AZMEX SPECIAL2 22-11-13

AZMEX SPECIAL 2 22 NOV 2013

Comment: evidently partnership negotiations in Mexico still not progressing as PRI had expected. Several family members of Sinaloa business leadership now being held hostage.


Son of Sinaloa Cartel leader reportedly arrested in Nogales
Serafin Zambada
This photo, circulated widely on Mexican news media websites, purports to show Serafin Zambada, son of alleged drug-trafficking kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.

Posted: Friday, November 22, 2013 10:40 am | Updated: 12:32 pm, Fri Nov 22, 2013.
Nogales International

http://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/son-of-sinaloa-cartel-leader-reportedly-arrested-in-nogales/article_25e7a842-539d-11e3-aece-001a4bcf887a.html

A man believed to be the son of a top-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel was arrested this week in Nogales.

The arrest of Serafin Zambada was confirmed by Department of Justice spokesman Cosme Lopez on Friday morning. Zambada is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals after making his initial appearance at U.S. District Court in Tucson on Thursday afternoon. He is scheduled to appear again at the court on Monday at 10:30 a.m., Lopez said.

Amy Roderick, a spokeswoman for the DEA in San Diego, said Zambada was arrested at a Nogales port of entry on Wednesday. She declined to offer additional details of the arrest.

Mexican media reports that Zambada is the son of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, the No. 2 leader of the Sinaloa Cartel headed by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexico's most wanted man. Lopez did not confirm the relationship between Serafin and El Mayo.

Citing official sources, the Mexican news weekly Rio Doce reported on its website Thursday that Serafin Zambada was detained at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry on a warrant to face federal drug-trafficking charges in California. Rio Doce reported that he was traveling with his wife Yameli Torres at the time of his detention, but that she was not arrested.

Serafin Zambada was indicted on Sept. 27 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on the charge of conspiracy to import methamphetamine and cocaine, according to the grand jury indictment. If convicted, he faces at least one year in prison and will forfeit to the United States all rights to property and profits obtained through the alleged illegal activity.

Serafin would be the second Zambada son in federal custody in the United States. El Mayo's oldest son Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla was arrested in Mexico City in March 2009 and extradited to the United States in February 2010 after a federal grand jury in Chicago indicted him, his father, Guzman and dozens of others on drug-trafficking charges.

El Mayo's brother Jesus Reynaldo Zambada Garcia was arrested by Mexican authorities in October 2008 and is awaiting extradition to the United States on drug-trafficking and money-laundering charges.
April 2012, a federal grand jury in West Texas indicted Guzman, El Mayo and 22 other people under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, holding them responsible for the operations and management of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Serafin Zambada's wife Yameli Torres is reportedly the daughter of Manuel Torres, aka "El Ondeado" or "El M1," the leader of a Sinaloa Cartel cell who was killed during a shootout with the Mexican Army in Culiacan, Sinaloa in October 2012.

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