This Was The Millionaire Debt Owed To The Arellano FéLix That Almost Cost El Mayo Zambada’S Life.

Mica for cartelinsider.com

“Search for El Mayo Zambada and Kill Him.” This was the order given by Ramón Arellano Félix to his gunmen; the reason being a multi-million dollar debt owed by the current leader of the Sinaloa Cartel for using the Tijuana territory to send drugs to the United States.”

It was the early 1990s, years in which the Sinaloa Cartel was not yet known as such; the territory was controlled by El Mayo Zambada, who received direct orders from Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, “The Boss of Bosses”; it was also a time close to the split with the Arellano Felix brothers.

In his book “The Cartel,” journalist Jesús Blancornelas recounts how the relationship between El Mayo Zambada and Benjamín and Ramón Arellano Félix began to fracture and resulted in a hunt by the brothers against the drug trafficker who, at 76 years old, boasts of never having set foot in jail.

“El Mayo inherited the Sinaloa territory from Félix Gallardo, former leader of the Guadalajara Cartel, and the Arellano Felix learned to control Tijuana under the protection of Jesús Labra Avilés, alias “Don Chuy”. However, the “suggestion” of “El Jefe de Jefes” was for everyone to cooperate and pay for the use of other territories for the transport of marijuana and cocaine. This was a condition that El Mayo Zambada did not abide by.”

According to Blancornelas, El Mayo used the city of Tijuana as many times as he wanted to send tons of cocaine and marijuana to the United States, but he did not pay the “protection fee” that guaranteed the peace in the city. The drugs continued to pass and the debt of “El Señor del Sombrero” became increasingly bigger.

The situation broke when Benjamin told Ramon that El Mayo Zambada already owed $20 million to the Tijuana Cartel.

As temperamental as he was, Ramón Arellano Félix ordered a hunt against El Mayo, since he refused to pay the debt despite continuing to send drug shipments to the United States. Meanwhile, Blancornelas’ investigation revealed that Zambada never denied the debt, he just refused to pay the 20 million dollars because he “didn’t have the money”.

However, for Ramón Arellano Félix, the excuse lacked truth because the men of the now leader of the Sinaloa Cartel continued to fill the warehouses of Tijuana with drugs that they quickly sold. “Kill him!”

Although Benjamín Arellano Félix wanted to reach an agreement with El Mayo Zambada, his brother refused; he had to pay the offense to the Tijuana Cartel and his death would also serve as a warning to his rivals. The owners of the border were starting to emerge.

Perhaps to demonstrate their power, Ramón and Benjamín did not inform Jesús Labra or Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo of their punishment -whom they say continued to manipulate the drug trade from prison for several years-.

Gunmen went in search of “El Señor del Sombrero” and quickly found him on Las Palmas Avenue in Tijuana. Pedro, Juvenal, and Lino were the hitmen for the Arellano Felix brothers: the first of them suggested following El Mayo and shooting him there, in the middle of the afternoon and in the heat of the border city; the second said it was a bad idea, there were too many witnesses and it would cause a scandal; the third did not speak.

As they were deciding whether to kill El Mayo Zambada that afternoon in 1992, Pedro and Juvenal began to argue: Pedro was at the wheel and threatened to murder his companion; Juvenal did not hesitate, he pulled out his gun and shot him in the face.

“Days later, the “Council of Chiefs” of the Tijuana Cartel gathered, with Juvenal standing before them. It was Benjamin who spoke first: “Does anyone have his back?” he asked, but no one responded.”

“Lino, the third hitman (the mute one in the car) pulled out his gun and shot Juvenal in the head, the gunman who refused to kill El Mayo Zambada. It was never known if he worked for him or just didn’t want to cause a scene in Tijuana; as for the debt, the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel never paid it.”

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Thanks for reading!

Mica

Email: mica@cartelinsider.com

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