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Son of alleged Sinaloa drug cartel kingpin arrested at border

A pedestrian border crossing at Nogales, Ariz. The son of an alleged Sinaloa drug cartel kingpin was arrested at the border crossing on Wednesday.
A pedestrian border crossing at Nogales, Ariz. The son of an alleged Sinaloa drug cartel kingpin was arrested at the border crossing on Wednesday.
(Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
By Richard Marosi
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SAN DIEGO -- The son of one of Mexico’s most wanted drug kingpins has been arrested while trying to cross into the U.S. with his wife in Nogales, Ariz., federal authorities said Friday.

Serafin Zambada, who was arrested on Wednesday, is expected to be transferred to San Diego where he is wanted on drug trafficking charges, according to Amy Roderick, a spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego.

Authorities said Zambada is the son of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a top leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, which is believed to smuggle more drugs into the U.S. than any other Mexican organized crime group.

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Vicente Zambada, another son of Ismael’s, was captured in 2009 and is awaiting trial in Chicago.

Federal authorities have offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest of Ismael Zambada.

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Twitter: @lanow

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richard.marosi@latimes.com

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Richard Marosi

Richard Marosi is a former Metro editor for the Los Angeles Times. He previously reported from the U.S.-Mexico border. Marosi was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2015 for his series on Mexican laborers and in 2013 for his stories on the fate of thousands of immigrants who were deported from the U.S. to Mexico in recent years. He has delved deeply into Mexico’s drug wars, producing a groundbreaking series on the Sinaloa cartel and sharing an Overseas Press Club Award in 2009. In the early 2000s, his corruption investigations in Southeast Los Angeles County contributed to the indictment or ouster of a dozen politicians and city officials. Marosi is a Southern California resident but remains loyal to the Giants, 49ers and Warriors of his native San Francisco Bay Area.

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