Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada

On Friday, July 25, everything seemed to be running smoothly at the private airport in El Paso, Texas, as a private Lear jet landed in the midday heat.

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the “invisible” leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel and the man who believed he succeeded El Chapo, was as calm as he could be with a hood over his head until the plane came to a stop.

U.S. agents arrested two top leaders of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel in Texas on July 25, the justice department said, striking a major blow to one of the most powerful and violent criminal organizations in the world.

Undated images of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Garcia provided by the Mexican Attorney General's office in Mexico City on August 1, 2003. Two top leaders of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel, including its co-founder Ismael Zambada Garcia, were arrested on July 25, 2024 in Texas, the US Department of Justice said.