Did one Mexican drug lord trick or force another into boarding a plane to Texas to be arrested? (2024)

After the surprise arrests of two alleged Sinaloa Cartel drug lords in Texas, three law enforcement officials say investigators think one of the men may have fooled the other into getting on a plane to the U.S.

The attorney for one of the alleged drug lords, however, now says his client was "forcibly kidnapped."

Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel boss known as “El Chapo," and cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García were arrested Thursday in El Paso.

The three law enforcement sources say authorities are looking into whetherGuzmán tricked “El Mayo” Zambada into boarding the U.S.-bound airplane. The plane went first to New Mexico and then to El Paso, where the two men were arrested and taken into custody.

On Sunday, an attorney for "El Mayo" told NBC News that his client had been ambushed and flown against his will to the U.S. "My client neither surrendered nor negotiated any terms with the U.S. government," said Frank Perez. "Joaquin Guzmán López forcibly kidnapped my client. He was ambushed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed by six men in military uniforms and Joaquin. 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 Joaquin, and brought to the U.S. against his will. The only people on the plane were the pilot, Joaquin and my client."

Both men had previously been indicted in the U.S., and they face “multiple charges” in connection with the cartel's criminal activities, “including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Guzmán was flown by authorities to Chicago, while Zambada remained in El Paso, where he is expected to appear in federal court on Friday.

The sources said one theory is that Guzmán had decided to surrender and was under the impression he would receive more favorable treatment if he brought with him another major cartel figure.

Homeland Security Investigations said the arrests were the result of a joint HSI and FBI effort targeting the cartel.

Guzmán's father, Joaquín “El Chapo" Guzmán Loera, was arrested in Mexico and extradited to the U.S. in 2017, and is serving a sentence of life plus 30 years that was handed down in New York in 2019.

The Sinaloa and Jaliscocartels "are at the heart" of the synthetic drug crisis in the U.S., which includes fentanyl and methamphetamine, the Drug Enforcement Administration said in its 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment.

"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 in the statement.

Another son of "El Chapo," Ovidio Guzmán López, who was also alleged to be a cartel leader, was arrested in Mexico in January 2023 and has been extradited to the U.S. to face drug and money laundering charges. He pleaded not guilty in September.

A federal grand jury indicted Joaquín Guzmán López and Ovidio Guzmán López in 2018 on charges that alleged a conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana into the U.S.

A federal grand jury also indicted Joaquín Guzmán López, Ovidio Guzmán López and two other sons of "El Chapo" last year, the Justice Department said at the time.

The two other sons, Iván Guzmán Salazarand Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, have not been apprehended. The four sons are known as the "Chapitos," federal officials said, and they took over their father's drug trafficking networks and his faction of the cartel.

Four criminal organizations make up the Sinaloa Cartel, the DEA says, including "Los Chapitos,” which was run by the four sons.

The brothers promoted making fentanyl a larger part of the cartel's business, the DEA said in the 2024 report.

"The Sinaloa Cartel has been producing bulk quantities of fentanyl since at least 2012, but the Chapitos faction is responsible for pushing the importance of fentanyl to the cartel’s 'bottom line,'" the report says.

Zambada García, known as "El Mayo," co-founded the cartel and was a co-head of the criminal organization for three decades, according to the DEA. He controls one of the four factions making up the cartel.

Zambada García was a partner of "El Chapo," but more recently he has been involved in an internal battle with the "Chapitos," the agency said.

Zambada García has also been charged in the U.S. He was most recently charged in a superseding indictment in February that accuses him of a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, the Justice Department announced at the time.

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said Zambada García's arrest "strikes at the heart of the cartel that is responsible for the majority of drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, killing Americans from coast to coast."

"El Mayo is one of DEA’s most wanted fugitives and he is in custody tonight and will soon face justice in a U.S. court of law," Milgram said in a statement.

There were an estimated 107,543 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most of which — an estimated 74,702 — were from synthetic opioids, which include fentanyl. The second most were from psychostimulants like methamphetamine, with an estimated 36,251 deaths, it said.

The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels make fentanyl in labs in Mexico and then ship it into the U.S., the DEA said in this year's report.

Both cartels are alleged to have ordered subordinates last year to stop trafficking in fentanyl, and the "Chapitos" made a public show about it, but the DEA concluded that "the ban is probably a public relations stunt."

"Throughout 2023, fentanyl was seized at the border in equal or higher quantities as in previous years, and no DEA field office reported that fentanyl is less available or more expensive, either of which would point to a decrease in the supply," it said.