The Traitor: The Secret Diary of The Son of May

17/07/2021 The Traitor: The Secret Diary of the Son of May
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The history behind the history
It was a cold and convulsive January 2011 when he looked for me. A month ago there was
published The Lords of the Narco , which shortly after going on sale was already in its
third reprint. The book was causing controversy and discomfort in the government, in
business circles and in the drug cartels themselves. Even its protagonist,
Joaquín el Chapo Guzmán had read it, as his partner would tell me years later
sentimental Emma Coronel.
The portrait I made of Chapo was a pretext to narrate what was behind the
impunity of the members of the Sinaloa Cartel, in particular, and behind the so-called
President Felipe Calderón's "war against narco" in general. Since the first
chapter, "A poor devil", I wanted to outline the dimension of the boss and the myth. All
They claimed to be the most powerful drug trafficker of all time. The sinister mind
behind the violence. The ghost impossible to catch because it vanished at every
tried. But I found another character. Yes, a major drug lord, with
wit, creativity, bold, but without the intelligence or temperament that was required
to be the "boss of bosses" during the last century of drug trafficking in Mexico.
The book Los Señor del Narco was the result of five years of investigation
independent journalism, without prejudice. Hundreds of murders accumulated year
over the years until there were thousands across the country, which was terrible. But I wanted to go further,
know what allowed that to happen, what was the story of that
decomposition and who were responsible. When I investigated the history of
Chapo, when I spoke with the people who knew him, with members of other cartels,
with people from the intelligence areas of the US and Mexican governments, I
it seemed that he was an inflated character for the purpose of the authorities to disguise
the corruption behind his unwillingness to arrest the supposed
fugitive number one.
I never wanted to write a narco story, and I don't want to do it now. For
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In the middle of this journey, which many times involved going to hell, the intention was
share the window through which I could look out, to know and document the
complicity that existed for decades between public officials, politicians,
businessmen, law enforcement and drug cartels, and go beyond portraits
picturesque that seem to speak only of isolated cases.
Although the criticism of Los Señor del Narco was going well, things were getting worse for me.
becoming very complicated. The first previews of my book were just published.
exacerbated the spirits of the Secretary of Public Security, Genaro García Luna, and the
of your closest team, corrupt collaborators whom I mentioned as part of the
public servants who were at the service of the Sinaloa Cartel since the administration of
Vicente Fox.
Felipe Calderón was not happy either. I documented that his so-called "war against
drug trafficking ”, which began in 2006, after having become president with the stench of
electoral fraud, it was a sham. All internal government documents to which
I had access, the informants of the various cartels and official institutions
they confirmed.
At the end of November 2010, a person who worked close to the boss's circle
The police informed me that there was a plan to assassinate me. That warning was preceded
for various attacks against my family, sources of information, against me, against me
home. A hell. A few months ago an American government official told me that
They had confirmed that García Luna and his people had made a plot to
kill me.
In November 2017, a high-ranking police officer was handed over to the American justice system,
Iván Reyes Arzate, who served as intelligence liaison between the agencies
Americans and the Federal Police during the six-year terms of Calderón and Peña Nieto.
He was part of García Luna's team from the Federal Investigation Agency
(2001-2007), then followed him to the Ministry of Public Security, where he reached the level of
Director General of the Drug Division of the Federal Police; there it was embedded
until 2017, like many other members of the corrupt team. In November 2018
was convicted in the Northern District Court of Illinois because he "abused his
position of trust and conspired with an international drug trafficking organization
high level for his own benefit, by doing so, he violated a duty to the society of the
United States, Mexico and with the DEA agents for whom he worked ”. In the
hearing in which his guilt was determined, he declared that in addition to himself, Genaro
García Luna and other commanders routinely received bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel
and the Beltrán Leyvas: millions of dollars that were distributed among all. The fall of Kings
Arzate was just the beginning.
That was the context when that day in January 2011 they informed me that the lawyer
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Fernando Gaxiola, representative of a drug trafficker, wanted to contact me and meet

with me. He had looked for me through a radio program where he had
broadcast one of my interviews on Los Señor del Narco . The lawyer warned that
The meeting could not be in Mexico, because there I attracted a lot of attention, and
He proposed that it take place in Chicago, in a low-key location. In Mexico I lived with
escorts 24 hours a day, which made it very difficult to continue my work as a journalist. I do not
He loved them, but he couldn't live without them either. These were particularly bad times.
I will not mention their names, but I know from what we live together that many of
they really protected my life and that of my family, and I will be grateful to them for
forever.
Under those circumstances, I had to reinvent myself, and part of the process was traveling to
Chicago and keep that appointment. If with the plan to assassinate me they wanted to close the door to
continue with my investigations, I had to open a window.
The beautiful city crossed by the Chicago River, once the domain of the gangster
Italian-American Al Capone, became the site of a silent story that
it would forever change the course of the drug cartels in Mexico. And I was there, in
front row, as a witness.
My first meeting with the lawyer Fernando Gaxiola was blind, in a restaurant
near O'Hare International Airport on February 25, 2011. The location was
fine cuts of meat, and as is typical of these places in the United States, everything was
half light. He did not know the lawyer, so he had no idea of his physical appearance. I waited for it
a few minutes in the place without knowing if I was already there, if they were spying on me. When he
came he recognized me.
Gaxiola was about 1.75 in height, had a medium complexion, white complexion and hovered
age 60. He had the appearance of an American, but his Spanish was
impregnated with the Sinaloan accent. He was kind, smiling. I was struck by
insistently he put his hand to the side of his stomach, under his jacket. The
repeatedly that he did it made me a little nervous.
We started talking. He said he was a lawyer for Vicente Zambada Niebla, the son of
Ismael Zambada García, alias el Mayo , whom I had mentioned in Los Señor del
narco as the power behind the throne in the Sinaloa Cartel. Vicentillo , as he calls it
American government in the criminal accusation opened against him, he had been arrested in
Mexico City on March 18, 2009, when an arrest warrant was executed with
extradition to the United States, where he was sent in February 2010. At that time
preparations were being made in the Illinois Northern District Court
to start your trial.
Gaxiola told me that he was looking for me at the request of his client, who was confined in the
Metropolitan Correctional Center ( MCC ) of Chicago. According to him, Vicentillo heard a
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of my radio interviews; listening to the radio was one of the few entertainments to
those who had access to the maximum security measures in which he was confined.
The attorney mentioned that he had an office in Tucson, Arizona, but that it was
Originally from Sinaloa, which matched the accent. I was trying to focus on what
what she was telling me, but she was really uneasy about the tic of putting her hand under the jacket
while talking. For an instant I thought the meeting was a trap.
"I just had a tumor removed," he said when he sensed my concern and lifted
shirt to reveal a bandage. They had detected cancer and I understood that it had
been the first surgery. I, too, had a death threat against me, although
other nature.
He told an incredible story. And boy had I heard a lot of extreme stories
during the investigation of Los Señor del Narco . The lawyer told me that, for
years, at least since 1998, members of the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel such as the
Mayo, El Chapo, Vicente Zambada Niebla and others had direct contact with the DEA . You
gave information that the agency used in operations coordinated with the government of
Mexico, mainly the Navy, to arrest cartel leaders and lieutenants
enemies. In return, the DEA gave them protection.
Many of the arrests or killings of the most notorious ringleaders had been
given in those circumstances: for example, Francisco Arellano Félix, a member of the Cartel
from Tijuana, arrested in 2006, or Arturo Beltrán Leyva, leader of the Beltrán Cartel
Leyva, killed in 2009 during a confrontation with the Navy. Among many others.
Gaxiola had read my book with interest, whose main argument was complicity
of the Sinaloa Cartel with senior officials of the Mexican government and some
institutions that for years have given them protection. “You are right, but the
things are even more serious, more complex, they go further, ”he told me.
In my book I had talked about the Iran-Contra case and how the American government,
in order to have resources to finance the Nicaraguan Contra, which sought to overthrow the
The emerging left-wing government had tolerated the CIA making deals with
late 1970s and early 1980s with the Colombian cartels and the
Mexican organizations: in particular the Medellín Cartel, led by Pablo
Escobar Gaviria, and the Guadalajara Cartel, led by Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo.
The exchange consisted of allowing his drug to come to the United States in exchange for
that a part of the profits went to the Contra.
It was only in December 2010 that the scandal of Operation Quick and
Furioso, conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
( ATF ), in which the American government allowed the sale of weapons to Mexico to
supposedly discovering the arms trafficking networks, but with that it caused
more than 2 thousand weapons entered Mexico illegally and reached the hands of the
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drug cartels. Mainly to the Sinaloa Cartel.

On February 15, 2011, they had just assassinated on a highway in San Luis Potosí at
US ICE agent Jaime Zapata, with a weapon that had arrived in Mexico at
via Fast and Furious. The case was red hot.
If what Gaxiola told me was true, the story about the relationship of the government of
The United States with the Sinaloa Cartel - which according to the Americans themselves is the group
of the world's largest drug traffickers - was a matter of public concern and
therefore newsworthy. I wanted to know the case thoroughly.
Gaxiola revealed to me that same night at the restaurant that Vicentillo had met
with the DEA hours before his arrest in 2009, at the María Isabel Sheraton hotel in La
Mexico City, located next to the United States embassy. The
meeting was part of the agreements between the Sinaloa Cartel and various agencies
American.
We say goodbye. He had to return to Mexico immediately. I told him if he had
documentary evidence of settlements, or court actions, I would post the story and
I would follow the case to the end. She was not one of the journalists who sought the scandal of a
day and then another, she was a long-distance runner, not a sprinter.
On March 4, 2011 was the presentation of Los Señor del Narco in the gallery that
At that time he occupied the restaurant Mi Tierra, in the neighborhood of La Villita, the heart of the
Mexican community in Chicago, alluding to the Villa de Guadalupe of the City
from Mexico. Gaxiola was present there, and in those days the second of many
other encounters we had for five years in a row.
I remember the first hearing of Vicentillo's trial that I attended. It was the 30th of
March 2011, in room number 2141 of the tower located at 219 Dearborn Street, in the
Downtown Chicago, where the seat of the Northern District Court of Illinois is located. There was not
journalists, the room was semi-deserted, there were only some relatives of Vicentillo, the
prosecution team, DEA agents and other officers.
There I saw Vicentillo for the first time with the orange overalls, the kind that prisoners wear
highly dangerous. By then he was 36 years old, but he looked very haggard. The
The uniform was too big for him, and even made him look ridiculous. Maybe that's why in his
self-portrait was painted as a clown, dressed in the prison uniform, an orange cap,
makeup on her face and a gleaming red nose, which is the illustration that occupies the
cover of this book.
When I saw that meticulous drawing by Vicentillo, I was shocked. The realism
Printed is a metaphor and a parody of the world in which he was born. Prince and
slave. Prince and clown. Condemned, no way out. When he took the first breath of his
existence, his father was already the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. Beneath that pinkish color and
white on his face, with the round ball like nose and black lips, you could see the face of
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his father, the Mayo, from whom he inherited the traits.

Gaxiola always showed concern that someone would find out about our
encounters and saw us in public in the United States, he always said that everyone
they knew. He preferred to meet us in the most discreet places possible, in the subway of
Chicago or anonymous coffee shops. A time when I tried to dissuade him from that idea
we were in a cafe located on the iconic Magnificent Mile, when
Some of the Mexicans who worked on the site asked me to take a picture.
"Do you see what happens?", He said. Our meetings stopped being in Chicago and
We began to see each other in different parts of Mexico City.
The lawyer shared with me documents and facts, about which I published
some reports that in one way or another had an impact on Vicentillo's trial and
in negotiations with the United States government. The son of May wanted to do
assert in his defense the argument of "public authority", pointing out that, by means of
the agreements between the DEA , the FBI and the ICE with the Sinaloa Cartel, an implicit
permission to traffic, for which they could not judge him. Of course, the prosecution did not accept
I would never accept that argument. Instead, they reached another agreement: Vicentillo se
He became a collaborating witness, that is, he revealed information about members of the
Sinaloa that the United States government would use to initiate criminal proceedings and
arrests.
My first article on the subject was published in March 2011, “Faster and more
furious". There I presented the briefs that the defense presented to the court, where it was stated
that members of the Sinaloa Cartel had reached agreements with authorities
Americans in which they would have immunity in exchange for giving information on the
enemy criminal organizations. This report was followed by many.
However, most of the data and documents that Gaxiola gave me
provided in the encounters, accumulated over the years, I did not publish them. It was
very sensitive information that put Gaxiola, his client and the process at risk
legal that he was carrying. They were narratives by Vicentillo that corresponded to
his diary, written by him and his lawyers during the negotiations to
collaborate with the American government, in which it was reconstructing its history and
history of the Sinaloa Cartel during the last 20 years, and that began since
the Arellano Félix family tried to assassinate him for the first time.
There were loose leaves, some handwritten in his own handwriting. Other papers were
typewritten, translated into English, as part of Vicentillo's work with his
defense attorneys. And there was a very extensive writing, 30 pages long, which is one of the
first formal statements made on July 12, 2012:
This statement is an accurate and true summary of the best that I remember. Without
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However, this summary contained in this statement represents only a small

part of my knowledge of the topics contained here. This statement does not
describes everything I know about the people and events I describe and also
I have additional information on other people and other events that are not described.
Since I have been cooperating with the United States government, the government
has given me help to relocate certain members of my family from Mexico in
USA. I know my family would be in great danger of being killed if
Certain people I have spoken about today find out that I am collaborating. Until
where I know, no one I spoke to today knows where my family lives and what
I am in protective custody.
Through those writings of Vicentillo, the secrets of the Sinaloa Cartel were revealed and
some from his father. It was not a story that only reached the epidermis, but, as
scalpel, entered, cut and dissected every part of the anatomy of which it is
considered the most important drug trafficking organization in the world, with
presence in practically 70% of the planet. Vicentillo spoke of who they were in that
moment his father's most important partners, or competitors. Hitmen,
lieutenants, how they moved drugs, how they bribed the entire government of Mexico.
There are two very significant written sentences: “99% of the PGR are corrupt, there is no
even one that doesn't take money ”; as well as one who heard her father say:
"We work for the government, they bring us to the race and apart working for them." Those
phrases constantly resonate with me, especially when they see operations such as the arrest of
Ovidio Guzmán López, son of Chapo, occurred in October 2019, who has charges
criminals in America. They had him already arrested and they let him go with the justification
that their hosts had surpassed the state. Through Vicentillo's writings,
understand that this was not an accident or chance.
At the same time, the stories of the son del Mayo revealed his intelligence, his sadness and
times its biting irony. His longing to be free, his inner conflict of belonging to the cartel
and at the same time repudiate it. To love his father and want to be close and at the same time give himself
He realized that every day he transformed into a criminal like him. May decided
become a drug dealer, while Vicentillo was born when his father was already the
king of drugs, more powerful than any other, above the legendary Beloved
Carrillo Fuentes, the so-called Lord of the Skies .
Gaxiola gave me a condition to share that information with me, and I respected it
how I respect my agreements with other sources of information. Even more because I understood the
magnitude of history for him and Vicentillo. He asked me not to post any of the
documents written by Vicentillo on the operation of the cartel and its members,
and all the information he was releasing to the American government, until he had
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dead. The lawyer lived with the certainty that cancer would eventually defeat him. While
that I still had a chance to save my life.
During the five years in which we had communication, Gaxiola frequented the Mayo and the
Chapo, saw the latter until February 2014, when he was apprehended in Mazatlán.
Much of the information he gave me came directly from conversations with
they. He also gave it to Vicentillo, who in turn transmitted it to the government of
USA.
In those years, when information was spread in the media about a
supposed recapture of Guzmán Loera, he called the lawyer. All the times that he
said with certainty that El Chapo was still at large, he was never wrong: “Unless he has
the gift of ubiquity and was able to be with me and in another place at the same time… ”,
joking.
The attacks against me and my family forced me to leave Mexico in 2014.
I went to the University of California at Berkeley, where I spent two years as a fellow
in the Investigative Journalism Program. There I began the research on
43 students from the rural school Raúl Isidro Burgos disappeared on September 26
2014 in Iguala, Guerrero.
My last meeting with Fernando Gaxiola was on May 20, 2015. I was
absorbed just by the work on the disappearance of the normalistas. The case had
Gaxiola was very indignant because deep down he had the soul of an idealist, of the left.
He believed in justice, in social struggle. I am also convinced that he believed in
power of truth. The truth at the service of others. He called me several times during
that year, he asked me to come see him as soon as possible because he had little time left to
lifetime. He wanted to finish telling me, he wanted to finish giving me documents, writings.
In that last meeting we talked for several hours, I took notes. He asked me that
publicize the story because he was convinced that this way people could understand
what is the Sinaloa Cartel really, what material is it made of, where does its
can. So people could understand that many stories that governments tell
American and Mexican are fallacies. His family had no knowledge of the
content of our meetings.
I complied. I've waited all this time. I sacrificed the immediacy of the news
hasty, sensationalist, due to the depth of the investigation and the passage of
time, to share this story that I hope will contribute to a much more understanding
great size of the Sinaloa Cartel and the massive consequences it has had
for Mexico and the world.
I want to lead whoever reads this book by the hand to that world that I knew from the
front row, quietly, alone, to draw your own conclusions from
what the Sinaloa Cartel represents, perhaps as a brutal symbol of the world in the
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that we live.
While I waited for the opportune time to publish the story, some of the
criminals mentioned by Vicentillo in his notes were arrested, I was not a
obstacle to the investigations being carried out. Others are still free.
I even waited for the trial against Joaquín Guzmán Loera in
New York. His lawyers contacted me, asked to meet with me because they knew
that he had information about Vicentillo, I don't know how, maybe El Chapo told him, because he
participated in several of Gaxiola's meetings with Mayo. The meeting did not take place
cape.
I also waited for Vicentillo to be sentenced on May 30, 2019. On
Instead of the life sentence prescribed in New York to his compadre Chapo, he was given
14 years, and most likely because of the time he had already been in prison, sum of
benefits for good conduct and other considerations, you are already at liberty.
At the end of November 2015 I received the news that Fernando Gaxiola had
dead, and I went to his funeral. It was not just a source of information, but had been
become a friend. I mourned his death. I learned that the son of Mayo called for
phone to give condolences to the family. And because of the relationship that I understood that there was
created between them, I think that it was also a sensible loss for him.
In May 2019 I met with criminal attorney Stephen G. Ralls at his
Tucson office. He is the legal representative of Jesús Beltrán, Vicente's co-defendant
Zambada Niebla in the United States Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and was an attorney for
Sandra Ávila Beltrán in her process in the United States, among many other clients of
that profile.
Ralls was a friend and colleague of Fernando Gaxiola for decades. So i wanted to talk
with him to better understand Fernando's legacy. They studied law together in 1979 at the
University of Arizona at Tucson. They became close friends, their families lived together
for many years, and his children also became friends. Ralls told me that Fernando
He was a man with socialist ideas, he defended many people in his office without
resources who were at risk of deportation, was primarily a civil attorney.
“Fernando was an intelligent person, he spoke very clearly, he did not say a thing and then
he changed his mind. He was very direct in the way he spoke. I talked a lot, but
whenever he spoke he spoke the truth. Supported groups of Chicanos, for
vocation helped people most in need. Fernando liked to help people,
that was his character. Never, to my knowledge, has he been singled out for any wrongdoing, was it
a very upright person, he was never accused of malpractice. "
Ralls told me that the last time he saw him was in Superior Court. "I have had a
good life, i had no reason to think it wasnt a good life, but
I don't have much time left, there is no remedy for me ”, Gaxiola would have told him.
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“Fernando's work as a lawyer was key in the defense group [of

Vicentillo] and in the agreement they reached with the prosecution. Spent many hours working
if."
This is what Ralls told me. I do not know what others will say about Fernando Gaxiola,
I know that I met a man who took the risk of sharing this story with me
that in no other way could I have known. And that it was his wish that it be done
public because society has the right to know.
The story I present in the following pages is the story told by himself
Vicente Zambada Niebla through his writings. His voice is mostly literal,
I just made some corrections to its syntax and narrative order to adjust the
sequence on a timeline. As a parenthesis, I found it interesting twice
Vicentillo's speech regarding Joaquín Guzmán Loera. In his writings he always
He referred to him in a cold, distant and impersonal way: he only called him Chapo. Whereas in
his testimony given at the trial in the eyes of Guzmán Loera, always referred to him
as "my friend Chapo."
The story of the junior capo is enriched with the testimony that Gaxiola gave me in
our conversations. He spoke directly with Vicentillo and el Mayo for five
years. It is their voices that mainly drive the narration. In a third plane
there is my voice, with the purpose of giving context to what they indicated, and to add
the results of the research that I did in parallel during the last nine
years for the purpose of confirming or expanding the information.
The gaps that existed in the story narrated by Vicentillo in the writings that
delivered by the lawyer, I could fill them out with his own statement in the trial that took
against Joaquín Guzmán Loera in the Eastern District Court of New York since
November 2018. The testimonies in the same trial of
Jesús Zambada García, Alex Cifuentes, Tirso Martínez Sánchez, Dámaso López Núñez,
among others. I obtained the official stenographic version of the hearings. A good part of
the documentation I describe here can be found in the annex at the end of the book.
Through these voices the face and profile of the true drug boss in
Mexico in the last half century, the true king of drug trafficking that has never set foot
the jail. The 70-year-old man who from his throne has seen friends, enemies,
suppliers, partners, competitors, family members, government employees and even their
their own children, without this having made any dent in their power: Ismael Zambada García,
the May .
This book is the result of a nine-year journey into the labyrinths and secrets
del Mayo and the Sinaloa Cartel. The story that I narrate here is totally my responsibility.
mine.
It is up to the reader to discover who the traitor is.
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I am the son of Mayo Zambada *
My dad is Ismael Zambada García. El Mayo is his nickname more

common. But they also call him the Godfather , the Doctor , the Lady , and the
Closer people like my compadre Chapo call it the Kitchen. It was
1
a code used on the phone to refer to my father.
My father is the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The goal of the cartel as in any other business, in this case traffic
of drugs, is to make money. And with money one gains power and capacity to
corrupt. The drugs that the cartel sells to make money are
mainly cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana.
The Sinaloa Cartel has existed in one way or another since the 1970s. Me
father is one of the early leaders of the cartel. He was a compadre and partner of
Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Amado Carrillo Fuentes and the brothers
Arellano Felix. two
In the first decade of 2000, along with my father, the other leaders of the
cartel were Chapo, Juan José Esparragoza Moreno, whom I know as
el Azul , Arturo Beltrán Leyva and Ignacio Coronel, whom I knew as Nacho .
The cartel functions as an affiliation of these individuals and their
organizations.
For power, for money, for corruption, unfortunately there are
the jealousy of other people, people who are envious of you and start to
3
There will be problems and this is how wars start.
***
Vicente Zambada Niebla is known to the United States government as
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Vicentillo , although according to himself they also call him El Niño , El Diez , El Diego or La
Waitress , because of her father being the Kitchen. Some kind of black humor from
narcos.
He is the first male child of the Mayo. Born March 23, 1975, according to credential
of elector issued in Culiacán, Sinaloa, when he turned 18, of which I have
copy as part of the documents that lawyer Fernando Gaxiola gave me. Is he
only male of the children procreated in the marriage of Mayo and Rosario Niebla
4
Cardoza. Her sisters are María Teresa (1969), Midiam (1971) and Mónica (1980).
Chayito, as El Mayo affectionately calls Rosario, is an original woman
of El Dorado, a receivership from Culiacán, Sinaloa. The boss fell in love with her at first
seen when he was 13 years old, and although they are no longer formally married, Chayito continues
being the queen of his heart. Although she is queen among many other women, her society
it is indissoluble like the affection that Mayo feels for Vicente.
As Mayo himself told Gaxiola, he has more than 10 children, but of all,
Vicentillo is the most loved, the favorite. The story that links them goes much further
of the filial relationship between son and father. It is a story of tragedy, pain, crime, death,
revenge and betrayal. Meetings and farewells. The phrase "blood calls" is between the two
much more than just words.
If you compare the photograph taken in May for the processing of your passport, when
He was about 50 years old, with a recent photograph of Vicentillo, you can see that they are
really alike. Tall, erect. The same light brown skin tone, hair
abundant and very black. The same straight and slightly turned nose, the jaw
square, strong, like a Rottweiler.
The most similar physically between father and son are the downward slanting eyes,
dark, fierce, intelligent, like two drops that fall under the eyebrows.
When Vicentillo was born, his father was already the king of a criminal empire until now
very little explored. But like every prince, he was born a slave. His social circle was
national and international drug traffickers, hitmen, money launderers, politicians
and corrupt officials. Before all, his father always had the last word. No one
it was above him. He never had another type of reference, that is the world he saw and in
the one who lived from his first blink.
Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (1946) called himself the Chief of Chiefs , but he never did.
It was from May. Originally from Sinaloa, like El Mayo, he was a member of the Judicial Police
Federal and escort of Leopoldo Sánchez Celis during the time he was
Governor of Sinaloa (1963-1968). At the end of the seventies he was already the leader of the so-called
Guadalajara Cartel. Together with Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo ( Don Neto ) and Rafael Caro
Quintero ( the Prince ), established business with Pablo's powerful organization
Escobar Gaviria. The criminal emporium went bankrupt when the police agent was assassinated.
16
Page 17
DEA Enrique Camarena in 1985, in complicity with the CIA . They were all arrested
giving room to other visible empires, while there was one that pulled all the strings
5
from behind. El Mayo and Félix Gallardo did business together, but the
first he already had his own independent empire.
Amado Carrillo Fuentes (1956) was from Navolato, Sinaloa, Fonseca's nephew
Cheek. He worked for another policeman, Rafael Aguilar Guajardo, in Ojinaga, Chihuahua.
Aguilar Guajardo had control of Ciudad Juárez and Nuevo Laredo. After the death of
Aguilar Guajardo, who was murdered in 1993 on a Cancun dock, Amado se
appropriated his territory and earned the nickname of the Lord of the Skies for the air fleet that
used to traffic cocaine from Colombia to the United States. The Juarez Cartel
It was a business that he managed with his brothers Vicente, better known as
6
Viceroy , and Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes, called El Niño de Oro . Nobody knows until now
but Mayo was godfather to Amado and his brother Vicente. Hence they gave him the nickname
of the Godfather. And the Lord of the Skies, who was thought to be the almighty, but in
actually, he was his subordinate.
Joaquín Guzmán Loera (1954), el Chapo , is originally from La Tuna, in Badiraguato,
Sinaloa. When Mayo was already a boss, he was a minor employee of Félix Gallardo and
after Amado Carrillo. In 1993 his name rose to world fame because the government
Carlos Salinas de Gortari falsely held him responsible for having been involved in
the crossfire where Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo was assassinated in the
Guadalajara International Airport, together with the Arellano Félix brothers.
Amado, for whom El Chapo had become a problem because he was violent and
liked to attract attention, betrayed him and gave the government his whereabouts to continue with
your criminal business smoothly. The downside is that he enjoyed it little. In 1997
died on the plate of a hospital in Mexico City, when he tried to undergo
7
liposuction and facial surgery to transform her obese figure.
The Beltrán Leyva brothers, originally from the community of La Palma, also in
Badiraguato, are cousins of Chapo. There are nine in total, five men and three women.
They worked a long time for Mayo. The three best known men, Arturo
(1961), Alfredo (1971) and Héctor (1965), were inseparable, and the loyalty between them
unwavering. To death. They were called the Three Knights. Arturo was the one
helped El Chapo to become independent from his cruel father, who beat him and exploited
taking him to the sowing and harvesting of drugs and then squandering the money on alcohol
and prostitutes. It was the Beltrán Leyva who helped El Chapo in his first
planting marijuana when he was just 13 or 14 years old. It was Arturo who, thanks to
work that El Mayo gave him, provided Chapo with the resources to bribe the
officials and guards of the maximum security prison of Puente Grande, Jalisco, where
was imprisoned in 1993 and from where he escaped with the help of Mayo himself and Arturo in
17
Page 18
2001. 8
For their part, the Arellano Félix brothers were part of another criminal clan made up of
initially by at least eight siblings: Enedina, Eduardo, Benjamín, Ramón,
Francisco Rafel, Francisco Javier, Carlos Alberto and Norma Isabel. Most have
faced formal charges for drug trafficking. They were important partners of the
May when he controlled drug trafficking to the United States at the border of
Tijuana, and their families lived together as one.
Juan José Esparragoza Moreno ( ca. 1949), el Azul , was from Huxiopa, Badiraguato. On
In the 1970s he was also an agent of the Judicial Police and became friends with Felix
Gallardo, Caro Quintero and Fonseca Carrillo, with whom he began a discreet career
criminal who after all of them ended up in prison, continued with Amado
Carrillo, as a negotiator for drug transactions in Mexico and Colombia. Was the
Blue the connection between Félix Gallardo and El Mayo. Whenever there was a conflict between
criminal groups, he was summoned to act as a mediator before someone
9
pull the trigger first. In addition, he trusted millions of dollars for the purchase of drugs to
people you trust who require it.
Ignacio Coronel (1954) is originally from Canelas, Durango. Some claim that it is
Uncle of Emma Coronel, wife of El Chapo, but she categorically denied it in an interview
that I did to him in February 2016. Nacho, as his friends called him, fully entered the
drug trafficking in the shadow of Amado Carrillo in the late eighties, when he worked at the
side of Héctor el Güero Palma and el Chapo. In June 1993, a few days after the
assassination of Cardinal Posadas Ocampo, his older brother, Raymundo Coronel
Villarreal, also a drug trafficker, was killed by intelligence elements of the V
Military Region. 10 Ignacio Coronel became important because he was one of the visionaries
who discovered that methamphetamines were the drugs of the future and established laboratories
clandestine in Jalisco.
All of these leaders, their families, and employees lived together daily in meetings.
work and parties. Clans made endogamous relationships to create alliances. The
The most common way was to baptize or confirm a child or marry children of different
families, thereby trying to guarantee peaceful working relationships.
Since he was a child, Vicentillo knew that his father was the boss not only in his family. I saw it
dictate orders to his partners, reward or punish those who worked for him, but he was slow to
knowing what his father's business was that made him so powerful. Attorney Gaxiola
confided how he discovered that his father's job was different from that of other people's parents
school children: “One day when I was on the cattle ranch I saw that my father was
and a friend of his counting wads of money. There was the desk full of money with a
machine to count it. It was when I opened my eyes and thought ... what business is my
father?"
18
Page 19
In the late 1980s, El Mayo, his wife Chayito, and their four children
established in Tijuana.
***
The Arellano Félix are originally from Cancun. But when they were very young
they moved to Tijuana, Baja California, and are known as the Arellano
eleven
Felix of the Tijuana Cartel.
At that time most of them were partners and compadres of my
dad. I saw them very often when I lived there in the eighties. Javier
Arellano Felix; Francisco Arellano Felix; Ramón Arellano Félix; Edward
Arellano Félix, was with whom he had the most contact.
I met my compadre Chapo in the late eighties, early
ninety, in one of my father's houses. He went to visit my dad there. Me
he was between 15 and 16 years old. Other security people were present
who worked for them.
My dad introduced me to Chapo. He just said: "My compa Chapo." Is he
diminutive of compadre, and it is very common in Sinaloa to say compadre to your
friends.
El Chapo is the baptism godfather of my youngest son.
In 1988 Ramón Arellano Félix killed a compadre of my compadre
Chapo at my dad's birthday party. His name was Armando López,
aka Rayo López .
After the murder there were several meetings in Mexico City.
I was not present, but my father and Amado Carrillo Fuentes were there. They
they went to Mexico City to have a meeting. My dad, Amado Carrillo
Fuentes, my compadre Chapo, Héctor Salazar Palma, alias Güero Palma ,
and the Arellanos, to see what had happened.
At that time they had been seeking to make amends ... everything
had been fine between the Arellanos and my compadre Chapo, who in that
time was living in Guadalajara a few times a year. They said
that everything had been fine with Ramón Arellano.
In 1991 I was studying in the city of Tijuana, I was in the first grade of
high school, he was 15 years old. When one day leaving my house I was going to
pick up my girlfriend [Zynthia Borboa Zazueta], who is now my wife.
12
She lived in Los Angeles.
When I left my house, about six blocks away, a van closed for me, a
closed truck, a person gets out who wants to open the door for me and
19
Page 20
he yelled for me to get off. I locked the door and sped up the
car and when I started I heard a bullet and the glass of my car I saw that
it broke, or splintered, because the car I was riding in was armored.
Fifteen days ago my dad sent me the car and told me to say no
go out on the street if he wasn't in that car. He was a Shadow boy of two
doors. That was my first attack. I don't know if it was kidnapping or actually
they wanted to kill me.
***
At 16, Vicentillo, the eldest son of Mayo, was going to be assassinated by the Arellanos
Felix. Gaxiola points out that the clan had killed two Mayo associates days before, one in
Culiacán and another in Tijuana. They blamed him for the murders to create problems with his
allies.
This situation put Mayo on alert. I had already bought him a brand new Mustang
convertible to his son to walk through California and Tijuana, but at the last minute he
He sent the armored vehicle a spare and ordered him not to go anywhere without it.
Vicentillo blindly obeyed his father, and on that occasion that saved his life.
Gaxiola claims that he was shot directly at the head and was saved thanks to the
armor.
As soon as El Mayo learned of the attack on his son, he instinctively called
Ramón Arellano to ask for an explanation. Ramón, of course, denied any
interference in the facts, said that he did not know about the attack and that he had nothing to do with it.
While they were shooting at him, Vicentillo heard that one of the hitmen received a
radio communication in which they informed him that the first
target in Culiacán.
"Dad, they are lying to you, I heard Ramón's voice," Vicentillo said.
El Mayo decided to move Chayito and his children to Culiacán, where he felt more
insurance. While he withdrew, the Arellano Félix took control of Tijuana, which
Until that moment he was divided with Zambada García.
***
Then, a few months later, I, my mother, and my sisters

we returned to live in Culiacán, Sinaloa. In Culiacán I got to continue the
high school and I lived in the house of my older sister [María Teresa
13
Zambada Niebla] with my brother-in-law Javier Díaz, my sister's husband.
One night, while I was at my sister's house, someone knocked on the door
twenty
Page 21
and I was already prepared with the gun, I had it wrapped around my waist because in
that time my dad and the Arellano Félix went wrong, they were enemies and
a very ugly war started.
So when I open the door I feel like they hit me in the face, a
punch, and that two people want to get into the house, I fell towards
behind.
***
The teenager reacted quickly and managed to close the door, but the hand of one of his
aggressors remained with the weapon drawn between the door. They shot him. They were people from the
Arellano Felix.
N OTES
1
Testimony of Vicente Zambada Niebla in the Eastern District Court of New York,
01/3/2019. The author has the official stenographic version of the Court.
two
Text written by Vicente Zambada Niebla, delivered by Fernando Gaxiola to the
author.
3
Testimony of Vicente Zambada Niebla, 01/03/2019, loc cit .
4
From now on, in this chapter the number in parentheses next to the characters
represents your year of birth, unless otherwise noted.
5
Information obtained by the author through direct witnesses and documents
judicial. Previously published in Los señorres del narco (Grijalbo, 2010).
6
Idem .
7
Idem .
8
Idem .
9
Idem .
10
Idem .
eleven
12
author.
13
Idem .
twenty-one
Page 22
*
Editor's Note: Throughout the book two fundamental texts are interspersed, for a
On the other hand, the journalistic investigation as such, and on the other, the written testimonies of
Vicente Zambada Niebla. To distinguish them, they have been used most of the time
asterisks and two different typefaces.
22
Page 23
two
Once upon a Time in America…
At the lavish Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, the most dazzling and eye-catching on the Strip,
Where the nights were endless and the champagne gushed just as easily
than thousands of dollars at the gaming tables, the diligent cashier Donald
Klinker was aware of one of his VIP clients : the prominent Cuban Antonio Cruz
Vazquez.
It was December 1977 and Cruz Vázquez was one of the very few
Caesars customers who had a million dollar credit line. Niko, how do you
they called, he was the perfect customer. Attractive in his fifties, elegant,
wasteful, gambler and good loser. In two and a half years he had lost 2.9 million
1
dollars with the same grace as his smile.
Like all Caesars gamblers at that level, Cruz Vázquez was offered
two
food, drinks, jewelry, luxury vehicles and even female company. Plus,
As he was building a mansion in Las Vegas for his family, the hotel-casino
gave away more than $ 25,000 worth of furniture.
After working at a Las Vegas bank, at the Fremont Hotel, the Horseshoe, and the
Desert Inn, where he had seen almost everything, Klinker did not see Niko with particular eyes,
who always conducted himself in an elegant and polite manner, like any other man
of business. Also, at Caesars, as in the rest of the casinos in Nevada, it was
bad taste inquire about the origin of your customers' money.
Niko was no ordinary VIP . He was the head of an important group of traffickers of
heroin from Mexico that annually sold about 300 kilos of heroin, the
called chiva , in New York and New Jersey. With an annual profit of 18 million
dollars, losing so much money at the Caesars casino wasn't something that took away
dream.
Due to his criminal activities, Niko had little mobility. A large part of their
business managed by phone, so he was content to go from his mansion to the
2. 3
Page 24
Caesars to splurge the money, and from the casino to his mansion. He was so fond of the place that
during investigations carried out by the United States government into their
illicit activities discovered that the money the clan used to pay for shipments of
drugs was wrapped in Caesars Palace bank paper. And that Andrés Rappard,
one of his main accomplices was a dealer at the blackjack table in the same casino.
On January 28, 1978, Niko's good fortune ended. It was none of his
men who betrayed him, but his flashy way of life and the damn phone. It
arrested at his Las Vegas residence in an operation that was simultaneously
3
performed in New York and New Jersey. They arrested him and 10 other accomplices.
For a year the gang accused of distributing Mexican dark heroin had been
investigated and was under surveillance and telephone interception. The inquest began
in New Jersey by the Narcotics Strike Force, and continued by the DEA in
Las Vegas.
While Niko came and went every day from Caesars displaying his charm and his
luxuries, it was guarded 24 hours. In the trial carried out in a Federal Court of the East
In Brooklyn, New York, authorities released 200 reels of recordings of
4
wiretapping of your criminal businesses.
"I can only make a mistake in my part of the business," Niko said bitterly to the
officers at the time he was arrested. “You can make a mistake every
week." 5
A year later, Cruz Vázquez was sentenced to 15 years in prison, after which
would be on probation for life, paying fines of $ 125,000 along with
some of his henchmen: Antonio González, José de la Fe Quintas and Rappard.
“In my entire career of almost 18 years I have never seen so much money in one place
as I have seen in this trial, ”said Judge Jack Mishler after sentencing.
“Cruz was a big and sophisticated operator. I would have achieved a lot of fame if I had
been Anglo or Italian, ”said a senior official in Las Vegas after his capture,
6
letting out a racist stink against the Latino.
Antonio Cruz Vázquez was the teacher of Ismael el Mayo Zambada. It was him and nobody
more who introduced him to the world of drug trafficking when he was not yet 20
years. Niko was his brother-in-law, he was married to his sister Modesta.
This was revealed in May to the lawyer Fernando Gaxiola in one of his many
conversations It will have been for the hours that they lived together for more than four years in
those that Gaxiola served as a messenger between Vicentillo and his father, that the latter
ended up feeling confident. He spoke of what never before was anyone, outside of his family,
had known about him. Thanks to this, today the antecedents of the
Mayo's criminal history.
Some of these conversations were written by Gaxiola, who sent me a copy
24
Page 25
via email.
***
“Cruz was a good man. He helped me a lot and I will always be grateful to him ”, said the
May to Gaxiola.
Ismael Zambada García was born and raised in El Álamo, a tiny ranchería
located 17 kilometers from the center of Culiacán, the capital of the state of Sinaloa. The
community has no more than 200 inhabitants, there are only about 50 homes.
According to his younger brother, Jesús Reynaldo, alias Rey , his father was a merchant and
his mother an elementary school teacher. El Mayo said his father was a peasant.
However, in Cruz Vázquez's file, the authorities affirm that he was a
emigrated from Cuba. The truth is that her parents had at least six children: Modesta,
Ana María, Águeda, Vicente, Ismael and Jesús Reynaldo. All surnamed Zambada
Garcia.
Nobody knows exactly the date of birth of May. According to the file of the most
wanted, published by the DEA , was born in 1948, but does not even risk suggesting
aprobable
month or day.ofWhile
dates birth:inJuly
the 27,
Mexican
1927, intelligence areasMay
January 1, 1948, they 23,
consider as their
1949, January 30, 1950, July 21, 1951, March 21, 1952 and July 27,
1956. This is due to the various aliases that the Mayo has been created through various
birth certificates: Gerónimo López Landeros, Javier Hernández García, Jesús Loaiza
7
Avendaño, Javier García Hernández, Ismael Higuera Renteria, among others.
Rey said his brother is 12 years older than him. If Rey was born in August 1961,
that means that the capo would have been born in 1949. Gaxiola confirmed to me that he was born in
January 1949. So in 2019, May turned 70.
The confusion created around your date of birth is a direct reflection of the
complexity of your personality and the way you conduct your personal life and
business. The way in which the criminal career of Niko, his mentor, ended, gave him a
lifelong lesson. So far, the Mayo has not made the fatal mistake that leads to the
death, or worse, to jail.
Those who know him affirm that he lives with a low profile, without ostentation, in the
anonymity. Gaxiola said that he prefers to dress as a pawn than in an elegant or military suit.
Confusion is your best ally. That has allowed him to spend half a century in the
drug trafficking without ever being arrested and with an intact wealth. A record
worked and cared with eagerness. If there's one thing the Mayo hates to death,
literally, it is to the ostentatious and indiscreet, especially if they do business with him or to
he. Many understood it too late, including Joaquín Guzmán Loera, who
25
Page 26
he is now recast in a maximum security jail in the United States after being
sentenced to life imprisonment by the same court that buried the criminal career of
Niko. An irony of fate.
***
El Mayo told Gaxiola about his childhood days at the Alamo. He remembered his childhood
with the nostalgia of someone who had a good life in their family environment.
He studied at the Eustaquio Buelna public primary school, known as "La 8", located in
the center of Culiacán. His parents sent him to the state capital with relatives who
They lived in the Rafael Buelna neighborhood, hoping it would have a future.
At age 13 he met Rosario Niebla Cardoza, three years older than him. The flame
affectionately Chayito and assures that it was his first love and his first wife, the mother
of Vicentillo.
Chayito is originally from El Dorado, another receivership in Culiacán, neighboring El Álamo.
Brunette, pretty. At that time an uncle from Mayo had a butcher shop in that town
where Chayito's family sent her to buy meat. The first meeting happened
when Father del Mayo was returning by railroad from Mexico City, where
he had gone for medical treatment. And there, while May was waiting for him in the
his uncle's carnage, he saw the young woman. For May it was love at first sight.
"I didn't see her again for three years," the capo told Gaxiola. And he did not see her again
because soon after his father died. On August 26, 1962. El Mayo was 12 years old.
He had barely finished primary school and could no longer study secondary school because
he had to help with the support of his brothers. Rey was barely a year old when
He was orphaned of a father.
El Mayo's father had legal activities, but an uncle of his was already dedicated to the
planting marijuana and poppies. Ismael Zambada dropped out of school and returned to El
Poplar. He worked from sunrise to sunset on his uncle's land, cutting firewood and making fences; Y
when not, he was engaged in any other work as a peasant. In times of drought I would
near Mazatlán to look for more work. The important thing was to help his mother with
home load and he worked all the honest chores he could find.
Finally he went to El Dorado where there was more work and better pay. The
The town's economy, larger than El Álamo, was based on the El Álamo sugar mill.
Dorado, one of the most important sugar production centers in Mexico and
certainly the largest in Sinaloa at that time. It extended over a territory of
3 thousand 700 hectares.
El Mayo cleaned the mud from the tires of the carts that transported the sugarcane. To the
just like when he worked in the fields, he accepted all kinds of work to earn money
26
Page 27
extra and help with the support of his siblings. There he worked until the
union and lost his job.
At 17, consumed by his love for Chayito, he stole her. "I took it for Him
Alamo and we got married ”, he told the lawyer himself. "We got married around three
Laws: the law of the mountain, the law of God and the law of man ”, Rosario Niebla used to say
Cardoza when she talks about her marriage to El Mayo, as Gaxiola heard her say.
He took her to the Alamo. They had their religious marriage in a church in the
community of Costa Rica, another receivership from Culiacán, and later by the civil
town of Chayito.
When El Mayo lost his job at the sugar mill, he got a job as a
driver, driving a truck that moved agricultural products in the El Dorado area.
The fate of the young couple Zambada Niebla changed when at the end of the
sixties, a Cuban named Antonio Cruz Vázquez, who already
he had a long criminal record behind him.
***
Niko was originally from Havana, Cuba. When at the age of 32 the revolution triumphed and
Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista in 1959, became a police captain
8
national of your country, according to the records of the American government.
Some time later it appeared in Nicaragua. Some claim that he worked for the CIA there
when the dictator Anastasio Somoza was in power, who had the sympathy
from the United States. It is alleged that after his arrest in Las Vegas, a police officer
he questioned about this, but Niko refused to speak.
In the 1960s Cruz Vázquez obtained a false birth certificate that
He said he was born in Puerto Rico. Later he traveled to the United States, where he was
arrested at least three times before becoming the lord of heroin in New
York and New Jersey.
The reconstruction made by the American authorities during their judicial process
in United States Court for the Eastern District of Brooklyn on the date the connection was born
of Niko with the Mayo family is not clear and does not coincide with other events and dates. It
It is true that after his penultimate imprisonment in the United States, he traveled to Sinaloa,
where he met Modesta Zambada García, Mayo's sister. He married her and
acquired Mexican nationality.
The name of Modesta and the surname Zambada appeared in the investigations of
the American authorities against Niko since 1977, as well as in the news published
about the powerful Cuban drug lord.
“The drug smuggling operations led by Cruz Vázquez were
27
Page 28
well organized and well oiled. They originated in the Vázquez family farm-
Zambada, near Culiacán, in the Mexican state of Sinaloa ”, said publicly a
from the authorities when he explained the drug trafficking scheme.
The Zambada family guaranteed the production of heroin to Niko. Sinaloa was famous
due to the extensive production of poppies from which the opium gum is extracted, with which
once the so-called dark heroine is produced. The merchandise was packed and shipped in
suitcases by air from Sinaloa to another destination in Mexico and from there, in complicity
with Aeroméxico employees, responsible for the luggage, they changed the labels of the
suitcases and these were traveling to Tucson, where other bribed airline employees
9
they were crossing the suitcases through customs, as it was learned through the criminal record.
Thus, at age 19, El Mayo became a drug trafficker, thanks to his brother-in-law.
Cuban. And as a family man at 20, thanks to Chayito. His first-born Maria Teresa,
Maytecita, as he affectionately calls her, was born on June 17, 1969. It was when
Chayito was pregnant that Mayo made his first drug planting, he told her
same to the lawyer Gaxiola.
After Midiam Patricia was born, on March 4, 1971; Vicente, on March 24
from 1975; Mónica del Rosario, on March 2, 1980, and Modesta, on November 22,
1982.
The heart of El Mayo is still linked to the history of El Álamo, there it has a house of
Campo, which is actually his main home, Gaxiola revealed.
Today it is still a small community, but clean and organized. The
streets are cobbled, the houses simple of brick and cement. It is striking that
all the fences are identical, red lattice and log. There is a very white church
surrounded by gardens and a colonial-style ironwork fence. The tower of the
bell tower and a fountain of ornament in the atrium. It is not by chance.
“The main church of El Alamo collapsed in a storm, the houses were left
destroyed and the May rebuilt the houses and ordered the town to be paved. Came a
moment when the community received so many benefits from the Mayo that they became loyal,
there is an obligation to be loyal, it is a form of corruption ”, said Gaxiola.
"I still live there," Mayo confided to the lawyer during their meetings. "Just
get from there ”,“ I was there for a few days ”were recurring phrases.
“Although the truth is that he lives in many places,” Gaxiola told me, “he cannot
sleep in one place more than one night. Security reasons and harassment from your enemies
they require you to be in a constant state of alert. "
***
Niko changed the life of Mayo and his family forever. After the misery described
28
Page 29
because of the boss, his family went quickly to bonanza.

In 1975, the little King had already turned 14 when he went to live in Las
Vegas with his brother-in-law and his sister. There he studied high school for six months. Who
had been orphaned a year after he was born and whose mother had worked tirelessly
to feed his children, he was surely the only boy in the class who drove
10
a brand new Porsche. Niko gave it to him perhaps to make up for the gap in his
orphanhood.
"El Mayo was a peasant, what life options are there in the Golden Triangle?"
Gaxiola told me one day. Before my answer, he replied: “Are you an architect of your own
destination? Yes of course! Tell the people of the Sierra de Oaxaca that ”.
“El Mayo has told his family that he did it to get out of poverty. He does not live in
palaces, does not wear jewelry, is not ostentatious. No one who knows him will be able to say something like that about him ”,
added.
***
In a long interview that I did with a former official of the Federal Directorate of
Security, whom I called "the informant" in my book Los Señor del Narco
(Grijalbo, 2010), explained to me that in 1970 there were no drug cartels, but that
They were bands known as "clicas" that were dedicated to planting marijuana and poppies,
and then they smuggled it to the United States. Everything was done with permission from the government that
then presided over Luis Echeverría Álvarez. To traffic, the sowers had to pay
a kind of tax so that a part of their earnings would reach the pockets of the
government. "They were bundles and bundles of green bills, dollars," said the former official. That
drug money helped create fortunes overnight from authorities and
businessmen.
The Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General of the
Republic and even the president were aware of these agreements and the payments
corresponding.
“There was almost no shipment that did not pass through the permit or surveillance of the
army, the DFS and the Judicial Police, drug trafficking was a State matter. " Own
The government had the crops under its control.
“In 1975 the so-called Operation Condor began in Mexico, sponsored by the United States
United, supposedly to combat the planting of marijuana and poppies. Government
American provided aerial equipment, radars, and training to government officials
Mexican, but in reality everything was fixed, "said the former official.
El Mayo began to build his empire right on par with Operation Condor. For
Vicentillo's story and what Mayo himself said to Gaxiola, it is confirmed that this
29
Page 30
he never arrested him or other drug traffickers. Indeed, everything was arranged .
“On many occasions I was one of the men who received the
drug traffickers to receive payment of their taxes. " That was how the representative of
the DFS met Mayo personally. “In 1978, in Culiacán, Sinaloa, the Mayo
he presented with his tax payment at the office ”, he assured.
For him, who knew Mayo directly, there was no doubt:
The real boss of El Chapo is Ismael Zambada. The true instrumenter of

everything is May. He and El Chapo knew each other, they had mutual friends, but at
Initially they did not work together. El Mayo has always been independent, they are people of
fear, people of great respect. The May when he kills, he kills, but then the
The rules of the drug traffickers were different. They were incapable of attacking the population
civil.
***
The beginning of the May criminal career on a large scale, contrary to what has been said
Until now, it was in the United States. Specifically in Los Angeles. That is where
The Sinaloa Cartel was really born and where it has settled many of its interests
operational and economic.
El Mayo came to live with his family in the so-called "city of vice" since 1977.
Although in 1978 Niko was arrested and a part of his heroin trafficking ring remained
dismantled, cold-blooded the Mayo remained in Los Angeles for five years.
“From 1977 to 1982 I lived in Los Angeles, California. There I was working well. Everything
I brought the money I made to El Álamo and invested it in land and crops. Gave work to
people. All well done ”, Mayo confided to Gaxiola with pride.
“In those days I sold marijuana and some goat . But all good, without violence or
Nothing of that. The bad thing is that today people get into kidnapping, to collect a floor and the right to
step, steal and kill. I did not do that, nor did anyone else, "said the boss.
Los Angeles is as important to the Sinaloa Cartel as Culiacán is. For him
May the two cities and their surroundings have been warehouses where the drug is concentrated
that is distributed in various parts of the United States, and where the
Profits.
Over 50 years, the Mayo has built a complex network of
warehouses, employees, safe houses, companies, methods of transportation and change of
foreign exchange. The same ones who distributed the drugs were the same ones who later collected
the millionaire profits that returned to the hands of the Mayo and its suppliers
Colombians.
30
Page 31
While El Mayo lived in Los Angeles, he constantly traveled from one side of the city to the other.
the border without major problem. In 1982, when Vicentillo was 7 years old, he moved in with
Chayito and his children to Tijuana, although their daily life continued to take place in both
sides of the border.
***
In 1985 the world of narcos and not so narcos was shaken after the murder of the
agent DEA Enrique Camarena. American and Mexican authorities
They blamed several friends of the Mayo, such as Rafael Caro Quintero,
Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo and Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo. Actually, most likely
that the intellectual authors were CIA officials , since Camarena had
discovered the complicity between the powerful US agency, Pablo Escobar
eleven
Gaviria and the Mexican cartels. And today the version circulates that even one of the
then Camarena's bosses are being investigated for the fact.
Either way, the situation ended up benefiting Mayo. That same year, after
the arrests of Caro Quintero and Fonseca Carillo, Félix Gallardo allied with him
cocaine trafficking to the United States continued. According to Rey, this alliance allowed his
brother participate in the profitable business of the alkaloid with the Medellín Cartel.
Félix Gallardo was still free for some years, until in April 1989
They apprehended him in Guadalajara. Months later they arrested Amado Carrillo Fuentes,
his godson, in Sinaloa. Fortunately for him, he introduced himself under the name of Juan Carlos
Barrón and said that he was dedicated to livestock.
Despite being accused of crimes against health and arms trafficking,
Curiously, Amado was quickly released. And who was waiting for him in business with
the open arms was precisely the Mayo, his godfather.
As soon as Amado got his freedom, Joaquín Guzmán Loera began to work
for him. At that time, El Chapo was just an acquaintance of the Mayo.
***
The first thing El Mayo did with the profits it made from drug trafficking was
legally engage in agriculture and livestock. He was a man of vision, and actually
he liked to live the country, but not as a laborer. When you started a business, just like
that of drug trafficking had to be on a large scale.
He did not squander everything on women or luxuries, he planned everything in such a way that his dirty money
finance a legal business. This way he laundered the money and moved it more easily. With
Various false names, the Mayo always presented himself as a rancher. It was.
31
Page 32
Since 1984 it began to buy land in the syndicates of El Salado, El Dorado,

Quila and Puerto Rico.
On February 2, 1988 El Mayo created the first legal company of his empire: New
Industria de Ganaderos de Culiacán (Nueva Industria), with the help of the notary public
Matías Santiago Astengo Verdugo. The company had 100,000 shares worth 1,000
12
pesos of that time, and had seven associates or names listed: Jesus
García Mendoza (civil engineer), Fernando Iribe Picos, Valente Vega Mancillas, Jaime
Otáñez García (otolaryngologist surgeon), Ascención Urquidez Lara
(computer student), Arcadio Osorio Quintero and Ascención de Jesús Urquidez
Echeverría (lawyer), with 10,000 shares each. It is striking that you are
people who volunteered to participate in the Mayo operation had titles
university students, and almost all were neighbors of the residential neighborhood Las Quintas, in
Culiacan. 13
Although it was supposed to be a very discreet operation, Mayo sent Rosario
Niebla Cardoza as "commissioner" of the company with the notary to formalize the
act of the creation of the company.
Only 27 days after the creation of the company, its capital increased from 100
million to 1,200 million old pesos.
The commercial purpose of the company was to industrialize milk through processes
pasteurization, as well as its derivatives; industrialize fruits or fruit essences and their
derivatives; provide corral services; buy cattle, distribute it, fatten it and
sell it either live or on channel. Although the company's domicile was located at
Culiacán, they had the possibility of opening branches throughout the country.
Yes, everything was going very well.
“Things changed when the Arellanos got the idea of owning
Tijuana, ”Mayo told Gaxiola.
N OTES
1
Lou Cannon, "Drug Smuggling, Gambling and the Shadowland of Vegas," The
Washington Post , November 7, 1978.
two
Idem .
3
No Author, "3-State Drug Ring Broken, Police Say, With Arrest of 11", The New York
Times , January 29, 1978.
4
Information obtained from US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit-605 F2d. 1269.
2d. Cir. 1979.
32
Page 33
5
Lou Cannon, loc. cit.
6
Idem .
7
The author has a copy of the technical files prepared by the Cisen and the federal SSP in
2008, published for the first time in Los señorres del narco (Grijalbo, 2010).
8
Lou Cannon, loc. cit .
9
Idem .
10
Testimony of Jesús Zambada Garcia in the Eastern District Court of New York,
eleven
In Los Señor del Narco (Grijalbo, 2010) several evidence is presented of the possible
CIA involvement .
12
A thousand old pesos would be equivalent to a current peso.
13
Constitutive act of Nueva Industria de Ganaderos obtained by the author of the
Ministry of Economy.
33
Page 34
Tigers son…
After making amends and after some time, my dad and Beloved
Carrillo Fuentes, my compadre, learned that Ramón had wanted
1
kill my friend Chapo.
My father was really upset that he was in the middle
of everything.
Ramón and my compadre Chapo were in Guadalajara and Chapo
he found. He stopped his car to greet him, but Ramón started shooting at him.
Some time later I was with my father, when my compadre Amado
called on the phone. He told him that Benjamin had called and blamed
Chapo, even my dad, for having wanted to kill him in a nightclub in
Puerto Vallarta [1992].
Because Ramón had wanted to kill him, my compadre decided to kill the
Arellano Félix brothers. The information that my compadre Chapo and Güero
Palma had is that all the Arellano Félix brothers were going to be in a
disco in Puerto Vallarta and my compadre Chapo and Güero Palma had
sent his people to kill them.
The disco was called Christine. None of the Arellano brothers
Felix died in that confrontation.
***
The slaughter was with military precision. This is how the media described the events.
communication that reported the attack on the nightclub that was in the Krystal hotel,
occurred in the early morning of Sunday, November 8, 1992.
“It left an official balance of six dead and three wounded, it did not achieve its objective: to kill
3. 4
Page 35
the brothers Francisco Javier and Ramón Arellano Félix. The two were saved by
hiding in the bathroom ceiling to exit through the air conditioning duct when
two
the shots were over. "
It was two thirty in the morning when a white Dina truck pulled up in front of
to the local. From him descended 50 men dressed in dark with bulletproof vests, rifles
AK-47 and R-15. The truck was escorted by three vans. The squad formed three ranks:
two covered the flanks to prevent any escape, and another entered the place opening fire.
But neither Ramón nor Benjamin were stupid. They knew that El Chapo did not have
himself the power to make that decision. Although he and Güero Palma pulled the
reflectors of the Mexican and American authorities because of the violent attack in the
disco, who was behind it was the Mayo.
“He [Mayo] lamented the fact that Ramón was not assassinated because he was a
3
dangerous enemy ”, his brother Rey would have commented several years later.
More than dangerous, the Arellano Félix were preventing the Mayo from using the
Tijuana border for drug trafficking, despite the fact that he had invested during
years of capital and people to create in that city and in Los Angeles a structure for the
drug smuggling.
***
Two months after what happened in Christine I attended with my compadre

Amado Carrillo Fuentes at a party at a nightclub in Tijuana [January
1993]. And then there was a meeting with the Arellano Félix brothers and
my beloved compadre. I was there, I was with my friend Amado and he
He told me that we were going to see Benjamin because there was already a problem
between them and my dad. Amado told me that I should stick to him
4
and not worry.
That same night my compadre Amado and I went to the meeting with the
Arellano Felix. We saw them in one of their safe houses. When
We arrived there were many armed people and Benjamín Arellano was already
waiting for us.
When Benjamin greeted my compadre Amado, he realized that I
was next to him. He was surprised and asked me: "What are you doing
here?" My friend Amado said: “He is with me, he does nothing here, he
he is only with me ”.
We entered the house. They went to the living room and I stayed in the kitchen
of the house. Ramón was not there.
Benjamin and my compadre Amado called me to the room where they were.
35
Page 36
When I walked in, they were talking about a person named Rafael
Aguilar Guajardo and they said that Rafael Aguilar Guajardo wanted to kill me
dad. Benjamin asked my compadre to ally himself with them, with the Arellano
Felix, to kill my friend Chapo and my dad.
My friend Amado said: “I know they have a problem with Chapo, but
you asked for it ”, and that was one of the reasons why he was
there in Tijuana to speak on behalf of my father, that he did not want
no problem and if they wanted to kill my father they had to kill him
him first.
The moment came when the situation became tense. I was present
there and the point came when Benjamin started yelling in my face, he told me
that he was going to kill my father. He said, with many insults, that he was going to kill the
Chapo and Güero Palma too. "El Chapo and your father are going to regret it
of having wanted to murder us in the disco. " I just stayed
looking at it, I had nothing to do with it.
The meeting ended at about one or two in the morning. We left the
home and my compadre Amado said it was better to leave at once, we were not going
not even going to pick up our things at the hotel. We went to the airport.
My friend Amado had two planes waiting for us, Learjets. The
Same night we flew to the city of Hermosillo. The reason was that my
Compadre Amado told me that he did not trust Ramón. I was sure that he
he had been guarding the house and that he could do something against us.
I stayed a few hours at the house of my beloved compadre in
Hermosillo and then he sent me to Culiacán by private plane. My father sent
to a person named Gilberto Peraza to greet me and he took me with my
father.
My dad asked me what had happened in Tijuana, and I told him that
Benjamin had yelled in my face, he had cursed me and that he was going to
kill him and my friend Chapo. He told me that he had talked to me
Compadre Amado and that he told him not to worry, not to pay
pay attention to this.
But what my dad was really mad at was that he was supposed to
I had to go back to school the day before, because I was still going to
school, but I didn't go.
***
After facing death twice at the age of 17, Vicentillo wanted to show his
36
Page 37
father who was brave, a worthy son of him. But I couldn't understand that the Mayo had
many other things to think about: he was not the only male child in danger, nor was his mother and
her sisters were the only family to protect.
At the same time that Mayo lived with Chayito, in 1988 he began a relationship with the
psychologist Leticia Ortiz Hernández, 15 years younger than him. She was originally from El
Salado, a town very close to El Álamo. His father, Agustín Ortiz, was a distant nephew
of President Lázaro Cárdenas del Río. He worked for the federal government in the
protection of wild flora and avoiding the illegal felling of trees, later he was in the
Secretariat of Hydraulic Resources of Sinaloa for 30 years.
Lety, as El Mayo calls her, tells that she knew him all her life for being from
neighboring communities, but at the age of 24 she fell in love with him when she met him again in
Mexicali, Baja California, in 1988. Reason why his father stopped talking to him during
two years. 5
In 1990 Serafín Zambada Ortiz was born, and then Teresita. They both have nationality
American. El Mayo took Lety to live in Tijuana, perhaps to live together more
easily with his two families. She gave birth in California, as it was then customary.
“Living in Tijuana I met the whole Arellano Félix family and the father of my children
had a very close relationship with them, especially with Benjamin, and the
relationship that is the godfather of the baptism of my two children ”, explained Lety.
“In 1992, after the birth of my daughter and shortly after her baptism, the
things began to be very bad with the Arellano Félix. In March 1992 we had
to come from Tijuana to Culiacán because the violence started. It was many years of
6
pilgrimage and suffer fear. "
When Serafín turned two years old, a car bomb exploded outside his birthday party.
birthday. The war against the Mayo was on their land and on all sides.
In addition to Chayito and Lety, El Mayo had other women: Rosalinda Díaz García, Dora
Alicia Beltrán Corrales, María del Refugio Sicairos Aispuro, Alicia Lara Camberos and
Margarita Imperial López, according to intelligence information from the government of Mexico
to which I had access.
"My bad are women," Mayo confessed to Gaxiola.
“To date, Chayito is the first in his heart, but his weakness betrays him
for the women. He has told me that he has had more women and has loved or wants them
also, but clarifies that Chayito is the first, and the first in his heart, "said the
lawyer that the capo told him in one of their meetings.
In addition to the children sired with Chayito and Lety, according to government records
from Mexico, he is also the father of Ismael Zambada Sicairos, Ismael Zambada Imperial and
Ana María Zambada Lara. Gaxiola told me that he had more offspring, at least 10
children, the youngest is named Emiliano.
37
Page 38
***
In 1993 the Arellano Félix intensified the hunt against Vicentillo to give him a blow
deadly to May. They had understood that the boy was his weakest point.
“Vicente studied until high school, but he didn't finish, he had to drop out of school. The
Arellano killed his classmates. Almost all of his high school friends were
murdered, ”Gaxiola told me.
Lety, the other Mayo woman, confirmed the story that several teenagers were
murdered in Tijuana for the sole reason that they had played on the same team of
7
soccer than Vicentillo.
At the same time that the eldest son of Mayo tried to save his life, another was on the way.
On November 26, 1993, at the young age of 18, he became a father. Was born his
son Vicente Ismael Zambada Borboa. His father was the godfather of christening and Beloved
Carrillo Fuentes, the confirmation sponsor, is why he called him "compadre."
“Vicente married his first girlfriend, Zynthia Borboa Zazueta, he got her pregnant when
They were very young and since then they have been together ”, explained Gaxiola repeating what the
Vicentillo himself had told him.
Zynthia, born January 30, 1975, was the same age as her husband when
their first child was born. The first of three. All males. Gaxiola described her as a
typical Sinaloa. Pretty, white, with dark hair, of medium height and body
big, lush.
That same year, 1993, Ramón Arellano Félix put a price on the head of Mayo: 3
millions of dollars. His brother Benjamin backed him up. In the decision they included his
8
gunman David Corona Barrón and financial advisor Everardo Arturo Páez.
The one who volunteered to do the job was a murderer named Ramiro Ramírez.
He asked for half the advance, but was delayed with the order for more than a year. "It's not that easy
Ramírez complained, "Mayo is not easily seen and never stays in the
same place." And although they liquidated the 3 million dollars, Ramírez never achieved his
task. But the Arellano Félix did not give up.
***
Vicentillo knew Enrique Fernández Uriarte, alias Kiki or Dos-Tres , from all his life.
Kiki was a good friend of her father and over the years held various roles
in the drug trade. Kiki invested in drug shipments with the Mayo and also
9
he had contacts in Colombia that allowed him to bring cocaine to Mexico on his own account.
That friendship almost cost Mayo his life.
On June 10, 2014, Ismael Zambada was the guest of honor for 15 years of
38
Page 39
Karime Fernández, a daughter of Kiki. The party was held in style in a luxurious room
Camino Real hotel in Guadalajara. The musical bands Los Coyonquis and Los
North Hurricanes entertained the dance for the nearly 300 guests who came from
Chihuahua, Sinaloa and Mexico City.
Suddenly, at two thirty in the morning, an explosion shook the hotel.
Floor, walls and ceiling rumbled. The scene was grim: smoke, screams, broken glass,
blood. Several people jumped in the air. Five died instantly and 10 resulted
seriously injured. Pieces of human bodies flew in a radius of 60
square kilometers. The next day the forensics were still working with difficulty
10
to gather the pieces and make the identification of the victims.
A military report of the time indicated that several commanders of the Federal Police and
state were among the guests at Kiki's daughter's party.
Media reviews report that the explosion caused damage to
windshields of vehicles and windows of houses within a kilometer around, but the Mayo,
the target of the attack, he was unharmed. The Arellano Félix had the information that he
He would be there at the party and they sent his people to kill him. The Grand Marquis loaded with
C4 explosive would have met its objective if the phone of one of the managers
the attack would not have sounded in advance, activating the detonator and killing
the perpetrators.
Car bombs were not common then or now in Mexico. The authorities
from Jalisco came to think that the attack had been perpetrated by the Basque terrorist group
ETA , although Benjamin and Ramón also acted as terrorists.
In 1994 the Mayo decided to send Vicentillo further, who by then already had
19 years. He literally sent him to the opposite side of Tijuana: Quintana Roo.
Specifically with her older sister María Teresa and her husband Javier Díaz.
Javi, as they called him, was the son of drug trafficker Baltazar Díaz Vega, alias el
Balta , who is known for having been a patron of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo
when he joined the ranks of the international cocaine trade. It was calculated
a fortune of 500 million dollars. He was arrested in 1991, but was short-lived in
prison.
Balta was the compadre of Mayo and later became his father-in-law. It was about one
charity for both. They had a friend in common, a military man named Marcos
Enrique Torres Garcia. Strangely his name appeared in 1999 as an ex-military
that he had participated in the events in which Cardinal Posadas died. Torres Garcia
stated that this murder was the product of a plan orchestrated by politicians to
recover documents that the prelate had in his possession and that involved them with
eleven
drug trafficking groups.
39
Page 40
***
In 1994 he lived between Culiacán and the city of Cancun, in Quintana Roo. On
those two places. At that time I lived with my brother-in-law Javier Díaz. And the
I was in charge of my father's plaza in Cancun at that time.
He was receiving drug shipments for my father on the Atlantic coast.
12
Cocaine, which came directly from Colombia.
Javier reported directly to my father and my compadre Amado
Carrillo Fuentes because at that time they worked together.
Living with Javier, I was present in multiple meetings between the
cartel workers and their suppliers, and through all those
experiences I became familiar with the way the cartel operated in
Cancun.
I met Alfredo [Beltrán Leyva] in 1994, we were both in Cancun.
Arturo and Héctor [the two Beltrán Leyva] were friends of my father. We were not going
much to Culiacán for the war with the Arellano.
El Azulito , Juanito [Juan José Esparragoza Monzón], Azul's son, was a
Alfredo's employee. My uncle Rey [Jesús Reynaldo
Zambada García]. I saw it many times. He was also receiving
drug shipments, coca for the cartel, for my father.
***
At the beginning of January 1996, the Mayo sent for his son urgently to
go see him in Culiacán, Gaxiola told me. That same day his brother-in-law Javi was killed in
the parking lot of a Sanborns in Mexico City. A year before, same in the
In the month of January, Balta, Javi's father, had been shot in the luxurious neighborhood of San
Jerónimo, also in the capital of Mexico.
At that time, a large shipment of cocaine was about to arrive that was due
disembark in speedboats off the coast of Cancun. El Mayo asked his son to
take over.
Vicentillo did not know the details of the operation, the lawyer told me, but he knew
Javi's people who knew how to do it. Cold-bloodedly, the 20-year-old gave the
order to continue the operation while his brother-in-law's body was being
veiled.
***
40
Page 41
During all that time I was able to observe how [Javi] worked and how the
my father's people received the shipments. So I myself gave the order to
my brother-in-law's people and my father's people to receive the shipment, to
to continue doing the same thing they did with my brother-in-law Javier. That
it was my first intervention related to drug trafficking. About a thousand
13
600 kilos of cocaine.
After this cargo was successfully received in Cancun I was

I returned to Culiacán according to my father's instructions.
At that time the war with the Arellano Félix brothers continued.
They were killing many people, family members and workers of my
father in Culiacán, and he told me to go with him, to be very close to him,
because one of the objectives was to harm me, to assassinate me, so they could
hurt my father.
And since I was very close to my father at that time, I began to see
everything he did and talk to him about his job traffic
drugs
I was present in meetings with my compadre Amado, with
Colombians making drug deals. In addition, meetings with
cops talking about corruption. This is how I started with him. I started
to realize how everything was done, and little by little I began to
get involved in my father's business. And the reason why I was so
attached to him was because of the danger he was in, because I was his son. His
eldest son.
N OTES
1
two
Felipe Cobián, “The Vallarta Massacre with Military Precision; two nephews were saved
de Félix Gallardo ”, Proceso , November 14, 1992.
3
4
Idem .
5
Letter written by Leticia Ortiz to Judge Dana M. Sabraw, first published by
the journalist Miguel Ángel Vega from the weekly Riódoce .
6
Idem .
7
Los Angeles Times , March 24, 2018.
41
Page 42
8
J. Jesús Blancornelas, “Three million dollars”, La Crónica , January 17, 2006.
9
Confession signed on July 12, 2012, of which Gaxiola gave him an exclusive copy
to the author.
10
Fernando Orgambides, “The explosion of a car bomb causes five deaths and 10
wounded in Mexico ”, El País , June 12, 1994.
eleven
El Siglo de Torreón , May 24, 2013.
12
author.
13
Testimony of Vicente Zambada Niebla, 01/03/2019, loc cit.
42
Page 43
Counter
The Zambada felt and knew unpunished. It was not from the government that they should beware,
but the Arellano Félix, who hunted them relentlessly.
In 1994 Jesús Zambada García, alias Rey , lived in Mexico City. An afternoon
was quietly shopping in a luxury store when a group of hitmen
intercepted. There, in broad daylight, they started shooting at him from a distance and a bullet
hit the head. It was a rub, but he, over 1.80 meters tall, fell like
board to the ground. Fortunately, he was not unconscious, so he immediately stepped back,
He drew his pistol and began to confront his attackers, who were already
dead. Surprised, they saw that Rey was bleeding profusely from her head and still
he kept shooting. 1
Exchanging shots, Rey managed to wound one who, terrified, screamed at his
companions: "Get me out of here, get me out because he's going to kill me!" The wretch no
He understood that one of Rey's characteristics was his cold blood and fierceness. A man
that he did not run away from anything and anyone, not even when the sensible thing to do was to do so. Finally
He made them flee and until then he realized that he had a ditch in his head.
That afternoon the Arellano Félix had not only tried to assassinate the younger brother of the
May, but to a valuable trader. Your accountant.
***
Like Vicentillo, Rey understood at an early age that his older brother was
drug dealer, and although money circulated in piles and the days of misery had
finished, everything had a cost.
After living in luxury for six months in Las Vegas with his brother-in-law Niko, whom
after they arrested, he returned to Culiacán to finish his studies. He wanted to be a
boy like the others, but his classmates saw him badly because in Culiacán he was already
43
Page 44
known that his brother was a drug dealer. Rey blamed the Mayo for preventing him from making a living
normal. two
He studied accounting for a degree. He tried to forge his own destiny. Started to
legitimately work in a legal business. As he was good with numbers, soon
time he earned the position of general manager in a company in Mexico City.
After the homicide of Enrique Camarena in 1985, the list of
Compadrazgo between Ismael Zambada García and Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo. When the
surname Zambada came out in the news, the owner and partners of the company where
Rey was working, they questioned him if there was any kinship relationship. "He's my brother",
answered. They fired him immediately because they stopped considering him trustworthy.
In 1987, at age 26 and unemployed, Rey began working for the Cartel de
Sinaloa. El Mayo had difficulties recording the payments of his many clients
in United States. It seemed that someone was stealing from him and he could only trust his
own blood to find out. So he asked his accountant brother for help. Even if
he was very powerful, Mayo had barely finished primary school.
Rey reviewed the numbers and created an accounting system to keep track of
customer payments. This system allowed Mayo to detect that Andrés Peraza,
his drug manager on the gringo side was stealing millions of dollars from him. Also
discovered that some clients were also robbing him: Macario Robles, Héctor Rodriguera,
Óscar Rodriguera, José Luis Barrago and Santiago Chaidez. Incredible as it may seem, the
Mayo did not murder them. He only fired Peraza and ordered the others to replace the money
missing.
3
"He was a special person," Rey said of her brother when narrating the episode.
Little by little the Mayo was expanding the functions of his brother. Commissioned him
intelligence services, security, and later began receiving shipments of
cocaine from Colombia by sky, sea and land.
According to Rey's version, when he started working for his brother, Joaquín
Guzmán Loera was just an acquaintance. It was Azul who in 1994 asked Rey to
trust the people close to Chapo, who was already in prison: “And he always asked me
tell my brother the same, that we should trust him, that we were the same
group."
During those first years of work, Rey did not cease to be surprised by the feats
of his older brother. He was the man who gave a solution to the impossible.
In 1993 Pablo Escobar was assassinated during a police operation in Medellín.
So in 1994 El Mayo changed suppliers and now bought cocaine from the Cartel
North of the Valley. I had long known a former operator, Jorge Cifuentes,
but he particularly made deals with Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía, Chupeta .
In 1994 Chupeta sent a shipment of 20 tons of cocaine on a ship
44
Page 45
fishing from Colombia to Mexico, its final destination was Sinaloa. As they toured the
Mexican Pacific, at the height of Puerto Vallarta, the crew members
they began to suspect that some authority might be behind them and were preyed upon
of the nerves. So without further ado they decided to sink the ship with the millions of
dollars worth of merchandise.
As soon as he heard the news, El Mayo personally moved to Puerto Vallarta,
hired a group of divers and in an extraordinary operation managed to recover the 20
tons.
***
After the attack in the Mexican capital, Rey moved to Cancun to help with the
cocaine arrival operation together with Javier Díaz and his nephew Vicentillo.
At that time the governor of Quintana Roo was Mario Villanueva Madrid
(1993-1999), who was nicknamed El Chueco . It had always been thought that the politician
Priista helped Amado in his drug operations in exchange for juicy bribes.
Now, thanks to Vicentillo and Rey, it is known that the true master of the place was Mayo,
in partnership with Amado. Fortunately, the Mayo had always had the ability to
that others attracted the attention of the authorities and the media,
while he remained invisibility.
Only in an entity under his absolute control would he have sent the Mayo to live his
dearest son.
***
Rey and Javi directed the operation of speedboats with 400 horsepower engines.
strength, outboard, super powerful, which gave them autonomy to do in about
24 hours the journey from Colombia to Quintana Roo.
Each vessel carried three tons. They arrived 50 meters before the beach and there
human chains were organized that were unloading the boats until they carried the
merchandise to the mainland.
The beaches of the Mexican Caribbean, white sand like talc, gave way to another
white powder that invaded them frantically: cocaine. Cancun, Cozumel, Chetumal,
Playa del Carmen became the territory of Mayo and Amado long before
another drug trafficker known as Alcides Ramón Magaña became famous.
The drugs were taken to safe houses in vans or vehicles that
protected PGR officials assigned to Cancun, who guaranteed that
4
no authority will bother units loaded with drugs.
Four. Five
Page 46
Rey separated the drug by brands and kept a meticulous record of the 18 thousand kilos
that they received every three or four weeks. Thus, he knew exactly where to send each
package to the United States without making mistakes.
Cocaine was transported to the northern border in gas trucks, perfectly
legal, with documentation in order. In the vehicles a compartment was made
secret to loading the drug and then actually filling up with gas, which made the
operation will be safe. If for some strange reason some authority stopped them in
roads and performed an inspection, by opening the tank valve, effectively
gas was coming out. In this way the merchandise reached Chihuahua or Sonora.
An old friend of Mayo and Amado, Eduardo González Quirarte, alias El Flaco ,
he was in charge of the ingenious operation of the gas tanks. For Vicentillo there was no
confusion that did exist for others. For him, who treated Lalo for years, as
He called, he worked for his father and for Amado, for the Sinaloa Cartel.
***
While the criminal businesses of the Mayo flourished in Cancun, another member of his
family came to live in that resort. His brother Vicente Zambada García.
There he became the leader of the Cancun Cargo Transport Union, better known
5
as the Volketeers Union, occupation that was very convenient for the
drug transportation businesses of the Mayo.
Like his nephew Vicentillo and his brother Rey, he also suffered an attack,
only he didn't have good luck. On April 5, 1996, he was stitched with bullets by two
subjects at the door of his house located in the heart of Cancun. They emptied a
submachine gun in the body.
For a long time Vicentillo and Rey thought they had been the Arellano Félix,
but it is said that in reality one of the murderers was Luis Alberto Díaz García, one of the
many brothers-in-law that Mayo was collecting together with his wives.
As an alpha male, to make his mark on his southeastern territory, the Mayo established
a sentimental relationship with Rosalinda Díaz García, designated as the capo's wife in the
intelligence information the government has on him. She belonged to a good
6
family from Valladolid, a beautiful municipality in Yucatán. They had two children.
According to reports published by the media, Rosalinda's family had
good connections with the governor of Yucatán, Víctor Cervera Pacheco (1995-2001).
His brother, Luis Alberto Díaz García, would have followed in the footsteps of his brother-in-law in the
drug trafficking. A military report claims that he murdered Vicente Zambada García because
he owed him a lot of money, and after the murder he fled to the United States to
hiding for fear of retaliation from his brother-in-law.
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Vicente's murder occurred shortly after the murder of Javier Díaz. This year,
1996, Vicentillo left Cancun and his father commissioned others to continue with the
operations in the Caribbean.
***
The execution of the Mayo brother was sad for everyone, but that did not stop the business.
The tons of cocaine continued to arrive from Cancun to Ciudad Juárez and Sonora.
Eduardo González Quirarte was in charge of transporting them to the United States. For it
had the help of Tirso Martínez Sánchez, an intelligent and ambitious young man
originally from Guadalajara.
Tirso's story was similar to that of others. He studied until second year of high school and
Then he had to drop out of school to shine shoes, wash cars, and attend a
seafood street stall. On the street, he started using drugs from the age of 13
years. In 1986 he moved to Los Angeles, where he became a drug dealer and later
became a large-scale distributor serving the Mayo y Amado. Received
shipments of 1.2 to 1.7 tons. He accumulated so much money that Tirso ended up
buying different soccer teams in Querétaro, Guanajuato and Michoacán, that's why
then he earned the nickname of the Footballer .
At the Mexican border, gas pipes were carefully emptied. For
Of course, the gas was sold to make the front company credible. Later
They opened the secret compartment better known as "nail", from where they took the
drugs that were then put into legal and documented cargo trucks, which
They crossed from Ciudad Juárez to El Paso, and from there they traveled to Los Angeles, the great winery of
Sinaloa Cartel drugs.
Between 1996 and 1997 the route was extended to Chicago, where cocaine from Mayo had
even more value. With a team of five or six, Tirso mixed the packets of
drug between Styrofoam plates and plastic cutlery. He knew it well, the merchandise
belonged to Mayo, Amado and González Quirarte. In that order of importance.
***
Despite its enormous discretion, the name of the Mayo began to emerge in various
investigations that the United States government launched around the very
colorful Amado Carrillo Fuentes. The DEA followed in his footsteps.
In February 1997, the American government lobbied for the apprehension of the
General Jesús Gutiérrez Rebollo, head of the National Institute for the Combat of
Drugs from the administration of President Ernesto Zedillo. They accused him of receiving
47
Page 48
Bribes from Beloved in exchange for protection. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
It was striking that the general had seemed very effective in his fight against the
drug trafficking: in principle, he arrested Güero Palma, a friend of Chapo and an employee of
Amado, and also achieved the arrest of Lupercio Serratos, an important lieutenant of
the Arellano Félix. Later it was learned that his good luck was due to receiving
direct information from González Quirarte, whom Vicentillo would clearly identify
as an employee of the Sinaloa Cartel.
El Flaco and Gutiérrez Rebollo had known each other since the general was in charge of
the V Military Region in Jalisco, at whose base they came to meet. When they appointed tsar
anti-drug to the military, El Flaco provided an apartment for one of his partners
sentimental in Bosques de las Lomas, a luxurious neighborhood in Mexico City.
In his defense, Gutiérrez Rebollo stated during the trial that the secretary of the
Defense, Enrique Cervantes Aguirre, had full knowledge of his encounters with
González Quirarte and that the objective was to gather information to make arrests.
Meanwhile, the bad streak of scandals near the business continued that so much
they annoyed the Mayo. On April 18, 1997, the Mexican media
released a video and photographs in which Amado Carrillo Fuentes appeared at the wedding
of his sister Aurora on a family ranch in Navolato, Sinaloa.
The wedding took place a few months earlier, on January 5, when the army made a
7
operational at the site, but there were no arrests, apparently Amado was gone.
His mother was interviewed about the events. When asked what he thought of
that his son was the number one drug trafficker in Mexico, Mrs. Aurora Fuentes
He replied: “My son is not a drug dealer, I hear that on television, but who?
have you checked it out? Nothing they say about him is true, they have ill will.
I am very proud to be his mother ”.
On July 4, 1997, as has been told on different occasions, the faithful friend of the
Mayo, the Lord of the Skies, died while undergoing cosmetic surgery.
Vicentillo told Gaxiola that before going to the other world, Amado did one last
bold move. Living up to its nickname, before surgery,
prepared a four-engine DC-6 plane, had all the seats removed, and shipped
loaded with dollars to Chile, where he had lived for a few months before dying.
Later, through the news, it was learned that his son had accompanied him to Chile
Vicente Carrillo and the ingenious González Quirarte. And that through his friend and
namesake Manuel Bitar Tafich, the Lord of the Skies created a company
construction and real estate. Supposedly he intended to move to South America and had
8
returned to Mexico just to have plastic surgery.
After Amado's death, the United States government began a hunt against
his accomplices. In July 1997 Bitar Tafich was arrested in Mexico, while his
48
Page 49
wife and her driver arrested them in Chile. He took advantage of the protected witness program,
released in 2001 and became a prosperous rancher and franchisee of
Pemex gas stations in La Laguna, Durango.
Likewise, the American authorities carried out investigations for money laundering.
money that involved Governor Mario Villanueva Madrid and the Juárez Cartel in
the purchase of Grupo Financiero Anáhuac ( GFA ). All of this put enormous pressure
for the government of Mexico.
Little by little the name of the Mayo began to come out of the sewer. It was just
mentioned in the operations of the Juarez Cartel to buy 20% of the shares of
GFA , which included a bank, an exchange house and a lessor
financial Two senior officials of the financial group were Federico de la Madrid and
Jorge Hurtado Horcasitas, son and nephew of former President Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado.
The intermediaries in the maneuver were Jorge Fernando Bastida Gallardo, union leader
electrician, and businessman Juan Zepeda Méndez, who would have made transfers to
Bitar Tafich from Mexico through Banco Anáhuac. Also the brother of
President Ernesto Zedillo, Rodolfo, was indirectly implicated, since he had
associated with Bastida Gallardo for the construction of a hotel in the Zona Rosa of the
Mexico City.
According to the files of the Mexican government on the Mayo, an order of
apprehension in the GFA judicial file , filed in the eleventh court of
district in criminal matters. Fortunately for the Mayo, although the operation was highly
documented by the National Banking Commission, in 2001 a judge determined that there was no
had managed to precisely verify the illicit origin of the payment of 10 million
dollars to buy the shares.
Years later, Amado's own son, Vicente Carrillo Leyva, arrested in 2010,
would confirm that indeed his father gave the money to Zepeda Méndez to buy
a part of the financial group. He said that when he claimed to have it returned after the
death of his father, Zepeda Méndez and his uncle Vicente Carrillo Fuentes denied having
received some amount from Beloved.
The name of the Mayo also appeared in the files of the so-called Maxiprocess,
which began in March 1998 and in which a federal judge issued 60 arrest warrants
against members and collaborators of the Juarez Cartel, as well as in the investigation
123 / MPFEADS / 97, opened by the Public Ministry of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office
for the Attention of Crimes against Health.
After Amado's death, his brother Vicente Carrillo Fuentes took his place, but
always under the ancestry of Mayo, his godfather, whom he requested authorization to carry
carry out the most important drug movements.
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***
After all, none of these incidents significantly disrupted business.

del Mayo, meticulously designed in their production and distribution processes. The
Rey's accountant vision helped him get a clear idea of the “company” he ran
his brother and the need to have an efficient industrial operation.
For Rey, “the objective of the business is to control the market and the prices of the product
that the cartel handles and also the services, expenses of the services necessary to make
that our product reaches the consumer […] The main products that the cartel
9
handles are cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines ”.
Cocaine is imported primarily from Colombia, heroin is produced in
Mexico, like marijuana, while ephedrine to make the
Methamphetamine is mostly imported from Asian countries.
In addition to drugs, they offer their customers transportation services, for which they
require air, sea and land resources in order to transport the product
to the United States, the main consumer country.
The Sinaloa Cartel, like any other company, has material resources and
human Resources. And high-level corrupt public officials are indispensable
for the criminal organization, as well as the jet fuel for the planes to fly, or the
gasoline from the trailers where the drugs are transported.
If anyone knew very well that was the Mayo Zambada, who made corruption by
highest level his guarantee of impunity to be the only Mexican drug trafficker who
He has been active for 50 years without ever having been in jail.
It was not Amado Carrillo Fuentes who had the highest level connections with him.
Mexican Army. Absolutely.
N OTES
1
Testimony of Jesus Zambada García in the Eastern District Court of New York,
two
Idem .
3
Idem .
4
Idem .
5
"They discover their domains", El Norte , October 5, 2001.
6
Idem .
7
Alejandro Gutiérrez and Ignacio Ramírez, “Operation arrived, threatened, devastated and
fifty
Page 51
they took everything ... except the 'Lord of the Skies' ”, Proceso , January 11, 1997.
8
El Clarín , August 14, 1997.
9
Testimony of Jesus Zambada García, 11/14/2018, loc cit.
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Contact in Los Pinos
Between approximately 1996 and 2001 I lived mainly in Culiacán and in the
Mexico City. I came and went to protect myself from the organization of the
Arellano Félix, with whom the Sinaloa Cartel was at war. What's more
from Culiacán and Mexico City, I also spent long periods in the
United States, Canada, Spain and Brazil. 1
In 1998 I went to Mexico City and met with a general. Me

lawyer, or rather, my family's lawyer, accompanied me to the meeting.
The appointment took place in Los Pinos. This is the only time I've been there.
Los Pinos is the official residence where the President of Mexico lives. East
encounter was arranged by someone else, a lawyer my dad sent.
I don't know him or who he is.
My lawyer and I arrived in Mexico. My father gave me a number
telephone to be able to contact the lawyer and with whom the
appointment. The appointment was in Paseo de la Reforma, near the Ángel de la
Independence, I remember it well. We went with him in his car.
We arrived at Los Pinos. As soon as we arrive we walk in, as if already
they were waiting for us. The soldiers guarding the residence were
the ones who let us in.
The meeting was not about my father or his businesses, but he was the one who
arrangement. What happens is that during that time was when the
war with the Arellanos and it was when my family and I did not know what to do.
On the one hand, they were enemies who killed people almost daily, since
were relatives, workers of the company or the ranch, or our
workers. And I went to speak on my behalf and on behalf of my family. Me
I explained to the general that my father's enemies were harassing us.
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That, on the one hand, and on the other we were being harassed by the
government. Neither my family nor I had anything to do with it. One thing was
my father and another were my mother, my sisters and me.
I asked him what we could do to get them to let us work and
live in peace…
But I'm talking about the encounter. The army and the PGR were
harassing my family, me and my mother every fortnight. They were going to
search the house and treat it like a criminal, the same as my
sisters, all of them, because they have their own houses. They are
married. And every week or every month the army would visit them and they would shoot down
its doors supposedly looking for the Mayo. And they did the same in
my house and I wanted to know what we could do about it. That's what you
I explained to the general. That my mother had nothing to do with my father or his
business and that we wanted to know why we were being
harassed by the government.
The general told me that he understood the situation. That he had knowledge
of that and that all the pressure on my father was because of the government
American, and the government of Mexico did those things so that in the
television and newspapers showed that they were looking for the Mayo. So what
that was why they were searching our houses
and ranches, because it was logical that Mayo was at my mother's house. Y
that's more or less what the general said.
But I knew through my father that he sent money to the general,
although my father did not know him personally, but there was the connection to
through the lawyer who was his friend.
At that time my father wanted, and has always wanted, well-being
of the family. He had never wanted to involve us in his troubles, very much
less to my sisters and my mother.
We ate breakfast there, at the Los Pinos residence. Not
exactly inside the president's house [the Miguel Alemán residence],
but next door, in a house near the garden. That was the only time I saw the
two
general.
***
Los Pinos was the official residence where the president of Mexico dispatched in turn
from 1934 to 2018. Its first tenant was Lázaro Cárdenas, the historic president
that made the oil expropriation, facing the big oil transnationals
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from the United States and England. Who knows what he would have thought of
Vicentillo.
The residence is a set of white buildings that emerges from the green
deep in the majestic Bosque de Chapultepec, full of ancient ahuehuetes,
cedars, poplars and pines. The complex is presided over by the Miguel Alemán residence, a lavish
French-style mansion, with marble floors, fine woods, with paintings by painters
Mexicans of the stature of Rivera, Tamayo, Siqueiros or Dr. Atl. There the families lived
presidential, and they were held from the official gala dinners with leaders from all over the
world, even the bacchanalia of the juniors of the president.
Cobblestone and stone walkways surround the set of houses
through the gardens with meadows and mounds full of flowers. The most important is the
Causeway of the Presidents, where the bronze sculptures of all the
presidents.
The oldest building is the Lázaro Cárdenas house, where the general dispatched. And went
there where Vicentillo had breakfast with Major General Roberto Miranda Sánchez.
As other drug lords fled, Mayo sent his most beloved son to the
House of the President of the Republic.
At that time, during the Ernesto Zedillo administration, Miranda was the chief
of the Presidential General Staff ( EMP ). The nickname by which he was known in the
military ranks from the Military College was the Pirrín.
The EMP was the praetorian guard of the current president. A decentralized body
with about 8 thousand elements that depended directly on the presidency, made up of
members of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), the Navy and even some
civilians, especially in protocol areas. This body officially disappeared in
May 2019 at the request of President López Obrador.
According to several military personnel I spoke with, being the head of the EMP meant having the same
power that the Secretary of National Defense, many economic resources and absolute
discretion. Entering the dome of the EMP was the privilege of very few, and the records
Public reports about Miranda as part of that elite date at least since the six-year term of
Miguel de la Madrid (1982-1988).

Although the position of head of the EMP was under the direct orders of the president, the
who proposed Miranda to the post was General Arturo Cardona, head of Carlos's EMP
Salinas de Gortari. From 1989 to 1990, characters like Luis worked alongside Miranda
Rodríguez Bucio, appointed head of the National Guard at the beginning of the López government
Obrador. Miranda became deputy chief of the EMP from 1993 to 1994.
The Mayo's direct contact with Miranda was no small thing. At that time, the
of the PRI as the only party in presidential power, who had access to the head of the EMP ,
He had a magic key to open every other door in and out of Los Pinos.
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Technically the members of the EMP were responsible for day-to-day security
of the president and his family inside and outside of Mexico. They organized the events and
tours of the president. It was Miranda, like her predecessors and predecessors, who
decided to whom the door was opened to see the president, who sat next to him in
the tours and who doesn't. He knew the most intimate secrets of the president and had access
straight to your ear. There the military got promotions much more easily than
those who were assigned in the military zones and regions, by public relations, not
by meritocracy.
Like all EMP bosses , Miranda also had access to the office heads of
The pines. Of course, also to the secretaries of state, governors, senators,
deputies, heads of political parties, religious leaders, businessmen. Nobody in their sane
trial would deny an EMP chief a favor , at least no one who wanted to be in good
terms with the president.
The EMP had an intelligence area that collected sensitive information related to
with the president's security, including matters of national security. In short
He could also do intelligence work for a secretary of state or politician of the
PRI ,in exchange for favors. It was a blackmail and influence peddling machine.
Possibly never would have reached that privileged position had it not been for a twist
of destiny. The assassination of the PRI presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio. The
General Domiro García was deputy chief of the EMP when he was appointed chief of security for the
Colosio. As was done every six years, the Praetorian Guard protected the candidate from the
official match. On March 24, 1994 Colosio was assassinated in Tijuana. Ernesto
Zedillo became a successor to Colosio and Miranda de García, whose military careers
was buried along with the ill-fated candidate officially assumed command of the
EMP .
Although General Miranda was kind to Vicentillo, those who have known him since
decades ago he was described as arrogant, arrogant and arbitrary. Your ambitions don't
they knew limits. He aspired to be the head of the Sedena on at least two occasions: with him
first president to emerge from the National Action Party, Vicente Fox (2000-2006), and
then with Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018).
With Fox he did not achieve his aspirations, but the Secretary of Defense, Clemente Ricardo
Vega García, and his successor, Guillermo Galván Galván, granted him the position of
commander of the XI Military Region based in Coahuila (2002-2006), commander of
the XXVI Military Region, based in Veracruz (three months in 2006), commander of the
III Military Region based in Mazatlán (2006-2009), Comptroller General of the Sedena
(2009-2011) and senior officer of that secretariat (2011-2012).
Years after breakfast in Los Pinos, Vicentillo and his father would receive new
news of General Miranda. He would no longer be so kind and would become her enemy.
55
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***
In those troubled times, Vicentillo proved to be a worthy son of his father. Not only
He showed the mettle to sit down for breakfast in the president's house surrounded by the EMP .
In Sinaloa there was an important competitor of the Mayo named Humberto Ojeda,
alias Robachivas , who trafficked industrial quantities of cocaine to the United States.
In a month his group generated the not inconsiderable amount of 100 million dollars.
When Amado died and the American government had a magnifying glass on Chihuahua and
Sinaloa, Robachivas benefited in some way. Antagonic in style to Mayo,
Ojeda was ostentatious, he demolished churches to build new ones, he boasted luxurious cars,
helicopters and jewelry. And in those days the construction of a luxurious residence began
in Culiacán.
One day he went to the gas station accompanied by his young son Valentino.
After loading fuel, he was intercepted on the street by a hitman who ordered him to stop
and emptied the gun against the car.
Robachivas was carrying an armored vehicle and instead of fleeing he stopped in
challenging attitude, mocking. I did not count on the fact that after 40 shots, in an unusual way,
at a one-in-a-million chance, a bullet went through the lock and hit him right in the
the heart. After the injury, he still managed to drive his vehicle until he was 30 meters from his
house, located in the residential neighborhood of Las Quintas, died and the car crashed into a
tree.
He was so close to his house that his wife, hearing the noise, went out to see what
happened and rescued his little son who had been trapped in the car while his
father was dying bathed in blood.
It was Vicentillo who sent the hitman to kill Robachivas on the orders of the Mayo
and Vicente Carrillo Fuentes. The reason? Mayo found the house that was
was building. He did not care that he was a partner of the Colombian drug trafficker Jorge
Cifuentes, who had worked for him long before and had even been friends with
Vicentillo. The lesson learned from his mentor Niko had marked him for life.
Cifuentes fled Mexico in terror, with the firm suspicion that the Mayo had
been behind the murder.
When Vicentillo ordered his first murder, he was 22 years old, and his second son,
Jesús Miguel, was just a newborn. Came to the criminal world of the family
Zambada on December 10, 1997.
Years later, in 2003, Jorge Cifuentes returned to Mexico and met El Chapo. The
Ambition overcame his fear and he looked for a way to take advantage of the wave of growth
of the Sinaloa Cartel, but he also wanted guarantees, and asked El Chapo to fix
an appointment with the Mayo to find out if it was safe to continue in the drug business in
56
Page 57
Mexico. It was only Mayo, not El Chapo, who could give him that guarantee.
Cifuentes told Chapo that he also needed to know who had killed his
friend Humberto Ojeda. El Chapo got him an appointment with El Mayo in the City of
Mexico.
—My friend Chapo wants me to tell you the truth, I murdered Robachivas. What
you want to do? Said the Mayo in a challenging tone.
"He killed a good man," Cifuentes replied.
"Well, if he were born again, I would kill him again," said the capo, "but I don't have
no problem with you, you are part of us. You are part of the family. Tea
I've known since you were very young and you were close to my son [Vicente], you don't have to
worry. There is no problem with you.
El Mayo waited a prudent time for Cifuentes to lose his fear, until
Finally, the Colombian began working for the Sinaloa Cartel.
Years later, Vicentillo himself ended up ruining the life of the wife of
Robachivas and his children. He revealed to the United States government the name of the widow,
Aixa Moreno, and that her fortune was in the state of Missouri. The information was obtained
his father's.
“When the husband was murdered, the money and the business passed into the hands of Aixa and
she got involved in the business, spoke with El Chapo and el Mayo, and offered them the service
of ships with compartments to traffic drugs ”, Gaxiola revealed to me in 2013 in one of the
our meetings.
Gaxiola explained that in 1998 Vicentillo spent three or four months in the capital of
country. “It was in Mexico City the first time he was able to go out on the street, there his father
I gave him orders: 'pay this money to So and So and Mengano'. Vicente made me
carry out their father's orders. "
There was a pact with the military, the lawyer explained, so that they would not bother the
the Mayo family, children, wives and grandchildren who had nothing to do with it. "Vicente went to Los
Pinos to talk about how the soldiers were treating the family.
No one was supposed to bother Dona Rosario. "
Vicentillo went to live in Europe with his wife Zynthia and their children Vicente Ismael and
Jesús Miguel, trying to get away from his father.
“In 1999 he went to Barcelona, there he spent several months, his father did everything possible
to hide it, to protect it. And in the year 2000 he went to live in Canada, there he
hid with his wife, running away. It was fine living in Canada until the
Arellano Félix found him. "
Either way, Vicentillo was not going to be able to distance himself from the business for
long time. In an untimely manner, El Mayo lost a key figure in his
organization: El Flaco González Quirarte.
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El Flaco was drunk and drugged when a patrol began to chase him.
Nervous by the pressure that existed on him, instead of stopping the car he fled. "First
dead before they catch me, ”he had warned his friends. Inside the car
He drew his pistol and shot himself in the head. Miraculously survived the
shot, unfortunately for the Mayo he lost his memory and no longer devoted himself to
drug trafficking.
***
Around 1999 my involvement in trafficking activities

3
the cartel began to increase.
A confirmation sponsor of my oldest son [Vicente Ismael] was
brother of my compadre Chapo, his name was Arturo Guzmán Loera. It
We called it Pollo or Pollito , he had been dealing drugs since the nineties. After
that Chapo was arrested [1993], Arturo started working with his cousins,
the Beltrán Leyva brothers, and also with my father, he became very close to
my father.
Arturo Beltrán Leyva, Héctor Beltrán Leyva and Alfredo Beltrán Leyva, they
they were the ones I had the most interaction with. Chicken and his cousins lived in
Acapulco Guerrero. Arturo worked in partnership with my father, he
controlled that area.
Pollo and my father were also compadres, my compadre Pollo was godfather
XV years of one of my sisters. My dad would go two or three months a year to
Mexico City and Acapulco, and my friend Pollo always received it
there. They worked together in the drug trade.
Once I was in Acapulco with my friend Pollo and the family, and he
He told me that he was going to receive a call from his brother, my friend Chapo,
so we moved to an apartment where he had a special telephone
where I received calls from my friend Chapo. Was present when
received the call, he told me that he was talking to his brother and that
sent greetings. And although I didn't have much interaction then with my
compadre Chapo, and he referred to me as the son of the Bean, it was a code
referring to my father [referring to the bean variety known as
"may Flower"].
***
From the beginning, the year 2000 did not look easy for May. In March there was a new
58
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attack against his family, now on the side of Leticia Ortiz Hernández, the mother of his
children Serafín and Teresita, who were then 10 and 9 years old.
Lety went to the traditional Mazatlán carnival with her children, her brothers, her uncles and
his parents (Agustín Ortiz and Amalia Hernández). They were in a restaurant eating
when you found out that your child had a skin rash that looked like chickenpox, and
he was crying a lot. She and her brothers decided to return to Culiacán to take
Serafin to the doctor. He said goodbye to his parents and uncles.

It was not until the evening when Lety returned home in Culiacán, after visiting the
doctor. Then he received terrible news. They informed him that his parents had been
murdered in Mazatlán, and shortly after their uncles. They were killed for having a relationship with him
May.
Lety took a long time to get over it. He felt guilty for the death of his parents and
then he fell into a deep depression and began to suffer from delusions of persecution.
“I came to think that all the people wanted to kill us and I made the decision to go to
United States with my children so that they could study and have a better standard of living ”,
4
would explain years later.
For May all these deaths in his family were a minor thing, as long as
no one will bother his son Vicente, his alter ego, and business will go well. Nothing
stopped.
***
As the strength and power of the Mayo in drug trafficking increased, it increased its
presence in the business world. A bold move. As his emporium grew
criminal, their legal businesses grew.
To advance with its livestock projects, El Mayo bought large areas
of land, hundreds of hectares, in the best areas of the syndicates of El Dorado, El
Salado, Costa Rica, El Alhuate, Ejido Comanito, Bachigualatito and Quila: sites with
dams, rivers or water wells that would ensure irrigation, productivity and added value.
Also in the municipalities of Mazatlán and Elota.
Ironically, the Mayo told Gaxiola that it was a bank of the United States government.
United, without knowing it, the one who financed the installation of his pasteurized milk factory
Santa Mónica, which carries out its production through the company Nueva
Culiacán Livestock Industry (New Industry). It is evident that the capo does not
He needed money, but it helped him to legitimize the business and export his milk to the United States.
United.
The banking institution was Export-Import Bank of United States (Eximbank), which
It is a credit agency of the American government. Its objective is, among others, to finance
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the exchange of products between Mexico and the United States. So it follows that the
Santa Monica milk at some point would have been exported to the United States.
Since November 1993, El Mayo already had its own factory in operation
plastic containers and lids for bottling Santa Monica milk. The plant was at
outskirts of Culiacán, in the El Alto Bachigualato neighborhood, on the highway to Navolato, in the
kilometer 7.5, and worked with the authorizations of the local and federal government. I know
5
considered an industrial establishment under federal jurisdiction.
Of the old partners, Jaime Otáñez García, Fernando Iribe Picos and
Arcadio Osorio Quintero. The Mayo woman, in her character of "housewife", was 19
1,749 shares of the 20,000 that now make up the company, and it remained as
president of the board of directors.
Years later, in the six-year term of the PAN governor Mario López Valdez (2011-
2017), Dr. Otáñez García, a partner of the del Mayo family, received the appointment
Director of Medical Attention of the Secretary of Health of Sinaloa, under the orders of
Ernesto Echeverría Aispuro. At the end of that government, both were accused of deviations
millionaires of public resources. Although in 2017 an arrest warrant was issued against
Otáñez García, in 2018 the Sinaloan prosecutor's office asked the judge to withdraw the charges because
"strong evidence" was found against him.
The success of the Mayo in legal business was that it applied the same commitment
than in their criminal businesses, which had to operate with the precision of a clock
Swiss.
From 1995 to 1998, he managed to reduce the costs of the pasteurizing factory, with
the support of the young Jesús Urquidez Lara, who went from being a foreman to an employee. I know
formed work teams to increase productivity and controls in the
production, packaging and warehouse areas. And the vehicle fleet of trucks
Milk distributors multiplied from 50 to 250.
***
In 1996 Maytecita - as her father calls her - and her children Javier and Maité Díaz Zambada
created the company Autotransportes JYM in the border city of Piedras Negras,
Coahuila. The purpose of the company is the exploitation of the federal public service of
freight transportation, on federal or local jurisdiction routes authorized through
concessions from the Ministry of Communications and Transportation or the local government.
Omar Bátiz Mendoza was appointed commissioner of the business. This one was convenient
not only because of the business, but also because of the location, if you look at it from the perspective of the
6
Mayo and attention is paid to Vicentillo's story. Until today the company is still active.
In 2000 the Zambada continued to multiply their companies. In March they created
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Establo Puerto Rico before Notary Public number 81 of Culiacán, José Antonio
Núñez Bedoya. María Teresa, Midiam Patricia, Mónica appear as first members
del Rosario and Modesta Zambada Niebla. The corporate purpose of the new company was
7
agricultural and livestock breeding, fattening and milk production activity.
However, abundance also created problems. Overconfident
In January 2000, Maytecita tried to cross into Arizona with more than $ 10,000 in
cash. She did not declare them and they detained her. In the Arizona District Court he was initiated
a criminal case. It was the first time that Fernando Gaxiola acted as a lawyer for the
family. El Mayo's eldest daughter pleaded guilty, and miraculously the matter did not pass
8
older and released.
That same month, his sister Mónica del Rosario Zambada Niebla, had a problem
Similary. At the Nogales-Arizona crossing, he also carried excess money and tried
pass without notice, of course, because he had no way to justify it. The Immigration Service
from the United States withheld his passport and visa. Again, the Zambada family appealed
to Gaxiola, who once again managed to win the case and have his documents returned to
Mayo's daughter. Gaxiola thus earned the trust of the patriarch of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Undoubtedly, for Chayito and his family the days when their
husband had to clean the wheels of the wagons at the sugar mill. But as it says
the saying, "lucky at gambling, unlucky at love". Gaxiola told me that
Since Mayo was a womanizer, a jealous woman shot Chayito, who has been and
will be the queen. But Chayito was not only the target of attack by the other companions of the
capo, but also the American government.
***
It was the last year of Ernesto Zedillo's government. At that time the attorney
General was Jorge Madrazo. The Special Prosecutor for Health Crimes Attention
( FEADS ) was a character named Mariano Herrán Salvatti and the coordinator of
investigations José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, two very close friends.
Herrán Salvatti always boasted his good relationship with the State government
United and he loved the nickname the media had given him:
"Iron prosecutor". He posed as the fierce hunter of corrupt and drug traffickers. There was
issued the arrest warrant against Governor Villanueva, and was in charge of the
Maxiprocess, which later ended in nothingness, but in the meantime it gave a good image
public.
After the Gutiérrez Rebollo scandal, government pressure increased
American. Herrán Salvatti had to give results. And on his desk was the
preliminary inquiry 1144 / MPF EADS / 2000, where Ismael Zambada was mentioned
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Garcia.
On June 20, 2000, the public prosecutor of the FEADS Francisco Vargas Díaz
presented at the Establo Puerto Rico ranch, located at the El Salado receivership, in
Culiacán, to search the property and comply with the order to locate and
apprehension turned against the Mayo.
It was a ranch of more than 660 hectares, where there were several heads of
booby cattle, sheep, chicken farms, pickup trucks, a rest house with
furniture and typical implements of agricultural activities. In addition, it had
light planes and a landing strip. El Mayo was not arrested there, but on June 23
Vargas Díaz issued an order to seize the property. The first in the life of
hood.
In spite of everything, the scare did not pass to adults, not even the so-called "iron prosecutor"
he could against the Mayo. On June 24, contrary to all laws, the FEADS designated as
legal custodian of the property and all its assets to the accountant Jesús Alonso López
9
Díaz, the legal representative of the del Mayo family company.
On July 5, 2000, the property passed into the hands of the Administration Service of
Assets Insured ( SERA ), but it was only a formality, because SERA himself returned to
10
appoint López Díaz as depositary. Only the drug trafficker Ismael Zambada
Garcia could assure him a good to leave it later in his own hands. This
it happened with the complicity of the CEO of SERA , Santiago Sánchez Herrero.
Although in formality the SERA depended on the Ministry of Finance, in practice
he received orders from the PGR . Due to the importance of the case, it is not possible that Herrán
Salvatti
Evenand
so,Santiago Vasconcelos
Chayito and didinitiated
López Díaz not follow
an the case trial
amparo thoroughly.
(253 / 2000-3A) for
formally regain ownership, although informally they had never lost it. To the
In the end, the cumbersome judicial process that usually takes decades was not necessary.
On December 5, 2000, as Vicente Fox's six-year term had just begun, the first
president emanated from the PAN , miraculously the PGR ordered the lifting of the
property assurance of Establo Puerto Rico and real and personal property
that was inside.
The new head of the PGR was Rafael Macedo de la Concha, but the new "manager
office ”of FEADS was Santiago Vasconcelos, who should have authorized the return
from the ranch to the Mayo family to make it possible.
At five in the afternoon on December 19, 2000, he was officially and legally returned
the property to the Mayo Zambada family, in an official act carried out in El
eleven
Salado, where the "act of return of goods" was drawn up.
Gaxiola gave me a copy of a part of the file of that assurance, but
He never told me who the Mayo called to solve the problem, General Miranda? TO
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Whoever called, it had to be someone who could issue orders at the PGR .
I investigated the facts and discovered that the record of that historical
Assurance is a "state secret" to this day, in the Attorney General's Office that
Alejandro Gertz Manero presides. Through the Federal Transparency Law, they denied
the existence of the documents that were in his possession, and of which the Service of
Administration and Disposal of Assets gave me a copy to comply with the surrender of
accounts, although the FGR itself warned them not to do so.
Thus, thanks to the courtesy of the PGR , Mayo started his relationship with
the new federal administration.
Just one month later, on January 19, 2001, the Fox government allowed
Joaquín Guzmán Loera left the maximum security prison in Puente Grande,
Jalisco.
N OTES
1
author.
two
The author had the writing of this story in her possession since 2015. El hijo del Mayo
confirmed the episode on January 4, 2019, in the Federal Court of the Eastern District of
New York, during El Chapo's trial.
3
4
Letter written by Leticia Ortiz to Judge Dana M. Sabraw, first published by
the journalist Miguel Ángel Vega from the weekly Riódoce .
5
Through the Federal Transparency Law, the author had access to the permission of
operation of the plant granted by Semarnat in 2005, where the
background. However,
due to the Industrial the agency
Property Law.classified a lot of information as secret
6
The author has a copy of the public deed.
7
Idem .
8
Criminal record 4: 00cr00099.
9
File 253/2000 amparo trial presented by Rosario Niebla Cardoza before the
Seventh District Court in the State of Sinaloa, obtained from attorney Fernando
Gaxiola. E Information from the Administration and Disposal of Assets Service
the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit obtained by the author through the Law
Federal Transparency, 08/23/2019.
63
Page 64
10
Information from the Secretariat's Property Management and Disposal Service
of Finance and Public Credit obtained by the author through the Federal Law of
Transparency, 08/23/2019).
eleven
Idem .
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My friend Chapo
Around 2001 I started spending more and more time with my father.
As I spent more time with my father, I learned more about
cartel businesses and over time my involvement with the
1
cartel actions to send drugs to the United States.
By 2001, I was another boss, I was the leader's son and I coordinated shipments
from Central and South America. I managed corruption and managed people to
my father throughout the Republic.
Within my role I was also in charge of passing messages from me
dad. And with this, I would like to mention that my father has people around
the territory of Mexico, people in the south of the Republic, in the center and in the
borders, and all those people contacted me to
report to me what was happening in relation to the drug shipment.
I also coordinated to make the drugs reach the States
United to be sold and bring the money back to Mexico, and everything
this I reported to my dad.
Although there was some coordination with other members of the Cartel
from Sinaloa, there was much more coordination between my father and Chapo.
Essentially from the time Chapo escaped from prison in January
By 2001, he and my father were working together to run the organization as
two
equal.
I saw Chapo shortly after [the escape] in the State of Mexico,
on a ranch that belongs to a friend of mine named Barbarino. Me
I was with my dad and my friend Pollo and over there I was able to greet my
compadre Chapo.
My father and he had a conversation, I had little time that my
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compadre had escaped and was wanted throughout Mexico. Before everything,
It was a great pleasure to see each other again, to be able to hug each other, and to talk about
from them. My compadre Chapo said at the time I was present, because
I went in and out while they talked, he said he was very grateful
with my father for what he had done for my compadre Pollo and for his
cousins the Beltrán Leyva, referring to all the support that my father
had given. And my dad said no, there is nothing to be thankful for because they
they were friends, they were partners.
My friend Chapo said that at that time he was not well
financially and that he was going to start looking for his contacts and his
people, so I could start working again [in drug trafficking]. My father
told him that he shouldn't worry at that time. He should be on the lookout
because they were chasing him, that he was going to help him financially.
That he was working and that at that time he was associated with the
Beltrán Leyva and Vicente Carrillo Fuentes. My father told him: "I am with you
one hundred percent, I help you with whatever you need. And from every kilo of cocaine
that I receive from Colombia I am going to give you half ”. And he said, "So for now
you just have to take care of yourself and stay hidden ”. My compadre Chapo said
Thank you.
And my friend Chapo said at that moment that he had just left, but
he should also get in touch with his contacts and his people and that in the
future any kilo that came would be half for my dad. That is to say,
they became partners at that time.
***
“The Sinaloa Cartel contributed millions of dollars to the Fox and PRI campaign
[Francisco Labastida Ochoa], like this, whoever wins, we were fine, "Mayo told him.
to Gaxiola regarding the historic elections that took place in Mexico in July
of the year 2000, in which for the first time a candidate other than the official party achieved
win the presidency.
The popular satiety of the "perfect dictatorship" of the PRI opened the door to the rustic
Vicente Fox, whose personal finances were in shambles when he started his government in
December 2000. According to his own statement of assets, he only had 10 thousand pesos in
the bank, that was his entire estate. After the escape of Guzmán Loera de Puente
Large in January 2001, Fox's finances, those of his family businesses and his
brothers changed drastically. They went from bankruptcy to abundance.
I personally investigated its equity evolution, and, to say the least, it was
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inexplicable. The same miraculous changes occurred with her spokeswoman's finances,
Mrs. Marta Sahagún, with whom he was handcuffed in a second marriage initiated by the government,
3
and with those of two of his three children: Manuel and Jorge Alberto Bribiesca Sahagún.
Chapo's escape remains a legend even for some members of the
Sinaloa Cartel itself. According to Vicentillo, El Chapo told him that he had not escaped
from the prison with the help of President Fox or the prison director, Leonardo
Beltrán Santana, but with the support of two or three minor characters, and that
he had indeed done it in the laundry cart with the assistance of Francisco
Javier Camberos, the Chit o. As Chito had confessed, at that moment he was
happened to take the boss out of the maximum security prison, hid him in the aforementioned cart and
I take it out. It was not so.
Rey says the escape was planned, not spontaneous. At least two or three times
During the year 2000, El Mayo told him that El Chapo was going to get out of jail soon, that
they were already very close to making arrangements to get it out. At the end of that same year,
After Fox was elected, El Mayo sent for his younger brother urgently
4
and he said: “In a short time he is going to leave. Now they are going to take itItout.
was" not the voice of a
I guess, it was the voice of the one who had the certainty.
Thanks to the work that El Mayo gave to El Chapo's brother, El Pollo, and his cousins,
the Beltrán Leyvas, they were able to send him money to bribe the officials of the
criminal: from the director to the guards of the alleged maximum security prison
anti-leaks. Puente Grande had become Chapo's house, he did what he wanted.
There he met Dámaso López Núñez, the Lawyer , deputy director of security of the
prison, who after the escape would become its main operator.
At least since 1999, El Chapo assumed control of Puente Grande in complicity
with officials from the Ministry of the Interior of the Zedillo government, such as Jorge
Enrique Tello Peón, Undersecretary of Public Security; Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares,
Director of Prevention and Social Readaptation and years later Governor of Veracruz
by the PAN ; as well as Enrique Pérez, deputy director of Prevention and Social Readaptation
5
under the orders of Yunes.
After the 2000 presidential elections, El Chapo began to say goodbye to
the inmates of the prison. The rest was a matter of time. With the new government, Tello
Peón remained in the Undersecretariat of Public Security in charge of prisons
federal.
By mid-January 2001, everything was ready. El Mayo and Rey were in the
then a paradisiacal port of Acapulco, as they used to do frequently.
"We have to go, I want you to come with me," El Mayo told his brother.
less-. We have to go because now my compa Chapo is going to get out of jail.
-When does it come out? Rey asked almost innocently.
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"He's going to escape, and this place, Guerrero, is going to be the first place they come to
look for him because this is where Chapo was always, ”Mayo warned.
They immediately moved to Mexico City, which at that time
it represented a quiet place to live.
What was said by Rey coincides with the file of El Chapo's escape, of which I have
copy. The testimonies reveal that Guzmán Loera could not have fled with Chito,
as he left with a laundry cart from the building where the cells are located at
parking lot at 8:40 p.m., and he left the prison in his car between 8:40 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
hours. The laundry cart that Chito took out was left empty in the parking lot and
a guard was ordered to re-enter the prison. In fact, between 7:00 p.m. and 9:05 p.m.
it was the only time the external security cameras were turned off. So
6
it is recorded that Chito did not leave after that time.
However, at 9:30 p.m. the custodian Antonio Díaz Hernández saw Chapo still
inside the prison, entering the doctor's office. His account was comprehensive, detailed, and
consistent with other testimonies.
Later, at 9:30 p.m., finding myself in level A of module 3,

I observed that from the corridor of level 1B, Chapo Guzmán walked out, followed
by Jaime Valencia Fontes and Mario Vázquez Méndez. This fact called me a lot
attention because Mario Vázquez was carrying a mattress folded in half and a
white sheet, the kind used by inmates to sleep. Out of curiosity, I got off the
level A to follow them and when I finished going down the stairs and reached level C,
I looked down the hall and realized that El Chapo Guzmán, Valencia Fontes and
Mario Vázquez Méndez entered the cubicle of the medical area that is located
next to the clothes shop, past the window, but I don't remember if the cart is still
he was still in front of the wardrobe. Only a few seconds passed, and from the cubicle
Only Valencia Fontes and Vázquez Méndez left the doctor. El Chapo Guzmán
stayed inside the medical cubicle. I reached the door of the cubicle
security and I observed that Fontes and Vázquez Méndez stopped to talk in the
entrance to the medical area and set up a kind of surveillance so that no one would pass,
for this reason I did not go to the place to see what was happening. Right away
I sat in the desk chair in the security cubicle when
Suddenly Víctor Manuel Godoy Rodríguez entered in a great hurry, went to the
trash can and took out a box of medicines. Without saying anything to me he went down the hall
facing the "diamond" and headed inland. I don't know if I was going to the cubicle
doctor, the technical area or the classroom, and I also do not know why
I needed the medicine. I remember very well that I finished my shift and retired to
9:52 p.m., during this time, that is, since Godoy entered at
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medicines until I left the place, they must have passed

approximately 15 minutes, and Godoy did not return to the cubicle during this time
of vigilance. Neither did Mario Vázquez and Valencia Fontes stop monitoring the
entrance to the medical cubicle, I left and they stayed there.
Years later, Chapo himself would tell General Mario Arturo Acosta Chaparro that
he had paid a millionaire bribe to President Vicente Fox to let him out.
The same version that the DEA would give me in 2006.
"In the Sinaloa Cartel, nobody knows what they don't need to know, that's why the
cartel ”, Gaxiola told me clearly. That means that, although the narcos are
friends, partners, compadres and even family, they do not tell each other absolutely everything.
No federal government official was held responsible for the leak. Of the
accused prison officials, by 2019 practically none had received
judgment. Director Beltrán Santana obtained his early release. El Chito is the only one
who has spent 18 years in prison, ignored by El Chapo, who habitually
never forget a favor, if this had really happened like that. Chito was sentenced to
more than 20 years in prison, but in 2018 a judge ordered his trial to be re-conducted for
irregularities.
The meeting between El Mayo and El Chapo took place at a ranch located in
Villas del Carbón, State of Mexico, owned by Barbarino, a childhood friend of
Guzman Loera. There the alliance was sealed.
A short time later, the Mayo urgently called his brother Rey. I needed a
helicopter and the coordinates of a safe place to land, as they had
informed of an operation against his new partner. Rey found an ideal place in the
Querétaro state, neighboring Mexico City.
***
I learned through my father that his contacts in Mexico City

They asked if my compadre Chapo was in Tepic. My dad called me on
radio, and the contact that we had as the Student also
Contact. He told me he was calling the colonel's name, we
we called the Chicle ; that they knew there was going to be an operation of the
public force against my compadre Chapo in Tepic and please
7
Let's tell Chapo to get out of there.
Chapo flew to the city of Sinaloa in a helicopter of us that
it belonged to my father. The pilot's name was Patricio Estolano.
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***
The rescue was coordinated through the Chicken. After Estolano went to get Chapo out
from Nayarit, he did not immediately fly to Sinaloa, first he went to Querétaro.
It was five in the morning and it was still dark, when Rey and his inseparable wife
Paty went to pick up Mayo from one of his houses in Mexico City. I know
they transferred San Juan del Río to a clandestine track in a semi-desert area. At
At seven in the morning the arrival of the helicopter from which El Chapo descended was sighted.
8
embraced with the Mayo. There Rey met him personally.
In cold blood, Rey, Paty, and El Chapo rode in the back seat of a vehicle to
Mexico City. To avoid taking risks, the Mayo took another route towards it
destination. When they passed the toll booth on the Mexico-Querétaro highway, Rey
He told Chapo to cover his face with a newspaper. When they reached the capital, already
A motorcycle and a patrol of the then called Judicial Police were waiting for them
Federal ( PJF ). El Chapo worried, perhaps thinking it was his end.
"Don't worry," Rey told him, "these are our people, they are here to protect us,
no one is going to touch us from now on. "
At the head of the PJF was Genaro García Luna, an old cartridge from the system that
had started his career in the eighties at the Cisen, and that he had had the support
necessary to occupy that position in the new Fox government. The same chief
police officer whose boys were involved in the taking of the Puente prison
Great in the early morning of January 20 to get El Chapo out. In November 2001, the PJF
would change its name to AFI ( Federal Investigation Agency), but the practices
decades of corruption would remain and grow under the command of García Luna, whom
they nicknamed the Submachine Gun for stutterer.
Rey left Chapo in one of the residences that El Mayo had in Las Lomas de
Chapultepec, one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Mexico City where they usually
live businessmen, politicians, congressmen, people from high society and drug traffickers. There
there were Primo Toño and two sisters who helped run the house. And there it was
May waiting. They stayed talking. "We were all super happy," he recalled.
King.9
***
The person who gave the information to my father was Colonel Adams
[Marco Antonio de León Adams]. He is another connection that my dad has. It is
friend of my dad. In 2001 he was the colonel in charge of the
10
Escort of President Fox. He was in the presidential guard.
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My father told me that he had met him a few times in the City
from Mexico. My dad told me that at that time he gave him information
related to any public force operation that was to be carried out
against my dad. In fact, months after my compadre Chapo
escaped, he was the one who gave us information on whether [the government] located me
compadre Chapo.
In Mexico we have a brand of chewing gum called Adams, so
it was a code that we used to not say Adams on the phone.
I knew Colonel Adams once. I met him in the City of
Mexico. We went to dinner at El Lago restaurant in Chapultepec.
He received monthly payments, but the one who had direct contact with him was
my dad, and he didn't tell me how much money he gave him.
***
Since Vicente Fox won the presidential election, Cavalry Colonel Marco
Antonio de León Adams became his shadow. El Chicle , as Vicentillo used to say,
He was part of the EMP guards during the Ernesto Zedillo administration, and
He was later appointed chief of Fox bodyguards when the six-month term of
transition between outgoing and incoming administration.
The one who formally should have appointed Adams in this task was the still head of the EMP , the
General Roberto Miranda Sánchez, the old friend of the Mayo with whom Vicentillo
He had breakfast at Los Pinos in 1998.
Investigating the background of that decision, it was explained to me that a
person of the same stature as the president. One of the few in the EMP who
fulfilled that characteristic was Colonel Adams, who also had similarities
Physics with Fox: tall, white skinned, brown hair and long mustache.
On December 1, 2000, José Armando Tamayo relieved Roberto Miranda as
The head of the EMP and Colonel Adams was appointed chief of the president's bodyguards and his
family, was responsible for their physical safety. If someone knew well every step of
the Fox Sahagún, their secrets and their weaknesses, it was Adams, who gained the appreciation of
the whole family, particularly Manuel Bribiesca, the eldest son of the first lady.
For May this was very convenient. He had direct access to Los
Pinos with General Miranda, and now with his friend, Colonel Adams, he had access
straight to the president and his family. So much so that Tamayo felt threatened that
Adams will take the job away from him. It is said that Adams got drunk in restaurants of the
Mexico City with bottles of some expensive XO cognac and screaming that it would be the
eleven
next head of the EMP .
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That time in Tepic was not the only one in which Mayo saved Chapo's skin.
On some occasion, through another military friend of Rey's, they learned that a
The army command was half an hour away from Guzmán Loera and was followed by the
Steps. Rey immediately notified Mayo, who asked him to call him again at 10 or 15
minutes. He did so. It was true that El Chapo was in the place where supposedly
they had him surrounded. The military asked them $ 250,000 to abort the operation and the
12
Mayo ordered Rey to pay them.
"Sir, I'm going to send you the money right now, so don't worry about that -
King promised the military man.
"Don't worry, everything will be fine, nothing will happen," replied the captain.
corrupt.
While El Chapo pulled the entire brand of the government of Mexico, which made him seem
Public enemy number one, the Mayo took his precautions. Came in and out
constantly from Mexico. He divided his time between Coahuila and Durango, but also
He spent time in Quebec, the beautiful Canadian city located on the banks of the
Saint Lawrence River and home to the majestic Château Frontenac from the 19th century . While the
Chapo fled, El Mayo enjoyed quiet business and family meetings there.
***
Between 2001 or 2003, I don't remember well, General [Roberto] Miranda was
changed to Torreón, Coahuila. My father was at that time there in
Torreón and Gómez Palacios [Durango]. During that time he lived the greatest
13
part of the year there.
My father came and went from Quebec, where Vicente Carrillo also lived
Sources. At that time they were still friends. I was going to visit him every
month or every two and I stayed for three or four days. Sometimes they went
with me my brothers, the two oldest children, to greet him and to
for him to spend some time with them. I also saw my namesake Vicente there
[Carrillo Fuentes]. They were almost always together.
It was then that I heard from my father and my namesake talk about
how that general [Miranda], the one I had seen in Mexico, was
office of Torreón.
He was in charge of the region and […] my namesake Vicente Carrillo said
[that] he had sent her money and had everything arranged. That's what you
I had told my father and that's how I found out. That he [Miranda] was one
of my namesake's men and he would send him money.
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***
El Chapo was beginning to enjoy the fame he had acquired after the escape of
Big bridge. He had a very different character from the Mayo, he liked the reflectors
and he could be very reckless.
While he was supposed to be one of the most wanted fugitives, he was moving every time
More calmly. Without great worries, one day he attended a party at the
his friend Barbarino's ranch.
***
My compadre Chapo was the baptism godfather of my compadre Barbarino

[…] At the party, apart from my compadre Chapo, there was my dad, me, Pollo,
my uncle Rey and many other people. My uncle Rey was the one who brought the
14
priest.
My compadre Chapo introduced himself to the priest and told him his
name: “I am Joaquín Guzmán Loera”. We couldn't look around and
laugh at this, because at that time my friend Chapo was being
persecuted all over Mexico and it was all over the news.
The father made such a face [of indifference] and went on to do his job.
I stayed with them until dawn, until the early hours of the morning.
They were at the table together and they talked about business, the future,
of their society, of the things they had already talked about in other
encounters.
***
Poor Barbarino, years later, in 2015, the Mayo ordered his death. By then, the
Chapo had been arrested a second time and Barbarino was a gunman for the cartel.
El Mayo sent for Dámaso López Núñez, who was his messenger with him.
Chapo. She needed to tell him that Barbarino was being really bad, that he was
out there stealing and abusing people. That even to himself it was painful because
Barbarino was also his compadre, and Vicentillo's compadre, but he had to
put an end to their abuses. So I wanted to assassinate him, but I wanted to know if El Chapo was
agreement.
There is no record of an episode in which El Chapo has refused the will of the
May. His response was: "Whatever the Mayo does, that's fine." Damaso gave him in
person the message to May. Days later, Barbarino was found dead near the new
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Malecón of the city of Culiacán.
***
One day my father called me and asked me if it was possible to pick me up.
compadre Chapo via helicopter to the mountains and take him to a meeting in
Gómez Palacio, Durango. I picked up my friend by helicopter who
fifteen
It belonged to my dad and me, and we flew to the city of Gómez Palacio.
We arrived at Gómez Palacio, Durango, I mean my compadre Chapo and
I, and we went to my house, it was my property. My father came to my house. Me
father and my compadre Chapo greeted each other and […] they found out that Arturo
Beltrán Leyva was going to arrive at Gómez Palacio that night or the next day. Y
my father told my compadre Chapo that my namesake, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes,
I was already in Gómez Palacio.
My house was frequently used as a connection point, from
meeting. They talked about their business, about their partnership with my dad,
my compadre Chapo, Arturo and Vicente at that time. And from what I understood,
that was the first time my compadre Chapo greeted my namesake
Vicente since he had escaped from prison.
They went to meet my namesake Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, but
I was not present at that meeting, so it was my dad, my compadre
Chapo and Arturo Beltrán Leyva who met my namesake
Vicente. After the meeting they returned to my house.
They sat around the table to eat, they talked about how they had
I was in the meeting with Vicente Carrillo. My compadre Chapo was happy
having greeted him after so many years. And my dad, Arturo and Chapo
They talked about business, drug trafficking, and the future. And my compadre
Chapo mentioned that Vicente had also offered him help, any
thing you need.
When night came, my father went to a place that no one knew
where I was, and my dad got another place where Chapo could stay that
night and the only one who stayed at my house was Arturo, he said no
he needed another home and he would stay with me.
***
At that meeting in Gómez Palacio, the creation of the so-called

Federation. Later meetings were held in Mexico City and Cuernavaca
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to join individual efforts for the collection, transfer and trafficking of drugs.
Gaxiola affirmed that the distribution of territories occurred in Cuernavaca, that May was
In representation of Sinaloa, Héctor Beltrán Leyva, Vicente Carrillo
Fuentes, Juan José Esparragoza Moreno and Ignacio Coronel Villareal. The lawyer assured
that at all times the Mayo was the referee, which makes clear his ancestry in the
group.
For his part, El Chapo was useful, necessary for Mayo. So he let his
brother King:
Look, I need you to come with me to see my friend Chapo and he will feel that you
you are also his friend.
My compa Chapo is a very important person and is not the same as
we met a long time ago, I want him to become your friend. You have no idea of
tremendous power that he has, all the friendships and all the friends that he has.
I want you to become his friend, I know what I'm saying. He is a very
important that it has a lot of power. Someday, if something happens to me, you're going to need
16
good friends, and he is a good friend.
El Mayo never clarified why El Chapo had become this powerful. Who were
those friends? In time, Rey and Vicentillo would learn that these friends were agents of
the United States Government Anti-Drug Agency ( DEA), with which El Chapo
he had made contact since he was in prison.
Despite the agreements that the Mayo had and the protection it offered to Chapo, the
The Puente Grande leak was becoming too much of a burden for the Fox administration,
they were making a fool of themselves.
On September 8, 2001, the government announced that they had captured in the City
from Mexico to Arturo Guzmán Loera, the Chicken . It was an emotional blow for El Chapo,
but the business had to continue.
N OTES
1
two
author.
3
The inexplicable enrichment of Fox and his family in La
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presidential family (Grijalbo, 2005) and End of party in Los Pinos (Grijalbo, 2006).
4
Testimony of Jesús Zambada García in the Eastern District Court of New York,
5
The complicity of these officials with the corruption in Puente Grande is
documented in Los Señor del Narco (Grijalbo, 2010).
6
In Los Señor del Narco it was revealed that El Chapo did not escape in the laundry cart,
Instead, they took him out in the police operation on January 20, dressed as a policeman.
That version was the one that Netflix copied in its series.
7
8
Testimony of Jesús Zambada García, 11/15/2018, loc cit.
9
Ibid .
10
eleven
El Sol de México , Pastor Tapia column, January 30, 2004.
12
13
author. As already noted, he repeated a part of this story at the trial of the
Chapo. According to the Ministry of Public Function on March 1, 2002, General
Roberto Miranda Sánchez was appointed commander of the XI Military Region with
headquarters in Torreón, Coahuila, a city close to Gómez Palacio, Durango.
14
fifteen
Idem.
16
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Until death do us part
By 2002, the sum of the efforts of the group that led the Mayo and of which they formed
part El Chapo, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, better known as Viceroy , the brothers
Beltrán Leyva, Juan José Esparragoza, Ignacio Coronel and all their partners, employees and
affiliates, turned them into a gigantic drug trafficking emporium: the Federation.
But, as in Catholic marriages, the brotherhood of the Federation lasted
until death parted them.
***
In 2002 I went to visit my father in Gómez Palacio […] there was an office of
my father and my namesake Vicente [Carrillo Fuentes]. I went there to greet him and
to my dad. Sitting with them in the room, my namesake was saying
to my dad that there was another way to cross drugs into the United States, a
1
new way. And more specifically to take her to Chicago, Illinois.
My namesake Vicente said it was by train, and explained more to my dad about
that, and at the same time he was asking for his authorization, since he was the boss, and
my dad said it was fine.
My dad asked him about the details and I heard that my namesake Vicente
said that the cocaine was going to be delivered in Mexico City and that from there
it was to be sent by train to Chicago, Illinois. My namesake said the train already
it had been tested.
***
The ingenious person in charge of enabling the train plan was Tirso Martínez Sánchez, the
Footballer , who was not going to sit idly by just because El Flaco suffered from
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amnesia.
El Mayo ordered his brother to meet Tirso to organize the transport of the
two
commodity. Rey went to Mexico City to recognize the area where the trains were.
In a cargo area they showed him tank cars that were used to transport chemicals
To united states. There they explained that inside the wagons there were other containers
where the cocaine would be placed and that only he could open and close them. For the
Furthermore, the operation would be carried out in a very safe place, so the shipment would not
he was taking risks.
With this system Tirso had the capacity to move three to six tons of cocaine.
According to him, the train route had been used since 1997, under the supervision of Mayo himself.
At that time, the trains departed from Mexico City, arrived in Nuevo Laredo,
Tamaulipas, and from there they went to the state of Texas to go to Chicago, where
Tirso had people dedicated to getting the drugs out of the wagons. So they moved from eight to 10
wagons. In each shipment, 1.2 to 1.8 tons of cocaine from Mayo and from
Vicente Carrillo.
In 1999 they closed that route, but between 2001 and 2003 they reopened that route.
3
modality, which coincides with Vicentillo's testimony.
On the new route, the train went from Guadalajara to Mexicali, and from there to Los Angeles. Other
The route ran from Mexico City to Chicago and New Jersey. Tirso reported to Vicente
Carrillo and this one to Mayo, because he was his boss.
The drugs were transported from Cancun to Mexico City, sometimes on a train that
I was leaving from Mérida. In the warehouses of the capital, controlled by Rey, they came to
accumulate from two to 17 tons of cocaine. Tirso stated that they were not concerned with the
presence of an operation to confiscate the drug “because Mayo Zambada had
bought from the authorities ”.
A train company transported the tank cars to the door of the
cellar equipped with rails. There were people there who were in charge of filling with their
merchandise secret compartments. Then they called the same company so that
will take the wagons loaded with edible oil and drugs to the station yard
railway.
In Los Angeles, those in charge of the operation were Juan Gudiño and Juan Bugarín.
Gudiño prepared the warehouses with rails to receive the wagons and supervised the houses
security where the merchandise was transported; at the same time he dedicated himself to creating
companies with a legal business facade.
For its part, Bugarín created a legal company through which it bought
edible oil or shoes, which in turn were exported from the United States to
Mexico. In this way, in the same wagons where the cocaine traveled, the
million dollars of profit. The companies were called Cuatro Reinas and Azteca
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Leather.
When the drugs arrived in Los Angeles, once the car was delivered by the
train company in the hold indicated there, the compartment was carefully opened
secret to extract the drug and they cleaned the tank very well so that they did not
traces. Then the wagons were filled with other merchandise that traveled back to
Mexico. Vicente Carrillo gave Tirso the telephone numbers of the clients who
they would buy the drug and it was distributed at home, like pizza.
In New Jersey the arrival of the merchandise worked the same, but the distribution was
different. The drugs were transported to New York in a van and the orders were delivered to
your customers at restaurants like McDonald's and Burger King. In Chicago they used a
similar method.
Tirso came to control numerous tank cars: four arrived in Los Angeles; to
Chicago between nine and 10, and New Jersey between seven and eight. In every shipment
they were traveling between 1.4 and 1.7 tons of cocaine. With the train method, El Mayo and his
partners would have trafficked about 50 tons, for which they would have obtained between 500 and
800 million dollars.
Tirso was not properly a member of the Sinaloa Cartel. Like many others, it was
a provider, in this case the transportation service. The cartel did not pay him with money,
He paid him with 200 kilos of drugs that he sold on his own in Chicago.
In 1995 President Zedillo privatized Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México giving them
in concession to the private sector. In accordance with the routes indicated by Tirso and with the
public information of the companies that operate the railroad in Mexico, the company
that since 1997 manages the route to Nuevo Laredo is Kansas City Southern de México.
While the company that manages the railroad tracks that depart from the City
of Mexico is Ferrovalle, which in turn is co-owned by Kansas City Southern de
México, in partnership with Ferromex and Ferrosur. Since 1998, Ferromex operates the route that
leaves Mexico City and Guadalajara for Mexicali. Also according to
public information of the company, the majority shareholder of Ferromex and Ferrosur is
Mexico Group.
All the drugs that were trafficked on the train route were obtained by Mayo, Tirso said. It is
I mean, it was the great provider. I had the upper hand. And whenever I could, I did
feel your authority over others.
“Not everyone can go to Colombia, Peru or Bolivia to buy drugs, like who goes
to get a prescription filled at the pharmacy, ”Gaxiola told me. “In South America, the
the most reliable organization to whom to sell cocaine is the Sinaloa Cartel ”, since they are
good payers, they are formal in their dealings. "In the world of criminals it is required
formal people who fulfill the agreements of a business. "
That is why in Europe criminal organizations from Albania, Italy and others
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countries frequently use the Sinaloa Cartel as a bridge to buy cocaine in

South America.
***
Before Tirso had the New York route ready, Vicente Carrillo sent for him
to Torreón. When he showed up at the indicated site, he was taken to an office where the
May was sitting behind a desk as king on his throne. There he greeted Carrillo
4
Fuentes, who asked him when New York would be ready.
"I'm working on it," Tirso replied.
"What do you think, godfather?" Carrillo asked the Mayo, requesting his approval.
"Good," Mayo said, nodding. It's okay.
Four months later, when the route was finally ready, things didn't work out
as I wanted the Mayo. Someone traded in your merchandise for a lower quality one. And in his
business the excellence of its products was fundamental.
“Vicente Carrillo called me and told me that I had to meet with his godfather to
clarify something, ”said Tirso.
The meeting was in Mexico City. Rey and his wife Paty picked up Tirso and
They left him at the house where El Mayo was.
“El Mayo Zambada began to insult me immediately. I wonder why
I exchanged his merchandise for him. I told him I didn't know what he was talking about. "
"Don't act like you're a fucking asshole." You gave me 311 kilos that are not
good ones. What are we going to do? Said the capo.
—Give me the opportunity to change them the next trip, I'll give them to you of my own
cocaine.
El Mayo drew the pistol at his waist and pointed it at Tirso's face.
"I'm not going to kill you because my godson told me not to," he reproached.
“After that I left. Rey and Paty took me back to where they had me
collected. I called Vicente to let him know what had happened, and he thought this was
funny, ”Tirso recalled. "My godfather is an asshole," Carrillo said.
At the end of 2002 the train route was canceled after three seizures. One in
Queens, another in Brooklyn and one more in Chicago. Tirso left his society because the May
he wanted to kill him by holding him responsible for the loss of the drug.
In February 2014, Tirso was arrested in León, Guanajuato, and the government of
The United States requested his extradition. When he spoke to prosecutors, he explained that the
Mayo was primarily responsible for organizing drug routes. Del Chapo did not say
then any word.
Meanwhile, the relationship between El Mayo and his godson, Vicente Carrillo, began to
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cool down.
***
In 2002, while the train still ran from south to north and north to south, the Mayo took care of
wipe your staunch enemy off the map using El Chapo. Ramón Arellano Félix had
tried to kill Vicentillo several times, he had wiped out Lety's family and had
murdered his brother Vicente in Cancun. It was time to settle accounts.
“My brother told me that Chapo was going to help him, with his people, to kill him in Mazatlán.
Ramón Arellano Félix had killed Chapo's friends and our friends. There was
5
killed our brother [Vicente]. It was very dangerous, ”Rey said.
El Mayo told Rey how Ramón was murdered. It happened at the carnival of
Mazatlán, the same one where two years ago their partner's parents had been killed
sentimental Lety.
“He told me that they located him in Mazatlán and the police detained him. Ramón didn't stop.
He tried to escape until he was right in front of a hotel. They shot him. They put
a bullet to the neck and he fell dead. "
The policeman who stopped Ramón was from El Chapo. The Fox government did not
confirmed the death of the Arellano Felix clan chief until a month later, but the
Mayo knew right away.
At the same time, another war started.
Arturo Beltrán Leyva had as a partner a young man of American origin named
Édgar Valdez Villarreal, alias Barbie , then 29 years old. In 2002 Valdez Villarreal
murdered a brother of Miguel Ángel Treviño ( Z40 ), second aboard Heriberto
Lazcano ( Z1 ), leader of the Zetas, the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel.
Valdez Villarreal went to Mexico City to take refuge with Arturo Beltrán Leyva.
“The Zetas wanted Arturo to give them the Barbie, but Arturo said no, that the
Barbie was his friend and that he was going to give him protection, Rey would recall years later.
Then a war broke out between the Zetas and Arturo Beltrán. And as a consequence, of a
one way or another, they dragged the entire Sinaloa Cartel with them. "
Rodolfo, the youngest of the Carrillo Fuentes brothers, also known as El Niño
de Oro , he worked with the Gulf Cartel and with the Zetas. His brother Amado had
done in the past with the former head of the Gulf Cartel, Juan García Ábrego, and
Rodolfo continued the tradition. When the Federation war against the
Golfo and Los Zetas, Rodolfo did not stop doing business with them, which increased the
tension between Mayo and his godson Vicente.
***
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Although May was good for deciding when wars started, it was not the same
good for fighting on the battlefield.
He proved that at the end of 2003, when he paid Chapo a social visit accompanied
of his brother Rey and his wife Paty. They traveled in a small plane of their property
to Las Coloradas, a ranchería located in Tamazula, Durango and they landed on a
small line drawn in the wooded sierra.
When they got off the aircraft, El Chapo was already waiting for them with 30 men who
they guarded it. I was happy to have visitors. He greeted the Mayo and they stayed
chatting on the runway for a few minutes, when suddenly
6
they heard the murmur of a helicopter. They looked at each other in amazement.
“They all ran for cover and started shouting: the soldiers are coming -
Narrated Rey. I told my wife to go back to the plane and asked the pilot
that in case the helicopter came down, if he could take off, he said yes. My wife
He asked me to get on the plane and I said no: 'I'll stay here with him [El Chapo] and my
brother'."
The sound of the engine grew louder.
"My brother [el Mayo] ran to hide among the pines."
He had not been arrested in more than 30 years, it would not be his first time.
Instead, El Chapo stayed there, on the runway, defiantly. King asked him
to share a rifle with him. He gave him an AK-47.
“Go take shelter under a tree and I'm going to take shelter here. If they go down, we will
have to fight with them, we are going to have to kill them because they will want to fight with
us, ”El Chapo told him.
They were both ready to shoot when the helicopter began to move away.
Then the Mayo came out of hiding.
"Let's go," Rey told him.
"No, we have to wait," El Mayo replied.
"No, let's go, we have to move." What happens if they come back? Rey told him.
He knew that it would not be his older brother who would have the courage to face them, so
they left there.
***
The moment came when he made the decision to kill Rodolfo Carrillo
Fuentes, who was the brother of my compadre Amado Carrillo and Vicente
7
Carrillo Fuentes.
Rodolfo began to have problems with the people of my compadre Chapo
which was in Navolato. There were many meetings between Rodolfo Carrillo,
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Vicente Carrillo, my father and my compadre Chapo because he did not want to have
problems with the Carrillos.
The people of Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes were killing people of Chapo and
they wanted to get them out of Navolato. That is why there were many meetings in Navolato,
where my father was a mediator. I was present in all those
encounters. I took my compadre Chapo to Navolato to those meetings. Me
compadre Chapo didn't want to fight with them, he wanted to talk to them [and see
if] so they could figure out what was going on.
We would leave those meetings thinking that everything was going to work out well, and
The same thing was still happening with Rodolfo. I mean it continued to cause
problems with my compadre Chapo's people in Navolato. He had
killed a person or had the government raid
an office that belonged to my compadre Chapo. I was bothering the
people of my compadre in Navolato. Even one of the most
close to my compadre Chapo, the lawyer Ríos, was arrested and detained
by the military and we had information through our contacts that
it was Rodolfo Carrillo who sent him to capture him.
In the fourth meeting there was my compadre Chapo, my dad, also the
Azul was there, José Esparragoza, I was there, Vicente and Rodolfo Carillo
Sources. I realized in the meeting that Rodolfo did not want to fix
things and that he wanted to fight instead of looking for a settlement. Did not even leave
his brother speak, he did not let Vicente speak, the only one who spoke was
Rodolfo. He was yelling and saying bad things about my people
compadre Chapo.
There came a time when I left, I was in contact with a lot of
people who were on the radio. Blue came outside with me and told me that the
The situation inside was really bad, that he couldn't see that things
had an arrangement, referring to the problems between Carrillo Fuentes and my
compadre Chapo.
And if there was a war, war is never good. The truth is that
my compadre Chapo was the one who was right. His people were being
molested and murdered and his own people were telling him that he did not
defended.
We had other meetings and there was no solution to Rodolfo's matter
Carrillo Fuentes. And since my dad was caught between all this,
my compadre Chapo said that this could not continue like this and that he had to
kill Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes. And my compadre Chapo asked for authorization
of my father […] my compadre Chapo said that he knew about my relationship
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Dad with the Carrillo Fuentes and that in fact that is why he respected them and
he cared about them, but that this could not go on.
And my dad said: “No, I'm with you, go ahead, this has no solution.
You are fine, you are correct and we have to kill Rodolfo,
Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes must die ”.
My father said: “I am with you and we will go ahead with that. U.S
we try, but they don't want to understand, they don't respect anyone, they don't
they respect the family, so let's move on ”. El Azul was also of
agreement.
***
On September 11, 2004, Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes was assassinated in Culiacán. The
Chapo sent El Negro, a former military special forces member of the army who was part
of your security team.
El Chapo would never have been able to do it if El Mayo had not given him his
consent. El Mayo and Vicentillo followed the operation by remote control. The black
found out that Rodolfo had arrived in Culiacán and had entered a center
commercial. He and his people stood outside waiting for him to come out. When it came out
8
riddled.
Rodolfo was accompanied by his wife and Commander Rodolfo Pérez of the Police
Judicial of Sinaloa. She was killed in the shooting.
On the run, El Negro and his men had a confrontation with the Police
Judicial. Vicentillo, who followed what was happening through a radio, called his people from
the Judicial, Municipal and Inter-municipal Police, to tell them to stop the
persecution. Only then did they manage to escape.
Rey was also in Culiacán when Rodolfo's murder occurred, but he
no one had asked his opinion. When he learned of the event, he stayed
9
embarrassed.
“My brother told me that he had held a meeting between Chapo and Rodolfo to
fix things and when Rodolfo was leaving, Chapo extended his hand and said: '
See you later, friend, 'and Rodolfo left him standing with his hand outstretched. "
According to the Mayo, El Chapo had been very upset about that and decided to kill him, and he
he had had to decide which side he was on.
"Rodolfo is dead and I am with him," El Mayo told him, "my godson Vicente
Carrillo spoke with me and I told him that I was with my compa Chapo. "
Thus “an internal war began in Culiacán between Carrillo Fuentes, my brother and
Chapo. At the end of that year they killed Arturo, Chapo's brother, in prison ”.
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***
Pollo was arrested years before and was in the Altiplano prison, in
Toluca. When he was arrested there was the comment between my compadre
Chapo, me, Juancho [Juan Guzmán Rocha, Chapo's cousin] and my dad,
10
to see if there was an option to get it out of there.
The comment was to see if an escape could be coordinated. My friend
Chapo had already been there and when they take you out to the patio you have the opportunity
to go out for an hour to sunbathe.
Juancho and I, together in the office, [said that] the idea was to get a
helicopter to be able to take it out, give it a rope to pull it, but while
we did they could shoot him, so we figured to help him
escape we had to make a steel bubble that could cover it and so
could escape.
The plans were not carried out. My friend Pollo was murdered
inside the prison on December 31, 2004.
My father called me and told me that his contacts within the government
They had called from Mexico City, and they told him that at that time
they were going to the Altiplano prison because my compadre Pollo had
been murdered and that I still did not want to call my friend Chapo until
that he wasn't sure he had been killed, and my dad wanted me to
I would talk to Juancho to see if my compadre Chapo already knew about it.
I was really shocked […] I told my dad that it was less than
an hour that I had spoken with my friend Pollo from prison, and I
had been the last person I had spoken to and it seemed to me
simply impossible for that to have happened.
It was a call between friends. He asked me about my family, about me
Dad, I wanted to know how they were. I asked him the same thing. It was in fact the
First time we spoke since he had been arrested.
My dad, my compadre Chapo and I knew of plans to kill me
compadre Pollo in jail, and as I understood, my compadre Pollo was at
so much of that. We had sent him information that someone
I wanted to kill him, and at that time in the call I told my compadre that
Please take care of yourself and that for your sake you did not go outside because we knew
that there was a plan to kill him on New Years night. And he told me: "Don't you
worry, compadre, everything is fine, just give my regards to your family, to your
father".
Behind his death was Benjamín Arellano Félix, Osiel Cárdenas [from
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Gulf Cartel] and Vicente Carrillo Fuentes.
***
The operations of the Sinaloa Cartel have been the object of interest not only to the DEA or the
The FBI ,but the United States Department of Defense, because of the risk involved
for the security of that country. In particular, he has studied Mayo and its alliances
strategic financials.
In 2012, at the request of the United States Northern Command, the Institute for Analysis
for Defense ( IDA ), responsible for providing advice to the Department of Defense,
made a report based on classified intelligence sources and open sources, where
notes that
[The Cartel of] Sinaloa, known for being one of the criminal organizations
most powerful transnational corporations in Mexico is a coalition of some of the
main Mexican drug traffickers, who operate in concert to protect themselves
mutually and keep their businesses running smoothly, running
as a business federation. Most of its members are connected
by family, marriage or community.
With their united and federated leadership, Sinaloa companies have continued
running even when top leaders defected, they were jailed
eleven
or they were killed.
The IDA then describes the crudeness of the cartel's pragmatism: “One of the
characteristics of Sinaloa's success is its ability to be flexible in its alliances: no
has no problem fighting a transnational criminal organization one day, and at the
next day partner with that same organization to maintain its power base and
market access".
The Pentagon advisers did not know, but those lines were a true portrait of
Mayo's personality.
N OTES
1
author.
two
86
Page 87
3
Testimony of Tirso Martínez Sánchez in the Eastern District Court of New York,
4
Idem.
5
6
7
8
Ibid.
9 Testimony of Jesús Zambada García, 11/19/2018, loc cit.
10
eleven
The IDA is a non-profit corporation that operates three research centers
funded with federal funds to develop objective analyzes of the problems
national security, particularly those requiring scientific expertise
and technical, and conduct research related to other national challenges. Their
Opinions and findings should not be construed as a representation of the position
Official of the Department of Defense or the sponsoring organization. The author
has a copy of the full report titled “Unclassified Financial Investigation
against threats: model of financial components of the criminal organization
Sinaloa transnational ”.
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By land…
There are people who work or are affiliated with the Sinaloa Cartel who are
more closely associated with Chapo or my father, however, when
In the end, each person in the cartel reports to my father and Chapo, together,
1
as co-leaders.
Chapo and my father work together to bring cocaine to Mexico from Centro
and South America. In this statement I will describe some of the many
ways my father and Chapo managed to ship tons of drugs to
Mexico from its sources of supply. Then they sell this cocaine to
clients of very large scale.
Chapo and my father generally sell cocaine to their clients when
it is still located in Mexico and later they distribute it in
USA.
Although Chapo and my father sell cocaine in Mexico, they continue
involved directly or indirectly with the importation and distribution of
cocaine in the United States. Additionally my father and Chapo too
work together to distribute other types of drugs including marijuana and
heroin.
***
“From South America, cocaine arrives in Sinaloa by land, sea and air. El Mayo and El Chapo are
large cocaine importers and resell it in Mexico to other drug traffickers ”,
Gaxiola explained to me when talking about the insides of the cartel operation. There were things of his
operation that can only be understood from within.
Gaxiola began working for the Zambada family since 2000, he had at least
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less 11 years of being your attorney; 15 when he died. The information you shared
It comes from Vicentillo's writings and from his conversations with El Mayo.
“There in Sinaloa the sale of more than 80% of the cocaine they bring, the
They sell to people from Sinaloa. Neither El Mayo nor El Chapo tell them what to do with the merchandise
who buy, each buyer does what he wants, they just sell it. "
According to Gaxiola, of all the cocaine that comes mainly from Colombia, El Mayo and
El Chapo is left with more or less 20%, which is the drug that they cannot place.
"The Sinaloa Cartel is like the Ford," Gaxiola said to better explain the model.
of criminal organization business.
Ford does not sell cars directly, does not manage every business it distributes
the cars, Ford only produces them, who sells the cars are the agencies
automotive owned by individuals.
Among wholesale buyers there are often conflicts because friends or people
They steal merchandise or customers. Once the wholesalers buy the
drugs, each one moves it to the United States at their own cost and risk. But
who buys from Mayo generally asks for help to transport the drug to
USA. They tell him: "You want money or I pay you with coca." May not
he likes to take risks, so he prefers to be paid with money.
The drug trafficking game is a high risk investment game - warns
Gaxiola—, as in the stock market. If you win, you win a lot and immediately, yeah
You lose, you don't recover until the next risky investment. There are many who
People of all kinds come into the game that you can't even imagine. Together they invest to
the purchase and transport of cocaine, if the operation is successful, the
millionaire profits, if not, they share the losses.
In addition to having wholesale drug buyers, customers who trust the 50

years that the Mayo has been in business undefeated, the organization, as already stated, has
key suppliers for the operation. There are those who are in charge of transport networks
within the Mexican territory, South America, Central America, the United States and Europe.
Others create fictitious or real companies to transport drugs and the flow of
resources for the payment of services and the laundering of profits. A few more are
responsible for the purchase or rental of properties to store drugs and
earnings inside and outside of Mexico. And there are those who offer financial services
to move the millionaire earnings.
According to Vicentillo himself, practically all these providers operate
with legal companies. He knew them, dealt with them daily, they were part of his
life since he was born. Some even became his relatives.
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When I learned the names and stories of the Mayo operators thanks to the
writings of Vicentillo, the vast majority were still active, that is why some of the facts
that are narrated are written in the present tense.
Later, after the denouncement of the son of Mayo, many characters were
arrested or killed and others replaced them. The new names can be hundreds,
but the model remains the same.
***
Through this confession I speak of a person named Juan Guzmán

Rocha, whom I know as Juancho , Zanka and Virgo . Juancho was the
first cousin of Chapo and plays a leading role in many areas of the
two
Sinaloa Cartel.
In addition to his direct role in the cartel, Juancho is a client of my father and
of Chapo. Juancho buys tons of cocaine from my father and Chapo in
Culiacán and sells that cocaine to various buyers in the United States and
Mexico. I am aware from my conversations with Juancho that his
two main clients were Pedro and Margarito Flores, whom I met
just like the Flores or the Cuates .
I learned that the Flores bought cocaine from Juancho in the United States and
received that cocaine in different places including Los Angeles and
Chicago The Flores sold cocaine to their own customers and the money
who collected used it to pay Juancho. Although I mention
Juancho many times in connection with his interactions with other
mentioned people, I don't talk much about Juancho because I found out
that he was assassinated in Mexico in approximately December 2011.
I know from Juancho's own mouth that he, in addition to working with the
Flores, also worked with Canadians. He told me that he sent
merchandise to Los Angeles and there he sold it to Canadians who took it to

Canada. Sometimes he sent himself to Canada and the Flores then
they would do the same to earn a little more.
The Flores have their own transportation to take the drug from Los
Angels to Chicago.
***
After Pollo's arrest, Juancho became the most trusted man in the
Chapo along with Dámaso López, the former deputy director of security for Puente Grande who
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It had benefited him so much. When El Pollo was killed, Juancho became the main
link between el Mayo and el Chapo. In addition, he was a very close friend of Vicentillo.
Margarito and Pedro Flores, two twins born in Chicago to Mexican parents, six
years younger than Vicentillo, they became one of the largest drug traffickers in
that city. They moved at least 71 tons of cocaine and heroin that they bought
mainly to the Sinaloa Cartel or in the resale of wholesalers.
The twins, whose family was involved in the illegal business, started from
17 years as drug traffickers. They were clients of Tirso for a long time,
until one of the Footballer's men kidnapped Pedro Flores in Mexico.
El Mayo interceded to be released and in 2005 he met the twins.
He congratulated Pedro and his brother Margarito because, despite their young age, they had already
3
sold in Chicago about 20 tons of its cocaine.
Perhaps excited by the youth of the Flores, El Mayo spoke of his past in
United States when he lived there and began his criminal career on a high scale. They were
times when he started with his brother-in-law Niko.
He told them how he had personally sold drugs in Los Angeles, New York and
Chicago In fact, he was familiar with the small town where they were from.
originating the twins.
“Any one of these idiots can sell tons of drugs in Mexico, but very
few could do it in the United States like these, "said Mayo in front of everyone
not caring that he offended his own collaborators and shook hands with the
Twins. "You have my respect, congratulations," he laughed and added:
"Imagine if they were triplets!"
From 2005 to 2008 the twins sold about 38 tons of cocaine from Mayo and
El Chapo, and about 200 kilos of heroin. Of the latter, the kilo in Chicago was paid
up to 55 thousand dollars.
Mayo's admiration for the twins did not stop them from betraying him. Since
In early 2008 they began to collaborate with the DEA in Chicago and recorded
telephone conversations with El Chapo, Juancho and Vicentillo, which would use the
American government to put the noose around their necks.
The Flores were so tricky that they fooled even the DEA itself . While
cooperated with the agency, sold 276 kilos of cocaine behind their backs in Chicago and
raised millions of dollars that they never reported.
In November 2008, they surrendered to the DEA in Chicago, where they imposed a
light sentence of 14 years thanks to his collaboration with the prosecution.

Juancho had worse luck. His body was found abandoned on a rural road in
Sinaloa, bound and with several shots. According to Dámaso, Chapo himself commanded
4
kill him because he told him a lie about where he was.
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***
I have met Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza, whom I also know as

Macho Prieto , since about 1999. I first met him in name
of my father. 5
In 1999 Gonzalo already had his own drug trafficking organization
consisting of about 50 people. Gonzalo and his people were
involved in many clashes and violence around Culiacán
at that time, so my father asked me to arrange a meeting with him
to find out why these clashes were occurring.
A few days later I took Gonzalo to the ranch for a meeting with my
dad. During the meeting Gonzalo explained to my father and me that he had
problems with a group of people led by a man known as
Black Maere. My father asked Gonzalo to reduce the violence because he was
attracting a lot of attention from the Mexican army and authorities.
Gonzalo agreed to reduce the confrontations and offered his
services to my father and the Sinaloa Cartel. Specifically Gonzalo offered
use your transportation infrastructure to move drugs and money through
Mexico, and offered to fight with my father against the Arellano Félix with
whom the Sinaloa Cartel had been at war for a long time. With the
time passed, as a result of that encounter, Gonzalo became
in an integral member of the Sinaloa Cartel.
As a member of the Sinaloa Cartel, Gonzalo supervised two different
groups of people who were responsible for very different tasks. The first
group of people was involved in storage and transportation
of drugs, money and weapons in various parts of Mexico, and the crossing of
drugs to the United States, as well as money and weapons from the United States
to Mexico. The second group under Gonzalo's orders acted as
"Gunmen" or "hit men", armed people who worked for the cartel
to protect their property, territory and people and to wage war against the
enemies. Even though I am aware of the acts of violence
committed by Gonzalo and his gunmen on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel, I
had limited contact with the gunmen and generally had no contact
with their real names or identities.
Gonzalo's transport logistics infrastructure was among the most
largest and most extensive used by the Sinaloa Cartel. I had a great
contact with Gonzalo and his people responsible for transport. The method
Gonzalo's main goal to transport drugs, money and weapons was to use pipes
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to transport gasoline with secret compartments inside it

Gasoline tank. Gonzalo started using these pipes roughly
in 2004. He had seven or eight gasoline tankers with hiding places
where you could hide from one and a half tons of cocaine to two, each
pipe.
Tanks were also used to transport methamphetamine,
money and weapons in quantities corresponding to the volume of
compartments.
The pipes looked the same as the gasoline tanks used by Pemex,
the energy industry owned by the Mexican government. The tanks
they were hauling real gasoline as a front load. The pipes counted
with all the official paperwork - given by Pemex - to make the
legitimate shipments. The gasoline was actually transported from a place
to another along with the cargo he was smuggling.
The pipes were put into clandestine warehouses organized by Gonzalo and
their people. Gonzalo had a special team responsible for opening and closing the
secret compartments. Gonzalo flew his team from a
place to place because they were the only ones who knew where they were and how
open them. The compartments needed to be blown open and had to be
solder them again. Consequently, the process for opening and closing the
compartments was very dangerous when tanks were loaded with
gasoline.
Once the tanks were loaded (drugs, money or weapons), they were
sent to their destination followed by a group of people in one or two
cars responsible for alerting to the presence of government officials
Mexico and the military on the road sections of the tanks. The people that
They were in the queue, they paid corrupt officials of the Mexican government in
each state or zone, to guarantee the safe passage of the pipes until their
destination.
Government officials were paid monthly bribes, as well
as additional payments for each trip the tanks made of a state
or zone. These monthly bribes and cash payments were in the range
between 50 thousand and 150 thousand dollars. Once the tanks reached the city
destination, the same team responsible for having closed the
compartment was brought to open and remove the load. The load is
hidden in warehouses or safe houses maintained by Gonzalo until
which is moved to its next destination.
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***
According to Rey, Macho Prieto, born in Culiacán in 1971, became a cartel manager in
Sonora. During the war against the Gulf and the Zetas, and then against Arturo Beltrán
Leyva, was a man loyal to the Mayo.
They began to distance themselves in December 2010 when Inzunza murdered Paulo
Osorio, a man very close to another drug trafficker named José Manuel Torres
Felix, the Waved , father-in-law of May. His daughter Ellameli was married to Serafin, the
son that the Mayo procreated with Lety.
In 2012, when Vicentillo revealed his name and password to the United States government
United, he had already fallen from the grace of May. Gaxiola stated that thanks to the
collaboration of Vicentillo, in 2013 US and Mexican authorities made
an operation to capture him in Puerto Peñasco.
“The gringos crossed the border in a rapid operation, it is assumed that the forces
Mexican women were already coordinated, but a shooting started, ”explained Gaxiola.
Inzunza died in the confrontation.
***
Cenobio Flores Pacheco, whom I generally call simply

Pacheco, is also known as Checo or Six . Was the lieutenant
6
Gonzalo's principal on the transportation team.
I met Pacheco around 2000 or 2001. I am aware of
that Pacheco began as a gunman, driver and general messenger of
Gonzalo. Over time, Pacheco began to level up in the
Gonzalo's organization and in approximately 2006 he became head of
the Plaza de Mexicali, Baja California, of Gonzalo's organization. On
2006 my father sent Gonzalo to prepare and take care of some locations
and infrastructure in Mexicali to be used to transfer drugs from Mexico to
USA. Gonzalo personally took care that things
began to operate and installed Pacheco to supervise the operation.
In general, Pacheco had the role of supervising the reception of the pipes
loaded with drugs from Culiacán to Mexicali. Later Pacheco supervised the
crossing of cargo to the United States. Pacheco was promoted and started
be responsible for receiving the money and weapons that came from States
United. When Pacheco received the tank with the cargo in Mexicali,
first supervised the team to open the compartment and remove the
drug. The drug was stored in safe houses. The shipments
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they were broken up into much smaller quantities that were trafficked
at the border to enter the United States.
Although the supply of cocaine available could vary, some
Sometimes Pacheco had approximately five or six tons of
cocaine in Mexicali awaiting transfer to the United States.
I learned from my conversations with Gonzalo and Pacheco that the
drugs were transported across the border in cars with
compartments that could carry approximately 20-30 kilos to
the time. In addition to the network of cars with hiding places, Gonzalo and
Pacheco also had a good number of semi-trailers with
compartments that could hold approximately 100 kilos of
cocaine. The drugs were taken to warehouses and safe houses in
California. Pacheco waited until 300 kilos were accumulated in the
warehouse and then he would send a message to say that the drug was ready
to be picked up in California to go to the next destination city
within the United States. Transportation in the United States was
usually run by a person I knew as Germán
Olivares and [also by] Ulysses.
I am aware that long drug shipments regularly
are transported from Mexico, through California and then to Chicago,
using the combined infrastructure of Gonzalo, Pacheco, Germán and
Ulysses. The same system works in reverse to bring from States
United arms and money. Cash from the sale of the
Drug is collected throughout the United States and then left in
warehouses and stash houses in California. The money is spent in cash
across the border and is delivered to Gonzalo and Pacheco in Mexicali. The
money is transferred into the same gasoline tanks and transported to
Culiacán where it is left in safe houses and warehouses that belong to
to my father, Chapo and other members of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Although Gonzalo and Pacheco had a direct communication line
with my father and others, I often served as backup when people were not
I could locate my father or people who worked for him. In this role,
I often ordered people to transport money to people
responsible for paying bribes to corrupt officials along the route of
the tanks. Additionally, I transmitted messages from Gonzalo and Pacheco to my
father and others, to update them on the status of shipments in transit
in the tanks and then carried back orders from my father with
instructions on how to divide shipments into different quantities and
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other instructions. For example, I remember a six-ton shipment

cocaine in early 2009 that my father, Chapo and others received from their
sources of supply in Colombia.
***
In May 2013, after Vicentillo shared Pacheco's identity with the

government of the United States, the Department of the Treasury of that country
Cenobio and other important plaza bosses who worked for the
Sinaloa, and included them in the black list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control
(costs
OFAC ). In reality, they were partners of the Mayo whom he could betray without great
to his father, who always had new clients.
***
Another of Gonzalo's most important collaborators in the operation of

Transportation was a person I knew as Carcovich . I think that he
7
Carcovich's name was Jorge, but I don't know his last name.
Gonzalo introduced me to Carcovich in approximately 2004. He
supervised Gonzalo's operations in Guadalajara and Ciudad de
Mexico. In addition, he was directly responsible for overseeing the business
apparently legitimate that covers the pipe transport network.
Especially Carcovich was in charge of getting the permits
legitimate to transport gasoline from one place to another. This process included
obtain the necessary permits from Pemex, the oil company that
belongs to the government of Mexico. Carcovich bought the tanks at the
which compartments were made and bought or rented the warehouses and
the safe houses that Gonzalo operated in Guadalajara.
In approximately 2007 and 2008, in the name of my father and Chapo,
Gonzalo began to establish a route to transport cocaine by land
from Costa Rica, through Guatemala, to Mexico. I am aware of
that lately the goal of my father and Chapo is to establish a route
land from Colombia to Mexico, and the Costa Rica route is part of
This process. Gonzalo put Carcovich in charge of establishing the
infrastructure in Costa Rica, including the purchase or rental of warehouses or
safe houses, buying semi-trailers in Central America, and
obtaining all necessary permits from legitimate shipments
facade that would be used to transport drugs.
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At a certain point, Gonzalo and Carcovich informed me that the

infrastructure was already ready and they began to do successful tests
transportation from Costa Rica to Mexico. My father worked with a source of
supply in Colombia to buy half a ton in Costa Rica and
test the new system. This first test was seized by the
Costa Rican authorities, but I learned that the following charges
they were successfully transported through this method.
***
Gonzalo had another lieutenant whom I knew as Mongol and Cabezón ,

I don't know his real name. I met Mongol around 2004. I was
in charge of Gonzalo's transportation operations in Culiacán.
8
Essentially it has the same role as Pacheco in Mexicali.
Mongol supervised that drug shipments were put into the
tanks in Culiacán and were sent to the border, and in turn supervised
the receipt of money or weapons transported in the same tanks of the
border to Culiacán. Mongol was responsible for establishing and maintaining the
warehouses and safe houses in Culiacán to store drugs and
load them into tanks, as well as money and weapons while they were
sent to their final destination.
To ensure the safety of the pipes when they were loaded from the
drug, Mongol served as an intermediary between the people who left the drug
in Culiacán and the people responsible for transporting it in the tanks to the
border. When my father and Chapo received the drug in Culiacán, Mongol
was warned. Mongol in turn had contact with a person whom
I met as "Monito", and others, and they had the same role: to fix for Mongol
the cars with the hiding places in which the cocaine or other drugs went.
Mongol personally drove the chariots, or otherwise arranged
that the cars were collected in the warehouses or safe houses to
be loaded into tank trucks. Once they were loaded, Mongol
He shipped the pipes to Pacheco at the border. Before each tank
left, Mongol contacted Carcovich to acquire everything necessary in
documentation so that the tanks could make the route of
Culiacán to its destination. Mongol was also responsible for making sure
that all the bribes were lined up by the route where the tanks
they were going to transit. The tanks were received by Pacheco in Mexicali, as
I previously described, and then they would return laden with money and weapons
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for Mongol in Culiacán.

In addition to his assignment in Culiacán, Mongol acted as the
Gonzalo's "secretary" for all his operations. Mongol was the
responsible for paying Gonzalo's payroll in both parts of his
operation: transport and gunmen. Gonzalo's people were paid
regularly monthly or biweekly. Generally the money used
to pay Gonzalo's workers came from my father.
My father authorized the money used for payroll, it was taken from
various safe houses and handed over to Mongol. Mongol was also
in charge of distributing weapons to Gonzalo's people wherever they are
be in Mexico. The weapons were generally transported
en masse to Culiacán and later distributed among the groups of hitmen
where they will need them.
I had contact with Mongol directly or indirectly in many
occasions to ensure the correct operation of the pipes. For
example, I ordered Monito to take money to Mongolian many times to pay
the bribes while the tanks were moving, as well as for
make payments to Gonzalo's transportation teams and gunmen.
***
Around 2008 my father and Chapo bought a large

marijuana harvest in different locations in Mexico. My father ordered
Gonzalo establish a system to cross that drug to the United States through
through Sonoyta, which is located in the state of Sonora, south of
Lukeville, Arizona. 9
My father gave Gonzalo approximately three million dollars to
buy the infrastructure necessary to cross the drug. In addition to
the typical infrastructure of warehouses, safe houses, cars, trucks,
etc., Gonzalo also acquired transportable ramps to overcome
quickly the border fences, and sophisticated equipment of
communication and electronics to monitor the presence of agents of the
US Government Customs Guard and Border Patrol
on the other side of the border. Gonzalo put a person they called
Russian in charge of the Sonoyta operation. I do not know the real name of Russian
and I never met him in person. Anyway, I know from my
conversations with Gonzalo, my father and others, that Russo runs the
operations in Sonoyta. In addition to these responsibilities in
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Sonoyta, Russo also had a team of 20 to 30 gunmen under their

orders. The Russian team operated under the direction of Gonzalo and was
Available to fight the enemies of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Gonzalo's person in charge of the gunmen was a person to
who called him Cayman or Chore . I do not know the real name of
Alligator. Even though it is entirely possible that he was in
encounters with Cayman on multiple occasions, I don't recall being
presented directly to him. To my knowledge, Cayman was not
involved in Gonzalo's transportation infrastructure network, but rather
he was only in charge of supervising the hitmen. Cayman was responsible
to buy or rent offices or safe houses to be used as
gunmen's operation centers. When the war with the Zetas and the
Beltrán Leyva started in 2008, Cayman's main responsibility was
Fight against the enemies of the Sinaloa Cartel.
***
Thanks to Vicentillo's revelation, the United States government was able to locate the
Russian. His real name is Jesús Alexánder Sánchez Félix, and since 2014 a
criminal case against him in the Court of the Southern District of California, and an order
of arrest so far in force.
N OTES
1
author.
Idem
two .
3
Testimony of Pedro Flores in the Eastern District Court of New York, 12/18/2018.
The author has the official stenographic version of the Court.
4
Testimony of Dámaso López Núñez in the Eastern District Court of New York,
5
author.
6
Idem .
7
Idem .
8
Idem.
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9
Idem.
100
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... on Pemex ships ...
“When May makes $ 100 million, someone in the United States makes $ 200 million.
the same operation ”, Fernando Gaxiola told me in 2012, in one of our
conversations in Mexico City.
“If the United States government attributes billions of dollars to the Sinaloa Cartel
in earnings in the United States, there were those who won twice as much. "
Rey explained why. The mathematics of drug trafficking are as clear as those of
any other company in the world. And although the explanation was given with figures from 2008, the
price has not changed. 1
The Sinaloa Cartel buys cocaine in Colombia at $ 3,000 per kilo. On
Mexico, in Culiacán, the same kilo is sold for $ 13,000. That price includes 6 thousand
dollars of the cost of raw materials, that is, cocaine, and transportation costs,
that at the same time include the payment of bribes so that the drug has arrived from Colombia to
Culiacan.
That means that if the Mayo sells the cocaine there, his profit is 7 thousand dollars per
kilo; 7 million dollars per ton. Of course, if you make that sale, your risk
ends there.
On the other hand, in Los Angeles, the sale price of a kilo of cocaine is 20 thousand
dollars, of which 4 thousand dollars are for transportation costs, which include payment
of bribes to get the goods to arrive. Raw material and transportation costs
are 7 thousand dollars per kilo, that means a direct profit of 13 thousand dollars per
kilo, 13 million dollars per ton. Yes, almost double what the person who sells it earns
in Culiacán.
If the same kilo of cocaine reaches Chicago, the price is $ 25,000, $ 9,000
raw material and transportation costs. That means a profit of 16 thousand dollars
per kilo, 16 million dollars per ton.
In New York the selling price of a kilo of cocaine is $ 35,000. The
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costs are the same $ 9,000 as in Los Angeles, so the profit is

26 thousand dollars per kilo, 26 million dollars per ton.
Rey explained that the price is higher in New York “because it is more difficult to
sell, the police are very active, so it is very difficult to complete the operation one hundred
percent".
Rey pointed out that when the Sinaloa Cartel buys tons of drugs in Colombia
it does so with a pool of investors. Expenses, profits and risks are divided
among all:
For the Sinaloa Cartel, it is the way to strengthen and protect the capital of the
investors, and at the same time make them financially powerful […] If you are
investing 9 million to get a total of 45, the profit is very, very
important for a small risk […] If something is lost divided between the
investors each lose a small amount and can continue
go ahead and continue investing in another shipment, they lose some capital, but not
a lot of. A single "investor" can invest up to 2.5 tons.
***
Benny has been friends with my father for a long time. Even though i
I remember hearing about him before, the first time I remember him
I had an encounter with him was in 1994, when Benny came to see my father
two
after he had gotten out of jail in America.
My father helped Benny get back into the drug business after
to be released. In approximately 1997 or 1998, Benny
built an important infrastructure in southern Mexico to receive
cocaine shipments from Colombia and transport them to the border with
USA. Benny had people on site to receive the boats that
they came from Colombia. The boats were mainly fishing boats that
they were carrying three to four tons of cocaine per boat. The team of
Benny was based in Chetumal, in the state of Quintana Roo.
Benny had small boats that went from the beaches of Chetumal sea
inside where they met the ships from Colombia. The drug was
transferred to Benny's boats and taken to secluded beaches. I had
also a network of vehicles, trucks and safe houses to
transport and store the drug. Then the cocaine was transported north
in pipes that were owned by my father. The compartments that had
my father's tanks were less elaborate than Gonzalo's, but
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They were larger and could carry up to 10 tons of cocaine at a time.

The drug was taken from Quintana Roo to Mexico City in one day, and
the next day he left for Culiacán. The operation of the tank was similar to that of
Gonzalo in the payment of bribes paid to officials of the government of
Mexico to ensure the safe passage of cocaine from the south to Culiacán.
The people generally in charge of transportation from the south to
Culiacán were Benny's most trusted man whom I met as
Marquitos and a person I met as Chepe , whom I will talk about
later. Benny, Marquitos and Chepe had lines of communication between
them, as well as with the people necessary to facilitate the transfer of
drugs from the south to Culiacán, as well as people responsible for following the
tanks and pay the bribes to the authorities. I know for this
experience that the total cost of receiving the merchandise in the south and
transporting it to Culiacán was about one million to one million 200 thousand
Dollars.
I also transmitted the messages of Benny, Marquitos, Chepe and others
to my father to keep him informed of the status of the merchandise that had
been sent to Culiacán.
From about 1997 or 1998 to 2002 Benny also had
an infrastructure of airplanes that loaded cocaine from Colombia to
Mexico. The planes had the capacity to carry about two tons.
Benny received these planes on a series of clandestine runways in the
states of Chiapas and Campeche. After the planes landed,
Benny had infrastructure in place to store and transport the drug
until it was sent north.
Benny, Marquitos, and my father had another partner whom I met as
Genaro Payán, I also knew him as Gringo . Approximately 2007
to 2008 Gringo worked with Marquitos to bring cocaine from southern Mexico
to Culiacán in the tanks. Gringo has its own supplier in Colombia,
sold his cocaine in Culiacán and then used part of that money to
pay your suppliers in Colombia.
***
It was until Vicentillo gave the details of Benny and el Gringo that the government
American was able to locate them. Before they were practically "invisible" to the authorities. The
Benny's name is Armando Contreras Subías. By his surnames he could be the brother of
José Antonio Contreras Subías, who was arrested in Utah in 1988 for his involvement
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in the murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena, which occurred in 1985.

The true identity of the Gringo is Genaro Payán Quintero, who was a very
important competitor of the Mayo, and that nobody had on the radar until Vicentillo
mentioned.
Vicentillo also gave details of Luis Enrique Fernández Uriarte, Kiki . The one with the daughter
whose 15-year party was ruined in 1994 in Guadalajara, when a car bomb
made several guests jump through the air in an attack by the Arellano Félix against the
May.
***
Kiki invests in cocaine shipments with my father and also has her
contacts in Colombia that allow you to bring cocaine shipments to
3
Mexico at your own expense.
I was present on many occasions while my father and he
they argued about specific shipments of cocaine they had purchased.
Kiki had roughly 20 to 30 people working for him and
they performed different functions related to drug trafficking. Since
that the war began in 2008 with the Zetas and the Beltrán Leyva, the
Kiki's people had direct lines of communication with the
gunmen from M1, Gonzalo, and Chapo's people, and they were fighting against Zetas and
Beltran Leyva. Kiki's closest lieutenant was Pariente and Nachito.
Relative was in charge of Kiki's gunmen. Supervised a group
of approximately 15 armed men responsible for protecting a
specific sector of the Sinaloa Cartel of their enemies. I met him
only once, which was approximately in 2008 in Mazatlán, Sinaloa. TO
Even though Pariente was recruited by Kiki and was under the orders of
Kiki, it was my father who paid Pariente's salary every 15 days.
Additionally, my father gave him money to rent approximately five
or six offices per sector, for him and his men responsible for protecting
my father. My father also gave him extra money to buy cars.
armored cars and normal tanks for his men, and provided him and his
men at arms. Simply put, my father equipped Kinsman and his
people to serve as the muscle of the cartel.
To my knowledge, Pariente was of no other use to the cartel
more than a gunman and supervising his group of assassins.
Kiki had another relative named Ignacio Fernández, whom I met as
Nachito. They were cousins. I have known about Nachito since the late
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eighties. Since I've known him, Nachito has worked with Kiki and himself
same in the purchase and sale of cocaine and marijuana. Nachito bought
cocaine from my father and others in Culiacán and sold it to his own clients
in United States.
***
In addition to sharing the same work as drug dealers, El Mayo and Kiki
they have something else in common, the latter also likes to raise cattle. On the list of the
Mexican Association of Cebu Breeders, appears as partner number 994, breeder of
the Indubrasil breed of cattle, at his El Colomo ranch, in Acatlán de Juárez, Jalisco.
Your hobby may not last long. In the same file
criminal opened in 2014 against the Russian in the Court of the Southern District of California was
included Contreras Subías, Payán Quintero, Kiki and his cousin Ignacio Soto Fernández,
aka Nachito . There is an arrest warrant against everyone.
The only one arrested was Payán Quintero, who was detained by the Secretariat of
Marina in June 2015 in the municipality of Mocorito, Sinaloa.
***
Around 2006 I met a person who is called Cap

Beto . Around 2008, Chapo and my father started a
operation in which the Sinaloa Cartel bought ships in the Gulf of
Mexico arranged with secret compartments, and then they were brought to
through the Panama Canal to the Pacific side. The person in charge of
this operation was Capi, who got the boats and the crew to
4
drive them through the canal.
Once the ships were on the Mexican Pacific side, Capi,
coordinated with Damaso on behalf of Chapo and my father, he arranged for the
Boats will bring the cocaine to Mexican shores. I know that
That cocaine brought in by boats was eventually distributed in the United States.
United.
Capi was related to a seizure made near Panama of 10
tonnes [2007]. Before the confiscation, Cap provided my father with a
container ship to be used for cocaine trafficking from Centro and
South America to Mexico. The ship was tied to a Panama company
listed on the paperwork as the ship's owner and operator. The
company was in the business of transporting different merchandise such as
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fertilizer, cement and rubber to Mexico from Central and South American countries,
including Brazil.
In 2006 Arturo Beltrán Leyva was still part of the Sinaloa Cartel.
I was working with suppliers from Colombia to bring cocaine to
Mexico. Arturo borrowed the container ship from my father. My father
agreed and put Cap in charge of coordinating the use of the boat with
Arturo and others. Arturo, Capi and others finished operations and were
ready to move the cocaine. The person in charge of the company in Panama
came to see my father to tell him about some changes to cover the
cargo and front business structure. The person explained that the
cocaine shipment was to be brought to the ship while it was in
high seas, they had to put it in the containers, the new customs stamps
that had been obtained were to be put into the containers after
the cocaine had been discharged. The plan was to bring the container ship
loaded with drugs near Mexico, there he will meet the boats where
the cocaine was to be transferred and then brought to land. Cap, Arturo and
others coordinated to have the cans ready to receive the drug. TO
Through Cap, Arturo, and my father, I learned that the ship was stopped when
He was leaving Panama and all the cocaine was insured.
***
The confiscated May ship that Vicentillo was referring to was called Gatún and was taller than
19 meters long. On March 18, 2007 he was intercepted by Officer Clifton
Montgomery Harrison, United States Coast Guard. The crew of the
Gatún was made up of both Mexicans and Panamanians.
“The first container we opened was filled to the top with suspicion of
5
smuggling ”, Montgomery would recall years later.
It was a shipment that Arturo Beltrán Leyva had planned in partnership with the Mayo
and El Chapo. Arturo had obtained cocaine from the drug lord Harold Poveda, who
At that time he was a supplier to the Mayo and others, but mainly to the Beltrán Leyva.
El Mayo offered his boat and the services of Capi Beto.
When the Gatún was intercepted, Arturo blamed Capi Beto for the seizure. Said
was intercepted by the DEA when he was calling Panama to direct the shipment and
those calls would have been intercepted by the DEA . Fortunately, they did not seize
all the merchandise, they managed to rescue a part that they had not yet loaded onto the ship of the
May.
In 2004 the Gatun used the Egyptian flag and belonged to the Pan-Arab Shipping Co.
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That same year it changed ownership, it was bought by a company called Naviera Pedro
Miguel SA, created in Panama on August 13, 2003 by the law firm Lara &
Associates. Despite the drug seizure, that company is still active today according to
public records of Panama. Its president and director is Leopoldo Zazueta Gómez, uncle
by Heriberto Zazueta Godoy, alias Capi Beto .
Thanks to Vicentillo, the United States government was able to identify the identity of the
Capi Beto, in 2014 bulletin him on the OFAC blacklist as head of the Cartel of
Sinaloa, and a criminal case was initiated against him in the Northern District Court of
Chicago, as Mayo's co-defendant. In spite of everything, Cap was not an essential piece,
he could be substituted, like everyone else.
In July 2016, Cap's journeys ended when he was arrested in the City of
Mexico for extradition purposes.
The seizure of the ship did not harm the Mayo, who had many other
maritime alternatives for your business. One of them was offered to him by officials of
Pemex.
In 2015 Gaxiola assured me in a meeting that, just as they trafficked drugs with
Pipes authorized by Pemex, they also did it in ships provided by the oil company of the
Mexican government.
"That relationship began during Fox's administration, there was a relationship with high command
of the PAN who were in Pemex ”, assured the lawyer. In addition, he said that Vicentillo
said that a group of politicians and Pemex officials wanted to share the traffic of
cocaine on one of the ship's trips to use as an "electoral fund." The version was
corroborated by Mayo's son four years later.
***
I was contacted by a friend from Mexico who asked if I could take him to see
to my father. This person was from my people, Capi Beto. He was the one who brought me to
this person was a lawyer from Mexico City. That person me
said they had a Pemex ship, which came in the name of some
Pemex businessmen and some public officials from
Mexico. 6
That person told me that he did not want to give me the names of the politicians
for their own safety, but that they were looking for my dad to
propose a business to you, lend you a Pemex boat, and that they themselves
they were interested in investing in a large shipment of cocaine. And the
The reason they were looking for my father and my compadre Chapo was because of the
my dad's seriousness in business.
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So I made the date with my dad. My dad told me to take those

people to meet him, and he explained the situation to my compadre Chapo and
we had a date in the mountains at a specific location that belonged
to my dad. And it was in the state of Durango in an area called Vascogil,
where my dad was hiding.
At that meeting my father, my compadre Chapo, Jorge were present
Cifuentes, me, the representatives of Pemex, the representatives of the
politicians and Capi Beto.
At that point I had already sent Capi Beto to take a picture of the boat
of Pemex that they wanted to show us to see that there was trust and
that there was the availability of those politicians to let us use the boat.
At the meeting, Pemex officials and politicians said they wanted
transport 100 tons of cocaine. And they wanted to know if my dad and my
Compadre Chapo could provide that amount of cocaine.
My dad and my compadre Chapo called Jorge Cifuentes to see if he
could provide that amount.
The ship belonged to the government, so it was very good to know because
it meant that the shipment was going to be successful.
***
Colombian drug trafficker Jorge Cifuentes, who from the age of four helped his
father to load trucks with contraband, he was one of those in charge of the operation
with the Pemex ship. He had returned to work with el Mayo in 2003 despite the fact that he
he had cruelly murdered his former boss Robachivas.
In 2007 Jorge Cifuentes was the representative of the Sinaloa Cartel in Ecuador and
arranged cocaine shipments from that country. Since it was on the Pacific side, the
shipments came
mainly to the directly to Sinaloa. At that time the drug was bought
FARC , who controlled that side of the border between Colombia and
Ecuador. The drugs were transported in trucks of the Ecuadorian army in charge of the
Captain Telmo Castro.
Cifuentes traveled from Ecuador to the mountains of Sinaloa to meet with Mayo, the
Chapo and a Pemex official who introduced himself as Alonso Acosta and offered them
parastatal vessels to traffic. They would travel with oil to Ecuador and return
loaded with cocaine, which they would leave in the port of Lázaro Cárdenas.
There were many meetings in places like El Dorado or Quila where he was always
Pemex people present. Gaxiola assured me that the operation was carried out.
“When Vicente spoke of how they transported drugs on Pemex ships, the DEA did not
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he wanted to know more about the matter, ”the lawyer told me in 2015, which still seemed to him
strange.
In addition to the Pemex vessels, El Mayo bought shark fishing boats in
Peru. Cocaine was acquired at the border between Colombia and Ecuador, transported to
Quito and Guayaquil, and from there they sent it in speedboats to fishing boats that
sailed to Mexico in international waters, where they encountered ships
tuna boats that loaded the drug and then deposited it in speedboats that
unloaded on the coast of Mazatlán. The ships from Peru were coordinated by Cifuentes and
tuna vessels, the Mayo.
The proceeds from the sale of the drug in the United States were transferred through
exchange houses in New York, Chicago, Canada and Mexico, to the financial Monedeux,
by Juan Pablo Londoño Ramírez, who used prepaid cards authorized by Visa.
Thus, the cartel and its suppliers could have quick and easy access to their profits in
ATMs.
Pablo Londoño, 54, is a resourceful and avid man. 1994 to
2011 created at least seven companies: four in Florida and the rest in various parts of the
world, including Londono Enterprises Corporation, Cabinetry Work, and 777 Enterprises
Inc. In 2004 his wife Jimena Botero registered the company Istations in his name.
Networks Inc., with address PO Box 14310 in Coral Gables, Florida. In 2005 the
The same address was registered for the Monedeux Financial Services North company.
America, in Florida.
In 2006 Londoño created Monedeux International Services Inc. in Panama, which
is still active. In early 2008 he expanded his network to the United Kingdom where he created Monedeux
Financial Services Worldwide, Ltd, which was declared inactive in 2009. And although in
February 2011 Londoño and Monedeux were reported by the Department of
American Treasury as part of the Cifuentes money laundering network, in July
2011 created a subsidiary in Spain called Monedeux Europa SL, to market cards
prepaid. In 2015 it changed its name to Mercadeus JPA SL, based in Madrid, the
7
which is active.
In turn, Aguilar Bustamante is the legal representative of Grupo Amygo (San Miguel
Cutting & Sewing S. de RL de CV) based in the municipality of Lerma, State of
Mexico; in Spain and the United Kingdom, dedicated to national and international removals and
be it by land, sea and air mode. In countries like Italy, the simple fact that a
legal representative of a company directly connected to organized crime
being in other companies would be de facto a reason for suspicion and deep investigation.
At the end of 2008, thanks to Jorge Cifuentes and his drug delivery and recycling system
of money, in the heat of war with the Beltrán Leyva, the Mayo successfully received six
tons of cocaine.
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Jorge himself traveled to Cosalá, Sinaloa, to celebrate. There they all received him with
congratulations: El Chapo, Dámaso, Iván Archivaldo, Vicentillo and “other relatives and
Asociados del Mayo and their project ”, Cifuentes would recall with precision. He was not him
Chapo's project, with everything and that he had played an important role in the
8
operation, but of the Mayo.
"Do you want a coke pass? El Mayo asked Cifuentes. It is part of what
you sent." And together they tested it. El Mayo complained that it was not of the best quality,
9
but at least it was commercial quality. He himself sold much of the merchandise in
El Dorado, and another part sent it to Los Angeles, Chicago and Canada.
Jorge Cifuentes and his brother Álex became so important in the operations
del Mayo, that when Álex was arrested in Costa Rica and handed over to the Secretariat
of Marina in Mexico, Vicentillo's father paid a million dollars in bribes to
to be set free.
But as is often the case in this business, that friendship would last until he himself
Jorge Cifuentes organized a plot to assassinate Mayo. And how has it happened since
who began his criminal career, the Mayo won, he is free and operating, while
Jorge and his brother Álex are in jail.
N OTES
1
two
author.
3
Idem .
4
Idem .
5
Testimony of Montgomery Harrison in the Eastern District Court of New York,
6
7
In 2017, the United States Department of Justice reiterated that Monedeux formed
part of the money laundering network of the Sinaloa Cartel before the Federal Court of the
Eastern District of New York.
8
Testimony of Jorge Cifuentes in the Eastern District Court of New York, 12/12/2018.
The author has the official stenographic version of the Court.
9
According to Álex Cifuentes, the Mayo used so much cocaine that they had to
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operate the nose. Testimony of Álex Cifuentes in the Eastern District Court of Nueva,
York 1/14/2019. The author has the official stenographic version of the Court.
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10
… And even in trucks from Bachoco
I met Germán Olivares [Germán Magaña Pasos] approximately in

1994. I don't think Olivares is Germán's real last name, but I know
1
which is one of the names with which Germán identifies himself.
I can describe Germán as one of the biggest buyers
of my father, but also the Sinaloa Cartel largely entrusted to him
and its infrastructure many functions. From 1990 to early 2000,
Germán had his base of operations in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.
Germán bought drugs from my father and others in various parts of Mexico,
He then shipped the drugs to El Paso, Texas, to distribute to his
customers in the United States. Germán carried out large operations with
infrastructure that allowed him to store and transport drugs and money,
including a network of warehouses and safe houses in Mexico and the United States
United, and a network of cars with secret compartments to traffic
the drug.
Germán had many employees, many of whom were
active officials of the government of Mexico and police of Ciudad Juárez and
other parts.
When Germán was taken out of Ciudad Juárez because of the war that broke out
with Vicente Carrillo, he had to leave together with his people who had
Juárez and then took about six people along with their families, and
He told me and my dad that he was going to rent them a house there in Culiacán and that there
they were going to live while I was looking for a place to send them to live, and my
Dad told him that there was no problem and that they could be in Culiacán there. Us
Germán said that if he took care of something, that they were there, that he paid them their
salary and that they were doing nothing, that these people were in charge there in
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Juárez to save money and keep notes on all expenses, like this
like an accountant.
I told my dad to use them for that, and that way I wouldn't get into more
responsibilities, and so we remain. Houses were rented to them and they left with their
families Germán introduced him to a compadre of his who was in charge of
everyone else. I don't know the other boys, I introduced him to

the boys of us that I was going to give money to and nobody
more.
I introduced him to Ramón, who is my dad's errand boy and the one
take care of the purchases of my father and his wives, or pay any
thing my dad bought.
I introduced him to [Omar] Wiwi and Perico, the boys who are
with me for errands, and they already exchanged telephones and radios. Y
Now, that was the only time I saw that compadre Germán, and they keep
the money, they take the notes and the dates of the deliveries to So-and-so and things
So. But I did not look at money, nor did I count money or know where it was kept.
I lived in Mazatlán and sometimes from here I did everything by phone or
Nextel.
What I least wanted was to be deeper each day and entangled in
my dad's business. But the circumstances always had me there and it was
a way to help him and at the same time not to help him, I don't know how to explain it.
***
Gaxiola always told me that Vicentillo really wanted to have another life and had
he searched for a way out of his father's world, but that world was devouring him. Its own
father, entrusting him with things, asking him for favors, always made him return to the world
criminal, although he wanted to be away. And since he loved his father, he couldn't say no to him,
because also the only way to see him, to be close to him, was to be in that environment.
“There is no need and there they are, they are doomed. El Mayo didn't realize that
their children had no alternatives… Vicente, el Gordo , Serafín. "
The real name of Germán Olivares is Germán Magaña Pasos, operator of the
May in Chihuahua. He hired "whole families" who could drive the cars
arranged, Vicentillo explained. “Families who could cross the border every day, people
who came to Juarez to work and that is why these families could cross three or four times at
day with loads of cocaine. " They were not suspects. Then Germán took over
Mexicali. There he established his entire structure.
Although Vicentillo did not know his real name, the information he provided
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about Germán since 2011 helped the DEA discover his real name and
infiltrate their operations. Nobody knew about him until in 2014 it was said in the media of
communication who he was, and they were able to open a criminal case against him in court
Federal District of the Western Texas.
Germán is currently free.
***
Germán Olivares' main person in the United States was Ulysses.

I do not know his real name and I do not believe I have met him in person.
Still, from my conversations with Germán and others, I know that Ulysses is
responsible for the transportation of the drug within the United States,
including the distribution of drugs to Germán's clients. And collect and
two
it carries the money from the sales of those same customers.
Ulysses organized a system of warehouses and safe houses in Los
Angeles, Chicago, New York, El Paso and other places where
stored drugs and money. Ulysses coordinated with Pacheco and others
receive the drug at those locations, after the drug reached
United States of Mexico. From 2006 until when I was arrested in 2009,
Ulysses' base of operations was in Los Angeles. Before 2006,
I was in El Paso. Ulysses collected the drugs in a central location
while accumulating enough for a shipment and then the
drugs were loaded into trailers with secret compartments. Hence the
drug was transported to other warehouses and safe houses in Chicago and
other locations in the United States. Once it reached its destination, the
drug was divided into small quantities and distributed among customers
of Germán. Ulysses did the same operation in reverse for the money from
drug sales. He supervised the collection of money for Germán de
your customers wherever they were.
From approximately 2006 to 2009 the money was collected in various
locations until it was enough to make a trailer transfer to
The Angels. In Los Angeles the money was given to people from Pacheco
who was responsible for moving it to Mexico. Before 2006 the same system
it was used in El Paso.
Ulysses kept the delivery operations completely separate from the
drug and money collection. The persons responsible for the traffic and
drug distribution were not the same as those who collected the money.
Although I did not communicate directly with Ulysses. Me being with
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Germán called Ulysses several times by radio on loudspeaker, in such a way that
so that I could hear both sides of the conversation. In these
Ulysses occasionally provided Germán with updated reports on the
status of the drug and money shipments, and Germán gave him orders
what to do with money or drugs.
I met a person who was called Arellanes or Rayo
around 1995. I think Rayo's last name was Arellano, but
I don't know Rayo's name. In 1995 Rayo was an active municipal police
from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Rayo worked directly for Amado
Carrillo Fuentes in Juárez. When my father was going to visit Amado in
Juárez, Rayo acted as his driver and bodyguard.
When Amado died in 1997, Rayo went to work with another member
of the Sinaloa Cartel named Arturo Hernández González, whom I met
like Chucky . When Chucky was arrested in 2005, Lightning contacted me
father and asked him for help to get another job. Lightning worked like
my father's bodyguard until 2007 when he went to work with
German. In approximately 2008 Rayo was appointed head of
Germán's operations in Mexicali. Lightning was responsible for the crossing of
drugs to the United States when Germán crossed drugs himself.
Rayo had direct communication with Pacheco. When the drugs that
belonged to Germán arrived in Mexicali in Gonzalo's tanks,
Pacheco called Rayo to coordinate the receipt of the drug and so
Lightning could move her across the border. Ray also coordinated
with Pacheco when Pacheco crossed drugs into the United States, which were
given to Germán's people in the United States.
In the same way, Rayo supervised the crossing of United States money.
to Mexicali when Germán did it for himself and Rayo coordinated
with Pacheco when Pacheco crossed Germán's money.
***
In 2012 the DEA managed to identify Rayo. His name is Fernando Arellano Romero. It was
a man of war. When the war against Vicente Carrillo Fuentes began,
worked as an assassin under the orders of José Antonio Torres Marrufo, who directed
el Mayo and El Chapo to Gente Nueva, a group of hitmen who fought against Barrio
Azteca and the Juárez Cartel Line. At that time, Juarez was such a battlefield
violent that came to be considered the deadliest city in the world.
One of the bloodiest episodes was when a commando from Gente Nueva broke into
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at the religious ceremony of a wedding in Ciudad Juárez and kidnapped the groom, his
brother and an uncle because they worked for Vicente Carrillo. The groom never came to the
wedding night. Days later they found the bodies of the victims abandoned in a
truck in the middle of the city.
Germán was the boss of all.
***
I met in person a man from Germán who was responsible for his
operations in Culiacán such as Perales . I don't know if that's his real
Name. Perales first worked with Germán in Ciudad Juárez, but it was
relocated when Germán moved his operations from Juárez to Mexicali.
Perales was responsible for buying or renting offices, warehouses and houses of
safety for Germán in Culiacán. Perales supervised the
storage of money and drugs in these premises. Perales was also the
responsible for accounting. In this role, Perales maintained a record of
all of Germán's drug trafficking and financial activities. What's more
working for Germán, I also worked for my father and did the
3
same accounting job.
The "books" that Perales had about my father did not contain everything, but
contained a good deal of my father's financial information and
the drugMy
United. soldfather
to itsnever
customers andthat
ordered transported throughRather,
role to Perales. Mexico and thenamed
Germán United States
to Perales as responsible for storing the money on behalf of my father.
Over time, this role made Perales responsible for leading
my father's records. Once I had assumed that role, my
Father authorized him to continue. Perales supervised a team of six
people responsible for storing Germán's drugs and money in
Culiacan.
Perales divided the team into two groups, three responsible for the money and
three of Germán's drug. He also had additional workers who
were responsible for providing security to Germán's operations and
its infrastructure.
***
In 1999 and early 2000 my father partnered with a person named

Javier Torres Felix. Javier was a client of my father and also carried out
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some functions for the Sinaloa Cartel. One of the workers of

Javier in this period was his brother Manuel Torres Félix, whom I met
like M1. Javier was arrested in 2004 and M1 took over the
his brother's operations. When he was arrested, Javier had
approximately a team of 50 people reporting to him. Their
workers started reporting to M1, but lately he's my dad
the one who pays their wages. 4
Since 2004, M1 and its people report to my father and serve as
Sinaloa Cartel gunmen. In 2008, when the war with the
Zetas and the Beltrán Leyva, M1 and their people were one of the main groups
who were fighting on behalf of the forces of Gonzalo [Macho Prieto] and Chapo in
against the enemies of the Sinaloa Cartel. The group of armed men
from M1 it grew to about 100 people. I know that M1 and his people are
directly responsible for many clashes in which
many people were killed and acts of violence resulted.
When my father directly paid the salary to the M1 gunmen,
He did not pay M1 in money, but gave him a part of the
cocaine shipments and he, M1, was selling it to clients. Generally my
father gave M1 50 kilos for every shipment my father moved. Me
father used this same system to pay other people, including
my. To those who paid in this way my father gave them a choice if they wanted
physically kilos of cocaine to sell themselves or if they wanted them to
my father sold it in their name and gave them the proceeds. A lot
people, including me, simply chose to receive the money from the sale
of the kilos.
M1 generally chose to receive the kilos directly and sell them to their
own customers. I was directly involved in these
cocaine transfers to M1 on many occasions. In my name
father I remember two occasions when I ordered Monito to deliver M1
about 30 kilos of cocaine, and three other times I ordered
Monito give you 50 kilos.
***
The legendary M1 died in October 2012 during a clash with the army in
the receivership of Quilá, Culiacán, the land of Mayo.
What Vicentillo did not say is that Manuel Torres Félix was part of his in-laws.
His daughter Ellameli married his brother Serafín Zambada, son of Mayo and the psychologist
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Leticia Ortiz.
M1 no longer witnessed how his daughter divided the criminal organization. Ellameli
He had several lovers within the Sinaloa Cartel, but he fell in love with one: Dámaso
López Serrano, alias Mini Lic , son of Dámaso López Núñez, right arm of the
Chapo. This caused a schism in the family, relatives told me.
"Serafin is a good boy," Gaxiola commented. In the first hearings I went
to Chicago to see the process of his brother, a simple boy, of intelligence
average, no gift or charisma, but he was supportive of Vicente. "
Gaxiola explained to me how they arrested him. Since Serafín is of nationality
American, received a letter from the United States government telling him that he could
do the legal paperwork so that his wife would also be an American. So that
He made an appointment in Tucson where he went with her. It was all a trap. In 2013 it
arrested on the border between Nogales and Tucson. “When they arrested him he came with his
wife, who was not accused of anything, and they set her free. "
In 2019 he was released after reaching an agreement with the prosecution and collaborating with
they. He is now a single father. His mother Leticia went to the hearings and was always
close to him.
When Chapo was arrested for the third time in 2016 and his end seemed near, it was unleashed
a war between his sons and Dámaso López Núñez for control of his faction. TO
Damaso was arrested in May 2017, and his son, Mini Lic, surrendered to the government of
United States in July of the same year to save his life.
***
Around 2006 my father introduced me to the Cabrera brothers

Sarabia. They were from the mountains between Sinaloa and Durango and were
involved in drug trafficking at different levels. The Cabrera-Sarabia
had their own operations to grow marijuana and poppies, and they
They processed it themselves into heroin. Thus, they sold marijuana and heroin
5
to its clients in Mexico and the United States, including Chicago.
In addition to marijuana and heroin, they buy cocaine in Mexico from
my father and others, which they sell to their own customers in the United
United. I first met Felipe Cabrera Sarabia in Culiacán and later
I met the rest of the Cabrera Sarabia brothers at the same time during
an encounter at one of his ranches in 2007. At that time my father
was hiding in the Cabrera Sarabia ranch and was under his
protection.
I had knowledge of my interaction with the Cabrera Sarabia brothers
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that they coordinated their drug trafficking actions among themselves, and on the other
some had significant duplicative responsibilities. However, each
brother was specialized in specific aspects of the operation.
Felipe Cabrera Sarabia, the Inge or the One , was the head of the organization of
Brothers. Felipe was primarily responsible for shipping the marijuana and
heroin to the United States and to deliver the merchandise to their customers.
He was also in charge of buying the cocaine in Mexico and shipping it to
United States to distribute it to your customers.
In 2009 Felipe bought a ton of cocaine from my father in Culiacán.
This cocaine was transported to the border in one of the
Gonzalo [Macho Prieto], crossed into the United States through Pacheco, and was
given to Germán's people in Los Angeles, and ultimately left to the
Felipe's clients in Chicago. In addition to my role of giving instructions
to Pacheco to cross cocaine, I was more aware of the details
of the shipment by conversations with my father, Felipe and others. further
I was aware of the multiple kilos of heroin transactions, which
Felipe delivered Pedro and Margarito Flores in Chicago. I am aware of
that it was my father who introduced Felipe to one of the Flores brothers
at a meeting at Felipe's ranch in approximately October
2008.
Alberto Cabrera Sarabia had the function of supervising the security of
the Cabrera Sarabia. In this role, Alberto was responsible for defending the
people in your group and its infrastructure. He was also responsible for
maintain communication with the corrupt military in support of the
your family's drug trafficking activities. I think Alberto was
assassinated in Mexico in December 2011.
José Luis Cabrera Sarabia was in charge of the ranches when Felipe
was not. I had lines of communication with the people who lived around
of the cities and towns that surrounded their ranches. The people of the
surroundings monitored the roads leading to the ranches and
alerted if there were suspicious people or government forces approaching
the ranches. José Luis also helped sell marijuana to his
clients and with the logistics to transport it to their clients.
Alejandro Cabrera Sarabia was responsible for the agricultural part of the
marijuana and poppy crops. The rest of the brothers recognized
Alejandro as responsible for the crops and followed his instructions
on how to manage operations to grow marijuana and [produce]
heroin. Alejandro was responsible for all the workers who
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tended the crops as they grew, and was in charge of the harvest of
crops. He was also responsible for buying marijuana and poppies that
other people planted when the Cabrera Sarabia needed more
marijuana and poppies from which they could grow themselves. Alexander
had this role because of his experience in agriculture that allowed him to value the
quality of other people's crops before you buy them.
Philip's first lieutenant was a person whom I knew as
Guadalupe or Lupe. I think Guadalupe is the real name of this
person, but I don't know his last name. I met Lupe at the same time
I met the Cabrera Sarabia brothers. My father became close to Lupe
during the time he was at the Cabrera Sarabia ranches. Lupe
began to accompany my father when he went to other places and had
various functions, for example, charging the radios my father used to
communicate.
***
In the late 2000s one of the main cocaine customers

my father's was Lamberto Verdugo. Lamberto bought in Culiacán the
cocaine to my dad and then he distributed it to his clients in the United States. The
Lamberto's first man was his brother Ramón Verdugo. Ramon
was in charge of keeping records of money and drugs, and was in charge of
that the cocaine was transported and stored in different places until
6
to be delivered to Lamberto's clients.
Lamberto was assassinated by the Mexican army approximately in
January 2009. After Lamberto's death, Ramón came with my
father and told him that he had detailed knowledge of various parts of the
Lamberto's operation. Ramón informed my father that he wanted to continue
buying the drug and selling it to Lamberto's clients of the same
the way it was done when he was alive.
***
“Lamberto Verdugo Calderón was one of the largest buyers of the Cartel of
Sinaloa, ”said Fernando Gaxiola. “He was originally, like Mayo, from the receivership El
Salado, he too, like Mayo, had gone to the United States in the wet to help
to support his 11 siblings, and in Arizona he began trafficking in drugs. " Your son
Luis Enrique is the godson of Mayo.
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On January 22, 2009, the military assassinated Lamberto Verdugo Calderón when he
He refused to stop at a checkpoint on the highway to Sinaloa.
Thanks to Vicentillo, the American government was able to identify him and his brothers.
In 2013, the Department of the Treasury bulletined them as operators of the
Sinaloa. They pointed to Lamberto's wife, Tomasa García Ríos, and Mónica Verdugo
García, as part of the criminal network.
His daughter is the owner of the Los Cascabeles water park, in the receivership of Costa
Rica, in the territory that dominates the May. It is a facility with pools,
slides, lodging cabins and event rooms. Around there are several farms of
Bachoco chicken.
Los Cascabeles was established in 2006 with the head notary of Mayo, Núñez
Bedolla, and with the prestanombres Germán Ponce Mendívil, Israel Ontiveros Sarabia,
José Alejandro Velázquez Rojo and Samuel Lemus Vázquez, who in 2011 gave up their
shares to Lamberto's daughter and Santiago García Pereda, María de los Ángeles Ríos
Campos and María Delia Cárdenas Morelos.
This company is linked to another water park called Jardines la Rinconada,
that until now has gone unnoticed by the authorities. It was created in 2006, at the same
time as Los Cascabeles and with the same names: Germán Ponce Mendívil and
Samuel Lemus Vazquez.
Thanks to the information provided by Vicentillo, in 2014 in the District Court
of Arizona a criminal file was opened against Lamberto's son, José Lamberto
Verdugo Barraza, and his brother, Samuel Verdugo Calderón. In 2014 the DEA arrested in
Phoenix to José Lamberto, who signed a plea agreement and is now purging a
six-year prison sentence. His brother Luis Enrique Verdugo Barraza was
stopped in 2017.
But the Mayo had other clients. For example, Benjamín Jaramillo Félix, alias Nene
Jaramillo . According to Gaxiola, this character is one of the biggest buyers of
cocaine in Mexico.
There was also Marco Paredes, aka Elena , who worked for Nene. In 2011 a
A special group of the Federal Police trained by the DEA detained Paredes in Mexico.
He was tortured and then interrogated by the DEA itself . Later he was extradited to the States
United at the request of the Federal Court of Columbia and, following the collaboration of Vicentillo,
a criminal file was opened against him at the end of 2012. Subsequently, he was
transferred to a Michigan federal court where on October 1, 2019, he signed a
plea agreement and confessed that he worked for Nene Jaramillo.
***
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José Rodrigo Aréchiga Gamboa, whom I also know as Chino

Anthrax , grew up together with my youngest stepbrother, Ismael Zambada
7
Imperial, who I also know as Mayito Gordo .
In approximately 2004, Chino, at age 24, began to
work for the Sinaloa Cartel at a very low level, generally
he was limited to driving for Gordo and running errands. Chino continued in this role
until about 2008, when he began to have more
responsibilities after the war began with the Beltrán, Zetas and
Cheek. Chino began acting as Gordo's bodyguard. It will
gave arms and was authorized to bring in more people to help protect
Fat.
After a while protecting Gordo, Chino began to
escort me. I gave Chino a bulletproof Jeep so that
could do the surveillance and authorized Chino to hire about 20
people who worked with him. Chino and all his people were paid by me
dad.
Later he became more involved in the Sinaloa Cartel protecting me
and Fat. Chino told me that since 2007 he was also working in the
transporting drugs from Culiacán to the border and bringing money back to
Culiacan. He tried to use this same system to move the drugs and money
from other people and charge them for the service.
Chino's system consisted only of taking drugs to the border, where
the drug was passed to the United States by others. Chino told me that
generally delivered the drugs to the same clients who had
paid transportation to the border. His clients were responsible for crossing
the drugs to the United States for themselves. Chino informed me that he used
two refrigerant trailers to transport the drug.
He confided to me that he had a source within the Bachoco company, which
is a legitimate company that is dedicated to the transport of chicken, egg and other
products in Mexico. Chino corrupted a person within the company
that provided him with all the appropriate and necessary documentation to
disguise drug loads with frozen chicken loads, to
move it from Culiacán to the border. He specifically told me that he had
trailers transporting frozen chickens a system to hide the
marijuana. Chino assured that each trailer could transport two
tons of marijuana.
He was my bodyguard when I went to one of the Cabrera ranches
Sarabia in 2009. During this visit I took Chino with my father so that he could
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explain this method of transporting marijuana. As i mentioned

Previously, at that time my father and Chapo bought a large
marijuana crop, which they tried to cross into the United States, a part
through a new crossing point that Gonzalo arranged in Sonoyta. How was it
a very large quantity of marijuana, my father needed various
means of transport to take it to the border.
During the meeting at the Cabrera Sarabia ranch, Chino told him
He told my father that he worked with the chicken company [Bachoco] and that
he could ship four trailers that could each hold two tons
of marijuana. Chino explained to my father that he had already done many
trips and that all had been successful. Chino explained that marijuana
it had to be taken to the company offices so that it could be hidden
inside cool boxes. Chino explained that since the trailers were going to
legally transport the company's chickens, he could not establish the
itinerary of the trailers. Rather the trailers were to follow the itinerary of the
company. My father said that for him this arrangement was fine and agreed to use
Chino's method of transporting marijuana.
After the meeting between Chino and my father, I learned that at
At least three shipments of marijuana were shipped to the border using
Chino's method, in Bachoco trailers. Specifically Chinese
thus transported at least six tons of marijuana that
they belonged to the Cabrera Sarabia. Chino got in touch with Felipe and
with Lupe to work on how to receive marijuana in the company
of chickens. Soon after, the marijuana was transported on planes from the
Cabrera Sarabia ranch and given to the people of Chino.
I am aware from the talks with my father and Chino that the entire
marijuana was successfully delivered at the border. Marijuana was
delivered to Pacheco in Mexicali and stored in a safe place, but not
I know who was responsible for crossing it into the United States. For my
conversations with Felipe, my father and others, I learned that the plan
was to deliver Felipe's six tons in California.
In addition to the movement of marijuana on the border, Chino
used chicken trailers to move money from the border to Culiacán.
Since the six-ton delivery was successful, my father wanted to fix a
second shipment of six tons. I was detained before the shipment
was completed.
Although Chino began his drug transport operation, he
continued the role as bodyguard and gunman for the cartel. Before me
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Arrest in 2009, Chino had direct lines of communication with M1 and others.
Chino and his people were available to fight against the rivals of the
cartel when necessary.
***
Of the many methods by which the Mayo and his people manage to transport the
drug, without a doubt that of the Bachoco trailers has been one of the most creative and
unsuspected. Who in Mexico is familiar with Bachoco and his friendly and in
ironic advertising campaign occasions of the cute chickens and eggs in disguise,
you could hardly imagine that frozen chicken trucks are loaded with
drug. Not even Gustavo Fring in Breaking Bad could have planned it better. The
Los Pollos Hermanos business does not seem so impossible compared to what it achieved
do the Chinese Anthrax.
Bachoco is a company founded in 1952 in Sonora. It is considered "leader in
poultry industry in Mexico and sixth producer of chicken worldwide ”. Listed on the
Bolsa Mexicana de Valores and in the New York Stock Exchange since 1997. Its
main commercial products are processed chicken, egg and pork. Has nine
8
production complexes in Mexico and one in the United States. The president of the council
of administration is Francisco Javier Robinson Bours Castelo. His brother, Eduardo
Robinson Bours Castelo, was governor of Sonora from 2003 to 2009 by the PRI .
Chino Anthrax, tall, young and athletic, was a world traveler. However, their
Crossings in chicken trucks and in different countries ended in December
2013 at Amsterdam airport. Various media assured that the images of the
Chino published on Instagram would have landed him in jail, but rather it was the
collaboration of Vicentillo.
In 2014 his extradition was executed and he was presented in the Southern District Court of
California. On May 20, 2015, even the tough Chino Anthrax reached an agreement and
pleaded guilty that at least from 2005 to 2013 he became a member of "high
level ”of the Sinaloa Cartel and that, in complicity with others, trafficked drugs to States
United and participated in the cartel's violent actions against its rivals. Chino was the leader
of the group of hitmen called the Anthrax. He was fined 10 million
dollars and his sentence has been postponed for at least three years, in which he has cooperated
with California Attorney Laura Duffy.
N OTES
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1
author.
two
Idem .
3
Idem .
4
Idem .
5
Idem .
6
Idem .
7
Idem .
8
Public profile of the company published in October 2019 in the CNVB .
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eleven
More than half of the world is Sinaloa territory
The powerful Italian criminal group 'Ndrangheta, which operates in Calabria and today is one of
the most powerful in Europe, has a saying that its members say with pride: “The
The world is divided between what is Calabria and what will become Calabria ”. In the
half a century that the Mayo has been the boss of the Sinaloa Cartel has achieved a
good part of that dream. And it is that his criminal organization operates in more than 50% of the
world territory.
If one sees the map designed by the IDA , the institute responsible for advising the
United States Department of Defense, you gasp. The Mayo cartel
It has a presence in practically the entire American continent, with the exception of Suriname,
French Guyana, Haiti and Greenland. It operates in Mediterranean, Balkan and
Central. In Asia it covers countries such as Russia, Turkey, India, China, Thailand, Laos,
even North Korea and South Korea. And in Africa it has a presence in countries such as
Morocco, Mauritania, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria. Reaches up
Australia and New Zealand.
El Mayo is linked to a financial network in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, through
of Leopoldo Ochoa Juárez, a major methamphetamine manufacturer that supplies the
Sinaloa Cartel, whom Vicentillo met directly. That same network has
companies in Mexico associated with Canadians, according to the findings of my
research and with a member of the direct family of the Robinson Bours, from
Bachoco.
If you see the sale price of a kilo of cocaine in several of the countries mentioned, you
can understand the motivation that prompted the Sinaloa Cartel to leave the continent
American and expand. Rey said that the price of a kilo in New York reached 35 thousand
dollars, in Russia and China to 200 thousand, and in Australia and New Zealand up to 300 thousand.
The IDA report notes that:
Sinaloa's drug trafficking operations continue to expand at the

world. Traditionally, the TCO [transnational criminal organization] has operated
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widely in Central and South America, managing sophisticated networks of

transportation cells and other financial affiliates in these regions to move the
cocaine to and through Mexico.
Sinaloa continues to expand its presence in key areas, especially with the
establishment of logistics centers in the region.
Sinaloa's operations in West Africa are critical to
supply its European market, serving as a key reference point for
drug shipments.
For its methamphetamine production and money laundering activities, Sinaloa
has operations in China to purchase precursor chemicals and goods
used in commerce, based on money laundering schemes.
Authorities attribute the success and global reach of Sinaloa to a number of
factors, including its extensive transportation networks, its strong intelligence apparatus,
their sophisticated money laundering activities and their ability to corrupt
1
public and private officials ”.
The dozens of examples pointed out by Vicentillo, who was a first-line witness to
all the ways in which the cartel traffics drugs, give an idea of the limitless operations
of the criminal organization.
According to Gaxiola, the main reason why the arrests and fractures of the Cartel of
Sinaloa have not implied its weakening is the presence of the Mayo and its ability to
get service providers and new customers to buy drugs from you in a way
massive. For many international organizations that traffic cocaine, the cartel has
been an obligatory intermediary to reach the producers of Colombia, Peru and
Bolivia.
“In Colombia, the Sinaloa Cartel is the most reliable, in the chain of trafficking of
drugs no one deals with a stranger, the only one who talks to a stranger is the
final consumer."
Gaxiola told me that El Chapo was buying land in Colombia to produce
the coca himself and no longer go through any intermediary. Although in our last
encounter could not confirm if the plan had materialized.
The attorney Nicola Gratteri of Catanzaro, capital of the Calabria region, Italy,
share what Gaxiola said. He claims, for example, that the Albanian mafia, which works
together with the 'Ndrangheta, it is playing an increasingly important role among producers
direct cocaine.
The most reasonable reason is the accreditation that the Albanian clans took from the
Mexican cartels through the 'Ndrangheta. It is very difficult to get accredited
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versus South American producers out of nowhere. I still remember that those who
they tried were killed in Mexico. They were criminals of Serbian origin-
Montenegrin. We have registered contact in Mexico between men of the
two
'Ndrangheta and the Albanian mafia.
As you can see, it does not matter that the new government of President Andrés Manuel López
Obrador erase from his official speeches and press conferences every morning
the existence of the Sinaloa Cartel and other Mexican criminal organizations that
traffic drugs, because they are still there: they exist, operate and are the matrix that engenders
violence and corruption in daily life in Mexico.
***
I knew Antonio Beltrán, who is also called the Tony , since the decade
of the nineties. Tony worked with someone else who I know as Yiyo
to cross drugs into the United States. I know Yiyo roughly
since late 2006, early 2007, but I don't know the real name of
3
Yiyo.
I am aware from my conversations with Tony, Yiyo, and others that Tony
and Yiyo crossed cocaine and marijuana into the United States through
tunnels and secret compartments in cars. In addition to crossing the
Tony also had cocaine clients in California.
Tony often coordinated with Juancho [Juan Guzmán Rocha] to
distribute drugs to Juancho and Tony's clients in California.
Around 2009 Tony and Yiyo asked my father for help with the
corrupt Mexican government officials in Sonora, specifically
with the Federal Police in Nogales. I asked a person named
Rodolfo Beltrán Burgos, of whom I will speak later in this statement, if
he knew the Federal Police of Nogales. Beltrán Burgos answered yes,
so I put Beltrán Burgos in contact with Tony. Beltran Burgos
introduced Tony to the commander in charge of the Federal Police and from
From that point on, Tony started paying her bribes on a monthly basis.
***
At the time reported by Vicentillo, 2009, General Armando Treviño Briseño was the
Coordinator of the Federal Police in Sonora. Facundo Rosas Rosas was the head of the PF a
national level and Oswaldo Luna Valderrábano was Chief of the General Staff, responsible for
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direct from police appointments in each state.

In 2011 Treviño Briseño was appointed secretary of Public Safety of the city
border of Río Bravo, Tamaulipas.
***
The Limón Sánchez brothers, Alfonso and Óscar, are associated with the
Sinaloa Cartel. They have another brother named Ovid who they don't
4
I remember knowing. I also know that Alfonso's nickname is Poncho .
I met Alfonso and Óscar around 2006 through a
mutual friend in a horse race. In about 2007 my
father learned through a corrupt commander that he worked in the PGR
that the Limón Sánchez brothers were being investigated and linked
to my father. I brought Poncho [Alfonso Limón Sánchez] to see my father and
my father explained what he knew about the investigation. At that moment,
when was the meeting, I do not think that the Limón Sánchez brothers
were doing any criminal business with the Sinaloa Cartel, without
However, after the meeting, the Limón Sánchez brothers slowly
took a role in the drug trafficking operations of the
Sinaloa.
The Lemons built their own infrastructure to move drugs in
Mexico and cross it to the United States. The Lemons bought many times
cocaine to my father in Culiacán. About four times in
2008 my father asked me to instruct Monito to deliver cocaine to
Lemon that they had bought from my father. Of these four
transactions I ordered Monito to deliver approximately 500 kilos of
cocaine for the Lemons twice, and approximately 300 kilos in two
occasions. Monito reported to me when the merchandise was delivered
successfully.
I was present with my father when Poncho informed him that these
cocaine shipments were destined for California to be distributed
among its clients in the United States. Poncho later informed my father and
to me that one of the 500 kg shipments was insured by the
government of Mexico near Hermosillo, Sonora, before crossing into
United. The shipment was insured because the Lemons had not paid
time bribes in Sonora. My father told Poncho that he always
had to pay the bribes on time to prevent the risk of
assurances.
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In about 2009 the Lemons played an active role in the

transaction of a ton of cocaine. Specifically Óscar and Poncho
they worked with Pacheco [Cenobio Flores Pacheco] to cross
approximately 300 kilos in Mexicali across the border to Calexico, California.
Once the kilos reached Mexicali, I called him Pacheco on the radio and
I transmitted my father's order to give Óscar and Poncho 300 kilos to
pass them. Later, Pacheco and the Limóns coordinated their respective
workers to divide the kilos and move them across the border in
small amounts. I was present with my father and Germán [Germán
Magaña Pasos] when my father asked Germán to receive cocaine
in Los Angeles after it was crossed, so Germán's people
could deliver the merchandise in Chicago.
I am aware of my subsequent conversations with my father and
Germán that all the cocaine crossed by the Limons was successfully
received in Los Angeles and moved to Chicago where it was delivered to the people
of Felipe.
***
In November 2011 Ovidio Limón was arrested in Mexico as a result of the collaboration
Vicentillo with the US government. According to information from the authorities
Mexican women, the capture “was carried out without any shooting thanks to the activities of
exploitation of information and monitoring ”carried out by the Mexican army, but the
reality was another.
Alfonso Limón was arrested in November 2014 for the same reason, along with
Martín Avendaño Ojeda, Jesús Beltrán León, son of Raúl Beltrán Uriarte, and Rafael
Guadalupe Félix Núñez, alias Changuito Ántrax , who worked for Chino Ántrax.
In September 2013, the United States government prosecutor's office initiated a
criminal lawsuit against Poncho, but he escaped in March 2017 from the high
security of Aguaruto, Culiacán, along with Juan José Esparragoza Monzón, nicknamed
Azulito , son of Juan José Esparragoza Moreno, el Azul .
***
Another person associated with the Sinaloa Cartel is a man whom only
I know as Roberto. I met him around 2005. I know from my
conversations with Roberto, Juancho and my father, that Roberto has
cocaine customers in California. Sometimes Roberto worked with
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Juancho to sell cocaine that Juancho had already transported to

California. Roberto also bought cocaine from my father in Culiacán. He
for my conversations with my father and Roberto that he bought
approximately 300 to 500 kilos of cocaine in each transaction with my
dad. Roberto has his own transport infrastructure, but sometimes
use Gonzalo's [Macho Prieto] Pemex tanks to move the
cocaine from Culiacán to Mexicali to cross the border into the United States. Me
I was personally involved in selling cocaine to Roberto
5
approximately three times in 2007 and 2008.
In each of these transactions I ordered Monito to give
approximately 100 kilos of cocaine to Roberto and then collect the
payment of the merchandise. About five or six other times
I transmitted orders from my father to Monito and others to deliver cocaine to
Roberto that he had bought my father.
***
Sergio Barrera [Sergio Armando Barrera Salcedo], whom I know as the

Secre , has been associated with my father at least since the nineties. Me
I first met him around 1997 or 1998. I know from my
talks with Secre, my father, and others, that Secre has her own
infrastructure to receive tons of cocaine from Colombia. Secre receives
in Mexico, cans loaded with cocaine from Colombia in the name of other
which he receives a portion of the shipment as payment for his
6
services.
Secre also has infrastructure that allows you to receive in Oaxaca
planes loaded with cocaine from Colombia. These planes
apparently they had legitimate documents and authorizations to fly
from Colombia to Mexico. In about 2008 or 2009 I followed
I saw Secre with M1, when they came to see my father.
Secre had contacts with corrupt Mexican government officials,
including his brother, when I was arrested his brother was a lieutenant
active colonel or colonel in the special forces of the Mexican army
known as GAFES .
***
In August 2012, after Vicentillo shared information with the government of
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The United States, coincidentally, it was the Mexican army itself that detained the Secre.
They assured that he was traveling to Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua to coordinate the trafficking of
drug.
***
Around 2007 I met a partner of my father and Juancho, at

who I knew as Polo and Polo Ochoa . I think the real name of
Polo is Leopoldo Ochoa. Around 2008 Polo was wearing the
Sinaloa Cartel tanks to transport ephedrine from Cancun to
Culiacan. I am aware that Polo used the tanks for this purpose
for my conversations with my father and Juancho and because I had contact
with Chepe in relation to the tanks when they were used to transport the
Polo ephedrine. I learned from my conversations with my father and
Juancho that Polo has infrastructure to process ephedrine and other
7
chemical precursors in methamphetamine.
Later Polo sells this methamphetamine in Culiacán to Juancho and others
customers, who ship the methamphetamine to the United States to
distribute it. The person in charge of receiving the shipments in Culiacán
transported in the tanks on behalf of Polo was Francisco Félix, whom
I also met as Pancho . Pancho was arrested in Mexico during the
The same military operation in which Lamberto Verdugo was assassinated.
***
Polo Ochoa Juárez started in the criminal business very young, at 32 he was already a
important supplier of methamphetamine del Mayo, el Chapo and others.
Polo did not act alone, he associated with Ezio Benjamín Figueroa Vázquez, his son
Hassein Eduardo Figueroa Gómez —who looks like an Arab and uses the alias Ernesto
Fernández Gómez - and Rodrigo Romero Mena. This is how he managed to boost his business
methamphetamine and create companies through which he obtained products for his
manufacturing, concealed their transportation, and laundered money.
These are at least 27 companies located in Mexico (18), Panama (2), Dubai (3) and
Cyprus (4). They ran all kinds of businesses: race cars, fish farms,
real estate development, manufacture of chemical and pharmaceutical products, and even
manufacture of tequila.
Ezio and his son Hassein were singled out in April 2012 by the United States government
United as traffickers of chemical precursors like ephedrine and pseudoephedrine
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from Europe and Africa who sold to Mexican criminal organizations

to produce methamphetamine, mainly to the Sinaloa Cartel. Since 2011 father and
son were charged with money laundering by a federal court in Virginia and turned
8
arrest warrant against the two.
In September 2011 Ezio was arrested in Mexico on the charge of selling
chemical supplies to cartels.
Polo had access to a wide business and political circle through Figueroa
Vázquez and his son Hassein.
In one of the companies created in 2005 in Cancun, which is still active today, the
Ezio's partner is Alejandro Murat Hinojosa, current governor of Oaxaca, son of
former Governor José Murat. And in another company headed by Hassein, the cousin of
President of Bachoco, Germán Ignacio Ruiz Robinson Bours, is the legal representative.
In the Squadra Fortia company, created in 2002, Ezio and his son Hassein are partners of
Roberto Figueroa Aguirre, and a Canadian citizen named Allen Bernard Berg
Black, according to the articles of incorporation of the company created in Guadalajara. At Aquiatic
Depot, SA de CV, also established in Guadalajara, Figueroa Vázquez is
associated with Colombians Héctor Fabio and Luis Fernando Castillo Ocampo. Both
are still open.
Architectural Development Fortia was founded in 2003 and is still open. Its partners are
Hassein Figueroa Gómez, Rodrigo Romero Mena and Lucero Espinoza Vargas. None
He was over 30 when they created it. The company built the lavish Tower
The 26-story Citadel, also known as the Heritage Grand Tower in Guadalajara,
height, in the luxurious Puerta de Hierro subdivision, with 50% Mexican capital and
50% Arab, as advertised by the same company in February 2011. Actually, the two
companies were from Hassein. Currently some apartments are still for sale, the
price is 22 million pesos.
Since 2009 the lawyer Germán Ignacio Ruiz Robinson Bours was appointed by the
Hassein himself as legal representative of the Fortia Architectural Development company,
appointment that until October 2019 remains in force. It is a fact, as told by
Vicentillo, who in 2009 Chino Ántrax was already moving cocaine in trucks from Bachoco.
In that same year, Fortia Architectural Development created a subsidiary in Dubai. More
Later, Hassein, now 46, created other companies in that city: Maestro Investment
LLC, Sona Valley & Diamonds, Mexico Lindo Trading, Ergonas Trading, Forcata
9
Holdings, Rio Timto, and Greenfield Studios.
In 2011 Figueroa Vázquez was arrested in Mexico. But it wasn't until April
2012, after Vicentillo's collaboration with the United States authorities, when
the government of that country classified Ezio and Hassein as "great traffickers of
chemical precursors in Mexico ”and of having a“ significant role ”in the trafficking of
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drugs On that date, any American businessman and company was prohibited from making
doing business with them and with at least 16 of the companies they managed to locate.
Polo was executed in December 2012 while traveling in a luxury van
on the New Malecón in Sinaloa. El Chapo had him killed. It was finished since
Vicentillo signed an affidavit to the United States government in July of that year.
United, but it was the people of El Chapo who annihilated him, thanks to the fact that El Mayo provided
its exact location. The reason is that El Chapo found out that Polo was offering
the Americans information to capture it and get rid of conflicts with the gringos
they already had their partners Ezio and Hassein in their sights.
***
Dámaso López Núñez, whom I also know as a Bachelor , Lic or

Belisario , was one of Chapo's main lieutenants. First
I met Damaso around 2003, but I was aware of him
from a long time before. On behalf of Chapo, Damaso interacted with
the Colombian supply sources of my father and Chapo.
Specifically, Dámaso was responsible for coordinating with the Colombians
to establish the encounter between the boats and submarines that
transported cocaine from Colombia and ships sent from
10
Mexico to bring cocaine to Mexican soil.
Around 2008 my father and Chapo negotiated the reception of
approximately 20 tons of cocaine from its supply sources in
Colombia. I am aware from my conversations with my father, Chapo, and others that
Damaso was responsible for coordinating the reception of that shipment.
Dámaso worked with Capi Beto [Heriberto Zazueta Godoy], who had two
ships that had hidden compartments that passed through the
Panama. Additionally, on his own, Damaso sent two other boats that
They will pass through the Panama Canal. Damaso coordinated the meeting at sea
between the four ships and the ships that had departed from Choco, Colombia,
loading the 20 tons. Once the cocaine was transferred within
the boats that had passed through the Panama Canal, Damaso arranged that
the boats will reach the Mexican coast and from there to Sinaloa. When the boats
were on the coast of Sinaloa, Dámaso coordinated with a person to
who I knew as Colas , to send small boats to meet the
ships that brought cocaine, and they took it to beaches or locations
isolated in Sinaloa. Once the cocaine was on the ground, Damaso
contacted people from my father and from Chapo including Monito and a
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person I know as Keta , who transported the drug to

safe houses in El Dorado and Culiacán. Most of the 20
tons of cocaine were brought to Mexico in this way. Cocaine
The remainder was sent in submarines directly from Colombia to Sinaloa.
When the submarines reached the shores of Sinaloa, Damaso arranged to
again that small boats went for the merchandise in the same way that
with the boats. After the cocaine was taken from the subs
these were sunk and the Colombian crew was taken with Damaso.
At about the end of 2008 Damaso was involved in another
operation to bring cocaine from Colombia through Guatemala and Belize to
Mexico, through fumigation planes, among other types of planes. I'm
learned from conversations with my father, Chapo, Juancho and others who
these planes could carry up to half a ton of cocaine each.
Damaso was in charge of getting landing strips in Guatemala,
Belize and southern Mexico for this operation. My father also gave
orders to Benny [Armando Contreras Subías] and Marquitos [Marco Antonio
Paredes Machado] to help him get landing strips due to
your familiarity with those areas. I was present when Chapo informed
my father that the cocaine shipments had successfully reached
Mexico using this method. Damaso also has infrastructure for
moving drugs through Honduras. One of the people I worked with
Damaso in Honduras was one I knew as Marisquero, her name
it was Caesar. In approximately 2008 in the name of Chapo and Dámaso,
Cesar received cocaine by land in Honduras. Then this cocaine was
sent to Guadalajara and Culiacán where it was sold.
***
The name of the Marisquero is César Gastélum Serrano. According to Gaxiola he was not an employee
neither del Mayo nor El Chapo. He was a very important cocaine dealer based in
Honduras, which sometimes supplied them, but was more than an ally a competitor.
Gaxiola told me about him since 2011, he told me that the amount of drugs he trafficked was
could compare to that of an entire cartel. I asked DEA people if anyone knew him, yes
the name was familiar to them. No one. Gastélum was invisible until in 2011 Vicentillo
spoke about it to the United States government.
In December 2014, the Department of the Treasury reported as drug traffickers
César Gastélum Serrano and his four brothers: Francisco Javier, Jaime, Alfredo and
Guadalupe Candelario.
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Vicentillo knew the address of a residence of the Marisquero in Honduras, I

Gaxiola said. Thanks to that, they tracked him down and arrested him in Quintana Roo on
April 2015. That same year he was extradited.
Shortly before, in 2014, they arrested the Honduran drug trafficker Héctor Emilio
Fernández Rosa, who was a supplier to Mexican cartels since 1998 and came to
build the Cartel of the Suns in your country. Fernández Rosa paid 2 million dollars of
bribery of Manuel Zelaya, who was elected president of Honduras in 2006 and whose
brief mandate ended with a coup in 2009. He then financed the campaign
policy of the deputy who became president in 2009, Roberto Micheletti, and with
eleven
This obtained an open letter to bring massive shipments of cocaine to Honduras.
Between 2008 and 2010, Fernández Rosa began selling methamphetamine to the
Sinaloa. It received large shipments of ephedrine in Honduras and made a
project that Vicentillo spoke about, which had to do with setting up a laboratory for
methamphetamine. Fernández Rosa established him in the Department of Cortés, where he is
the largest port in Honduras and where they received ephedrine "to the table."
In that operation, Fernández Rosa worked with the Shellfishman, of whom the
The United States Department of Justice affirmed that he was "Chapo's lieutenant,"
but in reality it had a weight of its own and was closer to Mayo by means of Polo
Ochoa. It was from that network of corruption in Honduras that the
methamphetamine that Polo brought him to Mayo.
In November 2018, Juan Antonio Hernández, Tony , former federal deputy of
Honduras, brother of the current president, Juan Orlando Hernández, was arrested in
Miami Florida. He was accused of being a large-scale trafficker and the Department of
Justice linked him to Fernández Rosa. On October 18, 2019, the District Court
South New York found Tony Hernández guilty, who according to the prosecution would have
received money from Chapo himself for his brother.
According to the American government, the current crisis in Honduras and Venezuela is
owes “in part to the activities and corruption of some members of the Cartel
Soles ”, partners of Mayo and El Chapo.
In his confession, the Marisquero told US authorities that he himself
bribed presidential candidates to move drugs through ports and
airports in Guatemala. And that it also paid Honduran officials, including the
President of Honduras. Del Chapo said he had no money, that he always asked
loans and walked with an outstretched hand.
***
The Cázares family have been friends of my father, Chapo and Beltrán Leyva for
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A long time. Emilio Cázares worked with my father, Chapo and the Beltrán
to receive cocaine from Central and South America and transport it to the USA for its
12
distribution.
In the past Emilio worked closer to the Beltrans than to my father or
Chapo. I was present at some of the meetings with my father and
Chapo in which Emilio invited them to invest in a cocaine shipment
that he planned to bring to Mexico from Guatemala. My father and Chapo worked
directly with Emilio in bringing this load, but I'm not very familiar
with the details.
From my talks with Emilio and others I learned that Emilio frequently
he bought between 500 and a thousand kilos of cocaine in Culiacán from Mochomo Beltrán.
Emilio had his own network that allowed him to transport cocaine to Mexicali and
cross it to the USA . Sometimes Chapo trusted Emilio's structure in
Mexicali to cross cocaine into the USA .
Emilio's sister is Blanca Cázares. I have known Blanca since
that he was young. It is the owner of different exchange houses or institutions
financial institutions in Culiacán and other parts of Mexico. My father and other members
The Sinaloa Cartel often used the financial infrastructure of
Blanca to change dollars to pesos or vice versa depending on the
currency required. Specifically I am aware that my father
used Blanca's infrastructure to exchange dollars for pesos and pay
bribes and people on his payroll.
***
Blanca Margarita Cázares Salazar is better known in the Sinaloa Cartel as the
Empress . Now she is 64 years old, and if Vicentillo has known her since she was young, it is because
she and her brother have always been part of the Sinaloa Cartel.
In 2007 the United States government identified Emilio and Blanca Cázares as
part of the Mayo criminal network and accused them of having at least 19 companies in Mexico
that they use for drug trafficking and money laundering. They are located in Culiacán,
Tijuana, Guadalajara and Mexico City.
The companies have a diverse social purpose: construction companies, area developers
urban, importers and exporters, clothing distributors, electrical appliances.
They are also dedicated to private security, purchase and sale of security products.
communication. And businesses that call themselves "exchange houses", like Agbas
Consultores, created in 2004, which operates in the popular Valle del Rubí neighborhood in Tijuana,
But it does not have any permission from the National Banking Commission or the Secretariat
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of the Treasury. The United States Department of the Treasury classified it as a

company linked to drug trafficking.
Despite this and the fact that the Mexican authorities are aware of the relationship between the
Cázares and el Mayo, all businesses reported continue to operate according to the registry
public property. The only exceptions are Comercializadora Joana and
Comercializadora Toquin, whose registration in Culiacán indicates that the PGR insured them in
2008.
There are other companies linked to the Empress or to the namesakes she used to
incorporate companies that are not consigned with the Treasury Department, such as
Agroindustrial Credit Union of the Culiacán Valley, which made loans and closed
operations in 2019; Los Milagros de los Santos, in Guadalajara, and Comercial Magitoy,
in Culiacán.
For its part, the consulting firm IDA has identified three other "exchange houses"
related to the Empress that the United States government began to investigate
as part of the financial network of the Sinaloa Cartel: Servicios de Cambio Culiacán,
Exchange Service Cuquis or Coquets, and Oro Verde Casa de Cambio. They have no
permission to operate, but they are presumed to function as the cartel's petty cash.
***
I met Rodolfo Beltrán Burgos, whom I know as the Doctor ,

around the end of 2007, beginning of 2008. At that time Doctor
I already knew Chapo and [he] asked Juancho and me to introduce ourselves with
Doctor so that we can communicate with each other. The Doctor served as
one of the main contacts between the Sinaloa Cartel and members of the
government of Mexico. In particular, the Doctor had many contacts with the
Secretariat of National Defense, the PGR , the Navy and the Secretariat of
13
Federal Public Safety.
The Doctor was responsible for paying weekly or monthly
bribes to the upper echelons of these corporations. Special payments
or bonds were also delivered by the Doctor and others in relation to certain
activities such as the transportation of cocaine [by the authorities]
to a given address.
In addition to the Doctor, the other people generally responsible for
making bribe payments to corrupt officials were people to
who I met as the Student , Mr. Carlos, Sergio and Keta . I'm
learned that Student was murdered in Mexico City.
Depending on the official and the type of payment, the payment of bribes
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made by Doctor and others who developed a similar role, varied according to
a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. In exchange for the
bribes, Mexican government officials provided: 1) Information
related to operations against the Sinaloa Cartel, its members and
associates. 2) Direct assistance when members of the Sinaloa Cartel and
his associates were detained or subject to drug seizure. 3)
They took actions to arrest or assassinate enemies of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The Sinaloa Cartel often developed information on the
identities, whereabouts and activities of the cartel's enemies and rivals.
This information was provided by the Doctor, and others, to the officials
corrupt government officials who in turn used this information for their
operations to arrest or assassinate the cartel's enemies and rivals.
I had direct contact with the Doctor on many occasions
related to the payment of corrupt officials and to coordinate the
receipt and use of the information that these officials provided to the
poster. The person he knew as Keta was one of the people
responsible for my protection. I ordered Keta to be in contact with him
Doctor to make sure Keta was informed if there were any
threat to me and my family from the government or from enemies of the
Sinaloa.
I was also directing a person I know as Monito to
bring money to Doctor for the payment of bribes. Monito's general role
was to protect and transport the money and drugs of the Sinaloa Cartel in the
surroundings of Culiacán. The Doctor was usually able to get the
money needed to pay the bribes without my personal help. Even so, I
ordered Monito to take the money for the payment of bribes to Doctor and in
sometimes I took money to Doctor myself to make payment for
bribes on at least two occasions.
***
On May 29, 2009, the army arrested the doctor in the Saludero neighborhood of Culiacán.
Sedena said in a press release that the Doctor was traveling in a Hummer with
armed people, and that when they arrested him he was carrying more than 3 million pesos and 350
thousand dollars in cash, as well as communication equipment, firearms and
"Diverse documentation".
Officially Rodolfo Beltrán Burgos was a successful supplement seller
dieticians of the Omnilife company, owned by businessman Jorge Vergara, and even
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He had shares of the Chivas soccer team. Unofficially did the job described
by Vicentillo.
The Doctor carried with him key data on anti-drug maneuvers of the Federal Police and
even reports that the DEA gave Mexico about its strategies, as well as data from
Navy and SIEDO operatives . 14
Also, as part of the day-to-day work he did for the cartel, the Doctor had
documents with the description of grades and positions in code, emails and
cell phone numbers and radio frequency of the main commands of the Forces
Federal Support Officers of the Federal Police chaired by Facundo Rosas and his superior boss,
Genaro García Luna, the closest man to President Calderón and the oldest
power in the cabinet.
To make matters worse, the Doctor had a meticulously organized list of names
in key of various federal officials, from various agencies, with amounts and
payment dates. He always said that he was a simple businessman who had nothing to do
with drug trafficking.
Although from the revelations of Vicentillo, who knew him directly, no
there was no doubt that the Doctor worked for the Sinaloa Cartel, he was released in
September 2014. The argument was that the PGR was unable to present evidence in its
against.
The Doctor's list was just a small sample of the immeasurable network of
corruption of the cartel that crossed the Rio Grande and went further north.
N OTES
1
US Northern Command, “Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations Counter
Threat Finance Study Series. Modeling Financial Components of the Sinaloa
Transnational Criminal Organization ”, IDA , April 2012.
two
Giuseppe Legato, “Nicola Gratteri: 'La' Ndrangheta tip a diventare il supermarket di
tutte le droghe '”, La Stampa , September 9, 2019.
3
Text written by Vicente Zambada Niebla, of which the lawyer gave me a copy
Fernando Gaxiola.
4
Idem .
5
Idem .
6
Idem .
7
Idem .
8
United States Department of the Treasury, press releases of April 12,
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2012, and Eastern District Court of Virginia, 1: 11-cr-00529.

9
Report of the private firm Center for Advanced Defense Studies, in
Washington dc
10
author.
eleven
Contents of criminal file 1: 12-cr-00894 opened against Héctor Emilio
Fernández Rosa in the Southern District Court of New York.
12
author.
13
14
Idem .
EFE , "The Sinaloa cartel has information from the SSP, " Reforma , May 11, 2010.
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12
"We work for the government"
How the government is paid and in what way I participated helping my

father.
[nowThey are paid

Federal monthly,
Ministerial paid towhich
Police], the AFIis commander
in charge of the entire state,
the commanders of the State Judicial Police, the police
municipal, to the PF . For this type of thing the Doctor was in charge and
also Dámaso [López Núñez], and on the part of us or my father is
Commander Cordero who pays the court, and there is Keta who is the one who
1
He was looking at those from the PFP , those from the AFI and the judiciary.
Since my dad is always in the mountains, he told me about Keta or
Lamb, "hey, the monthly payment has arrived", and I was talking to the one of the
in charge of my dad's money, who have it saved. For example,
paid the commander of Culiacán 50 thousand dollars a month, he was paid to the
commander of Mazatlán 30 thousand dollars, to those of the PFP of Culiacán,
Mazatlán, La Cruz de Elota, $ 20,000 each. What I was doing was
talk to [Omar] Wiwi, my boy, and to another I call Perico , and
He said “hey, go and ask for so much there where the money is kept and give it to them
Keta ”, and when the state or municipal courts were paid
said the same thing "give so much to Cordero", and I told them to write down the
amount and date for my dad to keep his accounts.
They are paid to the [coordinator of the PF and AFI ] of Sinaloa, that of Nayarit, that of
Jalisco, Baja California, Chiapas, Chetumal. When
They change commander in the squares, before the manager leaves,
he himself introduces you to the new one. The Doctor and the Keta were talking to me, and I
I was already telling my dad that they had already appointed a new commander and that
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everything was fine. And my dad or El Chapo were already looking at him in person to
greet him and put himself at his orders and my dad would tell me "I order you to
remember the monthly payment or you give the money to the Doctor or the Keta so that
every month they are paying ”. And it was the part of the function that I helped
my dad, not always, because a year I spent three or four months away
from Culiacán, I was going to Mexico City, but I did everything by phone or
Nextel.
Several times I did meet AFI commanders through my dad,
when I was with him and at that moment he called them to greet them and I
presented them. My dad always sees the commanders who are arriving or
when they change them, and then the Doctor or the Keta takes care of
be giving them their monthly payment. My dad always greets them and talks to
them, more like a courtesy from him, I don't know what to call him, but he
he always sees them.
With the commanders of the State Judicial Police it is the same
mechanism, they are paid every month. It is given to the principal, the deputy principal, the de
operations and each game, the games are those in each
state city, for example, is given to Mazatlán, La Cruz, El Salado,
Costa Rica, El Dorado, Escuinapa, El Rosario, Navolato, Pericos, and I
What he did was talk to get the money to Cordero, or sometimes
someone else was paying them too. My role was sometimes just to grab the
phone, talk and say "give so much to so-and-so" and that was all, and so on
I was talking about all the expenses.
The PGR has regional delegates and sub-delegates. All delegates
and subdelegates are friends of my father and Chapo, and everyone else.
Each delegate that arrives in Culiacán, if not known, the outgoing delegate
presents it. All of them throughout the Republic are friends.
99% of the PGR is corrupt and we give them all the money. Each
year or every certain months they are rotated throughout the Republic. But they are
the same and they know each other. And to whatever state they go, they
They report to whoever is in charge in the state. If they are in Culiacán,
so my father and Chapo give them money, if they move to another state
like Tamaulipas, then it is logical that with whom they report is with the
Zetas or the Gulf Cartel. But there is not a single official who does not take
money.
We give money to the director of the municipal police, police
state and the Federal Police. They were giving a monthly payment to
Guadalajara commander of the PGR and the PF . The same in Nayarit, Sonora
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and Baja California the same. And in those states they give them money not because my father
or Chapo have people, if not they give it to them in case a shipment passes
by the state or in case they need something.
I know that they gave money to many of the PF . I know it through my mouth
father and Chapo. The one who handled all that was the Doctor and Keta.
***
El Mayo coined two sayings that Gaxiola heard him say several times. They are the rule of
gold that has allowed the kingpin to be the leader of drugs in Mexico for half a century without
never having stepped on jail: "With enough money, everything can be done" and "The government
he will always have more bullets, there is no point in fighting with them ”.
“The cartel's infrastructure is made up of […] maritime resources, in the air,
land, also human resources, also territories and also authorities
corrupt. High-ranking government officials are very important to the
two
drug trafficking infrastructure, ”Rey said in his testimony before the US court.
Although the Doctor, Keta and Cordero were at that time responsible for paying the
Most of the bribes, when it was a top-level official, the
Mayo sent his brother Rey directly.
According to Rey, who for years was an integral part of the Sinaloa Cartel, the
Corrupt officials who every year charge money to protect the cartel formed
part of the assets of your criminal enterprise.
The higher the bribed public official, the more valuable and useful the
"active". In the six-year terms of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón, El Mayo, El Chapo and the
Beltrán Leyva reached the highest level. Bribes splashed everyone.
For example, during the Fox administration, the head of the AFI , Genaro
García Luna, received 3 million dollars in bribes from the Mayo. I know them
delivered Rey in his own hand. The objective was, among others, that Norberto be appointed
3
Vigueras Beltrán as regional head of the AFI in Culiacán.
El Mayo got what he wanted. Vigueras Beltrán, who had worked at the AFI
(formerly the Judicial Police) since 1986, he was in Hidalgo and in the period of García
Luna was transferred as regional chief to Culiacán, where he was from 2003 to 2006. Rey
He said that Mayo wanted it there because "he had it in his pocket." Then they sent it as
regional chief of the AFI in Durango, another territory of the Mayo and the Sinaloa Cartel, where
served from 2006 to 2011. In October 2019, Vigueras Beltrán was appointed secretary of
Cuernavaca Public Security.
During his tenure at AFI , García Luna and his closest team of collaborators:
Luis Cárdenas Palomino, Francisco Javier Garza Palacios, Facundo Rosas Rosas, Edgar
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Millán Gómez, Roberto Velasco, Armando Espinoza de Benito, Igor Labastida, Luis
Manuel Becerril Mina, Gerardo Garay Cadena, Ramón Pequeno, among others, were
indicated in the internal affairs unit of the PGR for corruption and links with the
Sinaloa Cartel.
García Luna and his people took out the bribes. During the cartel war
Sinaloa against the Gulf and the Zetas, the AFI was an armed wing of Mayo, El Chapo and
Arturo Beltrán Leyva on more than one occasion.
During the administration of Felipe Calderón, the president himself received millions of dollars in
bribes when he publicly claimed to have a war against drug traffickers in
Mexico. He would have received money from the Mayo and the Beltrán Leyva, as he confessed to the
United States government, the drug trafficker Álex Cifuentes, a close associate of
4
both groups.
This was uncomfortably aired to the public during Chapo's trial in Nueva
York in 2018 and 2019. Although Calderón said it was not true, the United States government
Unidos did not deny the accusation because it comes directly from one of the witnesses
most important collaborators of the Department of Justice.
In 2012, Édgar Valdez Villarreal publicly stated that President Calderón
5
He came to preside over meetings with drug traffickers to reach agreements.
Rey affirmed to the United States government that in 2007 it delivered directly to
García Luna 5 million dollars in cash: the higher the rank, the higher the payment. And safe
that García Luna himself accepted $ 50 million from Arturo Beltrán Leyva, the
Barbie and her partner José Gerardo Álvarez, el Indio . 6
At the other level of federal officials from various institutions, Rey confessed that
He spent about $ 300,000 a month on bribes. But if it was a
senior director of the PGR or an army general, the payments amounted to half
million dollars for each one.
They were not sterile payments, dirty money was the compost that made the effective grow
collaboration between the police and the Sinaloa Cartel. The “assets” of the SSP and the PF ,
as Rey called them, they rendered useful services. They not only helped them fight the
Zetas, when the war was against them, but also to move drugs both in the
Mexico City International Airport as a land route.
Álex Cifuentes, the Colombian narco close to Mayo, said that on one occasion the
Sinaloa Cartel sent suitcases loaded with cocaine on a commercial flight from Argentina
to Mexico. The PF recovered the suitcases at the airport. In order not to fail, they sent him the
7
photos of the suitcases they had to look for, lest they bring the wrong suitcase.
In the end, García Luna's SSP and PF became so ingrained with the
Sinaloa Cartel that even became clients. Yes. They bought drugs that then
PF's own commanders sold on their own.
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Cifuentes commented that those services of recovering suitcases and selling drugs are not only
The servile people of the SSP gave it to him, but also to Barbie.
***
Gaxiola told me that during Vicente Fox's administration he colluded with the Sinaloa Cartel
It had different facets, but the one he knew about Vicentillo was with respect to the children of the
first lady Marta Sahagún.
“Marta Sahagún's children had controlled all customs and they sold the
chemical precursor [pseudoephedrine] to the cartel to produce methamphetamine, money
Zhenli Ye Gon was theirs, ”Gaxiola told me. And he assured that Vicentillo spoke
directly on this with the DEA at the express question of the agency in 2011 and 2012.
Although it was not the first time that Sahagun's children were related to Zhenli
Ye Gon, it was the first time someone directly linked to the cartel had
confirmed to the United States government.
"Marta's children did not know what to do with the money, basements full of bills",
the lawyer added, emphasizing his voracity.
During Fox's six-year term, his wife's children were singled out for multiple acts
of corruption. In Mexico they have gone unpunished, but in the United States, in the
Court of the Southern District of California, a criminal file was opened in 2008 against
Manuel Bribiesca Sahagún for posing as the owner of a
gas, and an arrest warrant was issued against him. In 2012 Manuel appeared in that court
and pleaded guilty. He didn't have many options, who was after him was the tough prosecutor
Laura E. Duffy, coincidentally an expert on drug trafficking issues.
The case of the Chinese-born pharmaceutical entrepreneur Zhenli Ye Gon went beyond the
borders of the bizarre. In March 2007, the PGR searched a residence of a
luxurious subdivision in Lomas de Chapultepec, in Mexico City, and what
found were cubic meters of banknotes that totaled 205 million dollars, 17
million pesos and 11 centenarians, according to Felipe Calderón's government.
Zhenli Ye Gon was then in the United States, from where he stated that
Members of the PAN, a party to which Fox and his wife belonged, had threatened him with
death. Specifically, he accused Javier Lozano, Secretary of Labor in 2007, who
the famous “cooperas o neck” would have said.
Ye Gon was arrested that same year in the state of Maryland. He was accused of
import pseudoephedrine which was then delivered to drug cartels for manufacturing
of methamphetamine. His case was annulled in the North American court and he was extradited to
Mexico in 2016, where he is in prison under process.
“If I denounce the names [of politicians] one by one for me it is not good
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because I face an extradition and if I return they will make me have a very bad time, "said the
8
entrepreneur in 2015.
In September 2019, Juan Luis Gómez, the lawyer for the Chinese businessman, revealed
that it was not 205 million dollars, but 275 million, plus there were ingots of
gold that were stolen from the house during the search and that the government of Felipe
9
Calderón never presented to the PGR .
***
Vicentillo revealed many of the names of the García Luna people who were at the
Sinaloa Cartel service, Gaxiola said.
The police chief Armando Espinosa de Benito, revealed Mayo's son, was the
contact between the DEA and the Federal Police. He personally heard about “hundreds of
times ”about him in conversations between Mayo and El Chapo. Damaso was the contact between the
police and the cartel.
Did you know that Gerardo Garay Cadena, commissioner of the Federal Police in 2009, had
contact with the Mayo. When the war with the Beltran Leyva broke out, the
Garay sent Mayo a recording to prove that Beltrán tried to kill him for the
services he provided to the kingpin.
"Recordings of intercepted telephone calls were sent to Culiacán," he said.
Gaxiola. “In them you could hear the voice of Mochomo trying to calm them so that they would not
they will kill Garay. Later we found out that Garay also received money from
Beltran. "
The person in charge of paying the bribes to Garay Cadena by the Mayo was the
Student, who also paid bribes to other senior officials.
***
The Sinaloa Cartel's pay structure was a waterfall that ran from top to bottom.
Rey explained that the targets of the bribes were very clear:
If we are talking about the states, mainly the governor and the attorney
general, the director of the Judicial Police, the director of the state police and
municipal. At the national level, the attorney general of the Republic, and for the
different departments of the PGR , the Federal Police and the SIEDO [ …] over time
that I was working for the cartel this was the most important intelligence group
10
and operations of the PGR .
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El Mayo's brother explained that most of the corrupt officials preferred

your payment in dollars.
***
In 2015 Gaxiola explained to me that a large part of the agreements of the Sinaloa Cartel with the
Executive power is established from the times of the pre-campaigns or campaigns
electoral. The lawyer pointed out that the cartel recurrently financed the campaigns
policies of various candidates for governors and municipal presidents, including
different political parties, because that way one or the other wins, the organization will never
lost.
Gaxiola assured that in 2010 the Sinaloa Cartel supported Mario López's campaign
Valdez ( Malova ), candidate of the PAN-PRD- Convergence coalition , for the governorship of
Sinaloa. On that occasion, the PRI candidate was Jesús Vizcarra, a very close friend
del Mayo, owner of SuKarne, Secretary of the Economy of Sinaloa from 2005 to 2006 and
Mayor of Culiacán from 2007 to 2010.
Malova won the elections, thus becoming the first governor from
of a party other than the PRI in the history of the state, and directed the destinies of the matrix
cartel from 2011 to 2016.
The new governor placed children of two in key positions in his cabinet
former governors of the PRI : Juan S. Millán and Francisco Labastida Ochoa. Named as
Undersecretary of Agriculture to Óscar Félix Ochoa, nephew of Manuel Torres Félix,
father-in-law of Mayo, as his daughter Ellameli Torres Acosta was married to Serafín
Zambada Ortiz. The main legal business that the Mayo has in Sinaloa is precisely
related to agriculture and livestock.
Malova also appointed as commander of the Culiacán Ministerial Police:
Jesús Aguilar Íñiguez, who is affectionately called Chuy by the Sinaloa Cartel
Toño . Chuy had already held the position in the government of Millán, and the Mayo requested that
Chuy was there, Gaxiola told me, according to his conversations with Vicentillo. Lasted in
the position from 2011 to 2016.
On April 29, 2017, the wedding of Doris Antonia Aguilar, daughter
by Chuy Toño. Toñita , as they call her, had worked in the civil registry of Mazatlán,
another territory of the Mayo, while his father had been a police chief. As if of all
a celebrity, the event was attended by former governor Antonio
Toledo Corro, indicated in 1986 DEA reports to protect the Sinaloa Cartel,
to the former secretary of Public Security of the state, Genaro García Castro, and the
former Secretary of Government, Gerardo Vargas Landeros, who was the best man at the wedding. To the
eleven
final could not miss Malova, who did not come to mass, but to the joyous celebration.
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***
I paid many policemen in the state of Sinaloa, and I had friends who
they were soldiers, in the Federal Police, in the PGR . To Police Commanders
State judiciary, municipal police, the directors of the forces
public. These payments were made to receive protection for us, I
I mean for my dad, for my compadre Chapo, for me, for people from
12
Sinaloa Cartel.
They passed us information about any police operation in
the state, and when we received shipments, so that those shipments
they were safe. Many times at the end of the month my dad would send a gift
extra, when a cocaine shipment arrived safely in Culiacán.
For the Federal Police we had the code "Los Azules", Yankee was the
commander of the PGR in each state. "Zapatones" we called the
military.
In the Judicial Police of the state [Sinaloa] there were many commanders
that protected the Sinaloa Cartel. In fact, they were in those positions
for my dad. They protect him, they come for him.
One was Chuy Toño, Jesús Antonio Aguilar Íñiguez. He was very friends with
my father. He was in charge of the entire Judicial Police of the state of Sinaloa,
gave us information and protection about any police operation
in the state.
I had meetings with him and my father. My father told him he wanted
locate friendly commanders he knew in areas where he
was: El Salado, Costa Rica, El Dorado, Cruz de Elota [the area where the
May has its shelter and economic assets].
If there was any information, if there was an operation against me
father in those areas, then the commanders of the Judicial Police
they would warn.
The monthly payment was, however, more than a million dollars.
***
In one of his encounters with Mayo, one night Gaxiola got to know exactly
how his corruption system works, with the precision of the Da Vinci surgical robot.
It was one of the many roads to the west of Culiacán. El Mayo was traveling
accompanied by a handful of his escorts. They were in ordinary cars, nothing
armor, as they considered that the area was not "hot". Suddenly and without the slightest
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notice they encountered a military checkpoint. At least that's what it seemed from the type of uniforms
and the weapons carried by the officers at the post.
They were actually members of a special anti-kidnapping state police group.
Equipped and trained militarily. The Mayo convoy had the checkpoint in front and a
group guarding the rear to close the escape routes. Immediately the head of
The escorts made a decision and got out of his car leaving the Mayo on board. Advanced on foot
towards the checkpoint and confronted the militarized group.
When the chief escort later recounted the episode, laughing, he said that he thought to
to himself that it was going to be the end of his life: "These Sardinians are going to break my mother."
When he got to where the checkpoint was, he breathed in relief. He realized that they were policemen.
He asked to speak to the commander and explained that he was unarmed, he showed it by lifting
the shirt over his bulging belly. He waited for the answer. After a
very long silence, a man took a few steps forward, took off his ski mask and
he snapped: "What do you want?" The fat man, still with his shirt up, but more calmly,
asked who he was and who he worked for. The officer replied that he was the commander of the
group.
Suddenly the head of the bodyguards remembered that this individual was in charge of 300
armed men trained in military tactics. It also came to mind that
the commander, until then, was not owned by enemy groups. Immediately the
chief of escorts confessed to the commander that in the convoy they had just detained he was going
the Mayo Zambada. Surprised, uncomfortable by the situation, the commander told him no
He was the one they were looking for.
To avoid future problems, they agreed that the Mayo people would give the
commander a radio to communicate directly with him and notify him in advance if
they were going to enter their area of action. The commander did not want problems with the Mayo or the
Chapo. He was not a paid policeman, but he simply wanted freedom to do his
work without major shocks or setbacks.
The mutual benefit agreement was reached right there. That day, it could have been the
Last in his career as a drug trafficker, he was just one more in the work of Mayo.
Without hugs or handshakes, the chief of escorts returned to the Mayo car and the checkpoint
it opened to let them go on their way without further mishap.
All this, Gaxiola recalled, was achieved by the quick and reasoned intervention of the
chief of bodyguards coupled with intelligence on police operations and
enemies in the area. A wrong analyst would argue that the chief of bodyguards of the
Mayo is just another hit man for the Sinaloa Cartel. But no, and for this reason this
man is the chief of bodyguards. El Mayo chooses its people with care and that is why
who enjoys his freedom after this day.
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***
Many soldiers also received money. I know because I met the lawyer
Carlos. I met him in Culiacán through a friend of mine and he said he wanted to
meet me or my father because he had a lot of friends in the military
who I could talk to; and that the military wanted to make a deal with me
father, since they were going to be the ones who were going to be in the streets doing the
operative and that they didn't want to make deals with anyone else, just my
13
father, because of his way of being and the type of person he is.
The military wanted my father and Chapo to work with them to
help them with the Zetas, with Arturo and Vicente Carrillo, because they were
who had the country in chaos. And they knew that they, I mean me
Father and Chapo, they were different people.
I took Carlos with my father and they talked and the lawyer
Carlos was the one who had contact with the military. I sometimes received
orders from my father to give money to Mr. Carlos to do the
agreements with the military. I say this because on one occasion [2008] a
Major or captain of the state of Chiapas was in Culiacán and
They introduced my father, so we could verify that Mr. Carlos did not
he was lying and that he was not stealing the money. But it was always
difficult to contact my father when he was in the mountains; I informed him and my
father told me why I did not meet them, so the lawyer
Carlos could see that we take care of them and that we trust him, that's why I
I found them.
There were two soldiers and they told me that they were attached to the state of
Chiapas, in Comitan, which was the name of the city. They said that
they were available for whatever my father needed. They asked me
that if we could help them with the Zetas, because they knew that
they were in that place and they were kidnapping, robbing and murdering
people, and that they [the military] wanted to know if we have the
addresses of their safe houses and ranches in Chiapas, so they could
catch them. I informed my father and he said that he was fine, that he was going to
help capture the Zetas with everything they will need to achieve it.
My father told me to tell Mr. Carlos to present them with
Marcos, one of my father's men who are in Chiapas, so they
military could have direct contact with him so that he would pay them and the
help capture the Zetas. They made contact.
Also, a month before I was arrested, Mr. Carlos
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introduced with my father to a major from Durango who was in Santiago

Papasquiaro. All the territory where Felipe's ranch was [Cabrera
Sarabia] was under his control, and since my father was there, I wanted to see if the
Mr. Carlos could “take care of that”, that is, count on the
military services. Carlos said that yes, he knew the
higher; and he went to see the eldest and introduced him to one of the brothers from
Felipe, so they could have direct contact and notify Felipe about everything,
if there was an operation or if something happened in the area where my father and
Felipe.
My father went to Culiacán once because Mr. Carlos told him that
I wanted to introduce him to a general, who did not want to see any person
except him. My father said yes and that's how he met the general. I was
with him at the meeting. No one else could see the general, only me, Casillas, and
his driver, and my father's secretary, so he wouldn't be alone.
The meeting was in the morning, at 9:30 a.m. The general traveled in a
commercial flight from Mexico City and returned the same day. The
Carlos went to the agreed place in the city of Culiacán. [The
general] arrived accompanied by three men dressed as soldiers.
They entered and the lawyer Carlos introduced them to my father. The general was a
A man in his early 70s, white, slightly overweight,
He introduced himself and gave his name. My father called me and introduced me to
general. The general introduced two other people.
One was a captain and the other did not say his rank, but they were like a
sort of bodyguards for the general. They started talking to my father
in the living room of our house. We stand aside. What I heard is that
he was chief in the Secretariat of National Defense.
Then he and my father had breakfast together and that is when my father
they invited me to sit with them at the table.
***
The general with whom El Mayo and Vicentillo had breakfast was Humberto Eduardo Antimo
Miranda, who held the position of senior officer of the Sedena during the six-year term of
Felipe Calderón. The Secretary of Defense was Guillermo Galván Galván, who
later he would send his own emissary with the Mayo.
According to Vicentillo, El Mayo paid General Antimo a bribe of 50 thousand dollars
a month. The general has publicly denied his relationship with the Sinaloa Cartel.
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***
I also know a lieutenant colonel. I met him through my father in

Culiacan. I went to see my father one afternoon and while I was with him he told me
that she was going to see a person and she didn't want anyone to be there. Wanted to
when the person arrived they would go directly to a room in the house and
only his secretary, Casillas, would stay in case he needed something. Y
that I could stay, of course. That there was no problem with me. Me
I told him that I was better off, that it was for the best, but I knew he was not going to
14
accept it because I am his son and there was no problem if I stayed.
My dad would introduce him to me for whatever I needed, and
It was when my father told me that he was a member of the army that in that
At the time he was working in Culiacán in the IX Military Zone and that he was going to
present his compadre Alfredo Beltrán. This was before Alfredo's arrest
and of course at that time there was no enmity with Arturo. In that
time they were all friends. And that's when Alfredo arrived with him
man who was dressed in military. They came in and Alfredo introduced him to
my father. Alfredo greeted us and said to my father: “Compadre, I leave the
man here, I'm going, so you can talk. You can send it from
I return to where he indicates ”. Alfredo said goodbye and left.
The man stayed. Said he was a lieutenant colonel, that he was there in
Culiacán and had hoped to meet my father for a long time, but
that he had not found the way, that it was a pleasure to see and meet him.
The military man and my father became friends and became compadres,
less so they said to each other, because it had not been possible to become
in compadres as it should be, in a church, but that's what they said to each other.
A month before they arrested me, I learned that they sent him to Sonoyta,
Sonora, in charge of the regiment. My father contacted him. One day while I
I was talking to him, he handed me the phone to say hello. I called it
"Uncle" as a code and he called me "nephew". My father contacted him so that
Gonzalo could see him in Sonoyta so that the head of the regiment could
help him with whatever he needs to receive marijuana that my father and Chapo
they were going to cross there. And that's how they worked until the day I was arrested.
Mr. Carlos also introduced a colonel with Marcos. I dont know the
Colonel's name, but I know he was in Cancun at the time,
Quintana Roo. My father ordered that he be presented to Marcos because he
He was responsible for Chetumal and the entire southern area. I'm sure i know
that the colonel received money from my father.
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The lawyer Carlos was in charge of seeing many soldiers. When

there were operatives in Culiacán, there was always someone who reported, and
whenever someone new arrived they were introduced to them. He warned us and
we gave him the money for the military every month, depending on
how long they stayed in Culiacán. Most were sergeants or
captains and were given $ 10,000 a month, and those of lesser rank 5
one thousand.
My father would tell them when they spoke in person or when he sent
someone in his name, as is the case of Carlos. The
agreement is that the military were going to tell him where they were going to be, where they were going to
do searches and where they were going to put the seals, he was not going to ask for more
information, he wasn't going to ask for the impossible. They just had to let him know and
we had to move and get out of there. Not because he was
giving money they were going to do whatever they wanted. Mr. Carlos did not
I wanted problems with the government, and it's the same as my father always
He said. That's the kind of arrangement my father has always had with him.
government.
Gonzalo [Macho Prieto] had another person who worked with him from
name Sergio. At least that's how they introduced it to me, I don't know if that's their
real name. He was an army lieutenant and he also made agreements
with other lieutenants and sergeants he and I knew. They participated
in the operations and it was the same. They let us know when and in what
parts of the city were going to be patrolling or putting up checkpoints, so we
we would not go through the area and be detained at a checkpoint. That was the agreement and
that's why they had to warn us in advance, because they couldn't do
nothing if any of us were detained at a checkpoint. And Sergio was close to
fifteen
Gonzalo and was in charge of agreements with the military.
***
When the time came for war with the Beltrán Leyva, el Mayo and el Chapo
they had to increase their payments to the army.
Álex Cifuentes narrated that El Chapo paid at least 10 to 12 million dollars to
military to catch his cousin Arturo dead or alive.
It has become so costly to pay bribes to various public officials,
from the president down, that the Mayo has complained that in reality, in order to
accounts, works for the government.
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***
One day Felipe [Cabrera Sarabia] told my father that he had clients in
Chicago who sold marijuana to, they had always asked for coca,
but he, Felipe, because he had no way to send them coca and my dad said yes,
that he was going to send, that he too, that is, my dad, had a long time without
send coca to the United States, but he wanted to send a ton to
earn a little more because it was barely enough to pay the government.
Those were my father's words: “We work for the government, we
16
they bring to the race and apart working for them ”.
And in that they were, that Felipe was going to help him in Chicago and Germán
[Magaña Pasos] was going to cross it and bring it to Chicago to deliver it to
Felipe, and Felipe and Germán got in touch so that they could make
all corresponding. And I know this because I gave him Germán's phone number
to Felipe, that's how my dad told me, that if I could connect Germán with
Felipe so that they had communication and thus not get me in that I
was a link between the two.
And is that my dad decided to send coca to the United States because he had
run out of people to buy it in Culiacán. At the end of 2007 he
They killed Mario Aguirre, one of those who bought him, and in January 2009
They killed Lamberto [Verdugo], who were the two closest and partners of
my father. The army killed them both, and the only ones who bought things from him
There in Culiacán it was Germán and Juancho, but not as much as they did
Lamberto and Mario. That was why Felipe offered to help him.
N OTES
1
author.
two
3
4
Testimony of Hildebrando Alexánder Cifuentes Villa in the Eastern District Court of
New York, 01/15/2019. The author has the official stenographic version of the Court.
5
Letter delivered by Édgar Valdez Villarreal to the author, published in Reforma on
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November 2012.
6
7
Testimony of Hildebrando Alexánder Cifuentes Villa in the Eastern District Court of
New York, 01/15/2019. The author has the official stenographic version of the Court.
8
Zhenli Ye Gon interview on Univision, September 2015.
9
Juan Luis Gómez's interview with Azucena Uresti from Grupo Fórmula.
10
eleven
Cayetano Osuna, "Brings together the malovistas wedding of the daughter of 'Chuy Toño'", Riódoce , 30 de
April 2017.
12
13
author.
14
Idem .
fifteen
Idem .
16
Idem .
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13
The Empire
“El Mayo has dairy producing stables on behalf of many people, he owns
many houses, many legitimate businesses. They [el Mayo and his family] have
legal money inflows. If the drug deals ended tomorrow, they would continue
being billionaires for many generations ”, Fernando Gaxiola told me about the
legal business of the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.
"He has a lot of cattle, tomatoes, beans, construction companies, workshops
mechanics, gas stations, hotels throughout its area of influence: Sinaloa, Jalisco, Quintana
Roo, Chiapas, Oaxaca, for years created a financial cover structure. "
The capo's passion was not only to find new and better ways to traffic the
drugs, but also livestock. "He's in love with cows," Gaxiola said to the
explain to me that the Mayo always speaks with pride of its thousands of head of cattle
Premium, useful for both meat and milk production and its derivatives.
"Nothing has been seized from him," Gaxiola said, despite the fact that the United States government has
identified several of its livestock companies as Nueva Industria Lanadera de
Culiacán and Establo Puerto Rico. “He has been working legally in Mexico for years, he has even
received government subsidies. "
Ismael Zambada García does everything big. Just like he built an empire
criminal that spans a good number of countries, he also built an empire of
legal businesses, of which the livestock and agriculture part is the one he likes the most
and attends personally. The man has a triple personality: a fierce boss who orders
who lives and who dies in the Sinaloa Cartel, a businessman who rubs shoulders with
important businessmen and peasant.
He does not lose sleep that he has open criminal accusations against him from south to
north and east to west in the United States. In the Northern District Court of Illinois, along
with Vicentillo, since 2009; in the Eastern District Court of New York, along with the
Chapo; and one more in the Western District Court of Texas since 2012. The most recent
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is in the Court of the Southern District of California, dating from 2014. It will be that he trusts his
eternal good fortune. The first criminal accusation is from 1997, it was opened in the Court of the
Eastern District of Arizona, where he was accused of trafficking in marijuana and cocaine. She turned
an arrest warrant against him that could never be executed and in 2001 the charges were
canceled inexplicably. His accomplice Raúl did not have the same fate
Palacios Barreda, who was arrested and sentenced to 11 years in prison.
By means of different false names, Ismael Zambada García pretends to be
an important rancher. It was. He calls himself Gerónimo López Landeros, Javier
Hernández García, Ismael Mario Zambada García, Mario Ismael Zambada García, Jesús
Loaiza Avendaño and Ismael Higuera Renteria. 1
"Mayo never stopped being a peasant," Gaxiola commented. He likes the country,
likes to get his hands dirty on the dirt, and spends hours browsing his crops and crops
of legal vegetables.
Its legal businesses in Sinaloa, especially agricultural ones, are developed in a vast
two
extension of about 4,700 km and they comprise above all the municipality of Culiacán,
particularly the syndicates of El Salado, where the ranchería El Álamo is located
(your place of birth), Quilá, Costa Rica and El Dorado; and the municipalities of Mazatlán and
Elota. In addition to businesses in Baja California, Sonora and Guadalajara.
The network of companies linked to Mayo is like a matrioska. Like the doll
from a single company many more are derived, one after another, by means of the
shareholders, administrators, commissioners and legal representatives. The same notaries
Publics constantly create many of the new companies.
The firms have diverse objectives: freight transport, construction, industry of
dairy, agriculture and livestock, public and private works, real estate development,
gas stations, schools, kindergartens, import and export of equipment and appliances
refrigeration, mechanical workshops, manufacturing, distribution and sale of all kinds of
footwear, accessories, lingerie, perfumery and clothing in general, etcetera.
Some of these companies have managed to “legitimize” them using public resources or
subsidies - evidently not because they lack the money - and participating in events
funded by the government. The United States government has identified some and
others have been off his radar. Gaxiola gave me access to meeting minutes, minutes
constitutive and contracts. But that was only the tip of the iceberg.
In none of the documents written by Vicentillo does he speak of the business network of
his father. In the few lines he dedicated to the subject, he defends his mother saying that he was
formally divorced from her father for years and therefore no one should
disturb her neither in her person nor in her property. The weak point of his argument was that
Chayito —who at all times identifies herself as a “housewife” and a “single” woman before
the notaries in which he does and undoes with the companies - he has no way to justify the
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origin of the millionaire capital injections that it has received in some of the
companies.
In Italy, one of the countries with the most advanced anti-mafia laws, money laundering
money and organized crime, no gangster would put property in the name of
no family member, since the law automatically considers that they are part of the network
criminal financial institution, in the same way as the Treasury Department of
USA. Especially if the wife and children, who appear as partners, do not
they have no economic support other than that from the mobster. And even though
after several years there is hardly any trace of the illegal money with which the
company, is indicated by its origin and by the presumption that it can continue
laundering money.
Studying the complex Italian investigation system, public ministries and
prosecutors, once they locate a company clearly with gangster ties —more
it is obvious if it is the family itself—, they investigate the ties of that primary company
with any other company, tracking the name of partners, commissioners, directors,
administrators and legal representatives, since it is common for the mobster to use the same
network that gives you security and that could appear anonymous. This produces a cascading effect
that allows to thoroughly investigate each of the secondary companies, reaching
even tertiary companies, causing a new cascade of related companies.
This method makes Italy one of the most efficient states in confiscating resources of
the mafia, criminal organizations and money laundering companies. It's so efficient
that many gangsters prefer to take their investments to other countries.
In accordance with the patterns of behavior of the mafia, it is also frequent that
look not only for ordinary partners, but also for large companies that are listed on the
Stock exchanges, as they could be little suspicious.
Taking as a starting point the names of the companies, partners, attorneys,
directors, administrators and notaries appointed by the United States government
since 2007 belonging to the Mayo drug trafficking network, I found more than 40
associated companies.
The primary companies are: Nueva Industria de Ganaderos de Culiacán (1988),
Autotransportes JYM (1996), Multiservicios Jeviz (1998), Establo Puerto Rico (2000),
Jamaro Constructores (2001), Rancho Ganadero Las Ánimas (2001), Children's Ranch
Happy Child (2001), Zarka de Occidente (2001), Zarka de México (2004), Autódromo
Altata (2001), Art and Design of Culiacán (2000), Frizaza (2002). In all they are registered
clearly as family associates of the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, including
Vicentillo, his wife and their children.
Colegio Azteca de Culiacán, Construmármoles y Granito, Comercializadora El
Chamuko, Construcciones de la Costa, Armadillo International Commerce, among many
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other
The notaries of Sinaloa most assisted by the Mayo family are number 81,
José Antonio Núñez Bedoya, number 116, Matías Santiago Astengo Verdugo, and the
number 79, Lamberto Alfonso Borboa Valenzuela.
"Nobody in Sinaloa works without the permission of the Mayo," Gaxiola sentenced.
"For a long time they have said that Mayo is going to retire, that he is sick, he does not speak
of that with me, there are no signs of any serious disease, he still orders to bring
girls all the time, ”the lawyer said ironically.
Unlike Mayo, El Chapo did not know how to do the same, or did not have the same
benefits of those who needed the endorsement. When Rafael Caro Quintero was released by
orders from a judge in 2016, and within days he became a fugitive, the sons of the
Chapo sought him out for advice on how to create a legal estate.
When he was part of the Guadalajara Cartel, Caro Quintero invested in land and
properties in Guadalajara that over time acquired a millionaire value. Now,
the children he had with his first wife María Elizabeth Elenes Lerma have a
immense heritage.
***
Nueva Industria de Ganaderos de Culiacán (Nueva Industria), created in 1988, is one of the
the pillars of Mayo's legal business. When it was created, the president was Jesus
García Mendoza, the secretary Fernando Iribe Picos, and as responsible for the money,
two
the most important part, Dr. Jaime Otáñez García.
By 1996, Chayito, his daughters Midiam Patricia, Mónica del Rosario and Modesta
Zambada Niebla (these last two were still minors), they were already owners
formalities of the company, together with Otáñez García himself, Iribe Picos and Arcadio Osorio
Quintero. In the shareholders' meetings that are held, Chayito has always been
designated as "president" according to the minutes to which Gaxiola gave me access.
The company grew rapidly. In 2003 the share capital was 20 million
pesos and in 2006 it increased to 62 million pesos. Chayito became a partner
majority with the injection of capital of more than 40 million pesos. The domicile
official that she provides in the notarial acts is Calle Ciudad de Hermosillo number
1168, Las Quintas subdivision, in Culiacán.
In 2007 Vicentillo's mother appointed José as attorney-in-fact for the company
Antonio Peregrina Taboada, who was a representative since 1996 and whose power continues
current. And in 2009 he also appointed Humberto Castellanos Ávalos, whose power
it also remains in force in accordance with the Public Property Registry. According to
last established changes, Dr. Otáñez García and Fernando Iribe continue to be
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partners of the company with the Mayo family.

In 2011, in the name of the former partner of Mayo, Arcadio Osorio, the company was created
Producer and Marketer of Cítricos Osorio, also dedicated to activities
agricultural, fishing, mining and tourism.
Just as May defined the price of a kilo of cocaine in Mexico and the United States,
marijuana and heroin, at the same time he has sat at the government table, along with
large transnational dairy companies, to define the price at which the milk is purchased
milk to producers.
Although since 2007 Nueva Industria de Ganaderos de Culiacán was identified
by the United States government as part of the Mayo criminal network, the company
participated in the Sinaloa State Milk Commission. There the decisions are made
on the sector, such as federal support, and public policies are defined for
livestock farmers, such as infrastructure works that will boost the sector, financing
and sanitary standards. But above all, the decision is made to set the price per liter of
milk.
It is difficult to think that with the power of the Mayo and its well-known reputation as
intimidate or murder partners, friends and competitors, someone could oppose your
wishes in commission. Nueva Industria, controlled by the "housewife" Chayito,
participated in at least three occasions in meetings of the State Milk Commission of
Sinaloa, between 2011 and 2012. The governor was Mario López Valdez, the same one who had
put Chuy, the Mayo employee, as chief of the Judicial Police.
The commission was chaired by the Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock, Juan Nicasio Guerra
Ochoa; the Undersecretary of Livestock, Francisco Javier Castillo; the Director of Development
Livestock producer, Alfonso Valdés Gaxiola, and the president of the Regional Livestock Union of
Sinaloa, Faustino Hernández Álvarez, who is now a local PRI deputy .
"They are the members of the activity, as are dairy producers and companies
milk pasteurizers, in coordination with the state government, with the sole
purpose of reaching an agreement for the payment of a liter of milk ”, this is how the government justifies
3
current Sinaloa presence of the company del Mayo in the committee meetings.
What a fortune for the capo that the undersecretary of Agriculture just at that time was
Óscar Félix Ochoa, cousin of his father-in-law.
He sent José Antonio Peregrina Taboada to the meetings as a representative of
New Industry. According to what Peregrina himself reported in his public profile, he also
He was manager of Lechería Santa Mónica from 1993 to 2012. Although he was already publicly
designated since 2007 as part of the Mayo financial network, that was not an obstacle to
sit down with the state secretary of agriculture.
On December 13, 2011 Peregrina participated in the meeting at the same level as Lala
Mazatlán, from Grupo Lala, one of the most important dairy producers in the
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American continent, Lechera Guadalajara and Pasteurizadora Sinaloa. There the

purchase price of cold milk at 5.70 pesos, the financial report of the
commission and the attendees were informed of the steps that were being taken before
Congress to protect dairy farmers.
In 2012 the company del Mayo was present at the meetings of May 23 and
June 14, next to companies such as Cremería Santa Clara and Lyncott Unidos Luna.
There, an increase in the price of the purchase of milk from producers was defined and it was set at seven
pesos per liter.
New Industry has been adept at legitimizing itself. She was an indirect beneficiary of the Council
Director of the Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises of the Ministry of Economy, at
participate in council-funded events. One of them was organized in 2009 by
Sinaloa Science Center with the name of “Second SME Forum of
Competitiveness ”. And in 2010 and 2011 she was invited to the "National Meeting of Suppliers
of the Alimentary Industry ”, organized by the Canacintra, of which it is the associate
number CNI-27. Again, at that time the company was already publicly designated
as part of the money laundering network of the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, but that does not
seemed to matter.
According to information disclosed by employees, Nueva Industria was at the
vanguard and made national purchases and imported machinery to have the best
team.
“I participated in the planning of the strategy for the growth of the plant
pasteurizer, achieving lower production costs during the first
three years after the plan was activated, and despite the inflation of the times. Forming teams of
work to increase productivity and controls in production areas,
packaging and warehouses, "says Ascención Urquidez Lara in his public resume, who
states that he worked for Nueva Industria de Ganaderos de Culiacán from 1995 to 2000,
period that represents one of the fastest growing stages in the business of
drug trafficking for May. It is curious that he does not say that he was a partner of the company, as
appears in the incorporation documents, although according to its own information in
At that time I was studying the first years of my career at the Technological Institute of
Culiacán (1986-1990).
Urquidez Lara, prestanombres or partner of the Mayo, says he is linked with other
companies inside and outside of Mexico, such as K + S Agro México, SA de CV and / or Compo
Agro México SA de CV, in Zapopan, Jalisco, dedicated to the sale of "fertilizers
high-quality specials in the specialized agriculture segment ”. At least
On a registered occasion, this company exported 14,335 kilos of fertilizers to
Barcelona. The merchandise left through the port of Altamira, Tamaulipas.
However, Urquidez Lara omits to say that he also appears as a partner in the
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Construcciones de la Costa company, created in 1993 in Culiacán and dedicated to the

building. And as sole administrator at Armadillo International Commerce,
created in Guadalajara in 2007 and dedicated to the "sale of merchandise, any
that is its type, for export or import, for sale in national territory or
abroad".
Just as the Mayo transports drugs from one place to another through Mexican territory, the
Nueva Industria company transports milk. Although it is supposed to be produced in Sinaloa,
from 2011 to 2019 it has obtained 104 permits from the State Secretary of Agriculture to
transport "raw milk" by land from Guadalajara to Culiacán. In that period the
4
company moved a sea of milk, more than 12 million liters. According to the
Narration of Vicentillo, that same land route is key to the activities of
his father's drug trafficking. It reminded me of Gonzalo's petrol pipes trip,
Macho Prieto, or the trucks with frozen chickens from Bachoco del Chino Ántrax.
For its part, Autotransportes JYM is in the name of María Teresa Zambada Niebla,
sister of Vicentillo and ex-wife of drug trafficker Javier Díaz, murdered in the city
from Mexico. His partners are his children Javier Ernesto and Maité Díaz Zambada. Its object
social is “the establishment and exploitation of the federal public service of
motor transport of cargo, on the routes or sections of federal or local jurisdiction ”.
This company bought on credit in June 2004 a fleet of four trailers of
Daimler Chrysler Services de México for 101 thousand dollars. Maria Teresa herself rented
the trucks to New Industry. Who signed the lease for the
dairy company was José Antonio Peregrina Taboada. As Maria Teresa was also
shareholder of the company was leasing itself.
N OTES
1
Information from the PGR file on May.
two
Information from the Comprehensive Registry Management System (Siger), computer program
through which the administration of the Registry information is carried out
Public of the Property.
3
This was the argument given by the Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock of the government of the
state of Sinaloa in the response to the request for information made by the author to
through the Federal Transparency Law. May 2, 2019.
4
Information obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries through
the Federal Transparency Law, August 8, 2019. According to the permits, the milk is
transported by truck. When I asked the secretariat of which farm or farm
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The company came from the milk, said it did not have the information.
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14
The government of Mexico pays millions to company del Mayo
The dream of any man who dedicates himself to what May is dedicated must be
have its own airfield, and more if it works with the permission of the government so that no one
annoy. On behalf of Chayito, Vicentillo's mother, operates the aerodrome called
Puerto Rico field. It is a strip of pavement located on one side of the
ranchería Valle Escondido and Presa El Alguate, in the middle of the irrigated fields,
family property, where they grow a part of their large agricultural production. The
rustic track has a still life that on the ceiling has the initials CPK , which is the key
of operation assigned by the Ministry of Communications and Transportation ( SCT ) that is
used for flight plans and radio communication.
In 2004, during the government of Vicente Fox, the Civil Aeronautics Directorate of the
SCT granted Chayito permission to operate a private service aerodrome after
to prove that he had the legal, technical, administrative and financial capacity. Even
authorized him to provide services to third parties, as long as they offer the service of
national air transport, whether private or commercial. Permission was granted for
landing and take-off of planes up to 15 meters in length.
In 2016, in the government of Enrique Peña Nieto, the general director of Airports
Maricruz Hernández García renewed Chayito's operating permit for the runway
for the next 15 years, that is, until 2031. The document contains the
signature of Vicentillo's mother, who is identified by the American government as
part of the money laundering network of the criminal businesses of Mayo. And also
It was stated that a copy was sent to the System Command and Control Center
Comprehensive Air Surveillance of the Sedena —which is still ironic—, which
1
so far it has not opposed the operation of the airstrip.
It's hard not to think of Vicentillo's stories about his father going up and down
of his own planes and helicopters whenever he feels like it. What an advantage that one's own
The government facilitates the infrastructure even of the airstrips.
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***
Establo Puerto Rico was created in 2000 before the notary Núñez Bedoya. The
shareholders are the daughters of Mayo and Chayito: María Teresa, Midiam Patricia and Mónica
del Rosario Zambada Niebla. In 2001, in a strange operation following an alleged
debt of the company with Rosario Niebla Cardoza of 40.3 million pesos for the
"Acquisition of cattle, agricultural machinery, transportation equipment and other
assets ”, he was made a shareholder and a capital increase of 40.3 million was authorized
of pesos, thus becoming the majority shareholder, as in Nueva Industria de
Culiacán Ranchers.
As part of the companies' legitimation strategy, at least from 2012 to
2019 Establo Puerto Rico has benefited from the Special Energy Program in the area of
of electricity for agricultural use. The subsidy has been given for pumping or re-pumping to the
team located in the El Alhuate property, in the receivership of Costa Rica, which includes
two
less 100 hectares.
The address of the electricity bill of Establo Puerto Rico is an agricultural property
located in Canal Principal km. 16.5 of the Laguna Colorada locality, in El Dorado,
Sinaloa. This direction is on the opposite side of the irrigated planting valley where
there is the airstrip, which gives an idea of the breadth of the domains.
It is not that Mayo or Chayito need the money from the Mexican government, but
Thanks to the subsidy, the receipts from the CFE of the Puerto Rico Stable arrive in zeros. The
Management of the subsidies was carried out by the legal representative of the company, Jesús
Alfonso López Díaz, identified by the United States government since 2007 as
part of the Mayo network. In November 2018, before the government of
Peña Nieto, the delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture, with Patricio Arturo Robles
Luque at the helm, he renewed his stay during 2019 in the Special Program of
Energy, thus obtaining its subsidized rate.
Also the National Water Commission, through the Basin Agency
North Pacific, helps Mayo. They give water from rivers and wells through the canals of
watering the area so your crops grow better. For example, you have access to the Canal
Principal Nuevo San Lorenzo, whose water comes from the San Lorenzo River, to nourish other
100 hectares located in the Quilá and Costa Rica syndicates.
Who gave him access to water was the Association of Agricultural Producers Users
Quilá-Costa Rica. They have the Conagua concession to extract the liquid from
1992, which was renewed in 2000 for 20 years, to manage, operate, conserve and
maintain the hydraulic infrastructure works and the use of water
3
nationals of more than 200 million cubic meters per year. Since 2017, Sergio
Alfonso Zambada Zazueta —the nephew of Mayo, son of his brother Vicente— is
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president of the association.

As if all these support were not enough, Establo Puerto Rico was also
beneficiary of the Diesel Agricultural support program until 2008.
Sergio Zambada in turn has the company Agrícola Zamgom, SA de CV,
also dedicated to agricultural production. It was created in 2010 with the services of the notary
head of the Mayo, Núñez Bedoya.
***
Two nephews of Mayo settled in Los Angeles, California: Vicente Zambada

Zazueta and Modesta Zambada Zazueta, better known as Motita . Became known
when Mario López Valdez began his tenure as governor of Sinaloa in January
of 2011 and she paid a display in the newspaper to congratulate him.
“We cordially congratulate C. Mario López Valdez for his inauguration
as governor. We wish you every success for the development and progress of
our state. Our respect and admiration. Sincerely, María Modesta Zambada
Zazueta, Motita, and family. "
Vicente Zambada Zazueta created in 2005 the company Ruby Latino Publications, the
which was a publication, located at 5712 E Beverly Boulevard, in Los Angeles,
California, which is currently no longer active. In 2009 he suddenly changed his turn
business and created the Fresh Packing Corp. company with a very broad field of
business:
"The purpose of this corporation is to participate in any act and legal activity
for which a corporation can be organized under the general corporation law
California, other than banking business, trust company or the practice of any
profession authorized by California corporations, ”states the charter of
the business registered with the California Secretary of State office. Have
authorized to issue a single class of shares, and the total number of shares that can be
issue the corporation are 250 thousand. Vicente was registered as directors
4
Zambada Zazueta, Vicente Zambada López Jr, and Mónica Zambada López.
Fresh Packing Corp is dedicated to the production, import, export and sale of
vegetables and fruits. The first time I heard from her was in 2013. One of the brands of
His products is called Don Vicente, and in his logo there is a man with a hat and
mustache, and a few crops behind.
At the beginning, the company had its loading, unloading and storage warehouses in the
th
heart of Los Angeles, in 2183 11 Street. They are currently at 4333 S
Maywood Ave, in an industrial area of Vernon, California, about half an hour from
Center of Los Angeles. Although every company is supposed to be interested in capturing
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new clients, the way they act is very peculiar. I called in several
occasions to have information about their products but I was questioned by a man
who spoke Spanish who asked me insistently how I had obtained the
company information —when the data is public—, where you were calling from, and that
any information he wanted had to go to their warehouses. The same attitude they had
with other people whom you request to try to better understand the operation of the
business. Even their website, which was public in 2013, is now closed, and they say
that any information should be called or go to the company whose life, it is supposed,
it depends on the largest amount of sales. They don't say what products they sell or from where
theyIncome
Mayfrom,
2019 or who are
I made your
a visit tocustomers.
the place where the company is located. Note that
It is a very large cellar in the shape of a trapezoid, painted white, from 1,958
square meters of construction, according to a rental announcement before it was occupied
by the Zambada. It is conveniently flanked by two railway tracks and barely
has a discreet Fresh Packing Corp sign on one wall. I could see that
They have a fleet of trailers with long, high-capacity refrigerated boxes, with
Fresh Packing Corp and Don Vicente logos on the doors and on the rear. But
at the time I went, he was unloading a trailer with the initials in his warehouse
JAGV .
In 2013, on their website they said that they are an innovative company in cultivation and
distribution of fruits and vegetables in the south of that American state. Who do deliveries
to Oregon, Nevada, Texas and Washington. In their public information they announced:
We have partnered with select growers in California and Mexico, from

Michoacán, Sinaloa and Baja California. We constantly do our due
I work to expand our producer base. So we constantly have
products of the highest quality and flavor.
We support the development of our communities in Sinaloa, Mexico.
About 400 families are benefited and their schools are improved. That is how
we work shoulder to shoulder with our producers.
The company claims to comply with the regulations of the United States Department of Agriculture
States ( USDA ) and with those of the Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock of the government of
Mexico to import agricultural products from Mexico to the United States. And
are currently enrolled in the Vendor Verification Program
Foreigners ( FDA ) to ensure their products meet the standards
Americans and are safe for consumers in that market. Through this
program is made the verification of foreign food suppliers.
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On his Facebook profile, Vicente Zambada Zazueta affirms that he is president of the
Club Costa Rica USA, which is an institution created to support projects
community members in the receivership of Costa Rica, Sinaloa. The land of the dominions
May.
According to people close to the family, with whom I spoke, the company of the
Nephews del Mayo was a vegetable and fruit supplier for Walmart, at least in 2013.
Motita has told her acquaintances in California that some of the products that
They commercialize them and acquire them in the same area where the Mayo has its production
livestock and vegetables and livestock, and that according to Gaxiola is fully controlled by the
hood.
***
In 2002 Núñez Bedoya, the same notary who created the Happy Child Stay, created
the company Colegio Azteca de Culiacán, AC Beatriz appears as owners
Amalia and Josefina de Jesús Ortiz Hernández, but those who have their children enrolled in
The school indicates that the owner is Leticia Ortiz Hernández,
mother of Serafin, the son of Mayo. She says that on her birthday the father of her
children always gives her a world of red roses because she calls herself the
spoiled .
The school is a primary school with about 200 students and 12 teachers, located in Rio
Quelite Poniente number 210, in Colonia Guadalupe, in Culiacán. The building is of
two floors, has six rooms, kitchen, dining room, computer room, reception,
address, cellar and two patios. Tuition amounts to 2,400 pesos per month.
They also have another preschool campus with 82 students, located in Río Quelite
number 225, in the same neighborhood.
***
Frizaza was created in Culiacán in 2002 by Mónica del Rosario Zambada Niebla and
Marco Antonio Zazueta Osuna, her husband. Officially it is dedicated to the "sale,
import, export, repair and installation of refrigeration equipment and appliances
for domestic, automotive, commercial and industrial uses ”, but also to
“Acquire, build, operate, sell, own, lease and sublet in any form
allowed by law, all kinds of movable and immovable property ”.
Zazueta Osuna in turn appears as a shareholder of the company Comercializadora El
Chamuko, created in 2011 in Culiacán. It is dedicated to the “purchase, sale, distribution,
import, export, storage, commercialization, packing maquila, of
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all kinds of fruits, vegetables, grains, seeds, farm products, inputs

agricultural products, packaging material, all kinds of meat, fish, seafood and products of the
sea, dairy and derivatives, food products, beverages, wines and spirits ”.
***
Like Chayito's daughters, Vicentillo's sons, although they were minors, and
his mother Zynthia Borboa Zazueta were used to open companies such as Rancho
Ganadero Las Ánimas, Multiservicios Jeviz, Zarka from Mexico and Zarka from Occidente.
Jeviz is a company that was created in 1998 in Culiacán. It is officially dedicated to
“Sale, consignment and importation of new, used and used cars and trucks
used in general, and for jet skis , sports and fishing boats, parts and marine engines ”.
According to the story that Vicentillo tells, these are instruments that are used
constantly in his father's drug business. Zynthia appear as partners
Borboa Zazueta, Vicentillo's wife; his sons Vicente Ismael and Jesús Miguel Zambada
Borboa; Ofelia Félix Salazar and José Guadalupe Peraza Osuna. Zynthia was only 22 years old
when that company was created and appears as the sole administrator. In 1999 the shares
passed to Francisco Salvador Borboa Félix, who also created the Autódromo company
Altata in 2001.
Rancho Ganadero Las Ánimas was created in 2001 to “carry out agricultural activities,
livestock, sowing, import and export, sale of all kinds of livestock and
birds". In it, Vicentillo's wife and her children appear as a partner; and it was also
integrated himself. Later the actions passed in favor of Ofelia Félix Salazar
and Rosario Niebla Cardoza.
***
Children's Stay Happy Child has been operating since 2001 and has been located in Manuel since then.
Vallarta number 2141, Colonia Centro de Culiacán. It has been endorsed by the government of
Culiacán and the IMSS , bodies from which it has received the necessary authorizations to
operate.
The one who gave him the recognition of official validity of his handwriting was the secretary
State of Public Education, Antonio Malacón Díaz. And Ricardo Robinson Bours, who,
In 2001, as a state delegate of the IMSS , he incorporated the nursery into the program of
government "expansion of community-based nursery school services." And that
In the same year, Robinson Bours signed a contract between the IMSS and the Mayo nursery to
the “subrogation of childcare service”, that is, providing childcare service to
workers affiliated with the institute, which is paid monthly by the IMSS itself . The first
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contract was signed in 2001 with a duration of five years.

According to the research I did, the nursery is still in operation,
according to the SEP , although it is still bulletin by the United States government as part of
the criminal network of Mayo. Since 2001 the IMSS has renewed the contract for the provision of
childcare services. She works a morning shift and cares for minors, from
5
infants and maternal to preschool. In total, he has 182 minors under his care.
Before the authorities, Chayito appears as the owner or legal representative.
Although in the documents the only partners are his daughter María Teresa Zambada Niebla and
his grandchildren Maité and Javier Ernesto Díaz Zambada, as well as Rosa María Zazueta
Zambada. As part of the administrative simulations, the property belongs to
Chayito, and she rents it out to herself, in accordance with the leases to
the ones I had access to.
The legal representative has been Carmen Amelia Araujo Laveaga, who has also been
designated the American government as part of the Mayo financial network. She in turn
appears as the owner of the company Construmármoles y Granito, created in Culiacán
in 2007 and dedicated to the “sale of construction materials and the
construction itself, from houses to roads and real estate development ”.
When the pressure on her increased in 2010, she transferred her shares.
The nursery has been a good business for the Mayo family. It will be because of Karma,
but in a way many of the millions that he pays in bribes to officials
public returns to him through the contracts that Estancia Infantil Niño Feliz has made
with the IMSS for years. Information obtained from the Ministry of Public Education of
Sinaloa through the Federal Transparency Law, May 15, 2019.
According to the contracts, in Felipe Calderón's six-year term, between 2010 and 2012, the
IMSS delegation in Sinaloa gave a contract to Estancia Infantil Niño Feliz for
direct award, and paid 2,081 pesos per child served. The nursery declares
in
thethe contract
capo's thatwould
family has a have
capacity of 209
received students,
payment of that
up tomeans that the pesos,
10.4 million companyplusofVAT , in
those two years.
For 2013, already in the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto, under the same modality,
the government gave him an annual contract of 5.6 million pesos, plus VAT . In 2014 the
IMSS delegation again gave them a two-year contract for 13.15 million pesos
plus VAT .
And again, on December 26, 2016 the state delegate of the IMSS in Sinaloa, Ariel
Leyva Almeida, by direct award, gave the del Mayo family nursery a
new contract, now with a duration of 5 years, 2017-2021, to serve 209 minors.
On January 26, 2018 Leyva Almeida signed with Estancia Infantil Niño Feliz,
represented by Beatriz Edith Fernández Gastélum, a modifying agreement by
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means of which the fee that the IMSS pays per month per child was increased. The current fee is
of 3 thousand 773.87 pesos. And it was determined that from 2017 to 2021 the IMSS would make a payment to the
daycare minimum of 18.42 million pesos and maximum of 46.06 million pesos at the
6
throughout that period.
It is an irony. While the hosts of the Sinaloa Cartel impose their lead law on
the society of Culiacán, the government leaves in the hands of the relatives of the Mayo, chief
supreme cartel, to the same children, who outside of kindergarten must live in the
terror created by criminal organization.
According to the information provided by the IMSS, said millionaire agreement continues
valid until today.
***
In the 2012 analysis that the IDA conducted for the government's Department of Defense
of the United States, determined as one of the probable members of the financial network
from the Sinaloa Cartel to the Mexican businessman Jesús Vizcarra Calderón.
Born on March 17, 1960 in Culiacán, Vizcarra Calderón is a leader of the
Grupo Viz, considered a leader in the agricultural sector in Mexico. "Jesus Vizcarra
Calderón, renowned businessman and former mayor of Culiacán, has been associated with Ismael
Zambada García ”, says the report. We already said that in 2010 Vizcarra lost the
governor of Sinaloa in 2010 against Mario López Valdez. Although as told by
Gaxiola, the Mayo had supported the two candidates equally.
The report verbatim indicates:
In 2009, Reforma , a Mexican national newspaper, published photos from 1989 that
showed Vizcarra Calderón and Zambada García attending a celebration
religious in the ranch of Zambada, El Puerto Rico, also known as Establo
Puerto Rico. At that time, Vizcarra Calderón, then mayor and candidate for
governor, declined to comment on the nature of his relationship with Zambada
Garcia.
Since then, Vizcarra Calderón has left politics to return to business.
Due to Sinaloa's ability to corrupt public officials and
private individuals, these individuals and companies with potential links are worth exploring
with the Sinaloa Cartel. Additional information is available through sources
classified.
In 1969, the parents of Vizcarra Calderón, José Isabel Vizcarra Rodríguez and
María del Rosario Calderón López, founded the business SuKarne Pacífico SA of
CV Vizcarra Calderón transformed it into Grupo Viz, a holding company with
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numerous subsidiaries. Including SuKarne S. A de CV, SuKarne Worldwide / Viz

Cattle Corporation, SuKuero, Renpro, Integral Livestock Industrial Unit
Nicaragua (Ginsa), Humibac, Agrovizion Integradora SA de CV, 38 and Empresa
Agroindustrial.
Today, Grupo Viz is the leading company in the agricultural industry in Mexico.
Annually, the company exports a billion dollars worth of beef, pork and
chicken to four different continents, including the United States and Japan. The
company produces nearly $ 2 billion in revenue annually.
El Mayo would have boasted on various occasions to his special guests at the
dominions of Costa Rica and Quilá that part of their cattle is sold to
SuKarne.
***
Gaxiola stated that neither El Mayo nor his family have been assured of any property,
except on that occasion in 2000, when the matter was resolved with great
speed. But knowing this for sure is one of the secrets that should best be kept,
even in the government of the left-wing president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
I requested the information on insured real estate and personal property from Ismael Zambada
García and his son Vicente Zambada Niebla. Whether it was ministerially insured assets
to them or to Rosario Niebla Cardoza, María Teresa, Midiam Patricia, Mónica del Rosario
and Modesta Zambada Niebla. As well as Zynthia Borboa Zazueta, Ismael Zambada
Imperial, Leticia Ortiz Fernández, Serafín Zambada Ortiz, Margarita Imperial López and
Ismael Zambada Sicairos.
The Attorney General's Office headed by Alejandro Gertz Manero refused to
give the information because making it public can cause a “profound alteration that
7
a person suffers in their feelings, affections or beliefs, decorum, honor, reputation ”.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor for Organized Crime Investigation
classified as "confidential" the pronouncement of the existence or non-existence of
assurances of assets against the requested persons. And the National Institute
Transparency agreed with them.
Perhaps the reason for not opening the information is another. The same arguments are
had given before to deny the information of movable and immovable property
insured Chapo and his family. In the end, when in that case the institute did force the
Attorney's Office to deliver the information, they responded that in the last 18 years (2001-
2019) the only thing they had assured the second of May, that according to the government
American accumulated 14 billion dollars in 20 years of drug trafficking,
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Page 174
There were three watches, a building, five firearms, 171 cartridges, five chargers,
8
a computer equipment and three cell phones.
While the multiple Mayo companies in Mexico exist without complications,
According to the documents that Gaxiola showed me, since 2008 the capo's family has treated
to remove New Industria from the Treasury Department's blacklist
of Ganaderos de Culiacán, Establo Puerto Rico, Jamaro Construcciones, Multiservicios
Jeviz and Rosario Niebla Cardoza herself, through the law firm
Berliner Corcoran & Rowe of Washington DC, but to date has not succeeded.
N OTES
1
Information obtained from the Ministry of Communications and Transportation through
Federal Transparency Law, May 6, 2019.
two
Information obtained from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development through
the Federal Transparency Law, March 26, 2019.
3
Information obtained from the National Water Commission through Federal Law
of Transparency.
4
California Secretary of State documents obtained by author.
5
Information obtained from the Secretariat of Public Education of Sinaloa through the
Federal Transparency Law, May 15, 2019.
6
Information obtained from the Mexican Institute of Social Security through the Law
Federal Transparency, October 2019.
7
Information provided by the National Institute of Transparency through the
Resolution RRA / 10760/19, notified on October 19, 2019.
8
Information obtained from the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic by means of the Law
Federal Transparency, May 8, 2019.
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Page 175
fifteen
The war according to Vicentillo
In approximately January 2008, Arturo Beltrán Leyva's brother,

Alfredo, who is also known as Mochomo , was detained for
Mexican authorities. Arturo charged my father and Chapo for the arrest of
1
Mochomo, which brought a chain of events.
Approximately in April 2008 the Beltrans completely broke
with the Sinaloa Cartel and a very violent war started between the two.
The Beltrán Leyva formed an alliance with the Los Zetas Cartel, who fought
side of the Beltrans against the Sinaloa Cartel. In addition, during this same
period, the Sinaloa Cartel was at war with another of its former
allies, the Carrillo Fuentes organization. Because of these wars,
which were still going on when I was arrested in 2009, many people were
murdered.
I am aware of many aspects of the violence that has happened
in Mexico as a result of this cartel war.
***
On January 21, 2008, the army arrested Alfredo Beltrán Leyva in Culiacán, territory
of the May. It was a spectacular operation in which around 100
military and multiple gunned Hummer vehicles. El Mochomo was leaving a date,
He was traveling aboard a white BMW pickup , with only three escorts, and was carrying a
two
important batch of jewels with a value of several million pesos.
At that time, Mochomo was 37 years old, he was just four years older than
Vicentillo. Very young he had also gone to live in Cancun, where they both lived together
Quite. Of the Beltrán Leyva he was the youngest and with whom the Mayo's son had a
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closest relationship. Like Vicentillo, he was forcedly immersed in the

family businesses. Arturo was very attached to him.
Arturo Beltrán Leyva's relationship with El Mayo and El Chapo had cooled off since
a while ago.Rey
In 2007 Andwas
the arrest
presentofatthe
theMochomo was the El
meeting between match thatand
Mayo lit El
theChapo
gasoline.
where
they decided to start the war. The prelude was the murder of the police chief of the PGR
Nemesio Lugo in Mexico City, which had upset Arturo a lot because
it belonged to his people. After the event, Arturo refused to speak to El Chapo. "And since there was already
various problems with him [Arturo], it was decided to declare war on them, ”said Rey.3
“Well, we talked about the fact that if the war were to break out, there were many
people who were dangerous, like Arturo, Barbie, Rafita and little details like
that […] would be a very violent war. That's what I told them from me, I said that
I really didn't think it would be good for them to declare war on Arturo, ”he argued.
Rey in that discussion.
And he was right. The worst war between drug traffickers in history in Mexico was about to come.
Worse than the one with the Arellano Félix. Worse than that of the Federation against the
Zetas. There were many signs that war was imminent. Thanks to the general
Humberto Eduardo Antimo Miranda, el Mayo learned that in the Sedena a group of
generals was leaving the side of the former partners, now adversaries.
***
4
General Antimo in 2007 was my contact, and I took him to see my father.
The general was trying to talk to my dad because there was a rumor
in the Secretary of Defense of other generals, and that was what the
General Antimo said, that there was a rumor that some generals were going to
be divided. Lazcano, the people of the Beltrán Leyva and the Carrillo Fuentes
were looking to have more connections with other generals so they could
attack my dad and my friend Chapo. In fact, he and other generals
they had been contacted by the Carrillo Fuentes, the Beltrán Leyva and Zetas
[in order to] send them money to help them arrest my dad and
to my friend Chapo.
The general had talked to other generals and told them it was better
look for my dad and it was better to be on my dad's side because of how my
dad and what my compadre Chapo was like, and because everything that was happening
in Mexico with the Zetas and the Beltrans and the war that had broken out in
the entire Republic.
My dad talked for about five hours with the general and said "thank you." The
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General said that if he had more information that it was to harm my

Dad and my compadre Chapo, what would he tell us.
***
In 2008 it was when I saw Chapo and my dad together more times in a row, it was
when the war with Arthur came, or rather when Arthur joined the
Zetas and the Carrillo Fuentes to fight against Chapo and my dad. El Chapo
I already knew what they were up to, he told my dad to be careful,
and all of us too. Juancho and
I, and my dad and Chapo told us: “They are putting people in Culiacán, the
Zetas and Vicente Carrillo together with Arturo ”, and that they were plotting
5
kill them and everyone around them.
My dad told Chapo to let him talk to Arturo to see if he could
stop all that, that another war was not good, and El Chapo said that he
I didn't want that either, but what was they up to because Arturo
He was wrong in his head and they had gotten it into his head that my dad and
El Chapo had handed over his brother Alfredo Beltrán.
What my dad said was that Arturo was wrong, how could he think
that. That they didn't catch Alfredo because they didn't want to, that he was always
on the street and wherever, they didn't need to put it on. My daddy said
that he was going to talk to Arturo to see if he could stop that war.
My dad talked to Arturo. How was it possible that being a cousin of
Chapo and his lifelong friend, things were going to break down,
What was the matter? Arturo told him that because they, El Chapo and my
Dad, they had to do with the arrest of his brother, but not
It was against him, it was against El Chapo, that El Chapo had done that in exchange
for the release of their son Iván [Guzmán Salazar], who was detained. Me
Dad told him to stop gossiping, that that was a lie.
But Arturo was on drugs and he didn't like them. Then I would talk to
my dad and said no, that he already knew how Alfredo had been, that
it had been the other way and that everything was fine. But after days he spoke
waved or crazy, that's what they say there, that is, drugged or drunk, and it said
otherwise and that he was going to kill them and things like that.
***
For Arturo Beltrán Leyva it was impossible not to think that Mayo and El Chapo had
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betrayed. Above all, because while his brother was detained in Culiacán, the Police
Federal, commanded by Édgar Millán, carried out surprise searches of three of their houses in the
Mexico City: in San Ángel, in Romero de Terreros and in Pedregal de San Ángel.
When the arrest of the Mochomo occurred, I already had knowledge of the forms
different cartels operate because he was immersed in the investigation of Lords
of the narco . Every day I met with some and with others, many times in the City
from Mexico. For the most part, my informants weren't drug dealers or murderers,
but hinges between the legal and illegal world that each cartel needs to survive.
A source of information very close to Arturo Beltrán warned me that the capo
He was convinced that El Mayo and El Chapo had handed over their brother, that they were not
he would never forgive and soon he would exact revenge. In February 2008 I published a
article in Indigo Report where I reported that a war was to come.
Arturo Beltrán had the support of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes and Heriberto
Lazcano, the leader of the Zetas with whom he had recently made an alliance.
***
At the beginning of the year [2008] we began to realize that they were
bringing in many people in Culiacán and throughout the state, they began to
hire people and rent office houses across the city, and how
Culiacán is small and everyone knows us, we know when something goes
6
weird.
They started hiring people everywhere, in the colonias and ranches
surrounding the city. And many people who hired already told them to
what they wanted, because many people did not want and deserted and those people
searched and they told us everything they were doing or planning, because almost
all the people are grateful to my dad and to El Chapo, and when they
they said they were hiring them to fight against them because a lot of
people did not want to and deserted them.
They had been told that they were going to pay each one 20 thousand pesos a month and
who wanted to get 500 or more people from there from Culiacán and the people
approached them because they thought that Arturo was the same as May and
the Chapo. As everyone knew about friendship, and apart from that they were cousins
of Chapo, because many people did approach them. But when the
they had locked in several houses they told them that with those who were going to fight
It was against El Chapo and Mayo, many people deserted, they said they did not
they were fighting against El Chapo and El Mayo, and those people warned us and so
El Chapo and my dad confirmed more what they were up to before.
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So my dad sent for me and Juancho too, and he told us that

we were careful because they wanted to kill us all. Among the whites
I was on the list on my dad's side, and Juancho on Chapo's side,
but my dad said that he was going to fight him so as not to fight, what was he going to do
the last attempt to talk to Arturo to see what happened and they talked to him.
My father told me days later that Arturo had denied everything, that he did not
I was hiring people or anything like that and it was the last time
they talked to him.
***
2008 was the second year of Felipe Calderón's government. The Secretary of Security
Federal Public was Genaro García Luna, who had already received bribes of at least 8
7
million dollars from the Mayo, and at least another 50 million from the Beltrán Leyva. The
Chief of the Federal Police was the aforementioned Édgar Millán, subordinate and personal friend of
Garcia Luna. The Secretary of Defense was Guillermo Galván, in whose army he had
some generals closer to Mayo and others to Arturo Beltrán and Vicente Carrillo
Sources. The same happened in the PGR , whose head was Eduardo Medina Mora.
When I heard that a war was going to start between the members of the
Federation, it seemed clear to me that the Calderón government would also enter a war
internal. It would be fractured between those who were with El Mayo and El Chapo and the
that they would remain loyal to Arthur. Others stayed in the middle.
***
My dad sent for me again, he was very worried about everything

What was happening. He told me that there was no longer a fight [remedy], that both
battle and so many deaths with the past war with the Arellano, and so well
that there was everything, and now these people. How much he had made the fight of
mediator so that there would be peace, but it was in vain, that these people
8
understood.
That he had been one of the mediators months before for Arturo
arranged with the Zetas, and that in the end it had been worse for everyone to get together
them to kill him and El Chapo, after everything he had done!
He told me that the most important thing was the family, that Arturo and Vicente Carrillo
and the Zetas do not think of anyone, they are not interested in anything, but he does, and
I thought what was going to happen with the family and again with me. That there was already
fought the other war and now this one again. That I notify my
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sisters and brothers what happened and that they left the city
[Culiacán] and they all went to Canada and others to Mexico City, and
So.
I told him that I wanted to leave too, that he knew that I would never
he had liked that life, that he was already angry at living under pressure, a
life that one does not want to live, but that was getting worse and worse. Which was now
different because the government was already looking for me, which was more difficult for me.
He told me that it was difficult for him too, that he never wanted that for
us and that he was never going to let me get into his business, that's why
he was as he was, to give us something better and studies and that by the
circumstances even the government was looking for me. He told me to take care of myself
and that he kept me the most outside and apart from everything. That he and Chapo
They were seeing how to fix me and get rid of everything and see if I could live
a better life and what I had always wanted.
So I told him that I was going to go to Mazatlán with my family, that
no one knew, that I always moved there discreetly with my
wife and with my children, and I put my children to study in Mazatlán. And I said
that yes, that I was just waiting and that he took care of me, that they
they had people to fight and for me not to get involved in anything.
***
Not only was Mayo in difficulties, but also President Calderón. Would that one
from the worst years of his life. He himself was an accomplice in protecting the Federation.
His government used the army and the PF to fight alongside this criminal group against
9
the Zetas. He received millionaire bribes from them and, according to the Barbie, even topped
meetings with drug traffickers.
10
There would be many casualties from all sides.
***
eleven
April 30, 2008 was when the war with Arturo Beltrán began.
We already knew his intentions months before. Then
They already had a lot of people hired and were allied with the Zetas and
Vicente Carrillo. They bought and rented houses in Culiacán and had
hired armed people to kill us and had planned everything
they were going to do in Culiacán.
Then Chapo and my father told me and Juancho to have people who
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investigate where the safe houses and armed people were because
they had decided to help the Federal Police with some raids and thus
were going to arrest them.
My father and Chapo did this in order to fight as little as possible and
that there wasn't too much violence, because if they sent their own
people to the safe houses the war was going to be even worse. There would be
many dead including innocent people, and they didn't want that, a lot
less in Culiacán, where they controlled everything. And so not too
government would be involved.
Chapo and my father asked Juancho and me to check all the
enemy addresses because we were going to work with the government and
they didn't want the information to leak out. They also wanted to show
that they were working without much violence or death.
Once we had the directions, the most that
we could, we had to give them to Mr. Damaso and he was going to give them to the
group PFP . Chapo said that he had already spoken with them and that they
they promised that they would take charge of the searches and raids.
On about April 30, we gave the addresses to Damaso. The
Federal forces were already in Culiacán, but they did not know where to go.
In addition to the addresses, they asked us to loan them people who
It will guide them and thus not be mistaken.
Chapo lent some of his people dressed as federal police who
they went along with the real federal policemen and that day, April 30, the
Federal Police carried out operations at the addresses we gave them.
They carried out five simultaneous raids and in four of the houses they arrested
people who did not resist, six or nine each, and confiscated
many weapons and chariots. There was a confrontation with the PFP in the last
home. It lasted about four hours with the army and the PFP , finally
they surrendered and arrested 13 people and many weapons and cars. the same
day, but three hours later, there was a confrontation with our people.
On April 30, the day of the child is celebrated in Mexico. I was at
outskirts of Culiacán in a country house that I have, to celebrate the day
of the child with my children and nephews, my brothers-in-law and other friends.
My guards were guarding the peripheral area from where I was.
They were never where I was, but they stayed in houses
close. They were guarding the entrance of the place where I was with
my children when they told me that a convoy of carriages of
enemies, be careful.
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They warned me that at that time there were confrontations in the city in
some addresses and there were several dead, and to be alert in case
we had to move from the place where we were. Then they called me to
tell me that the enemy tanks were approaching the place where
I was there and about 15 minutes later we started hearing gunshots
around.
I yelled at my children, my wife, and the other women to
They immediately entered the house and my guards radioed me to
tell me they were fighting the enemy. They asked me if they were going to
where I was to protect ourselves while we got my family out of there.
That they had asked for reinforcements and they were all coming.
I only had eight people guarding me, only two cars with
four people each, but their job is just to take care of me and there are other
people to peel. In that confrontation four enemies died and two
of my guards were injured.
More than 30 people were arrested in the raids and then we were
We learned that some of the dead were from the Sinaloa state police who
worked for Alfredo Beltrán, and that was the day the war began
in Culiacán. On the same day at sunset, several trucks were attacked
of the PFP and many agents died in retaliation for the raids and the
people they had arrested. In those months all the operations and
arrests made by the Federal Police were because we
we helped, otherwise they would not have done anything.
The Federal Police asked Chapo and my father for help, so they could
help them and they could do the operations without so many deaths. In those months
they arrested a hundred people from the enemy side and confiscated several weapons.
But if they hadn't, instead of having a hundred detainees, there would have been
one hundred dead. There would have been more shootings if we had just sent
our people to take those places by storm.
***
Members of Secretary García Luna's closest team began to fall

like bowling in a spike. The loyalties of those who had worked for the Federation
they were put to the test. The first to fall was Roberto Velasco, director of Crime
Organized by the AFI . From Los Señor de Narco I affirmed that Velasco was murdered
for his collusion with organized crime. Rey directly told the story.
Anticipating the war against the Beltrán Leyva, El Mayo and El Chapo not only
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orchestrated attacks using the PF as armed force , with the complicity of García
Luna and Millán, but they put in place a plan to neutralize the police
federal officials and AFI agents who worked for Arturo Beltrán.
"Roberto Velasco worked for the Beltran Leyva," Rey said. Nacho Coronel
reported that Velasco told who he should not that he was going to attack Mayo and El Chapo
on Arturo's orders.
“Once I spoke to my brother, he said, 'You don't even need to ask me,
go ahead, do that favor, '”explained Rey, whose godson, Édgar Bayardo, was deputy director of
the Operations Division of the PF and belonged to García Luna's circle. The brother
del Mayo asked Bayardo to locate Velasco. One day after the attack of the day
of the child in Culiacán, at six o'clock in the afternoon, in the middle of the Mexico City rush hour, the
Mechudo, a Mayo hitman, murdered Velasco while the police chief was on his way to
Your domicile. A bullet hit him directly in the head and he was automatically brain dead,
although it was not until he arrived at the hospital that he lost his life.
“At the time, Mechudo told me to notify the bosses that the job was
done, ”Rey said.
A couple of days after Velasco's murder, on May 3, 2008, the secretariat
de García Luna revealed the murder of four federal police officers after
clashes that occurred in Culiacán. They were from the people of Mayo and El Chapo who had
gone to blow up the houses of the Beltrán Leyva: Manuel García Pérez, Víctor Hugo Martínez
Bravo, Genaro Francisco Nicolás and Guillermo Martínez Alvarado.
“They died last night when confronting crime with courage and professionalism
organized ”, it was reported in a press release. What was not said is that they died
service of the Mayo and the Chapo, not of the nation. In Mexico City they surrendered
tribute of heroes.
On the same May 3 at dawn, they assassinated Aristeo Gómez in the capital.
Martínez, director of the headquarters of the General Staff of the Federal Police, also close
to García Luna.
It was the turn of Édgar Millán, the commissioner of the PF , the same one who sent his
elements to Culiacán to put themselves at the service of Mayo and El Chapo and attack the Beltrán
Leyva.
Like his bosses, Millán's reputation for being corrupt had been with him for
weather. A 2005 PGR internal affairs document accused him of being part of
the network of corrupt police officers led by García Luna, Luis Cárdenas Palomino and
Facundo Rosas Rosas. In the AFI he was in charge of assigning the places to the agents
seconded throughout the country, this made him one of the most powerful officials in the
agency. They accused him of charging the drug traffickers, especially the associates of the
Federation, from $ 200,000 to $ 1 million for appointing a certain boss
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regional, as well as a monthly payment of 50 thousand to 100 thousand dollars for the general director
in turn. Vicentillo's writings corroborated this extensively, as did the
testimony of Rey, who spoke of the millions that were given to García Luna to
change of appointing a chief of the AFI in Culiacán.
In the early morning of May 8, 2008, Millán was murdered in a neighborhood in the neighborhood.
de Tepito in Mexico City. They gave him eight shots, three in the face. The government of
Calderón and his police chief, García Luna, ran the version that the Cartel of
Sinaloa had killed him for his work in the fight against drug trafficking, they never said that
They executed for working for El Mayo and El Chapo. He was given a hero's funeral that
García Luna and Calderón presided, who served as an honor guard and gave them the
flag of Mexico to their relatives. That would have been the Beltran Leyva response to
attack in Culiacán.
That same day at night there was a sensitive loss on the side of El Chapo. His son Edgar
Guzmán López, 22, sired with Griselda López, was murdered in a
confrontation in a commercial plaza in Culiacán. The media assured that they were
the Beltrán Leyva, but it was not like that, it was Gonzalo Inzunza, Macho Prieto , gunman at the
May service.
“There was an order for everyone to stay at home because there was going to be a
confrontation, ”Gaxiola told me, confirming the version I narrated in Los Señor del
narco . “It was said that a person from Arturo Beltrán Leyva's group was going to walk around that
City Club area and he was going to meet someone. The characteristics were even known
of the car. It occurred to Edgar to go out with his wife shopping and he left the radio.
learned of the alert. When the gunmen saw the car, someone thought 'that's it!'
and they opened fire. When they realized who it was, they reported the incident and were
to see Chapo. "
Along with Edgar, his cousin César Ariel Loera and Arturo Meza were murdered
Cázares, son of the Empress, the financial operator of Mayo.
"Chapo confirmed the account of what they told him, 'no way', he said, it was a mistake, and everything
that group continued working, ”Gaxiola said.
***
Gonzalo [Macho Prieto] was the one with the most people, he was one of the
in charge of peeling and all that kind of stuff for my father. He had to
12
his position about 200 people.
He really liked transportation and everything
related to the secret compartments to transport the drug in
pipes and trucks, but it was also very “military”. He was the one who fought and
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could enter anywhere to capture enemies or those who

they wanted to hurt us. Of all the people that enemies have
murdered, his people have been the ones who have died the most. Gonzalo was from Navolato
and for some time he has had problems with the Carrillo Fuentes. They
killed one of his brothers, nephews and other relatives who had no
nothing to do with the business, people who had their own businesses in
order. Some were dedicated to painting cars, repairing bodies
and garages. And they [Carrillo Fuentes] killed them all. One day they went to
garage where he spent time, and just because they were his acquaintances the
they all killed. Including people who were just there, innocent people
who had had their vehicles repaired. Days later they went to kill
his cousins who were engaged in upholstery.
And that's why he told my father that he would fight alongside them, and that
they will leave him alone. But then I was in a very bad situation, I was very
involved in drugs [consumption] and it got really bad. Even your own
people were afraid of him.
What I knew is that months before I was arrested, he was in
Sonoyta [Sonora] and Mexicali. My father told me that he had seen some
days before. And that Gonzalo told him that he was looking for a way to do
some marijuana crossings on the border and that he had the whole government
protecting Sonoyta and that even the military were going to help him cross the
drug. That he already had everything ready and that the only thing left was to finish the
crossing. This is how Gonzalo handled things.
***
In Mexico City the murders against drug police continued. The 26th of June
In 2008, they killed Igor Labastida, PF director of Traffic and Smuggling .
Days later his lawyer, Raquenel Villanueva —a recognized litigant from
Monterrey, an expert in criminal cases of organized crime, confided in me that Igor was
trying to contact United States government authorities for the purpose of
become a protected witness and reveal the corruption of the AFI and the SSP
by García Luna. He had been part of the corrupt group for more than five years, he was
very close to Millán, but complained that García Luna and Cárdenas Palomino
they left the dirtiest work. He told Raquenel that García Luna and several members of
his team had accepted money from all groups, but they only suited the
of the May.
At noon, while Igor ate at an inn of the Miguel Hidalgo delegation of
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the Mexican capital, a group of gunmen shot him down. Curiously for him there was no
hero's funeral.
Raquenel was murdered in Monterrey in August 2009. She died knowing of
loudly, through the police and drug traffickers, the deep corruption in Genaro's group
García Luna, which I had been investigating since 2007.
On October 19, 2008, Édgar Bayardo and the new PF commissioner , substitute
of Millán, Víctor Garay Cadena, carried out an operation to blow up a residence
located in a wooded area south of Mexico City known as the Desert
of the Lions.
Arturo Beltrán Leyva and the Colombian drug trafficker are supposed to be there
Harold Poveda, his main supplier, at a private party. In the place I was playing
music Luis Enrique Guzmán, brother of the famous singer Alejandra Guzmán, from
who later Poveda would show his friends nude photographs presuming that they had
an intimate relationship. The operation was given by indications of the Mayo, as it came
happening in the last few months.
It was a disaster. Arturo was not there and Poveda ran away. The cops tortured,
they beat, robbed, and Garay Cadena organized an orgy in the jacuzzi of the residence with
some of the prostitutes that were in the place. Bayardo himself had suggested not
13
do it, but the police chief stayed until the next day. The only one detained
important was the Colombian narco Mauricio Fina Restrepo. Poveda was finally
arrested in 2010, of course, in an operation by federal police who were working
for May.
Accused of collaborating with the Sinaloa Cartel, Garay Cadena began to be
investigated by the deputy attorney Marisela Morales. He resigned a few days later
charge and later arrested for abuse of authority and protection to the Mayo.
***
I went to Mazatlán a few days after things got

really ugly in Culiacán. One of the men who had been ordered
murdering me had been following my wife for days when she
I was going to pick up my son from school and they were thinking of picking her up,
I mean kidnap her and then murder her. Or kill me when I get out
From home. About 13 people were at a location four blocks away
from my house. They were already following my wife and were waiting for the
I ordered that when they found me they would murder me, even if I went with my
wife murder us both. My wife never knew this. I did not want to
tell him. This information was given to us by the government, so I had to be
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careful if this information was true and they really wanted

kill us. The government told us the type of car, the color, and what school
my wife took my son every day. They even gave us the badge
of the truck that was following her. That is why I took my family to
14
Mazatlán and I put my children in a school there.
***
During the war with the Beltrán Leyva, in addition to Macho Prieto, they commanded groups
Armed El Mechudo and Benny. And although Chino Ántrax started with May working on
transporting drugs, in wartime also assumed the role of
bodyguard and gunman.
***
There is another person who also fought when necessary. His name is
Luis Miguel, and they call him the Artist. He is part of the Judicial Police and al
same time is with my father. He has his own way people
separated. fifteen
The other is M1 . His name is Manuel Torres and he also has his people.
It has about a hundred people. They also killed their 18-year-old son,
Arthur's people did, and that's why he started fighting alongside
my father even more.
So there are several coordinated groups. They were all in contact. For
For example, when someone found a house or vehicle
suspect in the streets, they called each other to see if that house or that
car belonged to one of our groups, and if it did not belong to anyone
that meant they were enemies and began to watch over them.
This is how it worked with those who were on the streets fighting
or locating enemy people. But I never participated in any of
those things, that's what they were for.
I didn't have to be involved in any event or put myself at risk.
My father has his people for that. Despite this, I knew them and could
give them orders of what to do.
As the son of Mayo, of course, I could do whatever I wanted,
but I was always locked up in my house taking care of myself. And if I
I was aware of many things, but I have never killed anyone and I have never
participated in any of the operations.
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***
For Rey, the war with Arturo Beltrán Leyva and his allies was much worse, because
a fratricidal war returned.
“I cannot give an exact number, but there were a lot of people killed. There must be
16
been hundreds, hundreds. "
"It was uglier, bigger," he said, comparing the war with the Arellano Félix and the
Zetas. “It was a war between our own people, between Sinaloans, between people who
they were from the same city, so it became very sad. "
And even sadder because on October 20, 2008 he was arrested. It happened in a
middle-class neighborhood of Mexico City, in an operation by AFI agents that
they worked for the Beltrán Leyva family. They arrested him along with his son, Jesús Zambada Reyes,
22 years old, and his stepson, Richard Arroyo Guízar, 31, son of his wife Paty.
No one will be able to say that Rey did not fight to the end, as was her custom. Him and his
people fought for about an hour. In the street were AFI officers and
Police from the Secretariat of Public Security of Mexico City who wanted to
stop it. On the roof of the house there were police elements on the payroll of the
May who wanted to protect their escape and shot at the other policemen. Among them are
were Marco Antonio Valadez Rico, deputy inspector of the PF at the airport of the
Mexico City, where Rey ruled; Carlos Gerardo Castillo Ramírez, attached to the
Directorate General for Regional Deployment ; José Guillermo Báez Figueroa,
AFI's
deputy delegate attached to the Intelligence area of the PF , and Francisco Montaño Ochoa,
17
ministerial police attached to Tlalnepantla.
Desperate, Rey called his godson Bayardo, the corrupt police chief of the PF ,
who just one night before had been in the disastrous operation of the Desert of the
Lions "What happened, godson? We are already holding on to chingadazos, they are us
grabbing against them ”, said the desperate capo. "I'm coming, godfather, I'm coming, I'm coming",
Bayardo replied.
The King and his son Jesus were surrounded on the roof of their residence. The capo
he made another call, this time to the capital's SSP . "Hey, godson, please send me to the
Smurfed, because I don't know if they are contras or it is the government ”. The smurf, that is, the policemen
They did arrive, but they couldn't help him.
"What happened, godson? What happened? ”, He called Bayardo again, while a
helicopter was flying over the place.
Desperate, over the radio, Rey asked Bayardo for one last favor:
my godchildren, I'm going to raffle it, I'm not going to let them catch me, and if not, I'm going to
kill". Rey put the gun to his temple, but his son Jesús took it from him and saved his life.
Days later no one could save Jesus: after having declared widely against
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corrupt police officers from García Luna's team, woke up dead hanging with a
tape tied around his neck in the detention house where he was detained under the
responsibility of the Calderón government. The PGR said he committed suicide. King never did
believed.
Rey and Richard immediately became protected witnesses, the first under the
pseudonym of Rambo III and the second as María Fernanda. King provided
information on corruption in the FP .
At the end of that year, Bayardo was also arrested and became a protected witness.
under the code name Tigre. He declared widely against Garay Cadena and other seniors
officials from García Luna's office. On December 1, 2009, he was assassinated in
a Starbucks in Mexico City in broad daylight. For his part, Garay Cadena
"They exonerated" in 2012 and he was released from prison because the PGR could not prove his complicity
with the cartel.
Seven years later, another son of Rey, Vicente Zambada Reyes, would be gunned down in
Culiacán as part of the disputes between the cartels that still continued.
N OTES
1
author.
two
Informative part of January 21, 2008, criminal case 15/2008-I.
3
4
5 author.
Ibid.
6
Ibid.
7
8
author.
9
Witness statement from the prosecution on November 13, 2018, during the opening
of the trial of Chapo.
10
Letter sent by Édgar Valdez Villarreal to the author in November 2012,
published in Reforma .
eleven
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author.
12
Ibid.
13
"The party of Chief Garay", Reforma , December 13, 2008.
14
author.
fifteen
Ibid.
16
17
File PGR / SIEDO / UEIDCS / 350/08 .
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Page 191
16
President Calderón asked my father for a favor
Since the war started, 20 people were taking care of me, they were
the ones my father put up for my protection. There were two cars and sometimes
three, with four people each. Not all 20 were with me at
same time, but they had shifts. Ten work for 10 or 15 days,
then they took a week off and were relieved by another 10. I
I never saw them. There were some that I didn't even know, even though it seems
1
lie, it's the truth.
The man who was in charge of them called him Yipi ; he was in charge
from one group, and from the other a man named Ismael and the other Keta.
This is the way I have always handled things. For example,
the house where I lived or was with my family, nobody knew where it was, only
me. Those who were in charge of my security, whether it was Yipi, Ismael or Keta,
in case you needed something at night, or whenever you were, they knew where
I was there, but the rest were not. And in my house I was, my wife, my children, and
cleaning people.
I tried to live very simply and not attract attention and live
like a normal person. I did not go to restaurants, shopping centers,
theaters, parties or that kind of thing.
For example, I lived in a private residential complex in Mazatlán. The
who cared for me had their offices about three blocks away; in the mornings,
when my wife took the children to school, a car
accompanied. He also made patrols around the place where I live.
Later, when my wife went out to pick up the children, they also went with her.
But neither my children nor my wife realized that. I warned the
men who took care of my schedules and waited at some point
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near the group and followed her, so they did not know where she lived or when
I was leaving the house because sometimes I went to pick up my children
to school or another place.
I called 15 minutes before going to Yipi or another: “I'm going to go out
a lap ”, and they knew what they had to do. When i was leaving my house
or the condo, they were already waiting outside. When it was
returning home I warned them two or three blocks before they left me there
and in this way they did not know where he lived.
During the day and at night there were always two people doing
patrols where he lived in cars or motorcycles. I don't know who they are or
I have contact with them. If there is something, for example, if the government is close,
They notify Keta or Yipi. The one who notified was Doctor [Roberto Beltrán
Burgos] who worked for Chapo and my father. Keta would call me if he
it notified if the government was preparing an operation.
For example, he would call me to say: “Just so you know, those of the
Federal Police informed me that they will be in a certain sector of the city.
Just so you know". And I said "ok". Or, for example, they said: “They
They informed me that they are going to search a house and want to know if it is
our". And I would say, "Well, no, ask the others." And that's how everything
it worked. But I never saw the PF or the government military.
I know that those who were in charge of that were the Doctor and Keta.
For example, when a new PF commander arrived , the
The commander who was leaving introduced the one who was arriving. And when I was going
to Mazatlán or Culiacán I informed the person in charge of my surveillance. Me
notified Keta about half an hour before, so he could check with the FP that
on the road everything was fine. Those of the PF made sure that there was no
checkpoints or military in the booths on the road. They sent a car to the
head to tell them how the road was. Others followed me to the
distance, the two cars that were escorting me. This is how my security worked and
this was my way of taking care of myself.
***
In the ranks of the Sedena there was also division. Those who previously served the Federation
they had to decide which side they were on. One of those in that situation was
General Roberto Miranda Sánchez, who in 1998 had so kindly invited
have breakfast at Vicentillo to Los Pinos.
Between 2001 and 2003 Vicentillo confirmed in Quebec the loyalty of the military man with Vicente
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Carrillo Fuentes and his father. For 2008 things changed. Miranda, general of
division, was as commander of the III Military Region based in Mazatlán,
Sinaloa.
***
In 2007 or 2008, General [Miranda Sánchez] was sent to Mazatlán. In order to

then the war with Arturo and Vicente Carrillo had begun. And so
soon as the general arrived in Mazatlan, the first thing he said in the
news and was also known by Chapo and my father, is that he was going to
arrest Chapo and Mayo or watch them die, and he [Miranda] started a strong
campaign against us, I mean Chapo and my father, but all the
family was affected. My mother, my sisters and my house were searched
two
every week throughout 2008. It was pure harassment.
There was another general in Culiacán who was in charge of the IX Military Zone.
I also know their name, I'll say it later, but they were also people from
Vicente and Arturo. They were paid for by our enemies. They
they searched our ranches, businesses, and houses. They robbed at all
places where they did searches. They did not leave any furniture or cars. Alone
stole. They entered without any search warrant or anything, I know this because
Chapo told my father that the two generals were from Vicente Carrillo.
Chapo was told by another military friend of his, and told him that they must have a lot
be careful because they were being singled out by enemies in all
parts and that because those generals are corrupt. One, because I saw it for me
same. But since his loyalties were more with Vicente Carrillo, he
was on his side. The general was removed before I was arrested.
By then I knew from my father and Chapo that Chapo was working
with your friends to move it.
One of the things is that Chapo gave money to a colonel and a
lieutenant colonel, and they were the ones who informed him of what the generals
they did. They were getting orders to just go against Chapo and
May. Do not go to Navolato or anything related to the Carrillos. But still
so they did operations in Navolato, they did them for my father and
Chapo. And the operations were carried out by the colonel on his own.
One was in charge of the battalion in Guamúchil, as far as I know, Dámaso
it was who saw it. I do not know the name of the colonel who was in
Culiacán, but I know that Damaso saw it and was available for Chapo and my
dad. My father and Chapo gave the coordinates of houses and ranches
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belonging to the Carrillos. They found many weapons, cars

armored vehicles and arrested many people. The general of Mazatlán [Miranda]
He got very angry and scolded the colonels, but could not do anything since the
people were arrested, many weapons confiscated, houses of
security, and it was in the papers. So it was not in the interests of the
general punish them because they had done the work they were supposed to
do, attack organized crime. But General [Miranda] was very
angry because they had carried out an operation in Navolato without his authorization
because the general was corrupt. I saw him in Los Pinos and he is known as
Vicente Carrillo people.
***
From December 2007 to December 2010 the commander of the IX Military Zone with
headquarters in Culiacán was Major General Noé Sandoval Alcázar. His last charge was
as Undersecretary of Defense from 2014 to 2016. While General Roberto
Miranda Sánchez left the III Military Region in February 2009. From 2009 to 2011 he was
comptroller general of the army, and his last position was as senior officer of the Sedena.
The war of Mayo and El Chapo against the Beltrán Leyva-Zetas-Carrillo Fuentes did not
only caused casualties in armies, families, and government, but also
it hurt business.
The routes that the Mayo used to use, guarded by the PF or the AFI , became
insecure, mainly the one that came from the south. Even so, two Mayo operators in
Belize managed to coordinate the arrival of two tons of ephedrine that would later be transported to
Culiacan.
***
El Chapo had already sent people there, to Belize, and he was ready
the port to go down there [ephedrine], but he had no way to pass the merchandise
from Belize to the Mexican side. My dad told him that he knows about that
ordered, that Marcos was there in Chetumal and Chiapas, and that Marcos and
Benny had already got equipment and people in Belize to spend what
outside. That they got a ranch on the edge of the border and that by the river
you could pass in small boats, and they had also already achieved
team of boats to receive either boats or boats in territory of
3
Belize or Guatemala.
El Chapo said to my dad: “Oh, it's good that you got equipment, and
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I get someone to send us work, what was needed was equipment ”. That was
what I heard.
In mid-2008 I learned that Chapo received the [ephedrine] merchandise for
Belize, I knew because my dad told me to locate Marcos and
connect with Dámaso [López Núñez], Chapo's manager, so that he
help to pass to Mexico some things that had come to Chapo for
Belize. So I called Marcos and told him what my dad said and
They gave a Damaso number and I passed it on to Marcos, so that they
talk and agree.
About 10 days later I already saw my dad and he told me that he had
communicated with his compadre Chapo and that the things he had received in
Belize were already here in Mexico and that Marcos had them saved and what if
Since I was coming down from there in the mountains where I went to see him, I could talk to
Chepe or José to send me to Archi [Luis Alberto Cabrera
Sarabia] with the pipe over there, with Marcos, to bring things back, I
I said "ok".
"Just tell them, they know what to do," my dad told me.
But he also told me that he and El Chapo were afraid that
were to steal the pipe or kidnap the enemies. By then already
there was the war with Arturo [Beltrán Leyva] and with the Zetas and Vicente Carrillo
Sources. The Zetas have everything in control of the south and as Arturo and the people of
Arturo already know the pipe, because for a long time my dad lent it to him
for the same to Arturo, because they were going to know that when they were going there to Chetumal,
the pipe was that it already brought work, and since the Zetas and Arturo were dedicated to
steal and kidnap, because maybe something was wrong with the pipe, but he said
No way, they were going to send her and see what happened.
So it was, when I came down from the mountains I told Chepe what he told him to say
my father. As after four days Chepe marks me at night, what does he want
talk to my dad, which is urgent, that if I have how to communicate with
he. I said yes, on a radio. Chepe told me to tell my dad
that the Archi was speaking and that they had stopped the pipe in Tabasco, that
so that my dad would know, but that the Archi was already arranging with those of
the PFP to see what was going on.
The Arch is the person who comes escorting the pipe and paying the
authorities of each state so that they do not stop the pipe, but as
there was the war with Arturo and the Zetas, because a lot of government was
also in favor of them and the one who was holding the pipe was people from the Zetas.
He sent me to say through Chepe that I was already talking to him and
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that he was asking for 150 thousand dollars to release her and did not notify the Zetas or the
Arturo's people. My dad said it was okay, give it to him.
Later, Chepe told me that they had already dropped the pipe, but that
The Archi saw suspicious people following them, who later turned to
report as they left the state of Tabasco.
At dawn Chepe called, the Archi was calling him.
Entering the state of Veracruz at the first toll booth, they had
two pickups full of people dressed as federals arrived and they had taken
the pipe along with a driver and two other people from the stationery, and the guides
of the gas company pipes for anything that gets to
need. That they took them all, but that the Archi had reached
run him with his driver and they had escaped. The pipe never appeared or
people.
Days later my dad and Chapo found out that the
Zetas with Arturo, and from what I heard from El Chapo and my dad, the pipe had
two tons of ephedrine and 500 [kilos] of cocaine that the

Chapo for Belize, that was the first thing they sent him through the port of
Belize to sink in and see how everything turned out, and that what they least expected is
steal it, but what else could you expect from the Zetas, if that's what
dedicated and that's what I knew and heard.
My dad and my compadre Chapo discussed the possibility of setting up a
laboratory for them, to process methamphetamine, but I no longer knew if it
they made.
***
El Mayo lost more drugs with the robberies of his enemies than in the assurances of the
Calderón government. So at that time he opted for the sea route. Preferred
lose the drug in a Navy operation to the Beltrans
Leyva.
A route by sea from South America to Sinaloa was devised. His corrupting power came
to a small fishing village in the Pacific whom he turned into traffickers
From overnight.
***
In that 2008 they received a job in Culiacán and I knew it because the
boatmen or those who are going to meet the boats are my dad's people,
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are fishermen who live close to the beach called Altata, and at the
in charge of the boatmen or pangueros they tell him the Colas, I do not remember
what's his name, but I've known him for years, because I have a house there, and
when I went on weekends he helped me with whatever was offered to me,
4
boat rides, taking my kids for a walk and all that kind of stuff.
They worked in a fishermen's cooperative, they lived on that, and
when my dad used to work for another type of job, he hired them. But
that I know they had years without working for my dad because everything was done for
the south, but there they were pending for anything, they were already my people
dad, and my dad would help them, and so when he got busy again, well there
they were ready.
***
Altata, “a place where water abounds”, is a quiet coastal port on the Pacific,
located 27 kilometers from Navolato and 62 kilometers from Culiacán. Its beaches, in its
the vast majority of them are unspoilt, contrasting with the sand dunes. Canoeing is practiced,
sport fishing for dorado, marlin and sailfish. The site belongs to a reservation area
protected natural area of more than 9 thousand hectares where there are mangroves, reefs and
watch whales and dolphins.
Until that fishing village that is dedicated to the extraction of oysters came the
influence of the Sinaloa Cartel, not only because of the properties they own, but also because of the
extra work they give to fishermen.
***
My dad told me to tell Colas that I used them for a job and that
I would discuss it with Damaso so that they could agree. What I did
It was to connect the boatmen with Damaso and they already agreed
5
by radio.
I was in Mazatlán at that time, the Colas went there, until
Mazatlán, I told him what my dad said and I gave him Damaso's number and I know
came to see him. As work came a month later, it was my dad's and Chapo's people
pick it up. As always, the boy in charge told me “to
let the gentleman know that we are vacating, that everything is fine ”, and that the
things were given to Damaso or Chapo's people and they were already
saved.
I did not look at the merchandise, I did not know where it was kept, which
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Juancho or Damaso was in charge of all that. And I was already

same as always, my father sold his part there in Culiacán to Lamberto,
Germán or Juancho, or he did what he wanted with her.
As the other month I was with my dad in the mountains, I went to see him, sometimes
I stayed with him for a day or two because I hardly saw him anymore. I used to live in
Mazatlán and every 20 days or a month I saw him, although he often knew about me and me
of him through his secretaries or through his radio that I had to
grabbed a signal with him in the mountains, but it was just for urgent things or a
quick hello, because we didn't talk much in case he was intercepted by the
government. That's why I went there and stayed one or two days, as it was far away,
sometimes I could not get back on the plane and less in times of
rain. It was when I had to see Chapo there with him, sometimes they got together
to greet each other or talk about their things.
There I found out from them that a second job was coming, but that
they had seized in Huatulco, Oaxaca. It was a four ton ship,
it was on the news and all that. There Chapo told my dad that he was from
them, but that the frigate had towed him to port and that they had
found the nail [secret compartment], but that neither way, and that already
was organizing another that was ready to leave Colombia and
my dad told him that it was okay, that whatever he did was okay.
As far as I know, Chapo is the one in charge of working, he sees the
Colombians and does business, and my dad tells him what is
doing and my dad tells him to go ahead, that whatever he does is fine.
***
On November 4, 2008, very close to the official residence of Los Pinos, in the middle of
Mexico City, the plane where the Secretary of the Interior was traveling collapsed
Juan Camilo Mouriño, the dearest and closest collaborator of President Felipe
Calderón. Also on board was, among others, the deputy attorney José Luis Santiago
Vasconcelos.
According to the official version of the Calderón government, it was an accident. According
relatives of Mouriño, was an attack carried out by orders of the Mayo, a reminder to the
President that he should honor his commitments. And according to Rey, he doesn't know what happened.
Rey told the version that El Chapo wanted to kill Santiago Vasconcelos from
2005 because it was indebted. Although the official had actually been very kind
when he returned the Establo Puerto Rico ranch to Mayo in 2001.
“They asked me to be part of the plan to help locate him and for me to help
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providing security to the gunmen who they were going to use to assassinate him, "he said.
King.
“My brother Mayo told me: 'We are going to help my compa Chapo. Chapo wants
kill Vasconcelos, so let's help him with that. ' It was not unusual for the May
make yours pass as Chapo's wishes.
The infallible Mechudo, Mayo's hitman, was commissioned to assassinate him.
I already had it located, but Rey did not want to participate, she thought there would be many
trouble if they did, and he was concerned that there would be innocent victims.
"Well, forget it. If you don't want to participate, forget it, ”el Mayo told him.
In 2008 Mechudo had already effectively killed senior PF officials .
Rey said that the plot to kill Santiago Vasconcelos never materialized, but
He was already out of the plan and imprisoned when the Learjet fell on Paseo de la Reforma,
causing the death of the passengers and five people who were walking in the
Street.
I think of the maxim said by Gaxiola: “In the Sinaloa Cartel, nobody knows what
you need to know, that's why the cartel survives. "
***
In October 2008, before Rey's arrest, one of the Mayo's goals was to acquire
more powerful weaponry. He was particularly interested in M16 rifles with grenade launchers,
a weapon that, in addition to firing quickly, can cause large explosions.
That month there was a meeting between Mayo, Felipe Cabrera, Vicentillo, Juancho, the
Chapo and Germán Magaña. At the meeting, held in one of Vascogil's ranches,
Durango, Margarito Flores, from Chicago, also attended. He and his twin Pedro were
Germán's old clients. El Mayo now wanted to connect them with Cabrera, who in turn
was looking to expand its heroin market in Chicago.
Cabrera was one of the best clients of the Mayo, he bought him a lot of cocaine that
then Cabrera distributed on his own. So if he expanded his markets, he would be
benefited.
Vicentillo took the opportunity to ask Margarito if they could help them
get M16 with grenade launcher in America. The twin said yes. Bread
Eaten. Contact was lost for a time. Margarito looked for him on the phone, but
Vicentillo did not want to answer him. However, after the arrest of his uncle and
plane crashed, there was no choice.
"Are you still interested in weapons?" Margarito asked Vicentillo. Said that already
I had the person to get them. "Yes, go ahead," Vicentillo replied. Neither he nor his
father knew that by then the twins were already collaborating with the Chicago prosecutor's office and
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they would have recorded the conversation. That and others with El Chapo and his son Alfredo Guzmán
Salazar, which would cause problems for everyone in the future.
***
The war between the Federation members turned into a great conflict for the
government of Felipe Calderón. Violence, out of control, became daily in
different parts of the country: murders of federal, state, municipal police, shootings
in the streets, mutilated, charred, tortured and exhibited bodies on the public highway
as part of the terror campaign of both sides.
Not even in the worst years of the dispute between the Federation and the Zetas had
reached such a high number of intentional homicides.
During Calderón's first year, 2007, while the agreed peace was in force
between the Federation, the Carrillo Fuentes and the Zetas, the number of intentional homicides in
Mexico was 8,867. For 2008, the figure suddenly increased to 14,006
6
executed. Mainly men between 20 and 44 years of age.
The international community began to turn its sights to Mexico in 2008 for the
accelerated growth in homicides. And that the worst part was not yet to come.
In 2009, President Felipe Calderón, who, according to prosecution witnesses in the
trial against Chapo received millionaire bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel, sent a
emissary to the Mayo to ask for help. Vicentillo was at the meeting.
***
A month before I was arrested, around February 2009, I was

at my house in Mazatlán and my father called me to see if I could approach
Culiacán, which is where he was at that time and where he could see me
7
before going to the mountain.
I went to Culiacán at that time, which was about nine in the
morning. I left alone in my car with two other cars following me. He told me
to go to a place that I already knew, which is in [the receivership of]
Costa Rica. It is a town near Culiacán.
Before reaching the town, when I was on the road, Casillas, the
my father's secretary, called me and told me that before I got there I should go to
pick up Dr. Colin. This person is a friend of my father and I have
known for years. He was a people of Amado Carrillo; Was in jail
for many years, but recently it had come out.
Casillas asked me to pick him up at the hotel where he was
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stayed and take him to where my father was. Taking advantage that I was already going
on the way and because I knew him well, I went to pick him up at the hotel. Was already
waiting for me outside the hotel and got into my car. Him and someone else. A
man with glasses, about 60 years or older, but a strong man. I
greeted and I felt that I already knew him before, but did not remember where or if
I had seen it elsewhere. But either way I left it at that.
When we arrived with my father we got out of the car. Colin and the man
They came in and my father was surprised to see him and my father said to him: "My
overall, I'm surprised to see it! I did not expect it. How is it going? He did not know
that was coming ”. From what I saw, my father did not know that this person was with him.
Dr. Colin. And so they sat in the living room.
I stayed close to them in the dining room. The general began to tell him
to my father that I needed to speak with him and with El Chapo. That brought some
messages from a person and needed to talk to them. They started to
talk about how the country was, about the violence and the problems that
They began with Vicente Carrillo, with Arturo Beltrán and the Zetas. And that class
of things. My father told me to call Juancho [Juan Guzmán Rocha]
to see if he could contact Chapo. My father told me: "Call him soon
because my compa Chapo is close to here now. Call him before he is
go back to the mountains ”.
I dialed Juancho and told him that my father needed to see Chapo.
Juancho told me: "Ok, let me call you." About five minutes later
Juancho called me and told me that he was going, that where to go. I will
I said to Costa Rica and that when I was near some point I
I'd send someone to pick him up to guide him to where we were.
In about 40 minutes, Chapo arrived and greeted the general with a hug.
The general and Chapo looked happy to meet because it had been a long time
time they did not see each other. The general was also happy to see me
dad. And the general said: “I am very happy to see the two of you together.
You are always very kind and men of your word ”. In that
At the moment, only the general, my father, Chapo, myself, and Dr. Colín were there.
***
The general that Vicentillo refers to was Mario Arturo Acosta Chaparro, whom I called
General X in Los Señor del Narco. At the time, the general himself spoke with some
people about that encounter. It was when El Chapo would have told him that he paid a
Millionaire bribed Vicente Fox to let him get out of prison. Certainly not in
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a laundry cart.
Acosta Chaparro was a soldier of the old guard. Harsh and cruel with the guerrillas and
leftist militants at the time of the dirty war in Guerrero, accused him of having
missing at least 20 people. Flexible and conciliatory with drug traffickers.
He was imprisoned for several years in a military jail for his ties with Amado Carrillo
Sources.
When the war of Mayo and El Chapo began against Arturo Beltrán Leyva, it was
precisely the Calderón government who freed the general. He decorated it and then
sent with the Mayo.
***
The general told them that he was there in the name of General Galván, the secretary
of the National Defense [in the administration of Felipe Calderón], who
sent the message that, please, they [the government] “wanted to resolve
things with everyone, so the violence in Mexico could decrease ”, because the
government no longer knew what to do. 8
That the Secretary of Defense and the government knew that there was a
truce at that time thanks to my father having intervened. My father
He said yes, that he had spoken with Arturo [Beltrán Leyva] so that everything
could calm down. And in fact it had actually been Arturo who had
wanted so they could talk and things would calm down. And what of your
part, that is, Chapo and my father, there was no problem because the chaos
that was in the country had not been caused by them. That they had only
had to defend himself against the enemies in Culiacán, but everything
What was happening in Mexico was not because of them and that the
government knew. That was what my father told the general.
"But they want to accuse Chapo and me of everything," my father said. "It
I know, ”said the general. “I have known them for years and I know who they are. Everything
This is for the new generations and other types of people, this is why
that the government is coming with you. Because you are different.
They are true to their word. "
He said that the government ordered the two to say that the secretary of the
Defense and President Felipe Calderón wanted to see if they [el Mayo y el
Chapo] could make a truce and calm everything down. That the government was under
a lot of pressure and they didn't know what to do.
The message from the government was that, if in a month the government saw that
there was more violence, they were going to withdraw the entire army and the Federal Police
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from Sinaloa and from all other states.

My father told the general that there was no problem on his part,
but that he could not answer for the others. That he and El Chapo were
together and that there was no problem for them. But the Zetas, Arturo and Vicente
Carrillo, depended on them.
The general replied that the government understood that and was
taking charge, that the day before he had gone to Matamoros and had spoken
with [Heriberto] Lazcano and [Miguel Ángel Treviño] Z40; and that they too
they had accepted the proposal. And that the next day the general was going to
meet Arturo in Cuernavaca to talk to him, and then he was going to go to
Chihuahua to see Vicente Carrillo. That he already had dates with them and
I had contact with them, but they wanted to talk to them first [May
and El Chapo].
My father and Chapo told him that there was no problem for them. What
The last thing my father and Chapo wanted was the ongoing war. Y
That is how the meeting with the general ended. I know who is. I have his
full name and I will give it to you in due course when I speak with the DEA
because this person is key to finding the Zetas and Vicente [Carrillo
Fuentes], and at that time with all of them because the general was going to see them and
I would probably continue to see them. The general had always been a friend
Vicente Carrillo, my father and Chapo for years. If they are
interested in knowing who he is, well, I have his name.
***
On April 20, 2012, after Vicentillo revealed his name, Acosta Chaparro was
assassinated at 6:15 p.m. in the Anáhuac neighborhood of Mexico City. Three shots
Directly into his head they stopped his breath forever.
Since 2010, I revealed in Los Señor del Narco the General's encounters with the Cartel
from Sinaloa. When they killed him I was already in contact with Gaxiola. Friends of the
The general told me that he was in talks with the DEA and had been willing to
to talk about who in the Calderón administration were corrupted by the
cartels. Those close to him with whom I spoke again about these episodes assured me
that people from the Calderón government had him killed.
There have been many attacks against me and my family since the publication of my
book. In mid-2019, a United States government official confirmed to me
that since 2010 the group of corrupt police officers headed by García Luna has a plan
to murder me. Whoever told me seemed surprised. I did not, I knew it since the end of
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November 2010.
N OTES
1
author.
two
Ibid .
3 This written narration by Vicente Zambada is complemented by his statement in the
New York court.
4
author.
5
Ibid .
6
Consultation of deaths due to homicide by year of registration, Inegi.
7
author.
8
Ibid .
204
Page 205
17
Pact with the DEA
A week later my dad sent for me again and I went to the mountains to
see
Chapohim.and
Hemy
tolddad.
meElto Chapo
go alone, that to
begins they
tellwanted to talk
me about to me. There
everything he hadthey were
happened in Tijuana years ago, since he escaped from prison, how already
There was hardly anyone left from the Arellano Félix. To all those who had
grabbed: Cris, Efra, Macumba, Tigre, Nalgón, and so on to many people
from Tijuana. I already knew more or less about part of them, about my dad and the
Chapo, that they had sent people to Tijuana, more like people from
Chapo, but my dad knew about ending all those enemies
from Tijuana.
And so that there were no wars and deaths, that [for] everything that was
doing the federal government he was helping, that all the arrests
it was because of them [Mayo and El Chapo] and not because the government did it
with efforts and operations, as they said on TV. That they had arranged to
various PFP groups , but apart from that he had other people
helping him, that everything had been done on the side of his compadre Loya, that
It is the one he had sent there and that he and El Chapo spent all the
information to Loya and Loya and their acting group. And that they had talked
him and my dad about my situation that every day I relate to them more,
that I was second to them and that each day that passed, they unwittingly
they were putting more into their things, and that as I had always wanted to live
another life, that they wanted the same. That he had spoken with Loya, that he already
long ago, to see how I could solve my life and get away
of them, and that's where he actually told me he was working with the
DEA .
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***
Humberto Loya Castro, alias Mr. Pérez , was born on March 3, 1957. Now
he would be 62 years old, if he still lives. He is a lawyer from Sinaloa, friend, partner and
Joaquín Guzmán Loera's advisor since at least 1988, according to what he himself narrated in a
letter dated July 14, 2010, of which Fernando Gaxiola gave me a copy. The letter
It has been hidden for all these years and reveals a primordial episode to understand
the history of drug trafficking during the last 20 years.
I made the existence of Loya Castro known in Los Señor del Narco in 2010. It was
in fact one of the reasons why Vicentillo asked Gaxiola to contact me, to
describe the circumstances of his trial in Chicago and the agreements between the DEA and the
poster. For that reason and because I was one of the few journalists who revealed the false war against
the drugs of President Felipe Calderón and complicity at the highest level of government
with the Sinaloa Cartel.
In 2011 I documented these agreements in the electronic magazine Reporte Indigo. Years
later, other mass media would speak of the subject like supposed scoop. It
Some wanted to make it look like new news, for me it was old. I was a witness in
front row of something no one could imagine was happening.
I pointed out that when El Chapo stepped foot in jail in 1993, Loya Castro worked together with his
brother Jesús for the brothers Beltrán Leyva and for Amado Carrillo Fuentes, and
indirect form for Mayo. In the PGR files it was stated that he was
was in charge of buying the seats of the Federal Judicial Police and putting the
commanders on your payroll. In addition, he negotiated with the military commanders involved
in Amado's protection networks and distributed bribes at different levels of
government. While El Chapo was in prison, Loya Castro would visit him and send him
messages from his cousin Arturo.
Loya Castro wrote:
In 1987 or 1988 I met Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known to me as El Chapo,

in relation to a matter that he asked me to handle regarding the arrest of two
people. Eventually El Chapo and I became friends and compadres in 1990.
I met Ismael Zambada García, known to me as El Mayo, his son
Vicente was a child then, before he met El Chapo, but I have never had so much
friendship with them as I have had with El Chapo.
I became a legal advisor and confidant for Chapo y el Mayo and members
of the group popularly known as the Sinaloa Cartel. I got to know
other cartel members and was their legal advisor. I knew what they did and
that they were transporting drugs to the United States of America.
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***
[El Chapo said] that Loya was with the DEA with his permission and that everything
what they were doing, the arrests [of the members of the
enemies] and all that was for information from him and my dad, and that the DEA
it was the one that acted with the Mexican government. That Loya was cooperating
with permission from Chapo to fix his legal situation in the United States and
that Loya had already arranged with everything he had done in Tijuana and other
1
things that had helped the DEA .
That the DEA had ordered to tell Chapo through Loya that
everyone, I was the only one who could fix it, because what mine I had in
Washington was not such a problem and that some witnesses had made it
when I was like 17 or 18, that I had no foundation and that they
They knew that I was calm, that it had nothing to do with what I was
happening or had happened in all my youth. That was logical, for being a son
del Mayo, that my dad did it to protect me. The DEA asked if
I was willing to approach the American government and help them
them and help me. He told me that El Chapo had already been working for a long time
with them…
***
In his brief, Loya pointed out that in 1994 he was accused along with El Chapo in the Court
Federal for the Southern District of California (CR-95-0973), for drug trafficking. The missive
offers more details:
In an effort to resolve the indictment, I met in Monterrey, Mexico,

with some ICE agents in 1998. ICE agents told me that, for my sake
relationship with El Chapo and the Sinaloa Cartel, the United States government believed
that I could give them information about the group of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes and the
group of the Arellano Félix. Each of them were rivals of the Sinaloa Cartel.
I told them I needed approval from Chapo. I received the approval of Chapo
when he was in prison. If I did this, these agents promised me that
They would help me to withdraw the formal accusation.
I met again with ICE agents in Monterrey, Mexico, and in the City
from Mexico, and gave them the information I received from Chapo about his rival groups in
Mexico. Then the agents asked me for information about the Sinaloa Cartel. I
I refused to give you information about anyone in the Sinaloa Cartel and I have not
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done to this day [July 14, 2010]. In 2004 I provided them with information
additional to the government of the United States of America on activities of other
drug cartels in Mexico.
When Gaxiola showed me the letter, I discovered an unexpected story, shocking,

which would have been hard to believe if Gaxiola had not given me the signed contracts
between Loya and the DEA , which were in the record of Vicentillo's trial in
Chicago, delivered by the agency itself in 2011.
***
So I told Chapo that yes [I would collaborate with the American government],
what I wanted most in my life, to live with my family in peace, and a life
different. Then my dad told me to go ahead, that he wanted it
better for me as his son and that was the opportunity after much
time to make the life that he had always wanted, that they did not have
problem, that I approach the American government and see for me
life and for my future. two
El Chapo told me that Loya was coming to see me to talk about everything
that and I said yes. He warned me that nobody knew about this, that it was very
delicate and it was between us.
***
In 1998, while Loya was meeting with ICE , El Chapo sent a message to the office of
the DEA in Mexico to say that he wanted to talk to them about the Arellano Félix, their
enemies. The meeting was attended by Larry Villalobos, former Chief of Intelligence of the DEA in
Mexico, and Joe Bond, operations supervisor, who were both
investigating it.
Sixteen years later, Larry and Joe told me about that meeting that led to
carried out in an office of the maximum security prison in Puente Grande. I was told
that Chapo explained to them that he no longer had people outside to work for him, that he no longer
he had no power and that he was accused of having participated in the assassination of the cardinal
Posadas Ocampo, but that was not true. He was furious because while he was in
prison, the Arellano Félix were free.
"What El Chapo wanted was to hand over the brothers," Villalobos told me.
—You get us the data, give us something that we can see and see what
You can do it, ”Larry told Chapo at the end of the meeting that lasted more than three hours.
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"Are we going to meet again?" Asked El Chapo.

"Yes, we are going to see each other again."
But that no longer happened. In 2001 Guzmán Loera escaped from prison. For their
positions in Mexico, Larry and Joe assured me that they had information about the exit
of Guzmán Loera de Puente Grande in January 2001 and that there was complicity of
officials of the Vicente Fox government, beyond those who worked in jail.
That coincided with what Gaxiola was informing me.
“Larry and I coordinated all of that perfectly. We knew that at that moment
there was a very strong corruption network. We could not directly verify
who the person was, but obviously there was cooperation with some people who gave him
the opportunity to get out of the Cefereso of Puente Grande, ”said Joe.
Shortly after the escape, El Chapo reestablished contact with the DEA through his
couple at that time: Griselda López. From what I understood, Larry and Joe did not follow
in communication with El Chapo, but obviously other agents have.
When El Chapo left Puente Grande, it was clear to Larry and Joe that the
The drug trafficker had quickly reintegrated himself into the criminal world, since he had
the help of the Mayo, who put at his service the connections he had with the government by
highest level.
“We knew that he had a network of people who were going to protect him in the government [of
Mexico] and other governments. He had a certain network in which they were going to move the money, the
drug, transport, had very well established cells ”, Joe added.
"And he was the engineer of that criminal structure?" -asked.
—As we know, Mayo Zambada was a teacher for them, he was an influence
too big for El Chapo, "Joe said, adding," Everyone thinks that
Chapo was the boss of everything, for me it was the Mayo, it is still the Mayo.
There was no doubt, for the two DEA experts, Mayo has always been the most
powerful in Mexico.
“El Mayo needed a person who was like the manager, and he knew that El Chapo was
intelligent, who had the ability to kill anyone with his orders, had a few
people very loyal to him. And the Mayo did not have to be directly involved in the
decisions that were going to be very strong. "
In short, El Mayo was hiding behind El Chapo, like that time in 2003, in
the Las Coloradas ranchería, in Tamazula, Durango, when they thought that the helicopter
military was going to capture them.
***
I saw Loya, I saw him in Mazatlán. He told me that Chapo had told him about me
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situation since a long time ago and that he had already spoken with the DEA and that
They accepted that I come closer and help in whatever way I could. Loya told me
that he had already been working with them for years, he did not tell me how many years, but
I imagined that four or five for everything that had happened in
Tijuana. He told me that he had already been fixed and that he was there
talking to me by order of them, who were already asking permission to
Washington to make the appointment with me, that they would notify me and therefore
to withdraw as much as possible from all my dad's business or from the
Chapo. They wanted me to help them with their enemies, that in that
then it was Arturo [Beltrán Leyva], Los Zetas and Vicente Carrillo, who was the
that most interested them because they were the ones who brought all the disorder in the
country. That they were not going to ask me for anything from Mayo and El Chapo, that what I
I wanted to contribute, but that they were interested at that time Arturo and the
3
Zetas.
By that time I already had several things about them, I was
investigating everything he could of them for when he came with the
DEA have something detailed in case we come to something in the talk. In those days,
Before seeing Loya, Arturo had spoken, he had sent my
Dad to please take the call after several months of
war, many things had already happened in Culiacán and throughout the country.
My dad took the call and Arturo told him please, that he wanted
stop the war, excuse him, which was the worst thing he ever did in his life and
that if the violence stopped, the government would stop harassing him, that
he did not finish it and that he knew that El Chapo “brought him campaign with the
government ”, that it was he who was throwing the government out, but that
wanted truce. My dad told him that there was no problem for him, that it was the
best news he could receive that day, and not of deaths and bullets like
the past days; that how far things had come and for nothing, that
he still didn't understand it, but that it was never too late and that for him, that is, my
Dad, right now he was telling his people to stop everything there in Culiacán, that
because he didn't have people anywhere else than there, in Culiacán, and
that he answered for El Chapo [because he was his boss], that he was speaking to him right now
to tell you.
But that he [Mayo] couldn't answer for all the other enemies
that Arthur had thrown himself on. That Nacho [Ignacio Coronel] and those of
the Family [Michoacana] were friends, but they were in another state and
that he did not answer for all those people and less with those of the Family, who to
I didn't even know those, my dad told him. That for now he answered for him
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Chapo and for Arturo to find a way to send talk to Nacho and the
of the family.
That's what my dad said to Arturo on that call, I was one
next to him listening, and lastly, when they were going to hang up, Arturo asked him
for me, and my dad said, "Here he is with me." And he passes it to me and I greeted him.
I hung up and now, my dad told me to see what happened, that it was strange
that Arthur would like a truce, but that he would gladly do so with such
to stop killing innocent and non-innocent people as well.
The next day he sent a radio number Arturo for anything that
We will communicate with him. My dad left it to a
his secretary, so as not to bring it in his hand, apart from the fact that in the
grabbed. It was a Unefon radio. I wrote down the radio number and passed it on to
Loya so that it gave to the DEA , and I told the Chapo that the DEA will
had told Loya that the number had served them well, that many
Thank you, and that my appointment was already being arranged.
***
“During the last 10 years, the distance between the United States government and the
Chapo has been a man, ”Gaxiola told me in 2012, referring to Humberto Loya.
In 2004, ICE agent Esteban Monk asked Loya to meet at
Monterrey, according to the letter signed by Loya that I have in my possession. To meet
They attended the agent of the DEA Eduardo Martinez, a man named David and
member of the United States consulate, apparently also from the agency
anti drugs.
Loya wrote:
In that meeting with representatives of the DEA we discussed my indictment.

The DEA told me that they could get the withdrawal and get rid of me
any other criminal problem that I had in the United States of America
as long as I provide them with real information for the arrest of individuals
of other cartels and the arrests and seizures of drugs in Mexico and the
Foreign. I told them that I needed Chapo's approval and that any
cooperation had to be on the condition and understanding that I would not give
information on the activities of the Sinaloa Cartel. They were of
Okay, so I asked Chapo for his approval and he gave it to me.
***
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All that year of 2008 I lived in Mazatlán, I hardly even looked at Juancho or anyone else. TO
my dad would go and look at it every 15 or 20 days, sometimes up to almost every month and a half it lasted
without seeing it. Over time, El Chapo told me that Loya wanted to talk to me, that
He was going to send it to me to Mazatlán just like last time. 4
I picked it up and took it to a house of mine in Mazatlán. He told me that those of the
DEA had already authorized their bosses in Washington, that everything was going well,
not to worry, that he was going to go with me, but they did not want to come to
Mazatlán because there were people of them from the DEA and they did not want someone to
find out, and if they went, they had to tell them. So the best thing was that I went to
Mexico City.
I told him that I was going to do what I could, that in order to fix my situation
that of course. He told me that he let me know through El Chapo on the day of the
appointment, which notified me two days before so that I could move to the City of
Mexico, but that there was already the authorization of the American government, that
It had to be in Mexico City because the one I was going to see was the head of
the DEA in Latin America, a certain Carlos. I told him fine.
In those days I would go and see my dad and El Chapo every 25 days or if I
they sent to call before because it went before. El Chapo is the one who was in
I contacted them [ DEA ] and he was going to tell me the day of the appointment and he was going to give me a
Loya's phone number so that I could contact him when he arrived in the City
from Mexico.
***
Fernando Gaxiola explained to me that, thanks to the collaboration with the DEA , el Mayo and the
Chapo had practically exterminated his staunch rivals, the Arellano
Felix, with which the old saying of "the enemies of my enemies are my
friends". What Mayo and El Chapo did not achieve alone, they achieved in tandem with the
anti-drug agency.
"It was they who were 'putting' the Arellano Félix to the DEA one by one ",
Gaxiola said, referring to the fact that they gave the whereabouts of the clan members.
In February 2002, Ramón Arellano Félix was murdered in Mazatlán, it is said that for
orders from Mayo and El Chapo. In April 2002, Benjamín Arellano Félix was arrested in
Puebla. And Rafael, the older brother, was killed by a man dressed as a clown while
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I was at a children's party in Los Cabos in 2013.

“Javier Arellano Félix was arrested in August 2006, the Americans seized him
in a Tijuana dock, it was false that they captured him in international waters as
they said officially, ”Gaxiola commented. When the apprehension occurred, the
The United States Department of Justice stated that it was the result of 14
months of “intelligence work” and that the arrest had occurred in front of La Paz, in
International waters.
According to Loya's letter, the first thing he actually reported to the DEA was the
whereabouts of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, the Viceroy .
The first piece of information I gave the DEA came from the May through the
Chapo. Mayo told Chapo that Vicente Carrillo Fuentes was in Culiacán,
gave the phone number and said that Carrillo Fuentes would call Mayo at
Culiacan. The next day, the agents and I went to Culiacán to intervene
calls from Carrillo Fuentes' phone, but the effort was unsuccessful because the
equipment that the Mexican authorities were using did not work properly
appropriate.
As of the dates indicated by Loya in her letter, this must have occurred after
that Mayo and El Chapo killed Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes. El Chapo had no
kinship or filial relationship with the Viceroy, but the Mayo did, he had betrayed his
godson.
The relationship between the Sinaloa Cartel and DEA agents turned into a take
and daca: it was not only beneficial for the cartel because it got rid of enemies, but
because he also received information on operations from the agents.
***
I also heard El Chapo tell my dad about the things he did with the
DEA . That he had sent money to one of them, that he sent him 20 thousand
dollars with Loya, that when Loya went to see Chapo, they [the
the DEA ] knew and that they cared for Loya to go and return safely. You
He said everything they had done in Tijuana, that he [El Chapo] had
introduced to a people who were people of the Arellano before, one who
They said Niño , they were people from the Mayer in those days and he was the one who
passed information to Chapo, and Chapo to the DEA , but who better presented it
directly with the DEA and they had seen him in Tijuana and that he was the one
5
passed all the data to them.
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In turn, Loya gave Chapo information from the DEA when he went to
have been operating in Culiacán, when the DEA were in Culiacán and
Mazatlán Loya informs Chapo of everything, and the DEA agrees.
Already entering 2009 I saw El Chapo, he told me that those days Loya was going to
send say on the day of the appointment, that if I was ready, that if everything remained the same
with approaching them. I said yes to him and my dad, and they told me that
how good, that I wish I would restart my life because every day it got worse and that
those of the DEA had sent him to say that how good I wanted
approach them and help, because in that year they were planning here in
United States take out a poster or website and get like
Segundo del Mayo and his successor to put more pressure on my dad; So what
on the side of Chapo they were going to put a son of his, Édgar, as his successor
of him, just as they had taken the Arellano's nephew.
When they took the Arellano's nephew, Chapo already knew, Loya told him
that they were going to take him out, and that's what they wanted to do with Chapo's son and me,
but they weren't going to get anything out. Besides, because I was getting closer
voluntarily to the government to help and to help me redo
my life.
All that time, about 10 months ago I was already investigating and
getting information from the enemies, and another that was passing me the
Chapo and my dad, well they know better, to give it to the DEA, and so on
the day of the appointment arrived.
***
Through Vicentillo's writings it was possible to know for the first time that El Chapo
He paid bribes to a DEA agent in exchange for information on operatives.
In the trial against Guzmán Loera in New York, the prosecution vetoed, with the endorsement of the
judge, issues such as the agreements between the DEA and the Sinaloa Cartel, specifically the
relationship of the agency with El Chapo.
This is corroborated in what Loya wrote, who affirms that information from
of the Sinaloa Cartel would have resulted in specific arrests:
When we were at one of the meetings in Hermosillo, Sonora, the agents of the
DEA told me that when I went to see Chapo to notify him in advance
assuring me that they would not follow me to said meeting and that they would not interfere in
my meetings with El Chapo so that I could be calm and get the
as much information as possible about rival groups or cartels. I informed
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Chapo that the DEA knew that I was going to meet him.
After this I had meetings with the DEA every month and gave them information that
resulted in arrests of numerous people in other groups, for example Ricardo
García Urquiza known as the Doctor , from the rival group belonging to that
time to Carrillo Fuentes, The Chris of the rival group to Carrillo Fuentes of the
Arellano Felix. I worked with Ed Martinez from the DEA for about two years;
later Manny, a DEA agent , replaced Ed Martinez in 2006 as my
contact the DEA.
Fernando Gaxiola would later reveal in a Chicago court that Manny's name
it was Manuel Castañón.
“While Manny worked with me there were numerous arrests in other groups based
in the information given by me by El Chapo who came in part from Mayo and Vicente,
as El Chapo informed me, ”Loya wrote.
El Mayo y el Chapo's partner and lawyer assured that from 2007 to July 2010,
when he wrote the letter, he would have spoken to DEA agents in at least 100
occasions, in addition to exchanging numerous emails with them.
I do not know if the prosecution provided Chapo's defense attorneys in Nueva
York copies of those messages. According to American law, he should have.
In her letter Loya added that
During that period of time, a person claiming to work for the government of
The United States of America gave me information regarding the Sinaloa Cartel.
In return, Chapo gave me money to compensate him for the information he provided.
Eddy Martínez from the DEA once told me to be careful when
talk to El Chapo on the phone because the authorities could hear us
Mexican women and that it was not so explicit in the information that I gave to Chapo
by phone.
I was sometimes allowed to be present during conversations
confidential information between DEA agents regarding activities concerning the
Sinaloa whose information I passed to Chapo.
N OTES
1
author.
two
Ibid .
215
Page 216
3
Ibid .
4
Ibid .
5
Ibid .
216
Page 217
18
The farewell
About five days before I left for Mexico City, I went to see my dad and
El Chapo, he gave me Loya's phone number and told me to buy a
new phone, which Unefon preferred, and to let Loya know when I
was in Mexico and then I told them again that yes, that everything
go ahead, and they told me that how I thought it, how I felt it,
to be very careful with the enemies and the government of Mexico,
although there was a truce, they knew, so they both told me [the May and the
Chapo], that the truce had been made on purpose so that they could grab
trust them and put or hand them over to the government, which was what
1
Arturo and Vicente Carrillo were plotting.
By then my uncle Rey had already happened and that they had
delivered, they had put it with the SIEDO .
My dad told me: “Well go and God bless you, it's for your good,
take a chance and hopefully you can make your life, it's what you always have
dear and me too. So go away and be very careful ”. And that day was the last
day I saw my father.
Two days after I saw them, I left for Mexico City, I left there
from Culiacán. My wife [Zynthia Borboa Zazueta] had surgery on
stomach and that's why I went alone, but I always walked with her wherever
be. I went and said goodbye to my mother, neither she nor anyone knew what I was going to do
Mexico more than my dad and El Chapo. I told my wife so that she
I knew in case something happened. I left on a Sunday morning by car
[with] another boy [who] was driving. He and I alone traveled all that
day.
We arrived in Mexico City around three in the afternoon, I reported
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with Loya, I told him that I was already there. He told me if I could see that
the same day. I told him yes. He met me at the Hard Rock Café in Polanco. It was from
night. When I was near the place I sent him a message on the phone and
I told him to walk across the street in front of the Hard Rock Cafe, there was a
Italian restaurant and there I looked at it. We arrived almost at the same time.
We sat at a table, he told me that he had already warned the
DEA , they told him that they let him know if the appointment was the next day or one more day
go ahead. That day was Monday, March 15 [of 2009], if I remember correctly.
We were in the restaurant for about two hours. He told me that everything was
well, not to worry, that the DEA were good people, that he
I already knew them well, that it was going to be a first talk and that they were going to
say what they wanted from me, how we were going to do it, and ask me all
My doubts. That they already knew that I was not going to pass on information about me
Papa or Chapo, that what they wanted was information from the enemies, that
with him they had stayed that way. He said not to worry, that everything was
well, that was the first step, but that my life was going to improve, that was the
important and what I wanted. We say goodbye. He would let me know the time of the
appointment, if it was the next day or if there was a change.
***
The war of Mayo and El Chapo against the Beltrán Leyva and Vicente Carrillo had a cost
very high for everyone. With its great capacity of fire, multiple casualties were produced in
one and the other side. In addition, both groups used their henchmen in the PGR , the army and the
Federal Public Security Secretariat to orchestrate strategic arrests against
your adversaries.
So the meeting between Vicentillo and the DEA took place in a context, to say
the least, complicated: three police chiefs of the PFP , Velasco, Millán and Labastida,
had been assassinated in a row in 2008, each for keeping loyalty to the side
wrong. The arrests of both sides had been painful: Alfredo Beltrán
Leyva (January 2008) and Jesús Zambada García (October 2008). An eye for an eye, tooth
per tooth. To top it off, Mouriño's recent plane crash had increased
considerably stress.
Regarding Vicentillo's meeting with the DEA , Loya pointed out that
in 2007 I asked Manny to help Vicente by obtaining the same treatment for him
that had been given to me. Vicente had been formally charged in 2003 in
Washington DC for drug crimes along with the Mayo. Vicente had said
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that he was tired of the life he was living, of avoiding being murdered
by rivals of his father. Vicente said that he would be happy if it continued to pass
information to the United States of America in exchange for the same treatment as me
had received.
In the Sinaloa Cartel, only Mayo and El Chapo knew what was happening, that the others
They knew that the boss's son was going to be a snitch, it was not suitable for anyone. Loya had them
guaranteed the safety of Vicentillo, who was then 34 years old. He had
The scheme of having worked for the DEA worked . In 2008, the charges in
the Southern District Court of California, so I was hoping the same would happen with the
son of Mayo. Loya explained in the letter:
In February 2009 Manny told me that the prosecutor in Washington DC had

agreed that Vicente would do the same as I had done and that the DEA would also
I agreed. We cited a meeting in Mexico City where agents of
the DEA in Washington and Mexico would speak with Vicente and we would all agree on the
same treatment that I have.
El Mayo did not know, when he embraced his dearest son, whom he had condemned to
death or being a criminal, which would be the last time I would see him. At least within
next 10 years.
***
On Tuesday, March 16, the day after we had dinner, almost like
10 at night Loya texted me and told me to go to the hotel
Sheraton, the one on Reforma avenue in front of the Angel de la
Independence in Mexico City (next to the embassy of
two
United States in Mexico).
I leave for that place. I was in a house that I had rented in the
El Pedregal neighborhood. I go out in my car, I go alone and behind me another car with
two people, those who take care of me, escort or whatever you want to call it.
I arrive at the Sheraton hotel, get out of my car on the street outside the hotel and
I tell one of the guys who came with me to take the car and
that they wait for me there in the lobby or in the Sanborns on the corner, that I
I'll speak to you on Nextel when I get out. They did not know what he was going to or with whom
I was going.
I enter the lobby and Loya was already waiting for me. I greet you and we
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we headed to the elevator. When the door is closing they put their hand in it and
it is reopened and a person gets on. It itches various buttons on the
elevator and I turn to see it because something strange, irregular was done to me. Loya and me
we exchanged glances for what the person had done, and suddenly
Loya tells me: “Don't worry, he's one of us, he's one of those who
comes to see you ”. Right there in the elevator he introduces it to me. I salute you.
We arrived at the floor indicated that we were going, I do not know which floor was because
All the buttons were bitten and I didn't realize which one the elevator stopped on.
We got to a room, the person who was with us knocked on the door and
Open the door. Another person is inside the room,
we entered Loya, the person who came with us in the elevator and they close
the door.
Before we sat down, still at the entrance to the room, the two people
they identify themselves, they show me some plates, or "trays", as we say
us in Mexico, and they tell me they are DEA agents and they ask me
if I bring a gun or any other type of weapon. I say no. They tell me that
the telephones and Nexteles we are going to leave them in the bathroom and they do the
same. Then we went to a small room in the room, it was a table
girl with two chairs. I sit in one, in the other the one who came in the elevator
of the DEA , I don't remember his name, and Loya sits on the bed and the
another DEA agent named Manny, well, I remember that
He said. We finish the greetings, they tell me how I am, that I do not worry,
that all good.
***
"Nobody wants this life," Gaxiola told me in defense of Vicentillo for the decision
extreme he had taken from working for the DEA and betraying the world he had
born. “Vicente had no choice. Since they tried to kill him at 16 he never
he lived again. His wife Zynthia has always been his partner, she was his girlfriend and since
then it has always lived in hiding. When it came out, it had to be done with
false names ”.
Fernando Gaxiola really cared for Vicentillo, he had affection for him, he did not want to
do him no harm, but he wanted the truth to be known through this story.
Loya wrote in her letter:
On the day of the meeting Manny told me that the meeting had been canceled by his boss,
the director general of the DEA in Mexico, because an article of
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newspaper stating that there was a possible leak about the meeting. The content
The article spoke of contacts between the DEA and drug trafficking leaders. I insisted on
that the meeting took place because Vicente had put himself in danger while traveling
to Mexico City and that Chapo and Mayo would not like this if the
meeting was canceled.
***
Manny tells me that thank you very much for attending the appointment, that they
They knew the risks and dangers that I ran when moving from Mazatlán
to Mexico City and that is why they were receiving me, for my
good intention and my good will to approach them, and for Loya,
3
because he was a good friend of them and not to look bad.
The reason they told me that was because the date had
canceled, that their chief, the Latin American chief of the DEA, who was
with whom I was going to talk, he had canceled because at the last minute he had
there has been an information leak that the DEA was going to have a meeting with
someone important to the cartel and that was why it had been canceled and I
They ask if I knew about it or if someone else knew about it.
meeting.
I told him that from me the only ones who knew, and that they were already
aware of that, they were Mayo, El Chapo and Loya. They told me they didn't know
how they got that note or information in a newspaper. And I
They showed a paper where the information came from, and yes, it said that there was going to be
a meeting in Mexico of the DEA with a person from a cartel, but not
said with whom, no names.
I told them I didn't know anything about it and they said they didn't either, but
that they were already investigating and that is why their boss would not be able to come that
day, but that they wanted to attend me to explain it personally,
that according to his boss he did not know that they were meeting with me in that
moment.
I asked them that on their side who else knew about the
meeting in addition to his boss and Washington. First they told me that
them, that it was very secret. I asked them again if no one from
The government of Mexico knew about it and Manny told me that there was only one [person].
I asked him who he was and why, they told me that no one else knew, and
Manny told me that the attorney general, the attorney general, knew about it.
Eduardo Medina Mora.
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***
In his letter, under oath, Loya stated:
The meeting took place only with Manny and another agent named David.
Manny told Vicente that he would receive the same treatment as me and that it was approved
by the Washington prosecutor and by the DEA , that Washington agents were in
the hotel. The regional deputy director for Latin America Carlos N. was also on the
agreed with the meeting and he had authorized the same plan to be followed.
Manny also said that as soon as everything calmed down we would have a
full meeting as planned. At the meeting Manny told Vicente
and to me that he would receive full credit for the information he had previously
dice. Also at the meeting, Vicente told the DEA agents that he would give them
information on the location of a major fugitive from the U.S. cartel
Arellano Félix that the United States wants him to be arrested. Vicente clarified
who had already passed information to them through Chapo, Richard [Arroyo Guízar] and
myself.
Richard Arroyo Guízar, as mentioned above, was arrested in October 2008

together with Jesús Zambada Reyes and his stepfather Rey, after which he joined the
witnesses protected from the PGR . From what is understood, Arroyo would also have shared
information with the DEA at the request of Vicentillo. For example, how the cartel used the
Airline company Aviones SA, based at the Mexico City airport, to
trafficking drugs, and how the García Luna police helped them unload and remove the
commodity. 4
When Vicentillo learned that someone else knew about the meeting, he felt uneasy.
***
Then I already felt uncomfortable and told them that according to nobody knew about the
quotes more than them and that they weren't going to tell anyone, and Manny told me that his
chiefs agreed to notify the attorney, who was aware and that there was no
5
problem, not to worry about it.
They told me they were going to talk to their boss to see if he would meet with me at
another day or one or two more days to take advantage of the fact that I had
approached, that they were going to convince him, that if he could wait for me one day
more and that they let me know through Loya if the appointment was held
and if not for me to retire and not be waiting and make the appointment another day.
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That if he wanted to go to the appointment to another part of the country or another city that they
They took care of everything, nothing happened.
That if I wanted in the United States that they would cross me by car for some
border, or if in the Bahamas or Puerto Rico. That they took me by plane
private.
I told them that I would tell them later, that there was no problem for me, that I
I had attended of my own free will and for them to notify me with Loya and hopefully
convince their boss that once there in Mexico to take advantage of
that I was already there.
They asked me if I could help with the Zetas, with Arturo [Beltrán
Leyva].
They showed me some photos that they brought on a computer. They were photos of
all my family, my mother, my brothers, Manuel Torres Félix,
Javier's brother, of some children of Javier Torres. They said that what else
They were interested in Arturo and the Zetas, who I wish I could help them with
information from them and not worry about my case in Washington,
that they had already discussed it with their bosses, that everything was going to be fixed, that the
case was weak, that it was rather manufactured to pressure my dad and that
by some Colombian witnesses who said they knew me, but did not
it was a big deal.
They told me about everything they had done in Tijuana, of all
arrests, and that it was thanks to us, rather to Chapo and my dad,
that they knew that all the information came from them.
They told me when they stopped Tigre and Nalgón on the yacht. I
They said that if I could help catch the Arellano's nephew that
also at that time it was the priority. They told me that when they stopped
the Tigre, the nephew was also on the yacht, but they released him together
with the Tiger family. That in that they stayed with the Tiger when
delivered with them, when they had him surrounded on the boat, but since
talk to his boss there we talked.
I really had many things to help with, but I didn't tell them anything
because the meeting was canceled, but I already had the numbers of
Nextel and the Z40 phone of the Zetas, he knew where Arturo was, the
Barbie and a lot of people, but they didn't want me to help them. That night I
They arrested, they betrayed me and I don't know why, the truth is I approached for me
will, with confidence, I do not know what happened.
***
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“Vicente and I left the hotel, and a few hours after the meeting Vicente went
arrested by Mexican authorities, ”Loya wrote. "To date I am still in
I contacted the DEA and I continue to provide them with information. I sign this
statement under penalty of perjury by the United States of America. " The letter bears the
dated July 4, 2010 and was signed in Mexico City in the presence of the
graduates Alan Paul Valenzuela Gaxiola and Jorge Alberto Félix Valenzuela.
***
I left the hotel meeting that night, said goodbye to Loya in the lobby,
He said to wait for me, that they were going to see if the appointment was carried out and that he
6
warned.
I went home. I arrived and went to bed. It was like one thirty
or two in the morning. I texted my wife who was already at the
home and that everything is fine, that the next day I called him, that it was nothing more for
report to me that he was fine. He answered me, he said that how good. I
I undressed and lay down.
About two hours later, it was about three thirty, I heard that
they broke the glass and knocked down the doors and many screams. I
I get up running and I go to the entrance of the room and I look out and see
many military men wearing ski masks and pointing to my room.

In that I open the door and tell them that there was no problem, that I was leaving
and they already knocked me to the ground, then on my knees. This is how they detained me and
They kept me incommunicado for two days. I did not know where. They had me bandaged
from the eyes and tied hand and foot. One day later at night I
moved to SIEDO . I stayed there all night, until seven in the morning
They introduced me to the press and television, they kept me at SIEDO all day .
***
On the morning of March 19, 2009, General Luis Arturo Oliver, operational deputy chief of the
EMP ,announced the capture of Vicentillo.
"The Secretariat of National Defense informs that on the 18th of the present, personnel
The military obtained the arrest in this city of Vicente Zambada Niebla, alias Vicentillo ,
son of Ismael Zambada García, alias El Mayo Zambada ”, said the general in a conference
press at the PGR facilities , but told a false version of the arrest,
because in reality the military did not have a search warrant to enter the house
where Vicentillo slept.
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The general explained that residents of Lomas del Pedregal denounced the presence of
vehicles with armed men, and that during the operation it was located in front of the
residence number 279 on Lluvia street to “several individuals carrying weapons in an attitude
suspect surprising Vicente Zambada Niebla in flagrante delicto, with five
more individuals who acted as his personal escort ”.
While Oliver was reading the press release, Vicentillo, handcuffed to
his back, he remained erect. His black hair was perfectly cut and
combed hair, slightly overgrown beard, blue jeans, striped white shirt and a
dark jacket that revealed her slim figure. In a defiant attitude he looked at the
7
dozens of photographers whose flashes did not stop flashing.
The general assured that Vicentillo was attributed the intellectual authorship of various
executions against authorities and members of enemy cartels. There, standing, exhibited
Like the bearded woman in the circus, El Mayo's son perspired his anger.
“The day he was presented to the media, he was angry, they had already beaten him
a lot, they had harassed him, threatened him, ”Gaxiola explained to me.
Just as El Mayo and El Chapo had their contacts in the army and the PF to
arrest or murder his enemies, Arturo Beltrán Leyva had his own. There was
bought their loyalties by paying them years of bribes. Vicente's arrest was evidence
of that.
President Felipe Calderón washed his hands about the division within his
own government. Although General Oliver said that Vicentillo had accusations for
various crimes, the government of Mexico did not commit any. He did not open a criminal file
against him and justified that his arrest was due to an arrest warrant for the purpose of
extradition at the request of a court in the United States. And so as not to anger his father,
He allowed Vicentillo, still in custody, to continue his meetings with the DEA .
***
In the afternoon Manny and four other people came to visit me, three were from the
DEA and one from the FBI , I pretended I didn't know Manny so as not to throw him out
head or that the others did not know about the appointment of the previous day. But since
We sat down, Manny said, “How are you? Don't worry they know
what we were doing with you, they are aware of your talk ”. Y
8
I said "Didn't anyone know?" And well, he just stared at me.
They were there for about two hours at SIEDO . They told me that they don't
they knew what had happened, that they had nothing to do with it, that
they felt a lot, but not to worry and that the treatment remained the same, that
spoke with them, that they knew of my goodwill and what else
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forward they were going to look for me to talk to me, they were going to see what they could
do for me. That they did not know how everything had happened, that the government
Mexican was the one who did everything.
I told them that there was no need to do that, that I had
approached their government, which could have helped them more abroad. They
They told me that they knew, but that they had nothing to do with it.
They asked me if I still wanted to help them. I said yes, well
that's why I approached. I told them and they just laughed.
I passed on a tip from the Zetas at that time. It was the only thing I told them
and they told me they were looking for me later.
I have already been two years in this hell and this is a summary more or less
of my arrest and the talks with the DEA […] About two or three months
the DEA went to look for me at the prison where I was.
***
Due to the temporality indicated by Vicente in the writing written in his own handwriting, this
It dates from 2012, a year after he sought me out through Fernando Gaxiola.
N OTES
1
author.
two
Ibid .
3
Ibid .
4
Ministerial statement of Richard Arroyo Guízar, November 21, 2008.
5
author.
6
Ibid .
7 Video published by EjeCentral TV, available at https://youtu.be/1J- yAQFh6Eo.
8
author.
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Page 227
19
Dog breath
On January 22, 2010, after 10 months, as a custom, to

5:30 in the morning I got up to wait for the list, rather, the pass of
list, which is at six in the morning, but I always get up earlier to
to be able to change and fix the bed because poor me if in bed
there is a wrinkle in the blanket or it is poorly arranged. And to take away the
pants and put on the uniform that I didn't really take it off, I kept it on
under the uniform, I just wrapped myself well and washed my face. And is that
I slept like this because in Toluca there is no day when it is not cool and more in the
month of January. 1
It was eight degrees below zero, I slept with my pants down, the
uniform up, the jacket on and two blankets and so we slept every
Companions, instead of jail cells they look like cold rooms to keep
fruit or meat, or something so it doesn't get lost [so it doesn't spoil].
***
After his arrest, Vicente Zambada Niebla was imprisoned in the Center
Federal Social Rehabilitation number one, the best maximum security prison
known as El Altiplano, in Almoloya, State of Mexico. A place located barely
24 kilometers from the city of Toluca, capital of the State of Mexico.
His uncle Rey was also locked up in that prison. And from that same place I would escape
his compadre Chapo in 2015. It was not impossible for his father to plan an escape
for his favorite son, but Vicentillo no longer wanted more trouble with the law. Since
At 16 he was a fugitive from his father's enemies, he didn't want to keep running.
Although he had faced difficult things in life, he had never tasted the taste of
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prison in its literal figure: uniform, bars, loneliness, dog food and cold.
Gaxiola told me that Mayo suffered from the confinement of his son, although
evidently he could not understand it no matter how hard he made, since he had never
lived in own flesh. Every day he sent lawyers to talk to him and
confirm that he was not ill-treated.
***
To wake us up at 5:30, Rogelio, the companion from cell 4, was the

that woke us up, he was the only one who had the alarm on his television and
hit the wall with six or seven hits to the next, and so on the next, and
the next until he arrived with me, although almost always we were already
awake because it was already a habit, but just in case, just because
there were times that a colleague fell asleep or I too!
poor man who was not ready standing on the fence, well wrapped with his hands
back and the bed made! Apart from the yelling and scolding you took away, it was
two
punishment. It was 30 days without a family visit, without phone calls.
And that day, speaking of phone calls, I played my call with
my family had it for 6 in the afternoon. The call was every 10 days, and
it was already like 5:30 in the afternoon, it was half an hour before my call,
I was already nervous and desperate, because here in this place you lived like that
always, nervous or hoping that anything unpleasant
happen.
If they wanted to, they wouldn't give you the call. Thank God I never
It happened to me since the call was authorized. Until that day, and it wasn't
because they did not answer at my house, or that according to I was busy, or
went to the mailbox, as they sometimes told several colleagues that it was their turn to
bad luck, as if they were ignorant, they said "he went to the mailbox" being
home phone, or maybe I'm ignorant, but home phones
If you didn't answer, a recording never came out saying the phone is out
of service or of area, of service it did say when it was cut, but of
area no, that's from a cel.
***
El Mayo sent a young lawyer he trusted to take care of the needs of

his son in prison. Óscar Manuel Gómez Núñez. Oscarín, Gaxiola called him.
“Óscar was Vicente's lawyer, the one in charge during Vicente's arrest in
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Mexico took care of him in jail, he passed messages, ”Gaxiola told me.
In 2012 Óscar was a lawyer for another partner in Mayo: Felipe Cabrera Sarabia. And in
2014, when Chapo was apprehended in Mazatlán, his lawyer was precisely Óscar,
who visited him in Cefereso, brought and carried messages. He did it for a short time,
Well, in July 2015, El Chapo escaped from prison again.
Months later, in October 2015, Óscar was arrested by the Peña Nieto government,
accused of being an accomplice in Guzmán Loera's escape. Of course, it wouldn't be long
time in the shade. In October 2018, he was released after posting bail. It was
fortunate, because his complicity in the evasion was confirmed during the trial
against El Chapo in New York that began in November 2018.
Meanwhile, that January 22, 2010 Oscarín could no longer see Vicentillo.
***
Well, then an officer arrives and tells me to go to the gate and I thought
As I was going to the call, I said to myself: "That miracle that they are going to give me on time?"
But no, he told me: “Get all your things ready and then in five minutes they will come
for you". I said "what will happen, where will I go?" I thought it was a change from
cell because they had been making changes for days, just in case,
I said goodbye to everyone as was the custom of everyone who was moved by not
3
Know where you are going, because they never told you anything.
Well, I got everything ready and the commander arrived, I'm ready.
I say yes. I grab all my things wrapped in a blanket, go out to the
corridor that was in front of me and I see that my uncle Reynaldo Zambada,
aka the King , they are also checking him with his things, I didn't like him anymore, I said
"What will happen?", Because they were moving him too.
They transfer us to the COC , that's the name of one of the modules where it is
infirmary and it is where they check you when you leave the prison. It was
when I said "take us out of here." I started to get nervous
because I already knew or imagined the type of transfer, because being in
Mexico and when it comes to us, "worse!" said.
Well, a doctor checks us, the pressure, they take our fingerprints
digital, again, like when you enter and they never tell you anything, it is with the
head bowed and without speaking or asking questions, and well it gets used
one, well, that's how it's always been since I entered, you couldn't even speak or see anyone.
They already checked us, because my uncle was already on that too, and although not
I looked at him because they had him in another room, but I heard his voice. Us
transferred to customs. Already being in customs I see about 60 people with
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helmets. Hoods, batons, like there was going to be a march or a rally

where there would be riots or something like that in Mexico they are very rare,
There are hardly ever marches, ha ha ha ...
***
Even in the midst of the difficulty, in what Vicentillo wrote about that episode it is noticeable
an ironic, mocking attitude. He not only made fun of the circumstance, but of himself
same. It is probable that from that moment the image of himself as
a clown, which he would later capture in the crude self-portrait that illustrates the cover of this
book.
Those who have been in the same circumstance have told me that this type of
The searches made in the Mexican maximum security prisons are degrading.
They check their rectum and force them to do squats to verify that they are not hiding something
inside the body.
I have known that the prisoners hide from drugs to cell phones. The
Almoloya's corruption has been permanent: before Vicentillo's arrival, during
your stay and after your departure.
***
Well, to start hell like when I first arrived. They take you out
screaming, they took off all my clothes taking video, photos, good! I am
after I have put on my clothes, I say that because since I was
the officer yelling at me: take this off, take three steps forward and
4
this, they were already taking video.
Already in that I see that they arrive with my uncle and they do the same. They handcuff us
hands and feet and bandage our faces. They put a bandage on me and on top of the
bandage tape, well bandaged the entire head, not just the eyes.
They grab me and put me in a white van because I caught a glimpse of it before
that they bandaged me. You will know how I got on, because without seeing, and tied by
feet and hands because I couldn't, and the gentlemen helped me. Well how are they
"Very kind" they grabbed me with the delicacy with which one grabs a
dead pig that they take to the market trail to sell it, ha ha ha,
Pray him!
Between the two of us I felt when they picked me up and threw me. I fell into the
go. Then my uncle followed, but on the other side, not together with me, like the
They had a division in the middle and we would each go to one side. We went out and on
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three or four minutes of moving forward they stop and open the door. They grab me
and they take me down and take us up to another place that, well, I didn't know where or what,
Well, I was bandaged, my hands hurting from the handcuffs that were going well
tight.
I heard that they raised my uncle, now I felt him close to me and in 10
minutes or so I knew we were in a helicopter, they turned it on,
I listened for another second, I don't know, but I think there were two of them. Got up and i
carried crouched apart, as if he could see, from then on the back
It hurts.
After about 30 or 40 minutes we land, because they lower me equal to
grope, step here, step here and hear when they take pictures of me, hear the
flashazos and they told me "turn up your face" and I heard six flashazos. The same
time they put us in a car, more like a truck, or something like that, because
It was two or three steps to climb it, they sat me in the middle of the
seats and two federals sitting on each side holding my arms.
There they had me on top of the truck for about three hours, up there, stopped the
truck, without starting. Even the feds were denying that what
It happened, that they could no longer bear the heat and being without moving.
Already there they already behaved as more friendly, he could no longer hold his neck
of being crouched down, and one of them said to me: “How do you feel, Vicente?
are you tired?" "Yes, I can't stand my back," I told him. "Sit well, don't you
worry, make yourself comfortable, "he said, and ordered another to remove the handcuffs
so that you are comfortable, and my uncle. And then I rested.
After three hours or so, I was handcuffed and crouched again,
that we were going to start. Well, we started and since we started it was
of confrontations and turns, we jump the sidewalks and bumps to everything
gave the truck. I was very dizzy, almost to vomit, I held on, but no
I know how I did it, the truth is, I think the fear of the fuck that they were going to
put if he vomited them, ha ha ha.
***
Vicentillo already had a criminal file open in the United States since January
2003 in the Court of the District of Columbia, in Washington DC He was charged with
conspiracy to import five kilograms or more of cocaine and to manufacture and
distribute cocaine with the intent and knowledge that the drug will be trafficked to
USA. He was co-accused with his father and Javier Torres Félix, a collaborator of the
poster.
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His name and the names of his wife, Zynthia Borboa Zazueta, his mother, Rosario
Niebla Cardoza, and her sisters, Maytecita, Midiam Patricia, Modesta and Mónica del
Rosario, were published on the OFAC blacklist as persons linked to the
Sinaloa Cartel and with whom in that country it is prohibited to do business. Were published
also five companies from the business emporium created by Mayo.
And shortly after he was arrested in Mexico, on April 23, 2009, he was opened
another criminal record in the Northern District Court of Chicago with two counts
criminals for conspiracy to traffic heroin and cocaine to the United States, as well as
to obtain weapons and use violence to defend his drug trafficking business.
***
With the sirens on and the loudspeaker of the patrol or patrols that were opening the way,
They did not stop screaming from the moment we started removing cars from the road until finally
He stopped.5
They lowered me, how good they were holding me by each arm and
shoulders because the earth was spinning, I did not know about myself, what
dizzy and with very low pressure. Sweating I heard the turbines of a
plane and the officer told me: “Be careful, please, you are going to climb
stairs, put your foot on the first one, from this one onwards count 18 more to
that you can guide yourself ”.
Well, I already uploaded the last one, the 18th, I was counting them. They led me down the hall
from the plane and I heard the voice of a woman who said to them: "Let's see, bring him here
go ahead, "" here, "he told them," put it in the back in the window seat. "
Well, I sat down, I heard my uncle was seated in the back.
Later a woman arrives and raises my head and orders a
officer to remove the blindfold. The first thing I saw was a white spot and
little stars and cloudy, until my sight cleared and he said, "Raise the
expensive". And he told me: “Mr. Vicente, you are on the Police plane
Federal, don't worry, I'm in charge of the plane, you're being
transferred to another prison, I am not going to tell you where because we learned that his
life is in danger in the prison that he was, and it is for his safety the change,
sir, don't worry, relax. I see that it is wrong, does it feel good?
"Well, more or less," I said. "Yes, I can tell," he said, "don't worry, here
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there is the doctor ”.

A doctor came and took my blood pressure and told me that it was low, that
relax, and ordered that the plane not take off until I took another
time pressure. I told him that I was fine and then the plane took off.
“Ok”, the manager told me, “I am not going to put the blindfold on you, but bend over
head, don't look anywhere, please ”.
***
The police plane took Vicentillo to northeastern Mexico, to Tamaulipas, where his
father, El Chapo and Arturo Beltrán had waged a fierce war against the Cartel
of the Gulf and the Zetas to steal their territory and add it to the list of their steps
border crossings to traffic drugs to the United States. It is still ironic that they have
transferred right there.
They took him to the Federal Center for Social Readaptation number three, better known
as Northeast, located in Matamoros. It was the prelude to his extradition.
***
After
I felt itabout two the
because hours,
tiresmaybe
made sooner,
contact the
withplane suddenly landed.
the pavement, but never
They announced nothing. We arrived, the plane stopped, they blindfolded me again and said the
Miss: "Nobody gets off," ordering the officers, because the plane was going
6
full of PFP . We were detained upstairs for about two hours.
They take us down, they deliver us with the officers in charge of the prison,
They take off the handcuffs and put others on me. Since they handed me over to them
Hell began, since they put the handcuffs on me, they put them on the
tighter than they could, and they started yelling at me, they searched me all over.
I wore a watch on my shirt, because on the plane it had been
Federals, and he said, "Is this watch yours?" "Yes, sir," I said, "there I will.
they threw out. I didn't quite tell him when he was already yelling in my ear.
"I asked you if it was yours, you bastard, answer me yes or no, no more."
They put me in the truck, upstairs he told me: "Get down, bend everything to
go ahead like you're going to tempt your feet ", and he tied me hand and foot
together, so crouched, all folded, and the truck as if it had a
ring, something like that on the ground, and already being all tied hand and foot,
like when you tie a cow hand and foot, like this. And grab other
handcuffs and puts them between the ring on the floor and ties it between my hands and
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my feet and I remain tied without being able to move at all, thus crouched.
When we started, n'man !, to everything that gave, curves, bumps,
holes, pitfalls, and I could not hold myself because I was tied on my feet and
hands together holding me with the sheer strength of my legs and more
they tightened the handcuffs and my back could no longer support it, the moment came
when I didn't even feel my legs anymore. Sometimes I would lean my head on
the truck, but we couldn't do anything, they were going to yell at us and yell "I don't know
move ”,“ keep quiet, don't be talking ”. Nobody spoke, never
I and my uncle talked, it was just to go yelling at each other. I just listened to
my uncle because of his wheezing, as he was going the same way as me and could no longer hold
poor, also, no, it is something that I do not wish on anyone. I explain it, but I
that I lived it I thought they were going to kill us, the truth was I said “these are going to
deliver with other people ”, is that it was not to think otherwise.
We got off the road by a dirt road, I said: “No, yes we are going
to deliver with someone ”, ha ha ha.
He stopped suddenly, the door was opened, a flashlight flashed at us.
hand [flashlight] because it was already night. I imagine how we looked at each other
like two animals tied up and bandaged. I could not stand it anymore
the screams were interested, nothing, if they hit me or not, the moment comes when
that what you want is for whatever happens. At that time we
They entered customs, I knew why they already lowered us, they lowered me
First, like a pig, by pulling. They threw me to the ground, one
dragged about a meter, sat me down, said to me "spread your legs as wide as
you can ", and with his feet open he told me" I'm going to tie your hands for
back ”, and put the handcuffs on me and yelled“ now bend forward
more than
dog that you can
wanted to and so stay,
eat me, lick Ime
don't
andwant you like
lick me, to move
this, ”. Andtothey
stuck my put me a
face,
they put about three fingers away from your face that you are all full of
dog drool. And on the other hand the officer yelling at you, that the truth preferred
the dog, the officer's muzzle stank more than the dog, ha ha ha ...
They took off the blindfold and, crouching down, I turned my eyes to the side and saw
my uncle lying next to me, also barking a dog and barking a
official. I felt so much anger and a lot of sadness to see my uncle like this.
I think he thought the same of me, I think. They had us thrown like this like
half an hour, they pick me up, I lie, first they pick up my uncle, I stay
like this for another twenty or thirty minutes, while my uncle is yelled at
to take off all your clothes and everything you have to do when you enter
to a criminal of those. Then I follow, they kneel me, they put me on the wall like that,
2. 3. 4
Page 235
open your mouth, they check your whole body, if you have scars, check a
doctor, all this shouting. The time comes that you become deaf with
a noise, no, a buzzing in the head, you just answer by inertia. Not
I felt my hands, my back could not support it, and in that he gives me a glass of
The officer watered, "oh, look, how nice!" I said to myself, ha, ha, ha, but no, he said
"He turns to the ceiling and opens his mouth," and he throws the water into the
mouth, “if you take it, hold on, I'll tell you when you throw it, do
gargle". N'man! Well, I drowned, I couldn't hold it, and I threw the water.
"Didn't I tell you until I ordered you?" Well, another glass of water and
there I am again drowning, but well there I endured as I could, and I
gave the clothes, ordered me to put them on. I was a size 32 pants, well
He gave me a size 42 and my pants fell off. So they took me inside
arms back, crouched forward and running, and if you
You fell, apart from a shit, they dragged you away. What I wanted was
Arriving at the cell, I no longer felt my legs, hands, back. I don't know how it was going
stopped, really.
***
Beyond the promises made by the DEA , what they did not warn Vicentillo was that
the prosecution in Chicago was adding to his file. By August 2009 the prosecution
He increased the charges and added as his co-defendants his father, El Chapo, the
brothers Margarito and Pedro Flores, Juancho, Germán Olivares, Tomás Arévalo
Renteria, among others.
It was the first time that he was accused of being a high-level member of the
Sinaloa, and responsible for many of its operations and logistics tasks for traffic
of drugs to the United States, as well as the collection of profits from their clients
to take them to Mexico.
Even so, Vicentillo was convinced that accepting his extradition and collaborating with
the United States government was the only way to free itself from a larger prison: the
of the Sinaloa Cartel.
“His father is saddened that Vicente had to do that, he knows that it is dangerous,
but I had no choice, "Gaxiola told me in one of our first conversations in
2011.
***
It's eight in the morning, an officer arrives and tells me: “Zambada, get ready
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all your things, you have five minutes ”. "Now," I said, "where else can I go?
can they take that is not for the other side? ”, because it was the only thing that was
waiting for a month since he was already in charge of the embassy,
7
I knew that from one moment to the next I was being extradited.
They did all the exit formalities the same as when they transferred me to
Matamoros. They took me out in a van, same, handcuffed, same
in three or four minutes the van stopped, they lowered me. There were many
federal and civilians.
They put me in a white helicopter, that's what I managed to see,
it was a large helicopter. They got me in the middle, it was four seats in
middle, plus three back and three forward, from what I could see. Two
people to my left and one to my right. A woman got on in front,
was from Foreign Relations, and another person along with her from rights
humans. Back, two federal agents and a DEA agent .
The helicopter takes off. The commander of the PFP asks me : “How
you feel?" I say good. "Ok, don't worry, calm down, everything is
Okay sit up straight, head up, no problem, I'ma loosen you up
the wives". "Yes, please," I said, "my hands are hurting." "Yes,
I already realized ”, he told me, and he spoke to the lawyer and the rights officer
humans. "Look, he says," so that you have faith, that was how it came from within. " "Not
there is a need for this, ”I say. And it is that he had blue hands already from what
the handcuffs were tight.
About thirty minutes, more or less, I see that it is already descending
the helicopter and I see that it is an airport in the United States. The first
What I saw was the American flag.
The helicopter descends, stops and many police officers surround us.
DEA . All in civilian clothes with jackets and vests that had badges, that's why
i knew. The one from the PFP asks the one from the DEA if they come down with their weapons or
leave them in the helicopter, a DEA agent tells him : “Bring them, there is no
trouble". And they took me down.
It was a large esplanade. I'm walking, it was a long line between
DEA agents checking and flipping around with their guns on
hand.
They put me in an office, the commander of the PFP handed me over , he grabs me
one of the DEA , they put me in a room, they put two in the door to
take care of me. The lawyer arrives and tells me that I have just been delivered to the
American government, from this moment I am in charge and care of
them and wishes me luck. He takes a picture of me before he leaves. They go, there I
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I remain. You already feel another environment, really. They ask me if I want to go to
bathroom, if I want something to drink or eat. I tell them no, that in a little while longer.
They tell me it's okay. They move me to another office, they take all my data,
my fingerprints, I sign some papers and they tell me my rights.
After about four hours, they notify the DEA agents that
everything is ready, you can take me. They pick me up, they tell me yes
I want to go to the bathroom before we go, I say yes and they take me out again
walk on the large esplanade and there is a private plane in the middle of
the esplanade and agents deployed everywhere. They go up, they go up
three from the DEA together with me, they sit me in the back and tell me there are three
hours to Chicago, that they transfer me there at that moment, that I relax
and calm me down.
We arrive in Chicago, the plane lands and glides slowly on the runway.
After 10 minutes of moving forward, enter a large hangar and there is
Like six cars and several DEA agents . They lower me and they raise me to one
They go, nothing to do with those of Mexico, it is a normal luxury van. I
They go up to the bottom, they sit me in the middle of two of the DEA . Two others ahead and
the driver and co-pilot. And in a five-car caravan with the sirens
lit leading the way and passing red lights as if arriving
I do not know who.
After 30 minutes on the freeway we entered downtown Chicago.
They put me in a building and they already have the door open and down the street
scattered patrol cars stopping traffic. We entered like a winery and
They tell me: "Stay seated here, don't move."
They tell me that I am entering a federal prison. The Metropolitan
Correctional Center ( MCC ) in Chicago, Illinois. It was Thursday afternoon, and that
on Tuesday 22 I have my first court and that my lawyers are already aware,
that they already warned them.
***
One of the defense attorneys in Chicago, prepared by his father and his
mother, with a legal artillery to look after Vicentillo's interests, was precisely
Fernando Gaxiola.
On February 23, 2010, Vicentillo attended his first hearing in the Court of the
Northern District of Illinois, at 11:05 a.m., before Judge Rubén Castillo, who
he was responsible for directing his trial from start to finish. 8
On the prosecution side was the fierce Thomas D. Shakeshaft, and as head of the
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Vicentillo's defense, New York attorney George L. Santangelo and Edward S.

Panzer. Vicente Zambada Niebla pleaded not guilty to the charges.
***
Shortly after Vicentillo's extradition, breaking custom and his

own rules, the Mayo came to light. For Gaxiola it was a message from
solidarity with your child. Or a threat to his captors?
After decades of silence, the capo gave an interview to journalist Julio Scherer
García, one of the most memorable and respected in the contemporary history of
Mexico, and who had a professional rule: “If the devil offers me an interview, I will
the hells ”.
The interview was published in Proceso on April 3, 2010. The meeting occurred few
days before. It was strange, with a very short dialogue. In the end it was not clear which
been the purpose of granting the interview. To each question from Scherer, the Mayo
dodged, slipped away. And he didn't let his voice register, either.
"And Vicente?" Scherer asked him.
"I don't want to talk about him for now." I don't know if he's in Chicago or New York. I know that
He was in Matamoros, "El Mayo replied. I know I received messages and letters from her
child.
"I have to ask you, I am what I am." Regarding your son, do you live your
extradition with remorse that shatters his fatherly love? He continued
journalist the conversation.
"I'm not going to talk about millet today." I cry for him, ”said the capo.
The rest were phrases drawn by corkscrew. There were two symbolic:
"Will they finally catch him?"
"Anytime or never," El Mayo replied.
Then he provoked with a scathing reflection: “One day I decide to hand myself over to the government
so that he shoots me. My case must be exemplary, a lesson for all. They shoot me and
euphoria erupts. But after a few days we know that nothing has changed ”.
The only certain thing is that, until now, October 3, 2019, when I am writing
these lines, the Mayo has not been arrested. Nobody has shot him. And yes, everything remains the same,
less for him.
***
“Vicente is going to get the treatment he wanted when he arrived at the Sheraton that day and the government
The United States will avoid a scandal and will continue to have the information it wants.
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Something is going to be handled in public and something in private ”, Gaxiola predicted in one of the
our first meetings.
"Does this agreement
"The United make Chapo
States government nervous?"
is taking I askedthe
him there," Gaxiola.
lawyer admitted. The
Chapo feels guilty, he owes Vicente, he will have to live with the fear that
Vicente betrayed them.
N OTES
1
author.
two
Ibid .
3
Ibid .
4
Ibid .
5
Ibid .
6
Ibid .
7
Ibid
8
The author has the official transcript of that hearing.
239
Page 240
twenty
The game
On February 23, 2010 at 11 a.m. Vicentillo was presented in the room of the
Judge Rubén Castillo, the only judge with Mexican roots in the Northern District Court of
Illinois, Chicago, located in a huge skyscraper with tinted windows in the area
center. It must have been a cold morning, usually at that time the temperature in the
called "City of Winds" ranges between 4 and -7 ° C. He pleaded not guilty.
In the criminal accusation opened against him since 2009, his
father, El Chapo, Alfredo Guzmán Salazar (son of El Chapo), Tomás Arévalo Renteria,
Benny (Armando Contreras Subías), Juancho (Juan Guzmán Rocha) and the twins Pedro
and Margarito Flores. They are accused of having trafficked hundreds of kilograms from 2005 to 2008
of heroin and cocaine to the United States.
Vicentillo's defense team was made up of attorneys George Louis
Santangelo, Alvin Stuart Michaelson, Edward Sam Panzer and Fernando X. Gaxiola. It
that would follow in the following months would be a force game between the government of
The United States and the son of who really has been and is the most
important of all time. The only one who has had the inhumanity, the coldness, the
money, the mindset and the complicity of hundreds to get there.
Immediately after entering the Chicago MCC , he was assigned the number of
prisoner 22875-424, they put an orange overalls on him, the kind only used by inmates of
high danger, and they locked him in a cell of the Special Confinement Unit,
unable to speak or see any other prisoners. His cell did not exceed 15 meters
squares. He had a mat, three blankets, two sheets, a pillow, a toilet, a
sink and a tiny desk where he sat for hours writing a lot of what
that I have posted here.
They had four cells assigned to him. They moved him from cell to cell every other day, so
he couldn't even trace a sense of belonging behind the bars. Was
It is forbidden to speak to someone or have someone speak to him. I could only speak
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with his "counselor" and with prison staff who were beyond the rank of
lieutenant. But on the floor where he was, there was neither a counselor nor a staff of that rank.
He did not receive food at the same time as the other prisoners. They gave it two or three
hours later and generally cold. His wife Zynthia and his mother Chayito wrote to him
almost every day, but the letters were months late. I had no access to
take fresh air. The golden rays of the Sinaloa sun had been replaced by the cold
neon light on your face 24 hours a day. His glasses were broken and he
they had given replacement. The only air he breathed was the recycled air inside the prison.
In December 2010 I published Los señorres del narco , when the lawyer Fernando
Gaxiola contacted me to tell me the story of Vicentillo. As I said lines above,
I was threatened by the Secretary of Public Security Genaro García Luna for
reveal his complicity with the Sinaloa Cartel, his and his close circle. I knew
that some powerful businessmen were very uneasy about the content of the book and
who had thought of filing libel lawsuits against me, but
they thought better because they calculated that I would have documents and witnesses to prove
the allegations of his involvement with drug trafficking.
My book was not about the folklore of the narco, their songs, their women, their clothes, their
guns, their shots, their violence. It was a matter of highlighting the underlying problem: the
complicity with the State. The same one that has allowed criminals to accumulate
for years such a power that gives them the ability to subdue towns, cities and
entire states, and even bringing the President of the Republic himself to his knees.
It was there that Gaxiola's path and mine crossed. He wanted to tell me the
history of Vicentillo, his arrangements with the DEA and the protection that the
Senior chief of the Sinaloa Cartel six-year term after six-year term. For my part, I was interested in having
more information about that criminal organization and know the insides of its
functioning, the source of its power and also its weaknesses. There were things that only
a capo could count directly, and wanted to hear them.
Since his extradition, the DEA had not wanted to honor the agreement with Vicentillo,
They did not want to admit that the Sinaloa Cartel had collaborated with them. But Vicentillo and
his lawyers weren't willing to be treated like just another criminal, they wanted the
benefits that could mean the kind of collaboration that his father and El Chapo had
offered for years. He never knew until, in that meeting before he was
arrested, Mayo and El Chapo revealed it to him.
When I met Gaxiola, both parties were at that tipping point. The
lawyer told me an incredible story. Not long ago the Rapid case had exploded
and Furioso, in which it was found that the United States government had authorized the
arms trafficking to Mexico to supposedly discover arms networks and routes,
allowing more than two thousand weapons to enter the national territory illegally.
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Many reached the hands of the Sinaloa Cartel. Now the lawyer that was sitting
in front of me he assured me that the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel collaborated with the DEA by
less since 1998. They gave them information that the agency used together with the government of
Mexico to fight enemy cartels. In return, the agency gave them protection.
In Los Señor del Narco, he had already spoken about the Iran-Contra case (1985-1986) and
how the American government tolerated the CIA making deals with the cartels
Colombians and Mexicans to allow their drugs to reach the United States,
in exchange for some of the proceeds going to the Nicaraguan Contra that fought
to overthrow the Sandinista regime.
I was familiar with American pragmatism, but the story it told me
Gaxiola was almost unlikely. I told him I would post the story if I had proof of what
I was saying. Thus, on March 25, 2011, when no one else was paying attention to the
Vicentillo's case in the Chicago court, I revealed that the trial would open a Pandora's box
unprecedented and published the document presented by the defense attorneys, in the
which argued that the United States government could not judge their client
because it had "immunity and / or public authority" from the same government to
commit the crimes of which he was accused. And that for years the leaders of the
Sinaloa had had a relationship with the DEA , ICE , the FBI and other entities
governmental.
Those who would have given them immunity would have been the DEA regional assistant in
South America, the general director of the DEA in Mexico, as well as the agents of the DEA
attached to the cities of Monterrey, Hermosillo and Mexico City.
The lawyers of the son del Mayo had pulled out their claws, if the American government
did not want to respect the agreement with Vicentillo, they would reveal all the uncomfortable
secrets.
***
The first trial hearing I attended was on March 30, 2011. In the courtroom
Judge Castillo's half-empty, the son of Mayo appeared with shackles on his feet,
in the orange jumpsuit. He had lost 10 kilos since he had been incarcerated in the MCC,
so the uniform, already larger than his usual size, now looked like a suit
clown, the same one for whom I think he made that crude self-portrait.
The local and international media turned their sights to the court of the
judge Castillo.
The retaliation of the prosecution for the document and for the article that I had published
did not wait. On April 5, the charges against Vicentillo increased. They focused
more accusations on him. They pointed him out as a logistics operator for the Sinaloa Cartel and
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They added four charges against him.

The trial was to start in the second half of 2011, but in the middle of the storm
that was coming, the defense and the prosecution agreed that it was better to continue talking
between them and not in public, so in June Judge Castillo announced that the process would be
it would be postponed until February 2012, as it is a "very complex" case.
The internal battle continued. The United States government refused to hand over to the
cut the agreements signed between the lawyer Humberto Loya Castro and the DEA that according to
Vicentillo's defense supported his argument of "public authority."
Many speculated that it was a bluff from the defense and that they would never be able to prove it.
what they were saying. For months the prosecution did not deny the allegation, but his
The official response in May 2011 was to challenge the defense to prove what they claimed.
I could see from the front row the power play between the son of the master of the
Sinaloa and the United States government. The prognosis was reserved.
On August 1, 2011, I revealed a new document in which Vicentillo himself
narrated to the judge that the pact between the DEA and the cartel had occurred through Humberto
Loya. And that the agreement consisted in that through this lawyer the Sinaloa Cartel
would send information about his rivals in exchange for protection from the
agency.
Through Humberto Loya, lawyer and operator Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the Cartel
de Sinaloa helped the anti-drug agency catch thousands for more than a decade.
"Our information helped the arrest or death of thousands of drug traffickers
rivals, "said the son of Mayo. And he pointed out that such was the relationship between the DEA and that
criminal organization that even several of its members participated in meetings of
agents work.
The prosecution denied Vicentillo's story, but at the same time refused to make
The documents that the defense claimed existed made public. Finally, bound by
an order from Judge Castillo, on September 9, 2011, the prosecution had to present the
different agreements signed between the DEA and Humberto Loya. While the government of
The United States said that El Chapo was the most wanted, he sat with his lawyer
daily and knew about his encounters with the boss, the time and day he would see him.
The controversial agreements were embodied in black and white in contracts
signed by Loya and DEA officials . They corresponded to the years 2005-2010 with
valid until December 2011. In fact, the agreements had been signed since 1998
annually, despite the fact that Loya Castro had an arrest warrant in California.
The situation became very uncomfortable for the United States government, since it did not
only the details of that agreement could be aired, but also, if Loya Castro
presented to testify, as demanded by Vicentillo's defense, he could speak about the
alleged episodes of corruption in which the Sinaloa Cartel paid bribes to
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DEA agents in exchange for information on operations against him, as he wrote

the lawyer in his letter.
The defense artillery continued. They assured that, although the prosecution had opened
Some information was still very little compared to what existed. "Although there are
significant factual disputes that must be resolved at an evidentiary hearing, the
government-produced information corroborates many of the factual claims
presented by the defense. Given the new information provided by the government, the
Mr. Zambada Niebla will recount the facts and notice that they are indisputable ”,
1
they said in a brief to the court.
They also assured that both in 2010 and 2011 the DEA fraudulently threatened
to Humberto Loya so that he would not appear to testify in the Chicago court. The first
warning to Loya would have been in 2010, after the defense had requested in the
court that the prosecutor's office revealed the documents that related the DEA to the
Sinaloa. Shortly after, Loya called the defense and asked to see them urgently. The
meeting was on October 26, 2010 at the luxurious Four Seasons hotel. Were
present attorneys Michaelson, Panzer, Santangelo and Gaxiola, who wrote the
testimony presented before the Court of what had happened in the meeting.
At the meeting, Mr. Loya Castro told us that it was impossible for him to testify for the
defending. He said that Manny had contacted him and, among other things,
commented that American lawyers were doing a bad job
defending Zambada. That if they were more awake they would see that with what
they were doing many people would be exposed and that would cause problems
for Mr. Loya Castro and his family, El Mayo and El Chapo, including the lawyers
Americans would be at risk.
He also said that Manny told him that if the cartel's relationship with him and the
United States government was exposed, and if the activities of the
Mr. Loya Castro providing information on other cartel leaders
rivals, it would not only be bad for him, but also for the United States government.
United, because they do not want anyone to know about their relationship with the leaders of the Cartel
from Sinaloa. Manny asked him to tell Chapo and Mayo that the tactics of the
lawyers could put them in danger.
Mr. Loya Castro also told us that Manny told him that he wanted [...]
meet with the DEA agents involved in the Zambada Niebla case. And you
suggested that he speak with Zambada Niebla to make him change and reevaluate the
defense strategy.
Mr. Loya Castro told us that he was terrified for his safety and
his family if the defense exposed what was happening and that he felt he did not
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he could testify what had happened. Mr. Loya Castro was visibly
disturbed, sweating profusely and shivering, and repeated that he was afraid of
come forward in defense and he wouldn't.
Later, Loya changed her mind and agreed to appear to testify. However, it came back
to change his mind after tension grew in court as a result of my report and
the back and forth motions between the defense and the prosecution.
In early August [2011], the defense attorney was informed that the
Mr. Loya Castro had contacted Mr. Zambada's Mexican lawyer
Fog and had informed him that Manny had contacted him again and told him that
he could not testify for the defense. He told him again that if he testified and exposed his
informant role and the relationship between the United States government and the leaders of the
Sinaloa cartel would be bad for him, for the United States government, the leaders
of the cartel, that they as well as he and his family would be in danger.
He told them that Manny asked him to tell Chapo and Mayo that the lawyers
Americans were doing the wrong thing and should be told to stop.
Loya was summoned in the United States to speak with the DEA on August 18, 2011,
but he did not want to go.
In the meantime, the defense of the son of the Mayo presented diverse appeals of complaint by the
conditions of incarceration, and at the end of September 2011 he declared
unconstitutional some of the rigid measures adopted by the Federal Agency for
United States government prisons against Vicentillo.
In January 2012, the prosecution presented a third update of the accusation against
Vicentillo. The charges against him were life imprisonment if they went to trial and
they didn't earn it. The two sides had a lot to lose: the DEA and the United States government.
United a part of the reputation of his "war on drugs", and the son of Mayo his
freedom forever.
Judge Castillo postponed Vicente Zambada's trial at least five times
for three years. There was a reason. It was in neither party's interest to stretch the league
until it bursts.
***
The case was put on hold. A new trial date was never set. There was no longer
noises, but the negotiation between both parties was still stiff. Judge Castillo
rejected the defense's motion to close the case on the grounds of "authority
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public ”.
Gaxiola confided to me: “When Vicentillo was extradited, he spoke several times with his
father from the United States. The DEA asked him to call him and tell him to turn himself in. "
as one of the demands of the American government. "A message was sent to Sinaloa
so that they would give him a phone number and that his son could call him. Vicente knew that he put in
He endangered his dad, but in the end he did, he talked to him. "
Gaxiola never clarified to me if in exchange for the delivery of the Mayo, the authorities
Americans offered to free Vicentillo. If they did, the kingpin appreciated their
freedom than that of his favorite offspring; Moreover, since Vicentillo's arrest, the
Mayo had taken care of the expenses of her daughter-in-law and her three grandchildren.
The capo's son, who was then 37 years old and a family waiting for him outside,
he was struggling in a constant internal struggle. However, he was always willing to
sacrifice himself to save his father. “I stay in jail my whole life, but I'm not going to
testify against my father or my compadre, ”Vicentillo told the lawyer.
In early 2012 Gaxiola traveled to Sinaloa. He entered the dominions of Mayo and
He arrived at one of his ranches in Quilá. There, El Chapo, with a mustache and
dressed as a military man. At that meeting, El Mayo and El Chapo gave Vicentillo permission
to declare everything he had to declare, and they sent him to say that they would know how
take care of themselves.
Meanwhile, prison conditions improved for Vicentillo. Now i could
sunbathe and fresh air every so often, I also had paper and colored pencils with which to
he made drawings and designs all the time. Chayito, his mother, was looking forward to his
letters, and on a wall of his house he began to place all the drawings that his son
doing. Whether Vicentillo had artistic talent or not is something he does not talk about in his
narrations or in his diary.
Gaxiola showed me the drawings that she sent to her children. Almost all were from
Superheros. I did not understand if it was to please her three boys or if it was because in the
background was still the child that at age 16 the Arellano Félix wanted to assassinate in
Tijuana.
Finally, Vicentillo accepted an agreement with the Americans. In July 2012 he made
his first affidavit and told some secrets of the partners, buyers and
his father's assistants. Shared a lot of sensitive information, but never really
He said nothing that would put his father in irremediable danger, that's why Mayo is still free.
“My father has been one of the main leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel during my entire
life, ”began his signed report, but not before making sure that the American government
fully comply with an inalienable condition.
***
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At the beginning of March 2012, Zynthia Borboa Zazueta and her children boarded a plane
official United States to settle in that country under the protection of the government
American. It was part of Vicentillo's agreement to collaborate and guarantee security
of his family.
I met Gaxiola a few hours after departure at a hotel in the City
from Mexico. He looked satisfied. He assured me that Zynthia traveled with more than 3 million
dollars in cash, with authorization, to systematize your new life there.
The lawyer told me that from that day on Vicentillo would disappear from the records
Federal Bureau of Prisons reports. And indeed, for some time his
Inmate number on the record indicated he was in the MCC , but as of that
moment, when I tried to enter it, it no longer appeared. It had vanished from the base
of data where by law the date of entry of the prisoners, the prison
where they are and the date they are released. Mayo's son was imprisoned in
a special prison for protected witnesses and got his family to visit him
once a week.
Gaxiola also told me about the negotiations that other
capos, for example, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén. In 2010 a federal court in Houston
sentenced the leader of the Gulf Cartel to 25 years in prison. At the same time, the capo
began to collaborate to dismantle the dangerous cartel and the Zetas. "In the next
years surely the sentence will be reduced to 15 years ”, Gaxiola said about Osiel. "You
they will remove 54 days per year of sentence for good conduct, [in total] they will remove 610 days,
practically two years, so it will only have to be 13. "
On the other hand, the defender pointed out that “Loya will continue to be a 'hinge' between the DEA
and the Sinaloa Cartel, they are the Chapo people and they never gave him away. Loya is going to come out of her
hiding place paid for by El Chapo, he paid him the house and the security to hide ”.
Gaxiola assured me that the Department of Justice and Vicente were already advanced,
“But the process is long and things are missing. You have to prove that it gives valuable information
impacting a major arrest, once he helps make arrests, the process
it will advance ”.
At that moment the lawyer showed me the scheme of what Vicentillo would reveal
months later: there were many names, some publicly known, but one
a good part not: Macho Prieto, Pacheco, Jorge, Mongol, Manuel Torres Félix (M1),
Benny, Perales, Ulises, Kiki, Felipe Cabrera Sarabia, Lamberto Verdugo, Nene
Jaramillo, Marisquero, Polo.
"Why?" I asked him about giving in to the agreement and not having fought for the
"Public authority". Gaxiola told me that in the end the American government is the government
American, it was not wise to confront them.
As a journalist, as a Mexican, I would have liked to see the trial in which they went to
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highlight the unspeakable agreements between the American government and the drug cartels
Mexicans. Apparently that will happen, perhaps, another time. Vicentillo and his defense no
they could risk life imprisonment. I understood that if I collaborated, I received the promise that
I would not be in prison forever. That's how it went.
***
On April 3, 2013 Vicentillo signed a plea agreement negotiated with the prosecutor
from the Northern District of Illinois, Gary Shapiro. It was sealed for a year and it wasn't until
2014 when it opened.
The admission of guilt of Zambada Niebla will prevent the trial from being carried out,
many times postponed by Judge Rubén Castillo, and that the alleged
agreements that existed between the Sinaloa Cartel and the DEA, on which the
defense strategy.
According to the text of admission of guilt, on the basis of a “cooperation
complete and continuous Zambada Niebla ”, the American government commits to
take appropriate steps to address any security concerns that
may affect Vicentillo and his family as a result of their collaboration. Including the
Zambada Niebla and his family remain in the United States.
In the document Zambada García pleads guilty to one of the two charges that
He was charged with the possession and distribution of five kilograms or more of
cocaine and a kilo or more of heroin, from May 2005 to December 2008, along with their
co-defendants, including El Chapo and El Mayo. In addition, “Zambada Niebla
as a high-level member of the Sinaloa Cartel and the faction his father controls
May Zambada. Zambada Niebla was responsible for many aspects of the operation
of the cartel ”.
“The defendant will plead guilty because in fact he is guilty of count number
one of the third update of charges, "says the agreement. This part was fundamental
for the prosecution, the DEA and other agencies, since that is how the
arguments of "public authority" and the agreements between the DEA and the Sinaloa Cartel.
And he pleaded guilty to having paid bribes directly, on behalf of his father,
to local, state and federal officials of the government of Mexico to support the
drug trafficking business activities.
“Vicente Zambada Niebla is the highest level person in the United States government
Unidos has [the Sinaloa Cartel], they know he was not a great operator, but they know
that he was very close to his father, that he hid with his father and knows everything, "he told me
Gaxiola in one of our first meetings. “Vicente is putting the brokers already
your operators, you are giving all the information about them. Collaborate with the DEA and the FBI . "
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Since Vicentillo began to collaborate with the prosecution at the end of 2011, it was
gave a chain of arrests of important members of the Sinaloa Cartel. Some
they died during the operation. Criminal charges were brought against others in various
United States courts or members were identified and bulletin for the first time
of the Sinaloa Cartel such as Felipe and Alejandro Cabrera Sarabia, Chino Ántrax and many
others.
Gaxiola commented that, although Vicentillo stopped having fresh news from the
Sinaloa since his arrest in 2009, his father sent him information to
that he presented it and the arrests that would be taken into account in his
collaboration to reduce the years of sentence.
***
In November 2013, Serafín, Vicentillo's stepbrother, was arrested at the border

between Nogales and Tucson, Arizona, accused of drug trafficking in the Southern District Court of
California.
A year later, in another cursed November for the Zambada family, they arrested
another stepbrother, Ismael Zambada Imperial, Mayito Gordo , in El Álamo, receivership of
El Salado, in Culiacán, in his father's domain, during a Navy operation.
He complained that he was beaten during his arrest. He was also wanted by the Court of
Southern District of California, co-accused with his brother Ismael Zambada Sicairos and Iván
Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, son of Chapo.
“El Mayo is very upset about what is happening with Vicente, they just grabbed
Serafín and he was very angry with everyone ”, Gaxiola told me, who listened to Major
say: “I tell them no, they have no need and they don't help each other and they get into the
deal". "Even Emiliano, the youngest of the Mayo, will have the same thing",
sentenced the lawyer.
Serafín and Mayito Gordo do not have important contacts in the criminal world
Because they worked outside the organization, they did it behind their father's back.
Vicente was in charge of making sure his brothers didn't get into it,
They are not part of the cartel, he did not let them move a staple. All order is
broke when Vicente was caught.
Gaxiola added, for whom Vicentillo was smarter, more charismatic, and had more
gift of command than his stepbrothers.
In September 2018 Serafín was released after serving a
short sentence of five and a half years in prison. His mother Lety has said no
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They will return to Mexico. While in April 2019 Mayito Gordo was sentenced in a
Jalisco court to 10 years in prison for carrying weapons for the exclusive use of the
army, and is locked up in the maximum security prison Cefereso 2, in Puente
Grande, Jalisco.
***
On February 22, 2014, Chapo was arrested in Mazatlán, Sinaloa. The operative
It started several days before and apparently he was not the first target.
“Since mid-February there have been raids in Culiacán and a special group from the
Marina broke into a residence in the Guadalupe neighborhood, in Culiacán, to catch the
Chapo, that's where Mayo was with him ”, Gaxiola told me. He said that in the operation,
coordinated by the DEA, "they thought they were going to capture them both, but no."
It was not the first time, assured the lawyer. They had both managed to escape because the
Mexican authorities managed to give them the whistle and gave them time to escape before
the operation arrived.
“One day, for example, Mayo and Chapo were in a house near a restaurant
called Ramón, they were drinking and someone from the Mexican government warned them, they jumped
from the table and left. "
That day Chapo was accompanied by local deputy Lucero Guadalupe Sánchez, 25
years old, with whom she had a romantic relationship that led her to win District 16
de Cosalá as a candidate of the Partido Sinaloense, PRD , PT and PAN alliance . Gaxiola no
clarified whether during the operation the Mayo was also accompanied by a woman or
I was alone.
“El Mayo was in the same house, but he moved faster and managed to escape without
leave a trace. More vivacious he hid in the mountains. " While El Chapo was captured
a few days later at the Miramar Tower, in Mazatlán, accompanied by his concubine
Emma Coronel and her two twin daughters.
Víctor J. Vázquez, DEA supervisor attached to the United States embassy in
Mexico City since 2008, would later explain what happened in those days. He said that the
The operation was coordinated from Baja California Sur with a team from the Navy. "We took out
the Federal Police of the scene. We only involve Mexican sailors. It implied that
go to the territory and provide and advise with updated information to the
minute." The decision not to take into account the PF was due to the “level of corruption”,
"Using them again wasn't going to work." two
Vázquez assured that the first objective was to stop the Mayo in a ranch near
Culiacán, where he was according to the reports they had. February 13
of 2014 they landed along with 40 sailors near the property. When they arrived no longer
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They found no one, just a nightstand and 100 assault rifles.

For two days they continued the search and detained people from Mayo who pointed out a
house in Culiacán where the capo was supposed to be. When they broke in already
There was no one there either, they just found their baseball caps. After failure,
Vázquez decided to stop looking for Mayo and went after Chapo, since an informant
He indicated five houses where he could be.
For three days the DEA and the Navy broke into the five properties with more than
100 items. In one they found a photograph of Ovidio Guzmán López and his
brother Joaquín, sons of El Chapo. In another they discovered the tunnel through which he escaped with the
deputy Lucero. This is how they followed El Chapo's footsteps until they captured him in
Mazatlan.
El Chapo spent a year and a half in prison. In July 2016 he escaped with the
collaboration of his lawyers, his children Iván Archivaldo, Alfredo and Ovidio, and Emma
Colonel, according to Dámaso López Núñez, who until then was the right arm of
Guzman Loera.
Vicentillo and his compadre Chapo would meet a year and a half later in court
Federal District of the Eastern District of New York.
N OTES
1
Document “Defendant Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla's reply memorandum to the
government's opposition to his motion to dismiss based on immunity ”.
two
Testimony of Víctor J. Vázquez in the Eastern District Court of New York, 22 and
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twenty-one
The traitor?
How is it going? I hope you and all those who are are well
surround, I send you these few letters to wish you all the best in these
dates. I want to tell him that I miss him a lot, he does not imagine how much, I do not know
worry about me, I'm fine for the moment. There we take her, the time
It happens, it cannot be stopped, God willing, soon we give ourselves a strong
hug, please, take good care of yourself, greet me all over there and remember
that I am the same and I am with you. Have a merry Christmas with the
around you and a prosperous happy new year. 1
Thank you for all your support, don't forget how much I love and respect you.
I send a big hug. I would like to make many sheets of it, but I cannot.
God bless you
Her nephew.
***
This letter was among the documents Gaxiola gave me access to. It was a letter
that Vicentillo sent his father in code, on the occasion of Christmas, when he was still
held at the Chicago MCC . I had already made the decision to collaborate and had
started sharing information. This was a message to make it clear to him that
he loved and that he would protect him, "remember that I am the same ..." Will it be now?
In 2013 Gaxiola told me that the United States government had rented a
department to Zynthia that was not in her name for her and her children. In the meantime,
he could make phone calls and talk to Chayito, his mother.
Vicente is in good spirits, his greatest concern is the safety of his
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family, the future of their children. He fell into the trap of following in his father's footsteps,
life was pushing him, his father didn't really want him to get involved, but the
circumstances pushed him. Vicente does not want that to happen to his children and
He decided to cut it off because it was the only way. He is doing it for his children.
The lawyer told me when he explained the decision his client had made.
“Now he sees his family often. He sits with his children to eat potatoes and drink
soft drinks in the dispensing machines of the prison ”, Gaxiola told me with emotion,
in fact he appreciated it and was glad that his life regained some normality:
What Vicente misses most is his father, his mother, his sisters, he is
studying, but there are few classes, he paints, he likes to read a lot, fiction and not
fiction, biographies, history ...
His father is sad that Vicente has to do this, he knows it is
dangerous, but he had no choice.
If Vicente is known to be a snitch, he will not receive further information. Through the
cartel he continues to receive information. If the cartel people find out that he is
putting the finger at everyone, regardless of size, color or sex, there will be viciousness
against his family.
We have protected them as far as we can, it is no longer possible.
When it is all over he is going to stay as a legal resident just like his
family, you will really have the opportunity to have the life you wanted.
My last meeting with the lawyer was on May 20, 2015. I was in
Berkeley, California, dedicated to the investigation into the disappearance of the 43
Ayotzinapa students. Fernando Gaxiola had called me several times during that
year, he had asked me to come see him as soon as possible because he had little time left
of life. He wanted to finish telling me and giving me documents. Asked me to post
history because he was convinced that this way people could understand that May was
The cartel is the cartel and it will be the cartel. In fact, the capo was ironic with the lawyer when
they met: “Cartel? What cartel? We are just my compadre Chapo and I. "
For four years Gaxiola was the hinge between father and son. He was the one who came and went
with the information so that Vicentillo could continue collaborating and, unintentionally, so that the
May clear his own path.
That was the last time I saw him, the cancer he had successfully fought
for some time it metastasized. But he always remained strong, with the countenance
full, never seemed to me a man who was on the verge of death.
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***
The day they feared has arrived. Vicentillo was to testify against Joaquín Guzmán Loera,
the baptism godfather of your youngest child. Al Chapo had been apprehended on January 8
of 2016 in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, and a year later he was extradited to the United States to
be tried in the Eastern District Court of New York, where he was a co-defendant with
Ismael Zambada García, who until now has never been in jail.
Chapo was charged with a criminal career of more than 20 years in which there would be
trafficked at least 150 tons of cocaine and other illegal drugs, use of weapons of
fire, money laundering, more than 33 homicides. Likewise, the seizure of
a fortune of at least 14 billion dollars. The guilty sentence was
prescribed.
It was a cold morning in New York. On January 3, 2019 at 9:30 a.m.
Chapo's trial resumed after the holiday break. The court room
Located in Brooklyn, it was presided over by Judge Brian M. Cogan. It was the twenty-second day of
judgment. The media and the defense lawyers themselves had
turned the court into a show, and the everyday presence of Emma Coronel was the cherry
on the cake.
On behalf of the United States government were prosecutor Amanda Liskamm,
Andrea Goldbarg, Gina Parlovecchio, Michael Robotti and Patricia Notopoulos. By
defense were Jeffrey Lichtman, Eduardo Balarezo and William Purpura.
"Good morning, happy new year," said Judge Cogan. Let the jury in ...
Ok, everyone in your seats. Good morning ladies and gentlemen, best wishes for this
two
new Year. I know everyone is rested and ready to go, so we will. "
It was probably a happy new year for many of those present, but not for
the Chapo. It certainly wasn't a good day for Vicente either.
The day began with the insipid declaration of America Pina ( sic ), the person in charge
to record Guzmán Loera's calls at the MCC in New York. At the end of your
testimony, the judge invited the jury out of the room and removed everyone. "We are going to need
make a few arrangements in the living room. If you can wait in the hall , I will bring you from
I'll be back in 90 seconds, ”Cogan said. “The government can bring its next witness, for
favor."
Vicente Zambada Niebla entered, who looked at his compadre Chapo and greeted him.
"Ok, everyone seated, we are going to have a parallel talk, not open to the public," said the
judge, since the defense lawyers wanted to make a protest. Separately, without
hearing listen, the lawyer Balarezo asked the judge:
I just want to ask the court to ask the government to tell its witnesses not to do
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any kind of signs or gestures to Mr. Guzmán. Rey Zambada, as the lord
Cifuentes, and now this gentleman look at Mr. Guzmán and smile. This man
Zambada who is on the stand right now, just winked and made gestures
to Mr. Guzmán. So I only ask the government that their witnesses do not make any
gesture or anything else to the accused.
The lawyer spoke on behalf of Chapo, who apparently had not liked the attitude
3
of Vicentillo.
"Look, the request is a little late," said Cogan, "that would have been nice to know.
Before we had the witness on the stand and the jury present. From now on.
I understand that they will not tell you now. "
“Either way, I think this witness simply nodded to the defendant, in the
best case, ”said the prosecution.
The judge promised that he would ask Vicentillo not to signal Chapo any more.
"The next government witness, please," Cogan told the courtroom.
“Your honor, the government calls Vicente Zambada Niebla, who testifies under
oath. Please say and spell your name for the record, ”said prosecutor Liskamm.
"Vicente Zambada Niebla, Vicente Zambada Niebla," he replied
Vicentillo standing, dressed in a blue prison uniform. I sit. I was going to start
his interrogation to tear El Chapo to shreds.
"Good morning, Mr. Zambada."
"Good morning, good morning everyone," said the Mayo son, greeting the
present.
"Who is your father?"
—Ismael Zambada García.
Vicentillo was no longer the young man who at age 23 ordered the first execution of his
lifetime. Now it was weeks until he turned 44 and he was there to fight for the
freedom, even if that meant the end of El Chapo.
For his part, El Chapo knew, or at least he remembered that winter morning, that
Vicentillo had always wanted to be free. Now it would be at his expense.
They presented Vicentillo for three consecutive days. In the show called "trial of the
century ”narrated parts of what he had already written in his diary, in his sworn confessions to the
government of the United States and in other writings written by himself that form
part of this book.
Unlike the tone he had used in his journal and in his writings, where he referred
Joaquín Guzmán Loera simply as Chapo, during the trial, so
repetitive and almost unbearable, he referred to him as "my compadre Chapo." Maybe
I would think that that would soften the process of betrayal that culminated those days.
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They were several hours of interrogation that lasted for two more days. The
On the last day, harassed by the defense, Vicentillo confirmed what Gaxiola had told me
years ago: “[El Chapo] knew I would testify because I pleaded guilty when he
I was free with my father and I promised to cooperate with the prosecution. I don't see the future and
4
I didn't know that my friend Chapo would be here. He is not my enemy ”.
Balarezo listed a long list of detainees, including his client, in which
the Mayo was obviously not there.
—My dad has not been arrested in Mexico or the United States.
"His friends aren't so lucky," the lawyer sneered.
-What do I tell them! Vicentillo returned in the same tone.
Balarezo questioned whether in the more than 100 sessions with prosecutors and agents
Americans had provided information about his father, among other
drug traffickers. Vicentillo assured that as part of the agreement he provided
information on houses, hiding places, runways, offices and coordinates of the
May Zambada.
—But, despite these data, the Mayo is still free ...
5
"That my dad wasn't arrested is not my fault." Am I to blame for that?
I know that for four years of that collaboration, while Gaxiola was the hinge, the
Mayo monitored what her son said. It was not Vicentillo who had the power to
betray him, but from the outside he did have the ability to influence their collaboration.
Vicentillo never spoke to the United States government about his father's companies,
of his partners in legitimate companies at a high level, nor of the legal fortune that he had
He built his family on his father's illegal funds. At least not
he did so in none of the writings to which Gaxiola gave me access.
***
Vicentillo's testimony was tricked. From the beginning, Judge Cogan vetoed the
more sensitive issues at the request of the prosecution: the agreements of the Sinaloa Cartel with the
DEA , Chapo's payments to American drug agents and presidential corruption
in Mexico. Two topics that the son of Mayo knew better than any of the witnesses
presented during the three-month trial against El Chapo.
The judge considered that Chapo's guilt was not affected by the fact that there was a
monumental corruption in Mexico, even if they were the prosecution's own witnesses
who knew or had seen the bribery payments of Mayo and El Chapo to the president
after president. It was prohibited to speak directly about the payments to Felipe Calderón and
Enrique Peña Nieto, who was in office when the trial began in November
2018. When Lichtman tried to do it at the opening of the trial, he was censored. When
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in the cross-examination they tried to wrest some things from the witnesses, the prosecution
He said it was an invalid question and the judge agreed with him.
At the opening of the trial, Lichtman argued before the jury:
As I said before, this team of United States prosecutors will tell you that Joaquín
Guzmán Loera is the largest drug dealer in history. But you go
to learn in this case, through government witnesses, that he is not even the
largest drug trafficker in Mexico. But who is? A man who does not
They do TV shows, they don't have her face in lunchboxes, she doesn't meet Sean
Penn, musicians don't sing about him, he doesn't escape from prison because he's never been
in one, a man who is 70 years old and has operated drug trafficking in
Mexico for 55, without ever being arrested, despite being charged with
in an American court 40 years ago, a man they have never heard of until
today [in the United States]: a man named Ismael Zambada, or Mayo for
in short, Mayo Zambada.
How has a man of the world become the largest drug trafficker on the planet?
who have never heard? I'll tell you why: he paid for it. He has
bribed the entire government of Mexico, including very above: the current
President of Mexico [Enrique Peña Nieto]. And for a conservative measure,
also previous [Felipe Calderón Hinojosa]. I will say this with more emphasis:
current president and former president of Mexico received hundreds of millions of
6
dollars in bribes from the Mayo, according to government witnesses.
Even if it was histrionic, even if it was to defend a criminal like El Chapo,

Lichtman was right.
On November 14, in a restricted conversation, after the prosecution
asked to eliminate the arguments of the defense in the first hearing, the judge warned the
Chapo's defense that the promise to present evidence to the jury was not going to be
comply. There were testimonies from the prosecution's witnesses that confirmed what was said by
Lichtman, and they could not lie because they would be ruined. El Chapo could not
present that in their defense because they did not allow it, not because it did not exist.
In 2000, after 70 years in power, the PRI lost the presidency for the first time
before the PAN candidate Vicente Fox, which meant a profound debacle for that
political party. Twelve years later they returned to power with the young Peña Nieto, whose
political campaign was plagued by scandals related to its financing
inexplicable, similar to what happened with Fox. In 2012 the spending cap was 366
million pesos and, according to the investigations of a special commission that was created in the
Chamber of Deputies, the PRI spent more than 4 billion, administered in one part
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important by Monex, a financial company that has been designated in the United States
for money laundering.
If anyone knew about the payments from the Sinaloa Cartel to Peña Nieto, it was Mayo's son.
"Vicente knows that there was money for the presidential campaign of Enrique Peña Nieto," I
Gaxiola said. But it was not Vicentillo who spoke about it, he was a very close associate of his
father: Álex Cifuentes, when Chapo's defense maneuvered to make him repeat what
he had already secretly testified to the prosecution. The president would have received at least 100
millions of dollars in bribes from the cartel. When the information was done
public, Peña Nieto denied it.
The defense of his "compadre Chapo" could not ask Vicentillo about
García Luna, the children of Marta Sahagún and many others. With everything, in the end Vicentillo
would come out well off the Chapo trial, as later recognized by the
fiscal. After cooperating with the U.S. government for at least eight years, he would have
your reward.
***
“Before we begin, let me say that I am really going to ask the members of the
hearing that respect the procedures that are being carried out here. These are
actual episodes, they are not episodes of some kind of soap opera, so I hope and demand
that people behave appropriately in the courtroom, "said Severo
Judge Rubén Castillo. Thus began on May 30, 2019, at 10:31 a.m., the hearing at the
Northern District Court of Chicago, where after years of denunciation and collaboration,
Vicentillo received his sentence. 7
There was the son of Mayo. Not in the orange clown romper anymore. By
His defense included Frank Pérez, Alvin Michaelson, Ed Panzer and George
Santangelo. Gaxiola would have liked to be there and see the end of the story.
Erika L. Csicsila began on behalf of the prosecution:
There is no doubt that the defendant's conduct has caused immense harm, harm to
people in Mexico, but also in this city and throughout the United States, and it is
serious conduct that justifies a serious sentence. If not for collaboration
the defendant, and as the court has just noted, the defendant's conduct would require a
life imprisonment according to the guidelines.
Then Amanda Liskamm intervened, the tough member of the Attorney General's Office
Attached that he was part of the team that sank El Chapo in the New York trial:
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The court, as you know, must consider the whole picture, which includes the
conduct of the accused, excuse me, collaboration, and that collaboration was extensive, has
been extensive, and you should also consider your performance and the history and
characteristics of this particular defendant.
And in that regard, something that says a lot about the characteristics of the accused is
how this collaboration came about. The defendant approached the DEA to collaborate ago
approximately 10 years, and after he was arrested and extradited to the United
United, he began to collaborate extensively with the government. That collaboration has
been continuous and constant, and the government fully expects, and the defense has
stated, and the accused has stated, that such collaboration will continue after the
sentence given here today.
I was a member of the judicial team that prosecuted Chapo Guzmán, and Mr.
Zambada was one of the witnesses I presented at the trial.
In my career as a prosecutor, he is one of the most cooperative people with
which I have worked with, and I think the court should be aware of that when issuing a
judgment.
Again, Csicsila spoke:
The defendant has collaborated continuously and has always done so at a level
extraordinary. This has not happened without cost. Therefore, the government believes
that it is necessary for the sentence to incentivize other offenders in various ways
involved in drug trafficking who are considering the possibility of
collaborate with the government and change your lifestyle. They can see this
accused and know that change is possible and that they can correct mistakes and
also be treated by the government and the judicial system in a fair and timely manner
upon receiving a sentence for their actions.
During the hearing it was said that the first-born, Vicente Ismael Zambada Borboa, 25
year-old, had recently graduated from college with a technical degree
in automotive design and also in real estate. Fact that moved Vicentillo.
“When I was 11 years old they shot my grandmother and they shot my mother. They attacked
against my life for the first time when I was 16 years old. That was the first time of many.
I am very happy that my son is here and that he has a different life ”, he would have said.
to their lawyers. When he testified against El Chapo, he declared that he was afraid of
retaliation.
That May 30 in the Northern District Court of Illinois, Vicentillo was not the
same time ago. Painting, which had originally been his hobby, became
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turned into a discipline. In a self-taught way he learned to play the piano and
guitar. And it is said that he had read about 400 titles during nine years of seclusion.
in United States.
"It was very, very difficult for him to be a witness against his own father," said the lawyer.
Pérez, of the defense, although in reality the Mayo was never in the bench of the
accused. “He got into conflict. After her testimony, she learned about the articles, about
a son who betrays his father, and to this day, he still deals with it, and is a
very difficult situation to handle. "
Vicentillo's turn came. "Good morning," he said greeting Judge Castillo. Toward
nine years that he had appeared there to plead not guilty. Many things had
past.
***
First of all, I would like to thank you for having me here today, on this day
that I will receive my sentence. I've waited a long time for this
day, and today we are here thanks to you. That is why, in the first place, I
I would like to thank you. 8
I would also like to thank the opportunity to express all my
remorse and regret for the bad decisions I made in the
past. And I think the best way to start is by asking forgiveness from
all those people that, in some way or another, I hurt directly or
indirectly. I would also like to apologize to my children, to me
wife and the woman who gave me life [Chayito], who is my mother, because
they have also suffered a lot from everything we have been going through.
I believe that each man or each person changes his life or leads his
life based on good or bad decisions. As I was saying a
moment, I made some bad decisions, on which I continue to accept
all the responsibility and I really regret taking them.
I would like to tell you, your honor, that this regret did not occur
yesterday, nor did it occur today because I am in front of you about to receive my
judgment. I would like to respectfully tell you that this feeling of
regret or remorse has been with me for years, and I believe
that the people next to me, the government and my lawyers, will not allow me
lie to him, because I have shown my repentance with actions or deeds and
not just with words.
Like I said before, I still have my children, my wife, whom I love
with all my heart and they are the most important things for me, them and the
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My closest family members are the ones who have supported me with
a lot of faith and a lot of hope to keep going, and also to be a
better person…
I have sacrificed a lot by leaving and taking them out of the world we lived in.
I would like to tell you, Your Honor, without hesitation, that I would do this again.
as long as I could see them happy, free from all fear, see them live a life in
peace and, above all, a happy life. I think everyone deserves a second
chance. Today, that opportunity is in your hands.
***
In response to Mayo's son's appeal, Judge Castillo delivered a speech

significant. A rhetorical portrait of drug trafficking:
According to the government, in its request for a 17-year sentence, it states that more or
less between 1996 and 2008 you monitored mass shipments of narcotics from
Central and South America to Mexico and finally to the United States. And I understand that the
the way in which he did it occurred in the circumstances of the family in which
was born. Not that he suddenly decided that he wanted to join this organization. On
Indeed, it was born in the organization that already existed.
Many of the people you knew, many of the people your
relatives know, have died violently, and I know that his family has suffered. Y
It is shameful that these drug wars continue and that the value of
Life in a country that I personally love very much does not mean anything. A lots of
in Washington they want to build a wall, when most of these drugs are
coming in a way that a wall will do nothing, nothing.

I have been involved in the front line of the so-called war on drugs.
I have personally risked my life dealing with Colombian drug traffickers, and
I'd be the first to admit here in an open trial, for the record,
after 25 years of being a federal judge, that if there is a so-called war on the
drugs, we've lost it. We have lost it.
That term, collaboration , has suddenly become something in this country.
despised. And frankly, I don't get it. In this country, 20-30% of all
cases processed in the criminal justice system, the system depends on individuals who
collaborate. If you do not have cooperation, you cannot have a successful legal action,
But still we see people from above in Washington, DC, people from this
city, talking about collaboration like it's a bad thing.
I'm not going to say her name, but someone in Washington, DC said that the
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conversion [ flipping ] should be prohibited, that someone who collaborates with the
Department of Justice is a rat.
It is sad that the coverage of your case, Mr. Zambada Niebla, is in this vein,
This was the headline of Sunday's newspaper: “The cartel boy who sold to the
Chapo ”. As for me, you didn't sell El Chapo. I think it was the other way around.
Collaborated with the United States of America. That is what happened. And if we don't have
collaboration, if we do not have collaboration, the Department of Justice simply
does not win cases.
We may have lost the war on drugs, but we can't afford to
luxury of losing the war on crime.
And so, after very carefully evaluating the two arguments of the defense,
from the government, I consider the appropriate sentence for you to be 15 years.
After speaking crudely and without restriction, Judge Castillo told Vicentillo that he would take
taking into account the year he had been a prisoner in Mexico, so he would have four years left
in prison. According to the calculations of criminal lawyer Stephen G. Ralls, whom I interviewed
in Tucson, with the various benefits accruing to him for good behavior and so forth,
Vicentillo most likely is now at liberty.
After being released, Vicentillo will be under supervision for five
years in which you will not be able to consume illegal drugs or alcohol, and for that you must present
routinely have a blood test. In the United States, “you must find and work
conscientiously in legal employment or conscientiously following a program of study or
job training that prepares you for work ”.
In the guidelines of the sentence there was a clause where it was said that “
intentionally meet or communicate with any member or associate of the
Sinaloa ”. But the prosecution asked not to apply it due to the ambiguity that would exist in the
definition of what is considered "a member of the Sinaloa Cartel." That means
the possibility is opened for Vicentillo to see Mayo again, the only and true leader
of the organization.
***
Ismael Zambada García has led more than 50 years of criminal career with a coldness
absolute. He has killed his best friends, his associates, and his competitors. And in
many senses he has betrayed his most beloved son, Vicentillo, who, even though he was
a prisoner for 10 years, he continued to be useful in his criminal business to get rid of
of that which hindered him.
He saw his three children in jail: Vicentillo, Serafín and Mayito Gordo and not even like that
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has been able to stop. His criminal career is stronger than any other
feeling and interest.
From the research I did for Los señorres del narco , El Chapo seemed like a
man much smaller than that "great capo" and "main drug trafficker of all
the times ”that the US and Mexican governments built. I wrote his
story to show that he did not have the intelligence, personality or power to guide that
conglomerate of criminals that make up the Sinaloa Cartel, and that it was corruption
what had gestated El Chapo, he was only a reflection.
In the story I reconstructed of the Sinaloa Cartel, there were pieces that were missing from the
puzzle. Something was wrong. Only by digging deep could you understand what it was
the missing piece: the Mayo and its permanent base of operations in Los Angeles, which is
as important as that of Culiacán. The king who for decades decides who lives and
who dies within your organization. When a war starts and when it ends. The
who decides from his throne where, how and when the drug is sent. The one who has
legal businesses that will leave millionaire profits for him and his family for generations,
like Gaxiola said. The Mayo does not have to live crouched in the mountain, but in his
green kingdom built in El Dorado, Costa Rica, Quilá and El Salado, there, in Culiacán.
When El Chapo's trial ended, various DEA sources commented that the
Mayo was stronger and operating more than ever, and he was not thinking about his retirement.
In 2017, in a brief greeting with Lety, Serafín's mother, I asked her about the health of the
hood. There are those who speculate that he is old, ill and thinks to retire. She told me that,
Although he has a bad knee, he is perfectly healthy and strong.
For now the Mayo should not worry about being persecuted. In real terms, for the
United States government is not a target, and in President Andrés' speech
Manuel López Obrador is non-existent.
El Chapo is no longer there to pull the reflectors, but there is Nemesio Oseguera, the leader
of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel, whose violence puts them on target, and there are four
scions of Joaquín Guzmán Loera's 18: Iván Archivaldo and Alfredo Guzmán
Salazar, and his stepbrothers Ovidio and Joaquín Guzmán López, whose impulsive character
makes them ideal for playing bait. The four manage what was left of the
criminal business of his father, very distant from what his father had achieved.
***
On Thursday, October 17, 2019, there was a watershed in Culiacán, headquarters of the Cartel of
Sinaloa. Shortly after three in the afternoon, the children were leaving the schools, their mothers
they went for them or were shopping to prepare the meal for the day. The employees
they took the noon break and the restaurants were full. At that time, in
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In a span of no more than 30 minutes, Culiacán became a field of war.

Armed civilians who circulated in vans and luxury cars burned vehicles,
they blocked roads and terrorized the population. The images went around the
world. It is assumed that Ovidio, the son of Chapo, was detained by the army and the
That group's goal was to free him. In the end the army was ordered to release him by
part of the public security cabinet chaired by Alfonso Durazo, secretary of
Security and Citizen Protection, and made up of the Secretary of Defense, Luis
Crescencio Sandoval; the Secretary of the Navy, José Rafael Ojeda Durán, and the commander
of the National Guard, Luis Rodríguez Bucio, arguing that the hosts of
the Chapitos, as they are called, had been stronger than the State.
President López Obrador said the order was given to save human lives. The
more than nine thousand elements that are in Culiacán belonging to the IX Military Zone, to
the state, municipal, ministerial and federal police, and more than 200 elements of the Guard
National that had arrived the previous days, says the government, were not enough.
At the same time, in a toll booth on the highway that connects Culiacán
with the receivership of Costa Rica, where the Mayo Zambada domains are located,
a convoy of luxury vans appeared with people in civilian clothes and armed up to
teeth. Similar to the group that was doing excesses in the city. They came closer
to a military checkpoint with several armed elements who saw them arrive without surprise.
One of the civilians, tall, robust, who stood out among all, approached to greet the
military. There were hugs, handshakes, smiles, and then the big man,
In civilian clothes, he stepped behind a truck along with who you can imagine was the
chief of the military.
The six-year term had changed, there was a new president, but the scene referred to the
Episodes from the past narrated in detail by Vicentillo in his writings or in his diary.
Was the state actually outnumbered by drug traffickers? Or the
drug traffickers were able to act simultaneously, coordinated and flawlessly because
a part of the state was on their side, as has happened for decades?
That day in Culiacán the drug traffickers would not have been able to act quickly and effectively without the
complicity of a part of the institutions responsible for protecting citizens.
As happened on April 30, 2008, when the war broke out in Culiacán del
Mayo and El Chapo against the Beltrán Leyva-Carrillo Fuentes-Zetas.
The real dilemma is not if the State faces bullets with the drug traffickers and puts
people's lives at risk, as López Obrador said, generating a false debate.
What is really substantive is whether the president is willing to use the force of the
State to break the decades of complicity between the Sinaloa Cartel and the
government institutions, which is what makes criminals strong.
To achieve this, you must first arrest corrupt officials and politicians
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who have been and are on the payroll of the Sinaloa Cartel, who have attended for years
to the parties of their bosses as if they were their own family, including some who in
they are currently part of Morena, the president's political party. Must confiscate
companies directly linked to Mayo Zambada and El Chapo, reported by the
United States government for more than a decade, which continue to function
as front companies to traffic drugs or to launder money.
Economic power is what allows the cartel to pay bribes to servers
public, buy weapons, bullets and pay the salaries of the hitmen who for more than
eight hours terrorized the population in Culiacán.
But the Sinaloa Cartel and Mayo Zambada are not invincible, they are not smarter,
They are not stronger, it is just that they have the protection of a part of the State and
they play with the dice loaded in their favor.
***
"El Mayo is going to die turned into a legend and without ever having been in jail",
I heard an American government official say in recent days. It's october
2019. Another exclaimed: "He is the boss of all, always has been."
While El Chapo begins to count each day in the cell, almost a windowless well,
no air, no sun, May now has new partners. Those are always replaceable,
Amado and Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, Arturo Beltrán Leyva, Guzmán Loera ...
The current strongest men at his side are five: Mauricio Gastélum
Hernández, of whom Vicentillo never spoke. Alfonso Limón Sánchez, who eloped
from Culiacán prison in 2017, and you probably don't know that it was your own son.
partner, Vicentillo, who betrayed him with the gringos and gave them a password to
will arrest. Gabriel Valenzuela Valenzuela, who escaped from jail along with Limón.
Hildegardo Gastélum García, originally from Sinaloa, who is Vicentillo's godfather. Y
Javier León Pérez, whose economic power allows him to be a kind of bank for the
members of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Gastélum Hernández was born on September 22, 1975. They say that in the world of
drug trafficking is considered a very powerful man. Sometimes he says it is
originally from Culiacán and others, from La Angostura. In the information given in the Registry
Public of the Property claims to live on Estero Barrón street, number 3216, in a
middle-class subdivision called Pradera Dorada, in Culiacán. As your partner,
he likes to pose as an entrepreneur. In fact, it is too. It has several companies:
Refrigerated Transport TRG (2000), Real Estate Development Financiero Gasbel
(2006), Nikao Proyectos Inmobiliarios (2008), Servicios Johema (2006), Constru
GAZHMA (2007), and Culiacán Technology Park (2009), among others.
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These companies are dedicated to the transport "of all kinds of goods in the interior
of the country and abroad ”, as well as the purchase, sale and lease of vehicles of
transportation, construction of private and public works (housing, offices,
commercial, industrial, agricultural, maritime, river, lake warehouses, drilling
of wells, dams, aqueducts and pipelines), to the commercialization, urbanization,
promotion and housing management, and even a concession for the sale of
Pemex gasoline, diesel and lubricants.
In some companies Gastélum Hernández appears as a direct partner and in others he uses
name-lender and he serves as sole administrator. People appearing as
partners are: Mauricio, Héctor Hugo and José Manuel Gastélum Beltrán, Marcelino
Gastélum Rubio and María Dolores Hernández Juárez.
It cannot be said that he is a man without good humor, especially taking into account
the alternative business to which it is dedicated. In 2010 he created with his brother Julio César Gastélum
Hernández the company Naturalezas del Cielo, dedicated to the "sale, production,
multiplication and commercialization with all types of plants, including
ornament". It closed in 2019.
The Gasbel company began to gain public attention when it was discovered that
was one of the owners of the land in which the government of Mario López Valdez
planned to build the new Culiacán General Hospital, which up to now has already more
50% complete. At that time, Dr. Jaime Otáñez García, who was a partner of the
Mayo in one of his dairy companies, he had a managerial position in the Secretariat of
Health.
At the beginning of 2019, Gasbel began its liquidation process. It also settled in
July 2019 the Nikao company.
Mauricio Gastélum has come to replace other service providers of the Mayo.
Through its businesses, it is in charge of the land transportation of drugs from Central America.
and Mexico. It is stated that, replacing Marisquero, he is now the one who does that
9
I work for many in Sinaloa, but mainly for May.
Meanwhile, Hildegardo Gastélum García was arrested in 2015 in an operation
carried out by the Navy in Mazatlán. However, in an unexpected turn of fortune,
they let go because nobody could locate who he was, nor his importance in the Sinaloa Cartel. Today
he is seated to the right of Mayo and is considered the "king" in Honduras.
Ismael Zambada García's partners come and go over the years, the only one
that remains always is he. The question is whether Vicentillo will really be able to cut
relationship with his father, or he will go to reclaim his throne. The distance between father and son are
just five more years, or the rest of his life.
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N OTES
1
Text of a letter written by Vicente Zambada Niebla to his father, which was shown
by Fernando Gaxiola to the author on May 20, 2015, and she transcribed in her
notebook.
two
Official stenographic version of the session in the Eastern District Court of New York,
01/3/2019.
3 Idem.
4
EFE Agency , “Vicentillo Zambada says goodbye to Chapo: He is not my enemy, but
not a myth either ”, January 7, 2019.
5
David Brooks, “ Vicentillo visited the head of the Zedillo EMP for 'bad treatment of his
family '”, La Jornada , January 5, 2019.
6
Official stenographic version of the opening hearing in the Eastern District Court of
New York, 11/13/2018.
7
Official stenographic version of the hearing in the Northern District Court of
Illinois, 05/30/2019.
8
Idem .
9
Information obtained from United States government sources that have low
investigation to Mauricio Gastélum Hernández.
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Annexes
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In this area of Sinaloa May moves and it is where he has most of his assets.
Sites like Costa Rica, El Álamo, Quilá and Campo El Diez are in his domain.
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Among the writings of Vicente Zambada Niebla to which the author had access are the newspapers that
made during the negotiations to collaborate with the North American government. On this page he narrates
the episode of the first time they wanted to kill him, when he was 16 years old.
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Vicentillo wrote a long document where he describes in detail how bribes are paid to
federal public officials.
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Here the son of Mayo Zambada explains how his father met directly with officials of the
Federal Investigation Agency when it was headed by Genaro García Luna.
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Vicentillo explains how the same method of paying bribes to local officials is used.
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Faced with the imminent war with the Beltrán Leyva in 2008, the Mayo ordered Vicentillo to notify
sisters and brothers who had to leave Culiacán. The vast majority went to Canada, others to the City
from Mexico.
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Vicentillo narrates the crude episode of when the war with the Beltrán Leyva began in Culiacán on
April 30, 2008. With the help of the Federal Police, which was at the service of the Sinaloa Cartel,
they blew up the Beltrán Leyva safe houses. Police and drug traffickers united in a single army.
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The operations carried out by the government of Felipe Calderón in which they captured the main
Drug trafficking leaders made themselves at the instructions of the Sinaloa Cartel. It was not for work of
intelligence as the government said on television.
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El Mayo and Chapo rebelled against Vicentillo that they had been in contact with the DEA for years,
collaborating to arrest their enemies.
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El Chapo arranged for Vicentillo an agreement with the DEA to remove the arrest warrants from his
against in exchange for him also collaborating with the American anti-drug agency.
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American agents gave sensitive information to the Sinaloa Cartel about when there was going to be
operatives against him.
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An appointment was arranged between Vicentillo and the DEA. The last time he saw his father he told him “go and what
God bless you..."
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Vicentillo, who had an arrest warrant in the United States, met with Chapo's lawyer,
Humberto Loya Castro, and American agents at the Maria Isabel Sheraton hotel in the City of
Mexico, next to the American embassy. He was arrested that same night.
281
Page 282
El son del Mayo narrates in the first voice the traumatic change of jail in 2010.
282
Page 283
In a scathing tone Vicentillo speaks of the mistreatment of Mexican policemen and his breath worse than the
of a dog.
283
Page 284
In 2010 Vicentillo was extradited to the United States and imprisoned in the Metropolitan Correctional
Chicago Center.
284
Page 285
Vicentillo reached an agreement with the American government and began to make revelations translated into
English by his lawyers on the structure and operation of the Sinaloa Cartel.
285
Page 286
He revealed the details of the Cabrera Sarabia brothers who were associated with the Sinaloa Cartel ...
286
Page 287
He spoke about Jose Rodrigo Arechiga, Chino Ántrax , transporter and leader of hitmen.
287
Page 288
Vicentillo told the American government that one of the ways to transport drugs to the border of
Mexico and the United States were through trucks that transported chickens from Bachoco.
288
Page 289
289
Page 290
Thanks to Vicentillo's confessions, the Limón brothers, the main

May collaborators.
He also spoke of Chapo's right arm, Dámaso López Nuñez alias el Licenciado .
290
Page 291
He also did it for Capi Beto, one of the main carriers of the Sinaloa Cartel that had
betrayed Mayo and Chapo.
291
Page 292
292
Page 293
File of Ismael el Mayo Zambada from intelligence areas of the government of Mexico that contains
valuable information, photos, and the various aliases you use.
293
Page 294
294
Page 295
295
Page 296
296
Page 297
297
Page 298
298
Page 299
Self-portrait of Vicente Zambada Niebla made while he was imprisoned in the Metropolitan
Correctional Center of Chicago.
299
Page 300
Vicente Zambada Niebla's drawing of his cell while he was imprisoned at the Metropolitan Correctional
Chicago Center.
300
Page 301
Ismael Zambada García, el Mayo , during the interview that Julio Scherer García gave him in April
2010.
On the morning of March 19, 2009, General Luis Arturo Oliver, EMP's Deputy Chief of Operations, announced
the surprise capture of Vicentillo. An afternoon earlier, the Mayo son had met with the DEA to
seek a cooperation agreement.
301
Page 302
Map of the Institute of Defense Analysis (IDA) where you can see in red the countries in which the
that the Sinaloa Cartel has a proven presence (2012).
Identifications of Vicentillo. Left, your voter card, where an address is entered in the
Las Quintas de Culiacán neighborhood. On the right, the credential that identifies you as a finance manager
Santa Monica, one of his father's many legal businesses.
302
Page 303
Serafín Zambada Ortiz and Ismael Zambada Imperial ( Mayito Gordo ), two sons of Mayo.
"I tell them no, they have no need and they don't help each other and get into the business," he has been told.
heard the boss say according to lawyer Fernando Gaxiola.
Manuel Torres Félix, father-in-law of Mayo, with Mayito Gordo.

His daughter Ellameli married Serafín Zambada. After the collaboration of Vicentillo, Torres Félix was
detained in an operation in Puerto Peñasco.
303
Page 304
Serafín Zambada with Ellameli Torres Acosta (right), daughter of Manuel Acosta Félix.
Humberto Loya, lawyer for the Sinaloa Cartel, a key figure for having signed an agreement with the
DEA that consisted of giving information about their rivals in exchange for protection from the
agency.
304
Page 305
Rodolfo Beltrán Burgos, the Doctor . As written by Vicentillo, “he served as one of the
main contacts between the Sinaloa Cartel and members of the Mexican government ”.
305
Page 306
Diagram of the IDA where you can see the links between Jesús Vizcarra Calderón, mayor of Culiacán
from 2007 to 2010
(Unclassified Counter Threat Finance Research: Modeling Financial Components of the Sinaloa
Transnational Criminal Organization, IDA)
306
Page 307
César Gastélum Serrano, el Marisquero , was a very important cocaine trafficker based in
Honduras, which sometimes supplied the Sinaloa Cartel, but was more than an ally a competitor.
(Unclassified Counter Threat Finance Research: Modeling Financial Components of the Sinaloa
Transnational Criminal Organization, IDA)
307
Page 308
THE TRAITOR is one of the most ambitious journalistic works in the

trajectory of Anabel Hernández. Its history dates back to January
2011, when she was contacted by one of Vicente Zambada's lawyers
Niebla, better known as Vicentillo , who was facing trial in
a Chicago court. The intention was to share with the journalist
documents and facts that expanded and clarified several of the
episodes that he had just released in Los Señor del Narco .
Among the documents to which he had access are the
haunting self-portrait as a clown featured on the cover and in the diaries made
by Vicentillo during the negotiations to collaborate with the North American government,
which until now were secret. In them the capo reconstructed his history and history
from one of the largest drug trafficking organizations on the planet.
Throughout these pages, the author delves into the Sinaloa Cartel through the
account of Vicentillo, who shows in a stark way how the system works
internal that gives life to the criminal organization, the violence, the thousand forms of trafficking
drugs and the complicity between politicians, businessmen and forces of order. But above all
reveals the profile of who for the last half century has been the king of drug trafficking.
Who has never stepped in jail and who from his throne has seen friends, enemies,
partners, competitors, family members, government employees and even their own children, without
Let that make a dent in his power, Vicentillo's father: Ismael el Mayo Zambada.
308
Page 309
ANABEL HERNÁNDEZ is an outstanding journalist with a 26-year career,

during which he has dedicated himself to investigating drug trafficking cartels in Mexico, the
corruption, human rights violations, enforced disappearance and abuse
of power. She is the author of six books, including Los Señor del Narco (Grijalbo, 2010),
translated into Italian and English, and The True Night of Iguala (Grijalbo, 2016).
In 2001 he received the National Journalism Award. In 2003 it was recognized by
UNICEF, the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, the EFE Agency and the
Santillana Foundation for its research on trafficked and exploited Mexican girls
sexually in agricultural fields in San Diego, California. In 2012 she was awarded
with the Golden Pen of Freedom award from the World Association of Newspapers and
News Editors (WAN-IFRA). In December 2017 she was decorated by the
government of France with the medal of the Legion of Honor. In December 2018 he received
the International Journalism Award from the newspaper El Mundo , in Spain. In february
2019 German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle presented him with the Freedom Award
of Expression 2019.
309
Page 310
The traitor
The secret diary of the son of Mayo
First digital edition: December, 2019
DR © 2019, Anabel Hernández
DR © 2019, world publishing rights in Spanish language:

Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, SA de CV
Blvd. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra núm. 301, 1st floor,
Granada neighborhood, Miguel Hidalgo delegation, CP 11520,
Mexico City
www.megustaleer.mx
DR © Self-portrait of Vicente Zambada Niebla taken at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago
Illinois, for the cover image
DR © Proceso foto, by the photographs of Ismael El Mayo Zambada and Vicente Zambada
Penguin Random House Editorial Group supports copyright protection .

The copyright encourages creativity, diversity advocates in the field of ideas and knowledge,
it promotes free expression and fosters a living culture. Thank you for purchasing an authorized edition
of this book and for respecting the laws of Copyright and copyright . By doing so you are supporting the authors
and allowing PRHGE to continue publishing books for all readers.
It is forbidden under the sanctions established by the laws to scan, reproduce totally or partially this
work by any means or procedure as well as the distribution of copies
through rent or public loan without prior authorization.
If you need to photocopy or scan any fragment of this work, go to CemPro
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EBook conversion:
Mutāre, Editorial and Communication Processes
310
Page 311
Index
The traitor
0. The story behind the story

1. I am the son of Mayo Zambada
2. Once upon a time in America ...
3. Son of a tiger ...
4. The accountant
5. Contact in Los Pinos
6. My compadre Chapo
7. Till death do us part
8. By land ...
9.… on Pemex ships…
10.… and even in trucks from Bachoco
11. More than half of the world is Sinaloa territory
12. "We work for the government"
13. The empire
14. The government of Mexico pays millions to company del Mayo
15. The war according to Vicentillo
16. President Calderón asked my father for a favor
17. Pact with the DEA
18. Farewell
19. Dog breath
20. The game
21. The traitor?
Annexes
About this book

About the author
Credits
311
Page 312
Index
The traitor 3
0. The story behind the story 5
1. I am the son of Mayo Zambada fifteen
2.
3. Once
Son ofupon a time
a tiger ... in America ... 2.
3. 3
4
4. The accountant 43
5. Contact in Los Pinos 52
6. My compadre Chapo 65
7. Till death do us part 77
8. By land ... 88
9.… on Pemex ships… 101
10.… and even in trucks from Bachoco 112
11. More than half of the world is Sinaloa territory 126
12. "We work for the government" 142
13. The empire 157
14. The government of Mexico pays millions to company del Mayo 165
15. The war according to Vicentillo 175
16. President Calderón asked my father for a favor 191
17. Pact with the DEA 205
18. Farewell 217
19. Dog breath 227
20. The game 240
21. The traitor? 252
Annexes 268
About this book 308
About the author 309
Credits 310
312

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17/07/2021 The Traitor: The Secret Diary of the Son of May

Fernando Gaxiola, representative of a drug trafficker, wanted to contact me and meet

drug cartels. Mainly to the Sinaloa Cartel.

his father, the Mayo, from whom he inherited the traits.

However, this summary contained in this statement represents only a small

“Fernando's work as a lawyer was key in the defense group [of

I am the son of Mayo Zambada *

My dad is Ismael Zambada García. El Mayo is his nickname more

Vicente Zambada Niebla is known to the United States government as

Then, a few months later, I, my mother, and my sisters

Once upon a Time in America…

because of the boss, his family went quickly to bonanza.

The real boss of El Chapo is Ismael Zambada. The true instrumenter of

Since 1984 it began to buy land in the syndicates of El Salado, El Dorado,

Two months after what happened in Christine I attended with my compadre

After this cargo was successfully received in Cancun I was

After all, none of these incidents significantly disrupted business.

Contact in Los Pinos

In 1998 I went to Mexico City and met with a general. Me

Miguel de la Madrid (1982-1988).

Around 1999 my involvement in trafficking activities

Serafin to the doctor. He said goodbye to his parents and uncles.

Later, at 9:30 p.m., finding myself in level A of module 3,

medicines until I left the place, they must have passed

I learned through my father that his contacts in Mexico City

My compadre Chapo was the baptism godfather of my compadre Barbarino

Malecón of the city of Culiacán.

At that meeting in Gómez Palacio, the creation of the so-called

Until death do us part

countries frequently use the Sinaloa Cartel as a bridge to buy cocaine in

Gulf Cartel] and Vicente Carrillo Fuentes.

In addition to having wholesale drug buyers, customers who trust the 50

Through this confession I speak of a person named Juan Guzmán

merchandise to Los Angeles and there he sold it to Canadians who took it to

light sentence of 14 years thanks to his collaboration with the prosecution.

I have met Gonzalo Inzunza Inzunza, whom I also know as

to transport gasoline with secret compartments inside it

Cenobio Flores Pacheco, whom I generally call simply

other instructions. For example, I remember a six-ton shipment

In May 2013, after Vicentillo shared Pacheco's identity with the

Another of Gonzalo's most important collaborators in the operation of

At a certain point, Gonzalo and Carcovich informed me that the

Gonzalo had another lieutenant whom I knew as Mongol and Cabezón ,

for Mongol in Culiacán.

Around 2008 my father and Chapo bought a large

Sonoyta, Russo also had a team of 20 to 30 gunmen under their

... on Pemex ships ...

costs are the same $ 9,000 as in Los Angeles, so the profit is

They were larger and could carry up to 10 tons of cocaine at a time.

in the murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena, which occurred in 1985.

Around 2006 I met a person who is called Cap

So I made the date with my dad. My dad told me to take those

… And even in trucks from Bachoco

I met Germán Olivares [Germán Magaña Pasos] approximately in

everyone else. I don't know the other boys, I introduced him to

Germán Olivares' main person in the United States was Ulysses.

In 1999 and early 2000 my father partnered with a person named

some functions for the Sinaloa Cartel. One of the workers of

Around 2006 my father introduced me to the Cabrera brothers

In the late 2000s one of the main cocaine customers

José Rodrigo Aréchiga Gamboa, whom I also know as Chino

explain this method of transporting marijuana. As i mentioned

More than half of the world is Sinaloa territory