drug trafficking organizations. His partnership with the Chapitos has been cited as a major reason why the Sinaloa Cartel is the strongest in the hemisphere.
El Mayo has also used his connections in the Mexican government to push his influence steadily north toward the US border and south toward the border with Guatemala, leaving a trail of imprisoned and dead colleagues in his wake.
Prospects
El Mayo has proven himself remarkably adept at evading arrest. His deep connections in government and the local population in Sinaloa have helped him spend over 40 years in the drug trafficking business without ever seeing the inside of a jail cell.
In 2004, the US government offered a $5 million reward for any information leading to the capture of El Mayo. In 2021, US authorities raised this figure to $15 million. But to date, he has evaded arrest.
Even before El Chapo’s extradition in 2017, El Mayo was a major figure within the Sinaloa Cartel, and perhaps even of equal stature with his former boss on the operational side. With El Chapo out of the picture and internal power struggles roiling the organization, El Mayo will continue to play an important role in the cartel’s future, as long as his health permits.
It is presumed that his son Ismael Zambada Sicairos, alias “El Mayito Flaco,” who has not been arrested, could be his heir.