By Drazen Jorgic
(Reuters) -Mexican drug kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and a son of his former partner, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, were arrested on Thursday in El Paso, Texas, in a major coup for U.S. authorities that may also reshape the Mexican criminal landscape.
Zambada is one of the most consequential traffickers in Mexico's history and co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo, who was extradited to the U.S. in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison.
Both Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of El Chapo, face multiple charges in the U.S. for funneling huge quantities of fentanyl and other drugs to U.S. streets. Fentanyl overdoses have surged to become the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.
Zambada, who is believed to be in his 70s, and Guzman Lopez, who is in his 30s, were detained after landing in a private plane in the El Paso area.
Guzman Lopez lured Zambada to the U.S., according to three current and former U.S. officials familiar with the operation who sought anonymity to speak candidly about the events.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday heralded the arrests and vowed to continue combating drug trafficking.
"Too many of our citizens have lost their lives to the scourge of fentanyl. Too many families have been broken and are suffering because of this destructive drug," he said in a statement.
U.S. authorities have made drug bosses key targets, frequently striking plea bargain deals with them in exchange for information that leads to the capture of other high-ranking cartel figures.
Reuters could not immediately confirm a plea bargain deal had been struck, but if Zambada was betrayed by Guzman Lopez it could have major ramifications for the Sinaloa cartel.
A bloody inter-cartel war erupted in 2008 when another senior Sinaloa leader was detained. His family members accused El Chapo of orchestrating the arrest with Mexican authorities, triggering a violent fissure between two powerful factions of the crime group.
NEW GENERATION OF NARCOS
Guzman Lopez is one of four sons of El Chapo - known as Los Chapitos, or Little Chapos - who inherited their father's faction of the cartel. His brother, Ovidio Guzman, was arrested last year and extradited to the U.S.
In recent years, the Sinaloa cartel has become the biggest target for U.S. authorities, who have accused the crime syndicate of being the biggest supplier of fentanyl to the U.S.
Zambada and Guzman Lopez face multiple charges in the U.S. "for heading the cartel's criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
The arrest of Guzman Lopez was first reported by Reuters, ahead of the Justice Department statement which confirmed they were detained in El Paso.
One worker at a Santa Teresa airport, near El Paso, on Thursday afternoon told Reuters he saw a Beechcraft King Air plane land on the runway, where federal agents were already waiting.
"Two individuals got off the plane ... and were calmly taken into custody," said the man, who declined to share his name out of concern for his safety.
"It seemed like a pretty calm, arranged thing," he added.
The U.S. authorities had a $15 million reward for Zambada's capture, while there was a $5 million bounty on Guzman Lopez.
The Sinaloa cartel traffics drugs to more than 50 countries around the globe and is one of the two most powerful organized crime groups in Mexico, according to U.S. authorities.
Zambada and El Chapo's sons belong to two different generations of traffickers, with differing styles.
Zambada is known for being an "old-school" narco, avoiding the limelight and operating in the shadows. El Chapo's sons, by contrast, have a reputation for being flashy narcos who courted attention as they ascended the ranks of the cartel.
El Chapo's sons are also known to be more violent and hot-headed than Zambada, who had a reputation as a shrewd operator.
Zambada and El Chapo's sons have had a fractious relationship since their father was extradited in 2017, and the arrests of Zambada and Guzman Lopez may trigger instability or even violence in their heartlands in the northern state of Sinaloa.
Their arrests were part of a joint operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations agencies, HSI said in a statement.
U.S. authorities have over the past year issued fresh indictments against Zambada and El Chapo's sons on new charges in the U.S. that focus on fentanyl smuggling, as well as the flow of precursor chemicals to the illicit labs operated by their crime syndicate.
Over decades, the cartel has set up sophisticated supply chains to move drugs across the globe and to source heavily regulated chemicals to their home base in Sinaloa.
On Thursday, Reuters published an investigation that revealed how fentanyl precursor chemicals are astonishingly easy and cheap to buy online from Chinese sellers that ship the substances on a door-to-door basis in North America.
"Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable," Garland said.
Mexico's Security Minister Rosa Rodriguez said on Friday that the Mexican government was informed by the U.S. government of the detentions, but that Mexican authorities did not participate in the operation.