How a cartel double-cross worthy of Hollywood sparked a brutal street war – DNyuz

Simeon Tegel

September 29, 2024 10:18 PM

Legendary drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada expected it to be a routine, private meeting with Governor Rubén Rocha.

But as he headed to the flashy conference center on the dusty outskirts of Culiacán, the capital of Mexico’s ultra-violent state of Sinaloa, he essentially fell into a trap worthy of a Hollywood script.

Zambada, 76, had been asked to mediate, he says, in a dispute over a local university involving Mr. Rocha and his political rival Héctor Cuén, a former mayor of Culiacán and ex-rector of the university.

For the co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, Mexico’s most feared organized crime syndicate, such clandestine dealings with chosen power brokers were part of his job description – funneling massive amounts of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl into the United States – as he continued to authorities kept out. with a combination of lavish bribes and extreme brutality.

But instead of the business meeting he expected, Zambada was ambushed, with his four bodyguards overpowered by hooded armed men. He was then tied up, blindfolded and driven to a nearby airstrip.

After a three-hour flight in a small plane, he landed in El Paso, Texas, where he was arrested by federal agents. Separately, his friend Cuén was found dead that evening in Culiacán, shot, according to an official account disputed by the kidnapped cartel leader, during a failed attempt to steal his pickup truck.

The consequences of Zambada’s betrayal on July 25 – apparently at the behest of Joaquín Guzmán López, the 38-year-old son of his former business partner and co-boss of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán – were both spectacular and brutal .

Not only has it landed Zambada in federal court in New York, where he faces a litany of extremely serious charges.

It has also led to carnage on the streets of Culiacán, as the Sinaloa Cartel becomes embroiled in a civil war that could reshape Mexico’s booming drug trade.

And it has exposed the so-called cozy relationship between officials, including allies of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and the hugely profitable drug trade, while setting off a diplomatic row with the United States.

In a letter released by his lawyer, Zambada blamed Guzmán López, whom he had known since the latter was a child, implying that he had used him as a bargaining chip with U.S. law enforcement, apparently to strike a plea deal.

Guzmán López, who has replaced his father since ‘El Chapo’ – the name means Shorty – was extradited to the US, where he is now serving life plus 30 years, accompanied Zambada on the flight to Texas and turned himself in, along with his prized prisoner , upon arrival.

Since then, thugs from the cartel’s two factions, the Chapitos and Mayitos, have been slaughtering each other in Culiacán, bringing life in the city to a blood-stained standstill.

The streets are littered with burning vehicles, bullet casings, graffitied death notices and mutilated corpses. A new record was reached last Saturday, with reportedly ten murders in one day in the city of 800,000 inhabitants.

Schools and businesses have been closed for weeks as residents hunker down at home. Cartel foot soldiers openly parade through the city center in pickup trucks with mounted machine guns, while police and military are often nowhere to be seen.

The official death toll now stands at 60, but that is likely an underestimate. The cartels typically take their dead with them for fear that they will be used by their enemies as macabre trophies, hung from bridges or strategically placed in public squares.

In one case earlier this month, five partially nude corpses showing signs of torture were found leaning against a wall, with messages pinned to their chests and wearing new sombreros with the price tags still attached.

Zambada’s arrest has also had major political consequences. At one point, instead of welcoming the cartel boss’s arrest, López Obrador bitterly blamed Washington for the chaos now unfolding in Culiacán.

Mexican prosecutors have even opened a “treason” investigation following the kidnapping of a Mexican national.

Yet the president has also downplayed the violence as a turf war between criminals that barely affects the general population. He has called on the press to avoid “alarmism” in reporting.

Meanwhile, Rocha, the governor of Sinaloa and an ally of López Obrador, has denied any involvement and said he flew to Los Angeles on a private jet two hours before Zambada’s kidnapping.

He is backed by López Obrador, who insisted: “We have every confidence in the governor.” Yet Rocha has provided no confirmation of his flight or details of what he was doing in California.

Although Zambada’s story is that of a notorious career criminal, his public letter provides times, dates and other details that Rocha’s claims miss.

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