Alleged Mexican drug cartel bosses arrested or extradited in recent years

CNN
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Federal agents arrested two alleged Mexican cartel bosses on Thursday, including Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of infamous cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, in one of the biggest victories for U.S. law enforcement in recent years.

The two men arrested are members of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world, believed to be responsible for smuggling vast quantities of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the United States.

Investigators took advantage of the split in the cartel and enlisted the help of Guzmán López to lure a second suspect, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, onto a plane to El Paso, Texas, where they were eventually arrested. Zambada is a co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel.

“El Mayo and Guzmán López join a growing list of Sinaloa Cartel leaders and associates who are being held accountable by the United States Department of Justice,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Here are some of the men who joined the list:

José Antonio Yépez, “El Marro” (August 2020)

Authorities consider José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, arrested in August 2020 in Guanajuato, to be the leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel.

At the time, Mexican National Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo confirmed Yépez’s arrest on his official Twitter account, noting that “El Marro” was detained on a warrant for “organized crime and fuel theft.”

In January 2022, a Guanajuato court sentenced Yépez to 60 years in prison for kidnapping, according to the state attorney general’s office.

The Santa Rosa de Lima cartel generates most of its income from fuel theft and extortion, Mexican authorities say. “El Marro” had been wanted for months, with authorities targeting his family and close associates amid rising 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. He had 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 U.S. State Department. He is said to be responsible for growing, shipping and distributing large quantities of marijuana in Mexico.

An extradition order to the United States is expected in his case. However, in July 2022, a judge temporarily suspended the extradition proceedings. 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,” likely plays a significant role in the Sinaloa cartel, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

Guzmán was extradited from Mexico to the United States in September 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed. He faces charges in the U.S. for conspiracy to import and distribute narcotics, along with his brother Joaquín Guzmán López.

In 2019, the Mexican government captured Guzmán in Culiacán, Sinaloa, but later released him amid tensions between government forces and armed groups loyal to his organization. In October of that year, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador acknowledged that his government ordered the release, saying it prevented a “bloodbath.” Guzmán López was later recaptured on January 5, 2023, during a raid in Sinaloa, according to Mexican authorities.

His defense asked for additional time to review documents presented by U.S. prosecutors during a recent hearing on the charges against him. According to the filing, the defendant’s attorneys requested the review under Rule 16, which mandates the exchange of information between attorneys and prosecutors to prepare for trial. So a new hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 1.

Néstor Isidro Pérez “El Nini” (November 2023)

Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas was arrested in November 2023 in Culiacán and then extradited to the United States. The U.S. considers him one of the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel and linked to the security apparatus of Los Chapitos, a faction of the cartel linked to El Chapo’s children.

Pérez is charged in two federal indictments. The first, in the District of Columbia, includes importing cocaine and methamphetamine, possession of a firearm and conspiracy to obstruct justice by murder.

The second, in the Southern District of New York, accuses him of leading a criminal group responsible for numerous deaths – including that of a DEA informant – fentanyl trafficking, obstructing justice by killing an informant, kidnapping resulting in the deaths of eight people, including a minor, and money laundering.

On May 30, Pérez pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him 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, along with Joaquín Guzmán López, 38, El Chapo’s son. Both are in U.S. custody, according to the Justice Department.

Zambada is considered by U.S. 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 U.S. Department of Justice said both men face multiple charges “for directing the cartel’s criminal operations, including manufacturing and trafficking the deadly drug fentanyl.”

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.