Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, the top leader and co-founder of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, eluded the reach of U.S. law enforcement for decades as the criminal organization evolved into the world's biggest manufacturer and smuggler of illicit fentanyl pills and other drugs to the United States.
Zambada, 76, once ran the cartel in partnership with the flashier and better-known kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, who is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.
Zambada and Guzman's son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, were arrested in Texas on Thursday after they arrived aboard a private plane. Zambada was being held without bond Friday after entering a plea of not guilty to a string of drug trafficking charges in federal court in El Paso.
Zambada has been charged in numerous U.S. cases, including one filed in February in the Eastern District of New York accusing him of conspiring to manufacture and distribute fentanyl. Prosecutors said he led "one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world."
Who is Zambada?
