DEEP DIVE — Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a co-founder and leader of Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa Cartel, has entered a not guilty plea to 17 drug trafficking charges, following in the footsteps of Joaquin Guzman Lopez, son of the cartel’s founder, and setting the stage for a high-profile legal battle this fall hat could reveal the depths of cartel operations. Prosecutors and U.S. officials also hope that battle at least puts a dent in the deadly, multi-billion-dollar traffic in fentanyl, a drug that has been blamed for the deaths of more than one million Americans.
Lopez, 38, was arrested in late July, a law enforcement coup that drew global attention given that his father is Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the Sinaloa co-founder who until his latest capture in 2016 (he had escaped at least twice before) was considered one of the world’s most dangerous criminals.
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