The new Netflix docuseries, World`s Most Wanted, has revealed details about the mythical Mexican drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most powerful in the world and with an international presence.
The real boss of the Sinaloa Cartel has legions of hitmen who take care of him, follow strict protocols and can never say his name.
“The big man”, “The man who commands” or simply “Lord”, it’s how your subordinates have to tell you.
“Everyone tells El Mayo the Lord, they do not say his name, it is dangerous, that is evident, it is something that incriminates you”, andexplains the journalist specialized in drug trafficking Jesús Esquivel.
“The great lord, the lord who commands, He has organized, he has given instructions on how we are formed, how we take care of ourselves, the name of the person should never be said. There are protocols everywhere and we have to respect them, ”says a completely cloaked hitman chief to the journalist who interviewed him for the series.
The Mexican drug trafficker surrounded himself with a small personal army, with circles, many circles before reaching the boss, which is why he delegates so much authority to the hitmen, says Esquivel.
Another man, also with his face covered, identifies himself as Eladio. He is a gunman from the Mayo and has no qualms about saying it, he even says he is proud.
“Soy The Eagle One, fulfilling what we are ordered to do. I feel very happy to belong to the Sinaloa Cartel ”, says before the cameras one of his hitmen.
The chief of hitmen explains how it is that the Mayo has been able to escape justice for decades.
“We have to make an information system, we here have 150, 160 elements, a vehicle is passed And there is one who is coordinated to check and say at the point one this vehicle passed him, we have people at the entrance, other people halfway, others on the hill.
Also at the airport They have people who give them the logs, departures and arrivals of the flights. “Everywhere there is information”, says another of the cartel men.
To the express question made by the journalist to the chief of May’s hitmen, what is the secret so that he has not yet been caught; the man from Zambada soon responds:
“Being good with the community, that’s the main thing.”
For Jack Riley, a retired DEA agent, El Mayo integrated the inhabitants of the towns where the Sinaloa Cartel operates into its security and business plan.
“According to the Robin Hood theory, the Mayo is a hero. Build soccer fields and all that stuff, churches … that is also included in their security plan and their business plan, because it makes the locals vigilant in terms of seeing things and reporting them too ”explains the DEA agent.
The series has also revealed how the authorities have persecuted the leader of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel.
Among the details that you have pointed out, there is one in particular that attracts attention. There is not a single recording where the voice of the head of the fearsome cartel is heard.
“El Mayo knows that if he spends a lot of time on the phone it could be the end of him”Reveals the journalist specialized in drug trafficking Jesus Esquivel.
Aware of the stalking against him, Mayo Zambada avoids using the telephone and it is rare for him to speak at any of his group’s meetings. The people in your charge cannot mention your name.
“There is nothing against Mayo. There is no recording of his voice ”, sentenced the Mexican journalist.
Esquivel tells in the series that in the highest level meetings of the Sinaloa Cartel, he did not say a single word, even to give orders to his subordinates, one of his collaborators would call out of the place where the meeting was taking place, and once outside, he would dictate what had to be done.
“In the meetings with the highest cartel bosses that Mayo says: ‘nothing’. When I wanted to give an order, I called someone, left, and then gave the order ”, Esquivel explains.
According to William Purpura, identified in the series as one of Chapo’s lawyers, El Mayo is an extremely intelligent man that I used Guzmán Loera as an intermediary for decades.
The tapes in which you listen to Guzmán Loera talk about the cost and the quantities of drugs with which he trafficked, they were his conviction; instead, Zambada has been extremely careful about that.
“That speaks to how powerful El Mayo is compared to El Chapo. Mayo must be an extremely intelligent man, now he must be 71 or 72 years old. “says Chapo’s lawyer.
The retired officer of the DEA, Jack Riley, who for many years was after Mayo and El Chapo, says that the head of the Sinaloa Cartel is a visionary business and very strategic in his way of thinking.
“He is an enemy that we have never dealt with, he understood from a young age the importance of going unnoticed ”.
Riley says that the DEA, CIA, FBI and even the US Secret Service were after the ties that the Sinaloa Cartel has with gangs in Chicago, but in particular they wanted proof that the Mayo was running the operations. They were out of luck.
“All agencies, DEA, CIA, FBI, the Police, the ATF, even the Secret Service wanted to hear the Mayo speaking to verify that it came from him”Says the retired agent.
“The intermediary was El Chapo, because he was nice”, assured another of the agents who was years after his mark.
Guzmán Loera for decades was the one who gave voice to the orders of the Mayo. All the calls in which it was heard how he negotiated, reported or directed cartel operations: they were his conviction.
The docuseries examines how five of the world’s most powerful criminals have remained at large, and why the US authorities want to put them behind bars forever.