The trial of Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzmn has begun, and his defense attorneys contend he's the victim of a vast conspiracy by the true leader of the Sinaloa Cartel: "El Mayo."Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Garca is Guzmn's longtime partner and the current leader of the cartel, now that Guzmn himself is on trial in the United States. Guzmn's lawyers say he's been working with both the Mexican and American governments, bribing officials to steer clear of the legal mess while Guzmn takes the fall."The world is focusing on this mythical 'El Chapo' creature," Jeffrey Lichtman, Guzmn's lead lawyer, said in court Tuesday. "The world is not focusing on 'Mayo' Zambada."US federal prosecutors have hundreds of thousands of pages of evidence, as well as a series of witnesses, they say prove Guzmn was the real leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, responsible for decades of violence and for smuggling billions of dollars of illegal drugs around the world.But who is Zambada anyway' And how did the 70-year-old dominate the world's most notorious drug cartel'Zambada helped build the Sinaloa Cartel from the wreckage of the Guadalajara Cartel in the early 1990s.In the 1980s, Miguel ngel Flix Gallardoalso known as El Padrino ("The Godfather")ran theGuadalajara Cartel. It was Mexico's most infamous criminal organization at the time, controlling almost all drug trafficking between Mexico and the United States.Gallardo was arrested in 1989 by US authorities and sentenced to a 37-year prison term, which he's still serving.Upon his arrest, the Guadalajara Cartel was torn into two main factions: the Tijuana Cartel, formed by his nephews, and the Sinaloa Cartel, formed by a small group of organizational leaders. BothGuzmn and Zambada were among the people who founded the Sinaloa Cartel from the wreckage of the Guadalajara Cartel.He consolidated power in the 1990s.The Sinaloa Cartel grew in power in the 1990s. Part of that growth can be attributed to Zambada's skill in forming alliances and coordinating with other former members of the Guadalajara Cartel.According to the US State Department, Zambada was a principal member of the brutal Amado Carrillo-Fuentes Organization, also known as the Jurez Cartel. He worked with Amado Carrillo Fuentes in the 1990s and, withGuzmn, helped the Sinaloa Cartel absorb many of its factions when Fuentes died in 1997.It wasn't a peaceful consolidation."From 1992 to the year 2000 the days were difficult and bloody and a stupid senseless war where many families were destroyed and with a lot of pain in their hearts," his wife said,accordingto The Union-Tribune.But by the end of the decade, Zambada was on top."In the late 1990s, Zambada-Garcia emerged as one of the strongest drug traffickers in Mexico, capable of transporting multi-ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana and multi-kilogram quantities of heroin," reported the State Department.Mexicos attorney general's office indicted him in 1998. He remains at large.He built a powerful drug trafficking network to funnel narcotics from Colombia to the United States.According to the State Department, Zambada formed an operation that snuck cocaine from Colombia to Mexico with boats and possibly submarines, and then used trucks, cars, andairplanes to get them into New York. He allegedly has major cells in Arizona, California, Chicago, and New York.See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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