Armed men entered through a window to ambush Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the most elusive of the Sinaloa Cartel’s leaders, who was then loaded onto a plane, drugged and flown across the border to the United States in an inebriated condition, a plea hearing was revealed Monday for the drug smuggler who kidnapped him.
Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the 39-year-old son of former Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago to two counts of drug trafficking and continuing criminal enterprise after admitting his role in overseeing the transportation of thousands of kilograms (pounds) of drugs into the US.
As part of that plea agreement, US prosecutors shared what was one of the central questions in the hours and days immediately after Zambada fell into US hands in July 2024.
How did a cunning drug capo who stayed ahead of the authorities for decades arrive in the United States like a gift tied with a bow?
Zambada was not named in the plea agreement, but a few days after his arrest, one of his lawyers shared a letter from him stating that he was called to a meeting with Guzmán López and was kidnapped there.
Andrew Erskine, a lawyer representing the US government, said on Monday that the alleged kidnapping of an unidentified man was part of an effort to show cooperation with Washington, adding that he did not approve of those actions. He also said that Guzmán López would not receive collaboration credit because of this.
The arrest of both drug smugglers by US authorities angered Mexico’s then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who suspected that the US government was behind the operation. Washington denied involvement from the beginning, but experts thought it would be almost impossible to pull it off without US officials having some information.
Erskine described the alleged abduction in court, saying that Guzmán López had removed the floor-to-ceiling window glass from a room before meeting with the unidentified man.
Guzmán López allegedly had other people enter through an open window, grab the man, put a bag over his head and take him to a plane. On board the plane he was zip-tied and sedated before the plane landed at a New Mexico airport near the Texas border.
Zambada said in his letter that Guzmán López had summoned him to a meeting on the outskirts of Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, with some local politicians, one of whom was later found dead.
He said that when he arrived there were a number of armed men in green military uniforms, who he thought were gunmen from the “Chapitos”, as “El Chapo” Guzmán’s sons were known. Even though they ran a rival faction within the cartel, Zambada maintained communications with them and trusted Guzmán López enough to follow him into a dark room.
The plane that landed in New Mexico contained only the pilots, Zambada and Guzmán López. According to Guzmán López’s account, on the plane Zambada was given a drink laced with sedatives, which Guzmán López also drank a little of.
Rather than congratulating or thanking the US for arresting the elusive Zambada, Mexico’s Attorney General’s office said it was studying the possibility of bringing treason charges against Guzmán López or anyone else who aided in the plot.
The arrests sparked a bloody battle between their respective cartel factions in Sinaloa for control of the trade, violence that Lopez Obrador’s successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, is still dealing with.
With the plea agreement, Guzman Lopez’s defense attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, said he hopes to avoid spending life in prison.
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty in 2019 for his role as the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, which smuggled cocaine and other drugs into the United States over 25 years.
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