Crime, Safety, and the Police

[Captain Solo]

Man, HSI and DEA staged an event looking far more impressive than any BS block-buster movie produced by Hollywood. Even Hollywood cannot do better.

Various accounts reported a plane landed in Santa Theresa airport near El Paso. 2 individuals got out of the plane, surrendered quietly to US authorities without struggle. The 2 detainees were allegedly El Mayo Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez.

Videos showed a King Air 200 turbo prop, with no registration markings, parked near the airport's fence, air stair down, looked typical of narcos' air assets. After a while a HSI and 3 local Sheriffs came out, wrapped a big chain around engine number 1 to prevent starting it.

Looks like Joaquin Guzman set El Mayo up for HSI arrest, may be in exchange for favors with El Chapo. Very likely there will be long and violent struggles for power and control within the Sinaloa cartel and against encroachments by CJNG. CJNG will make its moves to take over more routes and territories. Tijuana is a prime target. Expect many more shootings, kidnaps, tortures, murders in the coming months.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/25/us/si...ort/index.html

US operation to capture Sinaloa cartel leaders had the help of one of the captured men: a son of 'El Chapo,' official says.

By Emma Tucker, Polo Sandoval and Evan Perez, CNN.

Updated 1:12 PM EDT, Fri July 26,2024.

An alleged Mexican drug kingpin suspected of flooding the United States with deadly fentanyl and who evaded authorities for decades is in US custody after he was apparently lured across the border by federal agents with another alleged leader of his cartel who was helping with his capture, according to a US law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, 76, the alleged co-founder and leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, was arrested in El Paso, Texas, Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. Zambada entered a not-guilty plea to all charges at his first federal court appearance Friday morning in El Paso and is being held without bond on seven federal criminal counts, including continuing criminal enterprise and money laundering.

He also agreed to waive his right to personally appear and to ask for bond at a hearing set for July 31.

Another alleged cartel leader, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, 38, was also arrested, according to Garland. Guzman is a son of the cartel's infamous co-founder and former boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, 69, who is serving a life sentence in a US prison after he was convicted five years ago on multiple charges.

Zambada boarded a plane with Guzman Lopez, believing they were inspecting property in Mexico near the US border, the law enforcement official said.

But Zambada didn't know US investigators had exploited a rift in the Sinaloa cartel and Guzman Lopez was helping with Zambada's capture, the official said.

The plane instead landed near El Paso and FBI agents arrested both men, in one of the biggest victories for US law enforcement against the cartels.

"Two individuals got off the plane. And were calmly taken into custody," by federal agents who were waiting, a worker at the Santa Teresa airport near El Paso told Reuters. "It seemed like a pretty calm, arranged thing," the man, who declined to share his name out of concern for his safety, said.

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a historic leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, left, and Joaquíand Guzmáand López, a son of another infamous cartel leader, after they were arrested by US authorities in Texas, the US Justice Department said Thursday.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday said the US government "must give a full report" on the operation that led to the arrests.

"There has to be transparency," he said during his daily news conference.

Lopez Obrador was asked if he would have liked if President Joe Biden or other US authorities had reached out to his government prior to the operation, to which he replied, "We have to wait and see if the arrests took place there or here. ".

AMLO, as the president is known, said he is unaware if one or more of the cartel leaders turned themselves in but said the arrests show "important progress in the battle against drug trafficking. ".

He added, however, the arrests are not "everything," adding the US must do more "in solving the drug consumption problem by addressing the causes. ".

Mexican officials were informed of the arrests during a phone call from the US Embassy in Mexico Thursday afternoon, Mexico's secretary of security, Rosa Icela Rodriguez, said Friday.

"The Mexican government did not participate in this detention or surrender," Rodriguez said during AMLO's daily news conference, adding Mexico is waiting for more information from the US government.

Based on information from Mexico's National Immigration Institute, Rodriguez said, it is believed the men traveled in a Cessna 205 from Hermosillo, Mexico, to the Santa Teresa airport in Texas.

Zambada has four active arrest warrants in Mexico for organized crime and other unlawful acts, Rodriquez said.

In the US, both Zambada and Guzman Lopez face several charges for allegedly leading the cartel's criminal operations, including its "deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks," Garland said.

"Fentanyl is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, and the Justice Department will not rest until every single cartel leader, member, and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable," Garland said.

Among various criminal charges Zambada faces in the US, he was indicted by a northern Illinois grand jury in 2009, according to the US State Department.

US authorities had sought Zambada's capture for years and in 2021 raised the reward for information leading to his arrest to $15 million.

"Ismael Mario Zambada Garcia is the long-time leader of the Zambada Garcia faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. Zambada Garcia is unique in that he has spent his entire adult life as a major international drug trafficker, yet he has never spent a day in jail," according to the US State Department.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said Zambada and Guzman Lopez had "eluded law enforcement for decades" and "will now face justice in the United States. ".

The pair allegedly oversaw the trafficking of "tens of thousands of pounds of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into the US along with related violence," Wray added.

Drug Enforcement Administration chief Anne Milgram said the pair's arrests strike "at the heart of the cartel that is responsible for the majority of drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, killing Americans from coast to coast. ".

Powerful cartel.

The Sinaloa Cartel, named after the Mexican state where the gang was formed in the late 1980's, is one of the most powerful criminal groups in the world, raking in billions of dollars annually by trafficking drugs into the US and around the globe.

Notorious cartel boss Guzman, better known as "El Chapo," was arrested in Guatemala in 1993 on homicide and drug charges and extradited to Mexico. But he escaped Mexican prison in 2001, reportedly by bribing prison guards to smuggle him out in a laundry truck. He was arrested again in 2014, but escaped again, this time through a tunnel.

Guzman was arrested for a third time in 2016 and then extradited to the United States.

In a major trial, he was convicted by a federal jury in Brooklyn in 2018 and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years, according to the Justice Department.

Guzman was found guilty on 10 federal criminal counts, which included engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to launder narcotics proceeds, international distribution of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, and use of firearms.

During the trial, Guzman's lawyers argued Zambada was the real kingpin of the cartel who bribed the Mexican government to frame Guzman and remain free to run the criminal organization.

In the latest in a string of US indictments against him, Zambada was charged in February with conspiring to manufacture and distribute fentanyl, an extremely potent synthetic opioid that has killed tens of thousands of Americans in an epidemic of overdoses.

Fentanyl "was largely unheard of when Zambada founded the Sinaloa Cartel more than three decades ago and today is responsible for immeasurable harm," said Breon Peace, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in the indictment.

Since 1989, Zambada has imported and distributed "massive amounts of narcotics," generating billions of dollars in profits, according to the indictment.

Federal prosecutors said he employed people to obtain "transportation routes and warehouses" to import and store narcotics, along with hit men, or sicarios, to carry out kidnappings and murders in Mexico "to retaliate against rivals who threatened the cartel. ".

Zambada's son, Vicente Zambada Niebla, admitted during testimony at Guzman's 2018 trial to passing along orders for murders and kidnappings and was sentenced to 15 years in 2019 by a federal judge in Chicago.

He began cooperating with the US government in 2011, prosecutors said in a May 2019 filing. They said he aided authorities in helping target members of the Sinaloa Cartel and a rival gang, which lead to the "charging of dozens of high-level targets and hundreds of their associates in indictments throughout the country," CNN previously reported.

The younger Zambada had known "El Chapo" since he was 15 years old, he testified at the kingpin's trial in 2018. The younger Zambada frequently referred to "El Chapo" as "mi compadre," or "my buddy," during his testimony and said the drug lord was godfather to his youngest son.

A history of violence.

"El Mayo" Zambada was also indicted by a US federal grand jury in April 2012, in Texas, along with other suspected top Sinaloa leaders and 22 people allegedly connected with the cartel, including Guzman. They were charged with murder and conspiracy connected with drug trafficking, money laundering and organized crime.

At that point, Guzman and Zambada had already been indicted on drug trafficking and organized crime charges in several US federal courts.

The 2012 indictment in western Texas detailed two acts of violence federal prosecutors said were committed by members of the cartel; one took place during a 2010 wedding ceremony in Ciudad Juarez, when an American citizen and two members of his family were kidnapped because of their ties with the rival Juarez cartel.

The target was the groom and a resident of Columbus, New Mexico, whose body was found to be beaten, strangled and whose hands had been "severed above the wrists and placed on his chest," according to the indictment.

Police found the bodies of the groom, his brother and his uncle three days after the wedding in the bed of a pickup truck, the indictment stated.

Another incident detailed in the indictment related to the kidnapping, killing and mutilation of a Texas resident in 2009 "to answer for the loss of a 670-pound load of marijuana seized by the Border Patrol," prosecutors said.

CNN's requests for comment were not immediately returned Friday by Zambada's attorney, Frank Perez.

[Sol12]

Well I don't have any experience with it (have never personally driven in Mexico). But the Department of State website here: https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...icoborder.html.

Says the following: "Enter Mexico with valid proof of automobile registration, even if remaining in the border zone. Entering Mexico with an expired USA Vehicle registration may lead to the confiscation of the auto by Mexican authorities".

I'm also seeing several news articles (albeit mostly several years old) of USA Residents sharing experiences of having their car impounded in Mexico because they drove across the border with expired registration.

Again, just going off of what I'm reading, have no personal experience. But seems foolish to take that kind of chance and surprised someone as experienced as Solo would overlook the risk here.

I appreciate you finding that link. Like I said I wouldn't recommend it but just have personally never heard anyone that had that happen. Luckily when I drove in Tijuana with expired tags I was never pulled over so looking back I was overly confident thinking nothing would happen.

[Sol12]

The Mexican police can certainly impound your car if it has expired registration. It may not happen often, but it certainly does happen. I've been pulled over by the Tijuana's Finest Monkeys a few times and they always asked to see the registration. Driving around Mexico with an expired registration is just plain stupid. But it would be kind of funny, in a poetic justice sort of way, to see somebody bribe their way into Mexico, only to have their car confiscated and lost forever in the bowels of Tijuana's impound lots.

Maybe I've just been lucky in all my years. Cops have always been cool with me and have only ever asked for my ID.

[Sol12]

Easy fix! Do not drive your car in Mexico.

Yes for those that just go for a quick few hours you don't need a car. Yet some of us enjoy having the freedom to go away with a girl if you find a winner that wants to hang out. Also those that have Sentri it will save you from the high priced border parking. I've never had a bad experience with the police when driving and actually would say I've dealt with cops being more rude to me in the US compared to Mexico.

So I just like to give a different perspective on how it is to drive in Mexico if someone wants to do so.

[BrotherMouzone]

Well I've read a few things that supposedly the can but I've never had anyone I know have this happen. I think they have the authority if it's a Mexican citizen living in the city with a non nationalized car. You can look up "chocolate cars" in Mexico and read more about what the government is trying to enforce and why the police would impound a car with expired tags. Yet I definitely wouldn't take the risk to drive a car into Mexico with expired registration since like you said it's not worth the risk.

Well I don't have any experience with it (have never personally driven in Mexico). But the Department of State website here: https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...icoborder.html.

Says the following: "Enter Mexico with valid proof of automobile registration, even if remaining in the border zone. Entering Mexico with an expired USA Vehicle registration may lead to the confiscation of the auto by Mexican authorities".

I'm also seeing several news articles (albeit mostly several years old) of USA Residents sharing experiences of having their car impounded in Mexico because they drove across the border with expired registration.

Again, just going off of what I'm reading, have no personal experience. But seems foolish to take that kind of chance and surprised someone as experienced as Solo would overlook the risk here.

[Phordphan]

First of all the officer at the border wasn't writing you a ticket or impounding your car from the story you told he was just not letting the car into Mexico. Which he does have the authority to do the same way you technically can't enter the country with an expired passport.

And as stated to my response to BM the police in Tijuana can definitely give you a bad time and may or may not be able to impound your car if your registration has expired. My guess is that they would threaten it just looking for a bribe but better not to even get put in that situation.

The Mexican police can certainly impound your car if it has expired registration. It may not happen often, but it certainly does happen. I've been pulled over by the Tijuana's Finest Monkeys a few times and they always asked to see the registration. Driving around Mexico with an expired registration is just plain stupid. But it would be kind of funny, in a poetic justice sort of way, to see somebody bribe their way into Mexico, only to have their car confiscated and lost forever in the bowels of Tijuana's impound lots.

[TomJackin]

First of all the officer at the border wasn't writing you a ticket or impounding your car from the story you told he was just not letting the car into Mexico. Which he does have the authority to do the same way you technically can't enter the country with an expired passport.

And as stated to my response to BM the police in Tijuana can definitely give you a bad time and may or may not be able to impound your car if your registration has expired. My guess is that they would threaten it just looking for a bribe but better not to even get put in that situation.

Easy fix! Do not drive your car in Mexico.

[Sol12]

He had no jurisdiction over car registration. He could not write tickets or impound cars.

The car had a smog problem which 4 mechanics in CA could not diagnose or fix. So I brought it to Tijuana to replace a sensor, but Refacc chain did not want to do it.

Now it had to go in dealer.

First of all the officer at the border wasn't writing you a ticket or impounding your car from the story you told he was just not letting the car into Mexico. Which he does have the authority to do the same way you technically can't enter the country with an expired passport.

And as stated to my response to BM the police in Tijuana can definitely give you a bad time and may or may not be able to impound your car if your registration has expired. My guess is that they would threaten it just looking for a bribe but better not to even get put in that situation.

[Sol12]

But in Mexico they can legally impound / confiscate your car if you're driving around with expired registration correct?.

Well I've read a few things that supposedly the can but I've never had anyone I know have this happen. I think they have the authority if it's a Mexican citizen living in the city with a non nationalized car. You can look up "chocolate cars" in Mexico and read more about what the government is trying to enforce and why the police would impound a car with expired tags. Yet I definitely wouldn't take the risk to drive a car into Mexico with expired registration since like you said it's not worth the risk.

[Sol12]

El Chaparral border crossing is now manned by dozens armed Guardia Nacional with only a few Customs agents. They were stopping and checking a lot more cars than before, like 3 out of 10.

We were stopped by a G and ape who found the car's registration had expired. The fucker wanted us to turn around back to the US. Obi Wan gave him $40 and he let us through. We should have played tough with him, asked to talk to his supervisors ect to scare him Would take a little time but should get us off.

Cross the El Chaparral check point far away from the island where the G and apes hang out to reduce being pulled in for check.

The Guardia Nacional has been in charge of the border for awhile. It was another poor decision made by AMLO.

Now it's interesting that you seem to know more about the laws of Mexico than those in Mexico. The officer did have the right not to allow you into Mexico with expired registration because they have a huge problem in Mexico especially border towns with residents using US plates so they don't have to pay the fees to import the vehicle into Mexico or the fees to register the cars. So many people bring old US cars to sell for more money in Tijuana especially ones that won't pass smog in the US.

That's why almost everyone in Tijuana that has CA plates and tags will cut the tags so they are ruined if you try to remove them since it was so common to have people steal the tags to put on the expired cars. You were lucky he took the bribe and I'd imagine if you called his boss over it would of either meant that you wouldn't be allowed in or would have to pay more.

Also isn't funny that you often complain about politicians and police taking bribes from those in the Cartel and that they shouldn't because they are hurting the Mexican citizens. Yet when you want to bribe an officer to let you cut in line you don't seem to care about the respectful people that are waiting in line that you are cutting in front of. Or in this case you don't mind paying off an official to let your car in which for all the guy knows you where going to sell since it seemed to have many of the warning signs of that.

[Captain Solo]

He had no jurisdiction over car registration. He could not write tickets or impound cars.

The car had a smog problem which 4 mechanics in CA could not diagnose or fix. So I brought it to Tijuana to replace a sensor, but Refacc chain did not want to do it.

Now it had to go in dealer.

[Phordphan]

But in Mexico they can legally impound / confiscate your car if you're driving around with expired registration correct? Why would you even want to risk this? I understand that policia in Mexico are crooked but stuff like this is why I tend to have little sympathy for people who run into problems with Mexican policia. Not always, but more often than not, it's something stupid they've done to put themselves in the position of getting jacked by policia in the first place.

Well said. So very many problems that gringos experience are brought upon themselves.

[BrotherMouzone]

El Chaparral border crossing is now manned by dozens armed Guardia Nacional with only a few Customs agents. They were stopping and checking a lot more cars than before, like 3 out of 10.

We were stopped by a G and ape who found the car's registration had expired. The fucker wanted us to turn around back to the US. Obi Wan gave him $40 and he let us through. We should have played tough with him, asked to talk to his supervisors ect to scare him Would take a little time but should get us off.

Cross the El Chaparral check point far away from the island where the G and apes hang out to reduce being pulled in for check.

But in Mexico they can legally impound / confiscate your car if you're driving around with expired registration correct? Why would you even want to risk this? I understand that policia in Mexico are crooked but stuff like this is why I tend to have little sympathy for people who run into problems with Mexican policia. Not always, but more often than not, it's something stupid they've done to put themselves in the position of getting jacked by policia in the first place.

[Captain Solo]

El Chaparral border crossing is now manned by dozens armed Guardia Nacional with only a few Customs agents. They were stopping and checking a lot more cars than before, like 3 out of 10.

We were stopped by a G and ape who found the car's registration had expired. The fucker wanted us to turn around back to the US. Obi Wan gave him $40 and he let us through. We should have played tough with him, asked to talk to his supervisors ect to scare him Would take a little time but should get us off.

Cross the El Chaparral check point far away from the island where the G and apes hang out to reduce being pulled in for check.

[Captain Solo]

Wed 11 AM after free VIP breakfast in Azuls, we decided to drive home. I drove down to Calle 6 to buy 2 dozen live chocolate clams, $8. 5 a dozen. Went back to Revo in La Zona Norte to Caliente Casino and get on Sentri lanes on Padre Kino.

The Sentri line on Padre Kino was always light at night but unusually long mid day Wed. Normally weekdays it's only heavy between 6 to 8 AM people crossing to San Diego to work. This day Policia Transitos were positioned at every intersection and rotaries to prevent cars cutting in. I went down half a block on Padre Kino, did an you turn and blended in the line but policia ahead spotted us and made us go back. He also watched us go back and talked to his friends down the street.

We went down to the 2nd rotary but policia made us turn around again. They would not let cars in line unless they come up from way South near Ave Independencia. After a couple go arounds Obi Wan suggested a $10 propina to a moto cop at the 3rd rotary. He let us into Sentri lane, took us 40 minutes total to get to the border.

6 Sentri lanes were open, 6 Ready and 4 General Traffic. The CBP woman was new and slow, passing about 1/3 cars compared to other agents. She was not sure live seafood was allowed entry so she sent me to Secondary Inspection. 2 new women checked the car quickly and let me through in 5 minutes.

The pedestrian line was long, stretched back past the overpass bridge to the taxi stand, which could take hours to cross. Obi Wan paid $10 to sit in a hot van with no air con waiting behind a big tour bus. Only 2 agents were working the booths. It took Obi Wan 45 min in the car with me to get to the gate then about 30 minutes in the van.

Crossing back in a Sentri car took me about total 45 minutes mid day Wednesday. Look like Sentri lanes are only light and unguarded after 10 PM, normally 5 to 10 minutes late at night. Day time Policia Transitos blocked off all short cuts near Caliente Casino. Better to join the line from El Centro, take Ave Independencia to cross the Tijuana river into Sentri lane. Will never drive back in day time again.