Leaked Photos of Sinaloa Cartel Boss, Heirs Reveal Current Appearances

Mexican military leaks and photographs surfaced on social media which provide a glimpse into one of that country’s most infamous narco-families.

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and his heirs currently run a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel which stand opposed to another faction led by the sons of jailed Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. The infamous kingpin’s heirs operate under the names Chapitos, Chapiza, or Los Menores. The U.S. government recently accused the Sinaloa Cartel and the Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) for being behind the current fentanyl epidemic. While Los Chapitos have sought social media fame, El Mayo and his sons operate from the shadows.

There are very few photographs of the man known as El Mayo. One of the only known photographs surfaced in 2010 when the drug lord posed with Julio Scherer, the head of Proceso magazine, after granting him an interview. Since then, little else is known about the elusive drug lord who has managed to avoid capture since the 1980s.

Mexico’s Army was able to obtain a more recent black-and-white photograph of El Mayo that showed him without a mustache wearing glasses. That photograph was part of the files recently leaked by the hacktivist group Guacamaya. The document was listed as “classified.” The group managed to steal terabytes of data from Mexico’s military for publication.

Additional photographs, some from social media and military leaks, show members of the Zambada family at social events. The images provide a rare glimpse into their lifestyle.

Two undated images show El Mayo’s eldest son, Vicente “El Vicentillo” Zambada Niebla. After his arrest in Mexico in 2009, authorities extradited him to the United States in 2010 where he pleaded guilty to charges in 2013 and new ones in 2018. Despite getting a 15-year prison sentence, he became a government witness in exchange for a lighter sentence. His whereabouts are unknown since he is no longer listed as being in the custody of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. He could be in a witness protection program.

One of the photographs shows El Vicentillo singing at a party.

A second photograph shows him at a baptism.

Another son of “El Mayo” appearing in photographs is Serafìn “El Sera” Zambada Ortiz. For a time, he was very active on social media and shared photographs of the narco-life and the Sinaloa Cartel. Authorities arrested the 32-year-old native of San Diego, California, in 2013 in on federal drug charges. After pleading guilty, Zambada Ortiz spent five years in prison, earning his freedom in 2018.

Some of the photographs that recently surfaced show Zambada Ortiz at parties and one undated photograph shows him in a commercial airplane.

A third member of the Zambada family is Ismael “Mayito Gordo” Zambada Imperial. Mexican authorities arrested Mayito Gordo in 2014. U.S. authorities extradited him in 2019 and he pleaded guilty to drug charges in 2021. Due to his cooperation with authorities, he was released from federal custody on July 21, 2022, a search of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons database revealed.

In some of the recently surfaced photographs, El Mayito Gordo appears next to one of his best friends, the late Rodrigo “El Chino Antrax” Aréchiga Gamboa. When he was alive, El Chino Antrax was the top enforcer for the Sinaloa Cartel and leader of the Antrax — gunmen loyal to El Mayo Zambada.

Authorities arrested El Chino Antrax in the Netherlands in 2013 before extradition to the U.S. He pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in 2015 and reportedly began to cooperate with authorities. By 2020, El Chino Antrax escaped from supervised release and fled to Mexico where he tried to return to the Sinaloa Cartel. He died at the hands of the Chapitos.

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities.  The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and their original Spanish. This article was written by “Dharma Fernández” from Baja California.