DRUG KINGPIN CAUGHT

One Month After Drug Lord El Chapo Guzman's Arrest, Narcotics Business Continues With No Change

The extraordinary arrest of one of the world’s most wanted criminals, Mexican drug kingpin Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán Loera, was universally hailed as the most important blow against organized crime since Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was killed more then two decades ago. Yet, a month after his capture, violence in Mexico continues unabated and there is no indication that the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S. has diminished.
U.S. law enforcement officials admit that El Chapo’s detention has a great deal of symbolism. “He needed to go down. Will it change things here? I don’t know, but it was important to catch him because it sends a strong message against impunity,” a law enforcement official told me.
Under Guzmán’s leadership, the Sinaloa Cartel, one the world’s best organized multinational criminal corporations with an estimated annual revenue of over $3 billion, was responsible for 25% of all illegal drugs that enter the U.S. via Mexico. This is not expected to change now that he is behind bars. Most likely, there is already a new CEO,

Roberto Saviano, an Italian writer and journalist (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

very much like with any other transnational corporation that transcends one man. This guarantees that the flow of drugs continues uninterrupted to  the U.S, the largest market of illegal drugs, and that the cartel’s profits do not dry up.
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, El Chapo’s right-hand man in charge of logistics, is widely believed to be the new king. “Zambada will likely resume as the leader to replace Chapo and the quasi-autonomous nature of their cartel will keep some of the supply veins operating”, David Gaddis, former chief of enforcement operations at the DEA, told me following El Chapo’s arrest. Like El Chapo, Zambada was born in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa where he has had a successful 50 year criminal career. But, contrary to El Chapo, Zambada has never been caught, despite a $5 million reward U.S. authorities have put on his head. He is believed to be hiding in the mountains. Zambada is the only Sinaloa drug lord who has given an on-the-record interview. In 2010, he told senior Mexican publisher Julio Scherer that he “panics about the idea of being locked up.”
Experts say that most likely El Chapo and Zambada are still active partners, since jail will not stop Guzmán. Mexican journalist Anabel Hernández, author of Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords and Their Godfathers, told Spain’s news agency EFE that, “Through his attorneys, which he has the right to see once or twice a day, he can send money, order operations, support his family and send drugs. El Chapo’s power is far from over.” The last time El Chapo was in jail, from 1993 until 2001 when he escaped, he continued doing business as usual, thanks to the protection of an army of corrupt jail guards, servants, cooks and even women that visited him regularly, Hernández said. “He even had access to Viagra.”
Under Guzmán’s leadership, the Sinaloa Cartel geographically expanded its criminal business, currently stretching throughout the Americas, Europe, Australia and Asia. At the same time, the Cartel diversified into every type of drug Americans have smoked, inhaled, injected or swallowed, from marijuana and cocaine to methamphetamines and heroine.
In an article for Italy’s La Repubblica, Roberto Saviano, a world-renowned crime expert and Italian writer, called El Chapo the “Steve Jobs of cocaine” because of his unusual “genius” to foresee new opportunities in the markets. Saviano, who moved from Naples to an undisclosed location after being threatened by the Italian mob, told CNN en Español that El Chapo, “Is a remarkable figure, a real criminal, not a gangster. Criminals have rules, gangsters have instincts.”
As long as Mexico shares a 2,000 mile border with the U.S., the drug business will not only survive but continue flourishing, regardless of how many powerful kingpins are arrested.
Since 2009, El Chapo has been included in Forbes’ Most Powerful People list.

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