At age 56, Felipe Cabrera Sarabia left the federal penitentiary in Lompoc, California, after completing the sentence imposed by a U.S. judge in 2023 for trafficking hundreds of kilograms of heroin from Mexico to the United States in collusion with Ismael Zambada García—known as “El Mayo”—one of the founders of the Sinaloa Cartel.
According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), the Mexican national—originally from Durango—was released from prison on September 4, 2026, one day ahead of his scheduled release date. He is currently in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Adelanto Processing Center in California, from where he is expected to be sent back to Mexico.
“El Inge” (The Engineer) or “El Señor de la Sierra” (Lord of the Sierra) is no longer in BOP custody.
It was in January 2023 that Cabrera Sarabia formally entered a guilty plea for heroin trafficking, which led to a sentence of just over 19 years in prison. He successfully avoided charges related to cocaine trafficking—another drug he allegedly helped traffic alongside “El Mayo” Zambada—and received credit for time served in Mexico, as well as a sentence reduction for good behavior while incarcerated.
“El Inge’s” U.S. legal proceedings
U.S. prosecutors agreed to pursue only a single charge of heroin trafficking, based on the testimony of two cooperating witnesses who detailed the shipment of 15 kilograms of heroin from Mexico to Chicago, Illinois, in exchange for $715,000. The witnesses revealed to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) how the operation was carried out, starting with the initial meeting where the shipment was agreed upon. “During the meeting, acting on orders from one of the individuals present, arrangements were made for the accused (Cabrera Sarabia) to sell heroin that was located in Chicago and belonged to Zambada,” reads the case file for the criminal proceedings against *El Inge*, who initially faced three charges.
Washington built its case using the testimony of two U.S. government cooperators—twin brothers Margarito and Pedro Flores, traffickers from Chicago. Cabrera Sarabia coordinated heroin deliveries with them on behalf of *Mayo* Zambada, following direct orders from the Sinaloa Cartel founder himself.
The court file reviewed by MILENIO recounts that during a meeting in Mexico, *El Mayo* ordered Cabrera Sarabia and one of the Flores twins to exchange phone numbers so they could communicate and coordinate the sale of the Sinaloa Cartel co-founder’s drugs, which were already in Chicago. In exchange for the 15 kilograms of heroin, the Department of Justice (DOJ) details, *El Inge* received $715,000—an amount equivalent to approximately 8 million pesos at the 2008 exchange rate.
According to the pre-sentencing report for Felipe Cabrera Sarabia—who earned the nickname “The Heroin King”—Ismael Zambada García introduced him to the Flores twins during a meeting in Mexico sometime between 2008 and 2011, the period during which the U.S. government alleges *El Inge* was active.
In his statement of facts, Felipe Cabrera claimed that, contrary to the assertions of U.S. law enforcement agencies, he operated only alongside his brother Luis Alberto—alias *El Arqui*—who by that time had been dead for over a decade, having been killed by federal forces during a confrontation in Canatlán, Durango. In doing so, he excluded José Luis and Alejandro from his criminal network; the latter two are presumed to have taken charge of the clan in Mexico. The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) holds the opposite view.
“Alejandro helped Zambada García transport tons of narcotics into the United States via the Mexican state of Baja California. Mexican authorities arrested Alejandro Cabrera Sarabia in Culiacán on February 11, 2013. José Luis Cabrera Sarabia manages the Cabrera Sarabia family ranches and assists with the logistics of marijuana transport,” notes OFAC, which added the three surviving Cabrera Sarabia brothers to its blacklist in 2015.
The Mexican national also asserted that his role within the Sinaloa Cartel was that of an intermediary in narcotics transactions, and that he never recruited people nor issued orders to others.
“The factual basis in this case shows, at most, that Mr. Cabrera Sarabia was following Zambada’s instructions when communicating with other conspirators; there is no evidence that Mr. Cabrera Sarabia recruited or supervised accomplices.”
From Engineer to Snitch
In addition to pleading guilty, El Inge became a cooperating witness for the authorities. According to a report obtained by MILENIO, he participated in at least four events where he provided information regarding his operations alongside El Mayo Zambada.
“It should also be noted that Mr. Cabrera Sarabia made efforts to cooperate with the government by providing information through an offer made via his attorney, in addition to participating in three proffer interviews,” notes Cabrera’s defense team.
El Inge’s pre-sentence report explains how Felipe Cabrera—born in the small town of Vascogil, Durango, into a humble ranching family—managed to secure various positions as a local community representative until, due to his community’s location within the drug-trafficking “Golden Triangle,” he crossed paths with *El Señor del Sombrero* (The Man in the Hat), Ismael Zambada. “Towards the end of that year (2008), he crossed paths with men working for Mr. Zambada, and eventually with Mr. Zambada himself, who offered him the chance to alleviate his concerns regarding the future of his family and his town,” Cabrera Sarabia explains in a report written by his lawyers.
OFAC, on the other hand, asserts that the man worked for a long time under the protection of Mayo Zambada, though it doesn’t specify the exact years.
“Felipe Cabrera Sarabia was a long-time lieutenant to Zambada García in the Mexican state of Durango, where he controlled large marijuana and poppy plantations and was responsible for transporting marijuana and heroin to the United States,” OFAC notes.
By 2011—three years after he claims to have met Mayo Zambada—that promise of prosperity had vanished. A federal operation led to his capture at a residence in Culiacán, Sinaloa. It was two days before Christmas that year. The Mexican government trumpeted the arrest, claiming they had captured a key Sinaloa Cartel operative involved in drug trafficking and in defending the operations of Joaquín Guzmán Loera (“El Chapo”) and Mayo Zambada.
“FELIPE CABRERA SARABIA was part of a criminal group made up of his brothers LUIS ALBERTO, JOSÉ LUIS, and ALEJANDRO, who initially engaged in marijuana planting and cultivation in the mountainous region of Durango state,” the Mexican Army stated in a press release following his arrest.
Cabrera Sarabia claims his time in Mexico was hell. While imprisoned at the Altiplano facility in the State of Mexico and the Hermosillo facility in Sonora, he alleges that guards tortured him on several occasions—blindfolding him and suffocating him by placing a bag over his head four or five times—and that he spent the majority of his time in solitary confinement. He states that in September 2022, after arriving on U.S. soil, he underwent surgery to repair a hernia resulting from the abuse he had endured.
According to his case file, the man is expected to be deported to Mexico, where he had been sentenced to 24 years in prison for various offenses—including organized crime, firearms possession, and drug trafficking—though he succeeded in having the sentence suspended by a federal judge.
Source: Milenio
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