For half a century, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada accomplished something almost unheard of for one of the world's most wanted drug traffickers: He helped run a multibillion-dollar criminal empire without spending a single day behind bars. That changed on July 25, 2024, when he boarded a private plane in Mexico and landed in New Mexico, where U.S. authorities were waiting.
What happened before that flight, who arranged it, and whether Zambada was betrayed by the son of his longtime partner Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán are at the center of Netflix's upcoming documentary series, The Fall of El Mayo (La caída de El Mayo), a three-part documentary which will premiere worldwide on October 29
The series, directed by Emmy and Peabody Award winner Darren Foster and Mexican filmmaker Miguel Fernández Flores, reconstructs the final chapter of Zambada's decades-long freedom and the consequences of his arrest. Investigative journalist Mariana van Zeller, known for her work exposing international criminal networks for National Geographic, serves as an executive producer.
Zambada, now 78, was one of the founding leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, the organization he helped build alongside Guzmán. While El Chapo became internationally notorious for his prison escapes, public appearances and eventual extradition to the United States, El Mayo operated largely in the shadows, relying on an extensive network of associates, political connections and protection.
One of the rare exceptions came in 2010, when legendary Mexican journalist Julio Scherer García traveled to meet Zambada for an extraordinary interview published in Proceso. The encounter offered a glimpse into the life of a man who had evaded capture for decades and openly acknowledged his fear of imprisonment.
Fourteen years later, Zambada arrived in the United States alongside Joaquín Guzmán López, one of El Chapo's sons. Zambada subsequently claimed that Guzmán López had kidnapped him and forced him onto the aircraft. The circumstances of the flight became the subject of conflicting accounts and diplomatic tensions between Mexico and the United States.
His arrest also shattered the fragile balance within the Sinaloa Cartel. Rival factions associated with Zambada and El Chapo's sons began fighting for control of trafficking routes, territory and criminal operations.
The resulting violence has devastated communities across Sinaloa, leaving residents facing killings, disappearances and displacement.
The documentary explores those consequences through interviews with law enforcement officials, politicians, journalists, people close to the cartel and families affected by organized crime. According to Netflix, the filmmakers also reviewed hundreds of court documents from Mexico and the United States.
The story has continued to unfold in federal court. In August 2025, Zambada pleaded guilty to charges related to leading a continuing criminal enterprise and organized crime. On July 20, 2026, U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole in Brooklyn. The court also imposed a $15 billion forfeiture order.
His conviction resolved the question of his criminal liability, but not every mystery surrounding his capture.
Former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar have offered conflicting accounts of Washington's knowledge of the operation. López Obrador has questioned the extent of American involvement, while Salazar has maintained that U.S. officials did not plan the flight.
Produced by Muck Media Productions, the Netflix series consists of three episodes running approximately 59 minutes each. Foster and Fernández Flores use Zambada's capture to examine not only the downfall of a criminal leader, but also the relationships, rivalries and political questions surrounding one of Mexico's most powerful drug trafficking organizations.
The Fall of El Mayo premieres globally on Netflix on October 29, more than two years after the flight that ended Zambada's remarkable ability to evade arrest and triggered a violent struggle for control of the cartel he helped create.
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