"Char" for Borderland Beat
The Drug Control Administration (DEA) added Mayito Flaco on its list of fugitives, and revealed what the supposed heir of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada looks like.
Up until now, no images have emerged of Ismael Zambada Sicairos, who is one of the sons of El Mayo, and goes by the aliases “Mayito Flaco” and “Caballero”. He has remained in the shadow of the Sinaloa Cartel led by his father, Ismael Zambada García.
Although the image is in black and white, the DEA description reads that Mayito Flaco's hair color is brown, as are his eyes. He would currently be around 40 years old, because his year of birth is registered in 1982. And his last known address does not even directly place him in Sinaloa, but says simply he is somewhere in Mexico. The photograph of him shows him as someone cold and serious. The new photo was placed right after the listing of his father.
His scope within the organization led by his father is unknown, but he is the only one outlined to succeed in command of the organization, while he remains a fugitive. However, videos of alleged hitmen under his command have been broadcast on social media networks.
The first direct accusations against Mayito Flaco went public in January 2015. Two years earlier, in 2013, he was indirectly charged in a larger group, along with his brother Ismael Zambada Imperial, alias “Mayito Gordo”. At that time, another 57 alleged criminals were also included, including children of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, alias “El Chapo”, and Dámaso López Núñez, “El Licenciado”.
| First page of the 2013 indictment. |
The alleged photographs of Mayito Gordo and the DEA photo of Mayito Flaco look quite similar. Although both resemble each other, probably because they are related to each other, they also highlight features that allow them to be distinguished from each other.
Mayito Flaco is still at large, while Mayito Gordo was arrested in Culiacán in 2014. Mayito Gordo submitted a guilty plea in the San Diego Court last year and his sentencing is scheduled for April 2022.
According to reports from the US agency, Mayito Flaco faces charges in the Southern District of California for conspiracy and attempting to traffic narcotics, according to federal violations stipulated in Title 21 and Code § 846. The aforementioned unsealed indictment was filed in September 2013, and named Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, alias “El Chapito”, as a co-conspirator.
The indictment alleges Mayito Flaco and others coordinated the transportation of several kilograms of methamphetamine from Asia to Mexico. And once the shipment arrived in Mexico, he managed to cross the drugs through border states and cross them into the US.
“[He] further caused drug proceeds to be collected from clients in the United States and laundered and transferred from the United States to Mexico and elsewhere for the benefit of members and associates of the Sinaloa Cartel," the document states.
The Department of Justice has indicated that the case involving these ten men, including Mayito Flaco, has involved the prosecution of over 100 defendants and began with inquiries at the end of 2011, focused on a small cell of drug dealers in National City and Chula Vista.
“It soon became apparent that the drugs were being supplied by the Sinaloa Cartel, and the case morphed into a massive multinational, multi-state investigation that has resulted in dozens of arrests and seizures in San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, Los Angeles counties, and more. Bernardino and Imperial to the great cities of San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Detroit; the states of Nevada, Texas, South Carolina, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Kentucky, Georgia.”
The charges cover illicit activities from May 2005 and at least until July 2014. The same occurred in Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, the Philippines, China and Great Britain.
The methamphetamines were stored in safe houses in areas of Tijuana and Mexicali. For the Mexicali shipments, they used cargo planes, private planes, submarines (and other submersible and semi-submersible vessels), container ships, supply vessels, speedboats, fishing boats, buses, railcars, tractor trailers, trucks, automobiles and interstate carriers and private and commercial foreigners.
The investigations ended up seizing a 1982 Cessna Turbo 210 plane, two Lamborghini cars, including one of the Murciélago type; as well as another Mercedes SLR McLaren car and a 2014 Nissan 14 GTR.
Mayo Zambada allegedly had his son Mayito Flaco with Norma Sicairos. He is one of nine other children El Mayo has. The women El Mayo is alleged to have children with are: Norma Sicairos, Rosario Niebla, Margarita Imperial and Leticia Ortiz. Records indicate that the kingpin of the Sinaloa Cartel has at least 15 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
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