“El Mayo” Zambada: 40 Years of Secrecy in Hiding

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Riodoce

Riodoce Special
By: Ismael Bojorquéz

Very few narcos  in Mexico have had the audacity to live for almost 40 years amid persecution and death, drugs, loyalties and betrayals, internal wars between cartels, excesses and loneliness that carry power, fame and a life underground. All this without ever stepping foot in a jail. Ismael Zambada Garcia, "El Mayo" , is one of them.

From the Gulf organizations, Juan Nepomuceno Guerra died at home at age 86, although he was imprisoned for short periods several times. Of the Sinaloan  capos, only Eduardo Lalo Fernandez never set foot in jail and died of old age .

All others were killed and those who were not have  paid or are paying for  their crimes in jails and prisons. 

The case of Pedro Aviles, assassinated in 1978, by going to the town of Tepuche, near Culiacan. 

Ines Calderon, who came to have immense power, was killed by federal police at his home in the countryside, in March 1988. 

Rafael Caro Quintero, still in power, spent  28 years in prison on charges of drug trafficking and involvement in the murder of DEA agent Enrique Kiki Camarena.  

Don Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo and Miguel Felix Gallardo, co - accused of the same crime as Caro, are still in jail,  Don "Neto" serving time in a house on "humanitarian" issues. ( House arrest/Custody )

Of the family Cázarez the most important is Victor Emilio who is imprisoned in the United States. 

Of he Beltran Leyvas, Arturo was "hunted" by the Navy in December 2009 and his brothers Alfredo and Hector are imprisoned.

The  Esparragozas, Juan José, "El Azul" , it has been said that he died of cardiac arrest in a hospital, although that has not been proven yet. He was imprisoned. 

The Coronels collapsed after the death of "Nacho" ,  hunted in Guadalajara by the Army. 

The Carrillos have been a history of family dramas since the death of Amado Carrillo, " El Seńor de los Cielos". 

And the Guzmans , ie "El Chapo" Joaquin Guzman Loera, the most famous, is being prosecuted in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

Why has "El Mayo" never set foot in a jail?

He as nearly 40 years of committing crimes behind him , and of those, nearly 30 at the top of the game , nearly  since Miguel Felix arrested in 1989.  One of the keys undoubtedly is his logistical capacity. Another is the relationship "El Mayo" has maintained for decades with government forces at all levels. There is not one common law folder/ case open against him. He has often been about to be caught by the Army or the Navy but has always managed to escape. 

                                          Tomb of Inés Calderón in Culiacan, Sinaloa

The same has not happened with his closest associates. When they killed Inés Calderón  they were together just days before and when "El Mayo" saw the police were on top of them Inés opted to stay in Culiacán but "Mayo" took a plane into the mountains, his main lair. 

                                                   Brother: Reynaldo "El Rey"  Zambada

The same has not happened with his sons, almost all are in prison here and in the United States, along with his brother Reynaldo Zambada, "El Rey", extradited to the US in 2012.  This is perhaps his greatest loss, the cost most expensive for staying where he is. Especially the absence of Vicente, "El Vicentillo", his eldest son, now a protected witness of the American justice system awaiting sentencing in December of 2018 in Chicago, Illiniois.

                                           Eldest Son: Vincente or "Vincentillo" Zambada

There is another reason that has "Mayo" has not been touched personally despite the blows to his  structure and family, and it has been a balancing factor, the bridge between the government and the Sinaloa cartel. And also with the gringos. It is no coincidence that the judge  has imposed conditions following Vincente into trial in Chicago;  despite what not knowing what the sentence may be do to the case being  sealed,  this puts the  American justice system against  a  wall  obligating it to reach  an agreement.

But the story is still open and no one knows what will happen, if Vincente will remain  protected or will agree to cooperate to catch his father, "El Mayo" Zambada and a new effort will be unleashed to finally catch him.  Doubtful, considering the vision that  the new federal government brings us. Moreover , because there are too many that  think that "Mayo" played ball with  "the old man".

Maybe "Mayo " did not do it with money for the  Morena Party, as he has done historically with the PRI in many parts of Sinaloa; but the message may have been passed through the radio waves.

Which should worry us more ?

NOTE: This is an Op/Ed by Ismael Boroquez, co-founder of Riodoce along with Javier Valdez (DEP)