‘El Mayo’ Zambada’s lawyer says his client was ‘forcibly kidnapped’ by son of ‘El Chapo’

The lawyer representing captured drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada rebutted claims that his client had been tricked into boarding an aircraft bound for the United States to be arrested Thursday, alleging that he had instead been “forcibly kidnapped” by a son of the infamous Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Zambada, 76, was taken into custody after he arrived at a small airport near El Paso, along with Joaquín Guzmán López, a 38-year-old son of El Chapo, the Sinaloa cartel‘s co-founder alongside Zambada.

The attorney, Frank Perez, rejected reports that Zambada — who has pleaded not guilty to an array of drug trafficking, gun and money laundering charges — had surrendered or been duped onto the plane.

“My client neither surrendered nor negotiated any terms with the U.S. government. Joaquín Guzmán López forcibly kidnapped my client,” Perez said in a statement first reported by The Times. “He was ambushed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed by six men in military uniforms and Joaquín. His legs were tied, and a black bag was placed over his head. He was then thrown into the back of a pickup truck and taken to a landing strip. There, he was forced onto a plane, his legs tied to the seat by Joaquín, and brought to the U.S. against his will,” he added.

Perez said the only people on the plane were “the pilot, Joaquín and my client.”

Guzmán López faces federal indictments in Chicago and Washington for drug trafficking and his leadership role in the Sinaloa cartel. Court records do not show that he has entered any plea. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment in response to an inquiry about Perez’s statement and the status of Guzmán López.

Sources familiar with the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly about the arrests previously told The Times that Zambada had somehow been fooled into boarding the plane that brought him to U.S. soil.

“Epic, once-in-a-lifetime caper,” one law enforcement source who works in Mexico said of Zambada’s arrest. “The old man got tricked.”

According to Perez, who spoke briefly with The Times after issuing the statement, Zambada was set up by being called to a meeting with Guzmán López, a leader of the cartel faction known as Los Chapitos.

Zambada — known for his elusiveness after more than four decades on the run without capture — was traveling with a relatively light security detail, Perez said.

Caught off guard, Zambada was overpowered, the lawyer said.

Multiple law enforcement sources have said the effort that spurred Zambada’s capture was led by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations. It’s unclear to what extent the U.S. agencies were involved in orchestrating the flight carrying the two men — or in the alleged kidnapping, if true.

Mexican authorities were not involved, officials there said.

“You ask if it was a delivery, if it was capture,” Rosa Icela Rodríguez, Mexico’s security secretary, told reporters this week. “That is part of the investigation and part of the information that we would be expecting from the government of the United States.”

Zambada is a living legend in the Mexican drug trade, having built the Sinaloa cartel into a multibillion-dollar empire that ships cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl and other illicit drugs around the globe. The U.S. had offered a $15-million reward for his capture, and top U.S. officials hailed his detention this week as a massive coup. President Biden said it would help “save American lives.”

But exactly how U.S. officials pulled off the arrests has remained a subject of rumor, speculation and conflicting reports. One version, reported by the Wall Street Journal, said Zambada had been lured onto the plane expecting to inspect clandestine airstrips. Others alleged the ruse was an elaborate cover story — and that Zambada had secretly surrendered with the promise of being reunited with a son, Vicente Zambada Niebla, who testified against El Chapo and is now believed to be in witness protection.

If Perez’s statements are true, Zambada’s capture would represent a massive betrayal by Guzmán López, who could stand to receive leniency from U.S. authorities after hand-delivering one of the most sought-after fugitives on the planet.

Guzmán López’s brother Ovidio Guzmán López, 34, was extradited from Mexico last year and has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he was a co-leader of Los Chapitos. He’s been jailed in Chicago, where his case remains pending.

Their father, Guzmán, is serving a life sentence in U.S. federal prison after a 2019 conviction. Housed in an isolated facility dubbed the “Alcatraz of the Rockies,” he is under tight security measures that limit his contact with the outside world.

Some observers noted that Federal Bureau of Prisons records list Ovidio Guzmán López as having been “released” on July 23, just two days before the arrests, fueling speculation there was advance notice of a plot with his brother to hand over Zambada.

A Justice Department spokesperson said in an email Friday: “Ovidio Guzman Lopez is still in US custody.”

Court records show Ovidio Guzmán López is scheduled for a court appearance on Sept. 30. One source familiar with his case, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said he’d been moved to protective custody, not released.

The Guzmán and Zambada families have long been intertwined, through business partnerships and family ties. Zambada’s son Zambada Niebla, 49, known as “El Vicentillo,” frequently referred to El Chapo as his “compadre” during his dramatic 2019 trial testimony, and described how the two cartel leaders had blessed his decision to leave the drug trade and seek a deal with U.S. authorities.

Zambada Niebla was also represented by Perez, his father’s attorney.

Two more of Zambada’s sons have faced justice in the U.S., along with his brother, Jesús “El Rey” Zambada, who also testified against El Chapo.

“They were partners,” Jesús Zambada said of the cartel leaders on the witness stand, recounting how he and his brother had arranged to send a helicopter to rescue El Chapo following his escape from a high-security prison in Mexico in 2001.

Although armed groups that claim loyalty to Zambada have been engaged in wars against rival cartels in other parts of Mexico, the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa has been relatively calm in recent years — a peace some have credited to Zambada brokering truces and seeking to avoid bloodshed in his own backyard.

There have been occasional outbursts of violence, however, including in 2019 after El Chapo’s son Ovidio was captured for the first time. That incident led to gunmen flooding the streets of the state capital, Culiacán, engaging in shootouts with Mexican security forces. Ovidio, known as “El Ratón,” or “The Mouse,” was eventually released, and later recaptured in January 2023 by Mexican authorities.

In its 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration described “internal power struggles and fluctuating alliances” atop the cartel.

“The Sinaloa Cartel does not have a leader. Instead, the cartel ‘umbrella’ covers four separate but cooperating criminal organizations,” the DEA said. “This structure theoretically gives the heads of the independent drug trafficking groups the ability to share resources — like smuggling routes, corrupt contacts, access to illicit chemical suppliers and money laundering networks — without sharing profits or having to answer to a main chain of command.”

Another of Zambada’s sons, Ismael Zambada-Sicairos, born in 1982 and known as “Mayito Flaco,” is a fugitive in Mexico, wanted by the DEA for his alleged leadership role in his father’s operation.

The elder Zambada is thought to be in ill health; U.S. authorities previously said he suffers from diabetes. Photos released after his capture showed him haggard and scowling at the camera, with dark hair and mustache. Transcripts made public after his initial court appearance Friday said he sat in a wheelchair for part of the proceeding.

Miguel Angel Vega, a journalist who covers organized crime for the Sinaloan newspaper Riodoce, said the state is on edge, with many fearing violence could erupt at any moment.

“There is tension right now,” Vega said. “Everyone is expecting that something is going to happen. Obviously, there is fear.”

In his only public interview, Zambada told the Mexican magazine Proceso in 2010 what he predicted would happen if he were killed or captured one day.

“After a few days, we’d see that nothing had changed,” he said. “The drug problem involves millions. If the bosses are locked up or killed, their replacements are already waiting.”

Times staff writer Kate Linthicum in Mexico City contributed to this report.