Jesus "El Rey" Zambada Extradicted to the US

Chivis Martinez for Borderland Beat

Includes Wiretaps Transcript of conversations between Chapo, El Mayo, Mayo's son Vicente and others, discussing El Rey's arrest, potential extradiction and the desire to blow up U.S. buildings to send Gringos a messsage and the preference for American weapons....Paz, Chivis

Mexico has extradited to the United States Jesus Zambada Garcia alias "King", a partner of Joaquin Guzman Loera "El Chapo" and one of the leading sources of cocaine and methamphetamine from South America. Federal authorities reported that the alleged drug dealer was taken from the airport of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, sent to  New York, where he will face charges for conspiracy and other crimes.

 Jesus Zambada was arrested on October 20, 2008 and is considered one of the four leaders of the Pacific Cartel. Zambada Garcia is the brother of Ismael Zambada alias "Mayo", which in turn is a member of Guzman Loera and so was the late Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel. With the capture of Jesus the  authorities claimed that a substantial part of the Pacific Cartel was compromised, saying he was instrumental in tthe operation of the criminal organization.

"The King"  (El Rey)

Chapo and Mayo wiretaps reveal plans to blow up US buildings:

In wiretaps, a conversation "Chapo" and "El Mayo" discuss the recent (at that time) arrest of “El Rey” (the king) and the possible extradition of Rey.  Further discussing plans to blow up US buildings to “send gringos a message”…

Text of the wiretap:

A short while later, Flores participated in a meeting that also included Guzman-Loera, Ismael Zambada-Garcia, Zambada-Niebla, and others.

During that meeting, Guzman-Loera and Ismael Zambada-Garcia discussed the recent arrest of Zambada-Garcia’s brother, Jesus Zambada-Garcia, a/k/a “Rey Zambada,” by Mexican authorities.

According to Margarito Flores, Ismael Zambada-Garcia stated, in words or in substance, “This government is letting the gringos (American law enforcement) do whatever they want. All we need is for them to try and extradite him.”

Guzman-Loera responded, with words to the effect of “it’s too early for that, it’s going to take a long time. They are fucking us everywhere. What are we going to do?”

Ismael Zambada-Garcia responded, “It will be good to send the gringos a message. Whatever we do, we have to do it in someone else’s territory, in the smoke [Mexico City, which at the time was primarily under the control of the Beltran-Leyva Organization].”

Guzman-Loera responded, in words or in substance, “Yeah, it would be good to do it in the smoke. At least we’ll get something good out of it and Arturo (Beltran-Leyva) will get the heat.

"Mayo" and "Chapo"

Let it be a government building, it doesn’t matter whose. An embassy or a consulate, a media outlet or television station (attack a Mexican or U.S. government or media building in Mexico City).”

At that point in the conversation, Zambada-Niebla turned to Flores and said words to the effect of, “[Buddy], you know guys coming back from the war. Find somebody who can give you big powerful weapons, American.

We don’t want Middle Eastern or Asian guns, we want big U.S. guns, or RPGs (rocket propelled grenades).”

Zambada-Niebla made mention of a particular model of weapon, to which Flores responded that he did not think the weapon named was American.

Zambada-Niebla responded in words or in substance, “You know what I’m talking about. We don’t need one, we need a lot of them, 20, 30, a lot of them.” Flores responded, “I’ll see what I can do.” Guzman-Loera then said to Flores, “Make it your job;” and Zambada-Garcia said,

“See what you can do.”

As Flores was preparing to leave the mountaintop compound, Zambada-Garcia said in words or substance, “Make sure everything we talked about gets done,the rockets, Felipe, and stop sending those bills to Olivares* [stop sending small bills as payment to Zambada-Garcia’s lieutenant German Olivares].”

Flores then had another conversation with Zambada-Niebla while waiting on an airstrip to depart.

Zambada-Niebla stated, “We don’t need that small shit, I want to blow upsome buildings.
We got a lot of grenades, we got a lot of .50 calibers, we’re tired of AK’s.”

Vicente Zambada Mayo's son incarcerated in the U.S.

Zambada-Niebla continued, “ You want to be really good with me, get me my fucking gunsfucking money, fucking drugs.  I want to fucking blow things  up. I want some bazookas,some grenade launchers.”

After this mountaintop meeting, Flores called a DEA agent and informed him of  this plot to obtain military-grade weapons. Flores asked the agent to provide Flores with black market prices for rocket and grenade launchers so that Flores could appear knowledgeable about the topic if asked again by Guzman-Loera, Zambada-Garcia, Zambada-Niebla, or others.

Flores had such a conversation during the same November 29, 2008, recorded phone conversation with Zambada-Niebla described above.

Request for weapons from American soldiers

After discussing the 13-kilogram heroin transaction, Flores and Zambada-Garcia discussed Zambada-Niebla’s request for weapons from American soldiers returning home from war.

During the recorded conversation, Zambada-Niebla spoke on behalf of his father, Zambada-Garcia, and told Flores that the Sinaloa Cartel would agree to purchase 20 to 30 weapons from a U.S. soldier who was leaving the service. The conversation was as follows:

MF (Margarito Flores): Hey, do you remember what we talked about? About those toys [rocket/grenade launchers].

VZN (Vicente Zambada Niebla): Yes.

Sources Used:

Notimex

Indictment read here

Sanctions read here