U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a written statement Thursday evening that the two men were leading “one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world.”
“El Mayo and Guzman Lopez join a growing list of Sinaloa Cartel leaders and associates that the Justice Department is seeking accountability for in the United States,” Garland said.
“Fentanyl is the most deadly drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Department of Justice will not rest until every cartel leader, member, and associate who poisons our communities is held accountable,” added Garland, the nation’s top law enforcement official.
U.S. prosecutors say the Sinaloa Cartel is the largest supplier of drugs to the United States.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is offering a reward of up to $15 million (£12 million) for Zambada's capture.
At Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán’s trial in 2019, his defense attorneys accused Zambada of bribing “the entire” Mexican government in exchange for living openly without fear of prosecution.
“The truth is, he had no control over anything,” Guzman's attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, told jurors of his client. “Mayo Zambada was in control.”
According to the U.S. State Department,, OutZambada is also the owner of several legitimate businesses and real estate assets in Mexico, including “a large milk company, a bus line, and a hotel.”
In addition to the fentanyl charges, he was indicted in the United States on charges including drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping, money laundering and organized crime.
U.S. authorities have previously noted that fentanyl is the leading cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 45.
In May, Zambada's nephew, Eliseo Imperial Castro (known as “Cheo Antrax”), was killed in an ambush in Mexico. He was also wanted by U.S. authorities.
Zambada is probably the world's biggest drug lord, and certainly the most powerful man in the Americas.
He had eluded authorities for decades, so his arrest came as a shock in Mexico.
Details of the two men's arrest remain unclear, but they are believed to have been flown to the United States.
As more information comes to light, President Joe Biden’s administration will no doubt tout this as one of the most significant operations the DEA has undertaken in years.
Zambada co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel after the collapse of the Guadalajara Cartel in the late 1980s.
Although Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzmán was the face of the organization and the more notorious of the two, many believed that El Mayo was actually the real leader of the group.
He was ruthless as well as innovative, establishing and maintaining early relationships with Colombian drug cartels to supply large quantities of cocaine and heroin to the United States.
And more recently, there's fentanyl.
His leadership of the criminal empire persisted through changes in presidents in Mexico and the United States, despite anti-drug campaigns by successive governments and relentless efforts by opponents of other drug trafficking organizations.
It is no easy feat, given that he has been an unassailable leader in a violent, dangerous and treacherous underworld for years.
But that remarkable resilience appears to have run out in El Paso, Texas, a city ravaged by an influx of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, much of it smuggled by his organization.
