Sinaloa Cartel Boss El Mayo's Son, Serafin Zambada Ortiz, Reportedly in Critical Condition After Car Accident in Mexico
The youngest son of Sinaloa cartel boss Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, Serafin Zambada Ortiz, reportedly got involved in a fatal car accident in Sonora, Mexico on Monday.
According to Daily Star, the tragic accident occurred at around 9 a.m. on the Sonoyta-Caborca ​​road section in Sonora. Serafin was reportedly found in a mangled white Kia, which appeared to have collided with the rear of a tractor-trailer truck.
El Mayo's son and his 30-year-old girlfriend, Norma Lopez, were transferred to nearby hospitals. But local media reported that Lopez died while on the way to receive treatment. Serafín, who was taken to a private clinic in Hermosillo city, reportedly survived the collision but sustained serious injuries.
Sonora state police immediately guarded the site of the crash while a probe into the incident was being carried out to determine who was responsible for it.
According to Infobae, El Mayo's youngest son was released from prison in the U.S. in September 2018 after serving a 66-month prison sentence for importing cocaine and marijuana into the U.S.
Serafín was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Arizona in November 2013. He was handed a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence after cooperating with the DEA.
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Serafin Zambada Ortiz: The Youngest Son of Sinaloa Cartel Boss El Mayo
According to Business Insider, Serafin Zambada Ortiz is a U.S. citizen born in San Diego. In letters to the court, he detailed his upbringing among some of Mexico's most powerful drug traffickers, noting his nearness to the violence surrounding narco life.
Serafin's mother, Leticia Ortiz Hernandez, knew El Mayo from growing up outside the Culiacan. They met in 1988 in Mexicali city in Baja California state, and Leticia fell in love with El Mayo, who was 15 years older and already reaching prominence in the drug trade.
Drug lords Benjamin Arellano Felix and Amado Carillo Fuentes became Serafin's godfathers. However, war soon erupted between the Arellano Felix Organization and the Sinaloa Cartel over a power struggle for Tijuana.
Looking for safety, Serafin and his mom retreated to Culiacan, but the violence pursued them. When Serafin turned two years old, a car bomb detonated outside his birthday party.
When he was nine years old, his grandparents, uncle, and aunt were killed after gunmen stormed a Mazatlan hotel room that he and his mother had recently left.
Sinaloa Cartel rivals eventually killed his mom's family. With armed guards sent by El Mayo, Leticia started moving her children from home to home and kept Serafin out of school. They moved back and forth between Arizona and Sinaloa.
The war with the Arellano Felix Organization died out in the early 2000s as the cartel lost ground. Serafin later attended the Universidad Autonoma de Sinaloa, taking classes in agronomy. But his stint away from the drug business soon ended when he returned to Culiacan.
El Mayo's son said there was nothing more than the drug trade in that city. Serafin married a girl from another family involved in drug trafficking in 2010, and they eventually had two children.
Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada of Sinaloa Cartel
El Mayo and Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman were among the people who established the Sinaloa Cartel from the remnants of the Guadalajara Cartel after its leader Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo was arrested in 1989.
The U.S. State Department said El Mayo has wide real estate holdings and has invested in multiple businesses in Mexico. The department has already increased its offer from $5 million to $15 million for information that will result in the arrest of El Mayo.
El Mayo and El Chapo's four sons, known as "Los Chapitos," were reportedly left in command of the Sinaloa Cartel after El Chapo was arrested and extradited to the U.S. However, reports suggested that there's an internal dispute for total control of the powerful criminal organization.
The Los Chapitos is reportedly looking to assume supreme control of the Sinaloa Cartel and their father's former right-hand man, El Mayo, appears to be their internal enemy number one.
The Sinaloa Cartel is one of Mexico's largest and most powerful drug trafficking organizations. The Mexican drug cartel has been known to carry out assassinations, murders, and torture to protect its turf.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Mary Webber
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