Ismael Zambada García

Ismael Zambada García
Born Ismael Zambada García
(1948-01-01) January 1, 1948[1]
El Álamo, Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico[2]
Other names "El Mayo",[3] "El M-Z",[4] "El Padrino",[4]
Occupation Leader of Sinaloa Cartel
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight 160 lb (73 kg)
Predecessor Jaoquin Guzmán Loera
Criminal status Fugitive
Children Ismael "El Mayito", Héctor "El Flaco", Serafín, Vicente "El Niño", Midiam Patricia, Mónica del Rosario, Modesta, María Teresa
Reward amount
Mexico: 30 million Mexican pesos;
USA: US$5 million
Notes
$5 million reward in U.S.A.[1] and $2 million reward in Mexico.[5]
This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Zambada and the second or maternal family name is García.

Ismael Zambada García (born January 1, 1948[1]), also known as El Mayo Zambada, is a Mexican drug lord who is the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. He has served as the logistical coordinator for the Zambada-García faction of the Sinaloa Cartel which has assisted in the exporting of cocaine and heroin into Chicago and other U.S. cities by train, ship, jet and submarine.[6]

Biography

A former farmer with extensive agricultural and botanical knowledge, Zambada began his criminal career by smuggling a few kilograms of drugs at the time, then increased his gang's production of heroin and marijuana while consolidating his position as a trafficker of Colombian cocaine. When drug lord Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo was arrested in 1989, his old organization broke up into two factions: the Tijuana Cartel led by his nephews, the Arellano Félix brothers, and the Sinaloa Cartel, run by former lieutenants Héctor Luis Palma Salazar, Adrián Gómez González, Ismael Zambada García, Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, and Joaquín Guzmán Loera (El Chapo).[7] The Sinaloa Cartel drug lords were active in the states of Sinaloa, Durango, Chihuahua, Sonora, Nuevo León, and Michoacán.[8]

Zambada is one of Mexico's most enduring, powerful drug lords; he has had plastic surgery and disguises himself to move throughout Mexico.[9] In 2006 the administration of President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against Mexico’s drug trafficking networks.[10][11] The Arellano Felix Organization (Tijuana Cartel), the largest and most sophisticated of the Mexican cartels at the time, received the brunt of the blows. Taking advantage of the pressure being placed on the Tijuana Cartel, other drug bosses, most notably Ismael Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán, began to encroach on strongholds in northwestern Mexico. By the spring of 2001, the Sinaloa Cartel was embroiled in a full-scale gang war with the Tijuana Cartel.

Zambada has historically worked closely with the Juárez Cartel and the Carrillo Fuentes family, while maintaining independent ties to Colombian cocaine suppliers.[12] Zambada has been wanted by Mexico’s attorney general’s office since 1998, when it issued bounties totaling $2.8 million USD on him and five other leaders of the Juárez Cartel.

Zambada has headed the Sinaloa Cartel in partnership with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, until 2016 when El Chapo was captured. Zambada has now assumed full command of the Sinaloa Cartel.[13]

Drug trafficking

Zambada García's organization, the Sinaloa Cartel, receives multi-ton quantities of cocaine, mostly by sea from Colombian sources. After receipt of the cocaine, the Sinaloa cartel uses a variety of methods, including airplanes, trucks, cars, boats, and tunnels to transport the cocaine to the United States. Members of the cartel smuggle the cocaine to distribution cells in Arizona, California, Chicago, and New York.[14]

Zambada operates primarily in the States of Sinaloa and Durango, but exerts influence along a large portion of Mexico’s Pacific coast, as well as in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Sonora, Monterrey and Nuevo Leon.

Ismael Zambada has been featured on America's Most Wanted,[15][16] and the FBI is offering up to US$5 million for information leading to his capture.[14]

On October 20, 2008, some of his relatives were arrested in Mexico City on drug trafficking charges: Ismael's brother, Jesus "The King" Zambada, along with Ismael's son and nephew.[17] His son, Ismael "El Mayito" Zambada Jr. is currently being sought for conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance in the United States. His other son, Vicente Zambada Niebla, was arrested by the Mexican Army on March 18, 2009.[18]

Family

His wife Rosario Niebla Cardoza, brother Jesús, sons Vicente Zambada-Niebla (alias "el Vicentillo", arrested),[19] Serafín Zambada-Ortiz (alias "el Sera", arrested),[20] and Ismael Zambada-Imperial (alias "el Mayito gordo", arrested[21]),[22] as well as his four daughters, María Teresa, Midiam Patricia, Mónica del Rosario and Modesta play an active role on narcotics' distribution and money laundering.[23] His son-in-law Juan Gabriel González Ibarra, who was married to Zambada's daughter Midiam Patricia, died after suffering an electric shock at his home in Culiacán on 18 June 2014.[24]

Ismael Zambada relies on currency shipments to move drug proceeds across the United States–Mexico border.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Narcotics Rewards Program: Ismael Zambada-Garcia". U.S. Department of State. 2009. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
  2. Flores, Linaloe R. (20 February 2011). "Cuna de narcos se hunde en la miseria". El Universal (Mexico City) (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  3. De la Luz González, María (19 March 2009). "Detienen al hijo de El Mayo Zambada". El Universal (in Spanish). Mexico City. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  4. 1 2 Scherer, Julio (4 April 2010). "El Mayo dice que Calderón perderá la guerra antinarco". El Informador (Mexico) (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  5. "Mexico's most wanted traffickers, at $2 million". Associated Press. 27 March 2009. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  6. "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. JESUS VICENTE ZAMBADA-NIEBLA" (PDF). United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. 11 October 2011. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  7. Lyman 2010, p. 292.
  8. Aguilar Valenzuela, Rubén (24 August 2011). "El Cártel del Pacífico". El Economista (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  9. "Did feds cut deal with Mexican kingpin's son?". Michael Tarm. NBC News. 9 August 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  10. President to send more troops to northeastern Mexico. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  11. "México ofrece millonarias recompensas por 37 líderes del narco". Univision. 29 March 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  12. Miró, Ramón J. (February 2003). "ORGANIZED CRIME AND TERRORIST ACTIVITY IN MEXICO, 1999-2002" (Portable Document Format). Washington D.C.: Library of Congress. p. 49. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  13. Winslow, Don (8 January 2016). "'El Chapo's' capture: Is the mission really accomplished?". CNN News. Retrieved 2016-01-13.
  14. 1 2 "Ismael Zambada-Garcia". United States Department of State. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  15. America's Most Wanted
  16. Weissert, Will (11 February 2009). "Portrait Of A Mexican Drug Lord". CBS News. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  17. "Top drug cartel suspect arrested in Mexico". CNN (Mexico City). 22 October 2008. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  18. "Mexico captures high-level cartel member". MSNBC. 19 March 2009. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  19. "Vicente Zambada Niebla se declara culpable por narcotráfico en EU". cnn.com. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  20. "RIODOCE". RioDoce. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  21. "Cinco décadas sin ser atrapado: así es ‘el Mayo’ Zambada, líder del Cártel de Sinaloa". Animal Político. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  22. "Los lujos que exhibía el hijo de El Mayo - Univision". univision.com. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  23. "Zambada Garcia Financial Network" (Portable Document Format). United States Department of the Treasury. May 2007. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  24. Valdez, Cynthia (19 June 2014). "Muere electrocutado yerno de 'El Mayo' Zambada" (in Spanish). Milenio. Archived from the original on 19 June 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.

Bibliography

External links

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