The Connect- with Johnny Mitchell - El Chapo's Family Is Finished: Inside The Fall Of The Sinaloa Cartel Dynasty

Episode Date: June 11, 2026

The war inside the Sinaloa Cartel may be reaching a turning point. In this episode, we break down the alleged collapse of the Chapitos faction, the fallout from El Mayo Zambada’s shocking kidnapping and arrest, and the reported U.S. indictment targeting powerful political figures in Sinaloa. As Chapo Guzmán’s sons lose allies, money, manpower, and political protection, the balance of power may be shifting toward Los Mayitos. But this story goes far beyond cartel infighting. We also explore the bigger picture: U.S. pressure on Mexican politicians, growing American intelligence activity inside Mexico, surveillance technology on the border, alleged CIA involvement, and whether this marks a new phase in the war against Mexican cartels. Is this the end of the Guzmán dynasty? Are the Chapitos negotiating their surrender? And is Mexico becoming the next major battlefield for U.S. foreign policy? Topics covered: -The Chapitos vs. Los Mayitos war -El Mayo Zambada’s kidnapping and arrest -The alleged indictment of Sinaloa politicians -Rubén Rocha Moya and cartel corruption claims -The fall of Chapo Guzmán’s sons -CJNG’s role in the conflict -U.S. intelligence activity in Mexico -CIA, cartels, surveillance, and Mexican sovereignty -What comes next for the Sinaloa Cartel If you enjoyed the video, drop a comment, hit the like button, and subscribe for more deep dives into cartels, organized crime, geopolitics, and the hidden forces shaping Latin America. Join The Patreon For Bonus Content! https://www.patreon.com/theconnectshow 00:00 End of the War in Sinaloa 01:01 US Crackdown on Corrupt Politicians 02:59 Power Struggles and Betrayals 04:42 Political Ties and Cartel Connections 05:51 Desperation, Alliances, and Downfall 06:16 US Pressure Across Latin America 07:51 Historic Indictments and Political Fallout 08:42 Mexico’s Dilemma: Sovereignty vs. Extradition 09:56 US Surveillance & International Involvement 11:01 CIA’s Role and Growing Tensions 12:12 Cartel Weakened and Next Moves 13:02 The End of an Era for the Guzmán Dynasty 13:46 Shift in Cartel Operations & Future Outlook 14:40 Ongoing Developments and Closing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for Calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. Well, it looks like the war in Sinaloa is finally coming to an end. And the Chapitos, the faction of the cartel led by the surviving sons of former drug lord, Joaquin Chapo Guzman, are on their way out. On April 26th of this year, the U.S. Justice Department released a criminal indictment against 10 sitting politicians from the state of Sinaloa who they accuse of collaborating with the Chapitos. This includes a prosecutor, a state senator, the mayor of Kulia Khan, and the current governor of Sinaloa, Ruben Rocha Moya, who is a close friend and ally of former Mexican president, Andres Manuel Obrador.

Why is this such a big deal? Well, not only is it a death blow for the Chapitos, who have been fighting a war with the Maitos for almost two years and a war that has killed and disappeared thousands of people in and around the city of Kuleakhan, but it signals of fundamental shift in U.S. law enforcement's approach to combating Mexican cartels. Instead of just focusing on taking down kingpins, which has been a losing strategy since the beginning of the war on drugs, the American and increasingly Mexican authorities are coming after the politicians who are protecting these kingpins. But it goes deeper than just dismantling organized crime. This indictment of Sina Loa's political elite, along with a recent

CIA-linked car bombing of a suspected Chapitos member is part of a covert, American-led attempt to subvert Mexican sovereignty and lay the groundwork for a possible military invasion. I'm telling you, this goes deep. There's so much to talk about, so let's just get into it. And before we get started, if you like this video, please drop a comment, smash that like button, and subscribe to the channel. It really helps us out. Orole my rasa, Bamanos.

On July 25th, 2024, Ismail Zambara, a.k.a. El Mayo, the legendary godfather of the Sinaloa cartel was ambushed on a ranch in Sonora, Mexico, kidnapped, and then flown on a private jet to awaiting DEA agents in El Paso, Texas. And it pretty quickly came out that it was Chappo's sons, specifically Joaquin Lopez Guzman, who had set up Mayo to be kidnapped, and hence what led to the war between the Maisa and the Chapisa that is still ongoing, and has killed upwards of 10,000 people in less than two years. But what's even more interesting is that after his arrest, Mayo Zambata told American authorities that on the day he was kidnapped,

he was supposed to be meeting with Ruben Rocha Moya, the governor of Sinaloa, about mediating a political feud that Moya was having at the time. Think about that. A drug kingpin helping mediate a feud, between politicians. That shows you how much power Zimbada had and how deep the corruption runs in a place like Sinaloa. Anyways, Moya never arrived at the meeting, and that's when Zimbada was kidnapped and forced on a plane to the United States. And we know it was a double-cross by the Chapitos because one of Chappo's sons, Joaquin Lopez Guzman, was also on the plane

with Zambada. But he wasn't kidnapped. He voluntarily turned himself into the DEA, so obviously that arrangement was made beforehand. This betrayal was almost certainly done to help Oviedo Guzman, Chappo's youngest son, who had been arrested a year and a half earlier in the second Kuliacanaso, when Mexican Special Forces raided his ranch outside Kulia Khan, arrested, and then immediately extradited him to the U.S. But how does this tie into Governor Ruben Rocha Moja and the other corrupt politicians in Sinaloa? Well, as it turns out, Moya has ties to Chapo Guzman that go back decades. And remember, Remember how I told you about Moya's relationship to ex-president Andres Manuel Obrador?

Well, it also turns out that Obrador himself was intimately connected to Chapo. In fact, last year, an old video surfaced online of Obrador greeting Chappo's mother at a political rally in Sinaloa while he was still president. Incredible. And Obrador belongs to the ruling Morena political party, who control Mexican politics, and who put President Claudia Sheenbaum in into power. So, with Governor Moyas' help, the Chapitos give Mayo Zimbada up to the DEA, and the war between the Maito's and the Chapitos kicks off. And Chapo's eldest son, Ivan Archivaldo, becomes the figurehead of the Chapitos and goes into hiding way up into the Sierra Madre Mountains.

And despite Ivan being on the run, the cartel is still able to keep operating with the help of their old political connections in Kulia Khan. Still, the desperation set in pretty quickly. In May of 25, Chappo's ex-wife Griselda and 17 of their family members, including one of Chappo's daughters and some of his grandchildren, surrendered themselves to U.S. authorities at the port of San Ysidro in San Diego. Ostensibly, they'd agreed to give up information in exchange for witness protection in the United States. Shortly after that, a video emerged on social media declaring an alliance between the Chapitos and the C.J. NG. The Cartel Halisco Nueva Generacionation. That's how you know things were getting really bad for the Chapitos. You see, these mega cartels have extremely high overhead,

even in peacetime, so a major war could have left the Chapitos nearly bankrupt. They likely surrendered some of their drug routes and drug distributors to Mencho and the CjNG in exchange for cicadios, for manpower, who they badly need because, let's face it, so many of them keep dying in the war. But then in February of this year, the world watched as C.JNG founder El Mentiono was ambushed and killed by the Mexican military at a safe house in Halisco. And then a few months later, just shortly before this recording, the second in command for the CJNG, El Hardinero, was captured and is now awaiting extradition. Bad news for the Chapitos, is that alliance has almost certainly been ruptured now that

the heads of the CJNG are gone. And as all of this is happening, the U.S. Justice Department, led by Marco Rubio, keeps turning up the pressure on the leaders of Latin American countries. The kidnapping and extradition of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is the obvious one. A Gustavo Petro of Colombia now has a target on him, as well as ex-president of Brazil, Lula, and of course, Cuba seems to be next on the chopping block. For benevolent or not so benevolent reasons, the U.S. is coming after corrupt politicians with a vengeance, except for themselves, of course, but more on that later. And then, on April 26th, the Justice Department

unsealed a 34-page indictment against Sinaloa Governor Ruben Moya and nine other heads of the state government, including a municipal police chief, a lead prosecutor, the mayor of Kulia Khan, and the head finance minister for the state of Sinaloa. All of them are charged with aiding and abetting the Sinaloa cartel, but specifically the Chapitos in various ways, from drugs and weapons trafficking to money laundering to political cover. This is the first time in Mexico's history that a sitting politician has been indicted by the U.S. feds. As of this recording, Ruben Moya has fled Kuliacan and his whereabouts are unknown. But a few days after that, a cartel video surfaced online of some cicadios, presumably from Los Maitos,

shooting up Moya's vacant house in broad daylight. Now, keep in mind, this is just an indictment. Mexico is technically a sovereign nation, and so it's on them to actually arrest Moya and hand him over to the U.S. This puts Mexican President Claudia Shanebaum in a tough spot. You see, Ruben Moyah is a longtime Morena Party insider and a close ally of hers. If she extradites him, she risks her political career at a time when she's enjoying the highest approval rating of any Mexican president in history. The citizens of Mexico by and large hate the American government. Why wouldn't they? So extradition would appear as a capitulation, a violation of Mexican sovereignty.

But more importantly for Shanebaum, imagine what Ruben Moyne knows. The decades and decades of corruption he and the Marino party have been involved it. This is Mexico's version of the Epstein files, and it could all come out if he's handed over to the Americans. But if Shanebaum refuses, well, just look at what happened to Nicolas Maduro. That's not impossible. The American government right now has Cuba in its crosshairs. But all over Latin America, the CIA and the Israeli Mosul are subverting leftist governments and sometimes outright removing their leaders. It's happening in Ecuador, it's happening in Brazil, it's happening in Bolivia, Colombia, obviously Venezuela, and now also Mexico.

Check out this article I read the other day. The FBI, DEA, ATF, Homeland Security, and CPB are about to start operating out of a massive surveillance tower in downtown Ceudad Juarez, which used to be the most violent city in the world. Torre Centinella, the Sentinel Tower, is a 21-story, high-tech security and surveillance command center built by the state government of Chihuahua. The tower functions as a surveillance hub that gathers data from thousands of cameras, drones, license plate readers, biometric checkpoints, and AI-assisted monitoring tools across the region. In other words, the Big Brother surveillance state has finally arrived in Mexico.

And it's being done in conjunction with the American government. This tower will give the American feds access to millions of Mexican citizens' personal data. And behind this whole thing, of course, is the CIA. In fact, on April 19th, four men in the state of Chihuahua were killed when their car fell into a ravine and exploded. You might have seen this on the news. Later on, it was discovered that two of those men were CIA officers who had been conducting methamphetamine lab operations, linked to cartel activity. And a month before that, on March 28th,

a car bomb exploded near Mexico City, killing a Sinaloa cartel operative, Francisco El Paiin Beltran. According to reports, Beltran and another man were killed when the car they were driving exploded on a highway, leaving Benito Juarez Airport in Mexico City.

The Mexican government, of course, has denied the allegations of CIA involvement, but this killing reeks of a professional agency hit. And the target of the assassination makes it even more sketchy, a Beltran family member of the infamous Beltran Leva faction of the Sinaloa cartel. It's pretty clear at this point that the CIA is fully embedded in Mexico and is turning up the heat on the ruling Morena party and their allies, the Chapitos in Sinaloa. But the million dollar question that has yet to be answered is, will this low-intensity warfare actually lead to a full-on bomb

bombing campaign or ground invasion by the American military into Mexico. My friend Ed Calderon has been prophesizing this for years. I personally don't think we can put anything past the American War machine right now, especially as we lose power and influence in the Middle East. It's clear that the next battlefield for Washington, D.C. is Latin America, as we compete with China for resources and influence in this hemisphere. So, what does this all mean for the Chapitos and the Sinaloa cartel? Well, the American indictment of these politicians and Ruben Moya has to be devastating for them.

They've been so weakened over the past decade, first with the arrest of Chapo, then his son Ovidio, and now this war with the Maito's and the death of their ally, Mencho, the politicians in Kulia Khan were their last lifeline, and now they're all gone. Rumors have already been circulating that Yvonne Archivado and Alfredo Guzman Sanazar, Chapo's only remaining sons left running the cartel are in talks with the DEA to negotiate their surrender. That would be a smart move because the end is coming and new politicians friendly to their rivals, the Maito's, will surely be installed in Kuliacan.

In fact, the Maito's might already be working with the CIA, the way they did for decades under their patriarch, Senor Mayo Zambada. Remember, the CIA is directly responsible. for the growth and proliferation of drug cartels all over Latin America. In some instances, like the Cartel de los Soles in Venezuela, they literally invented them. Since the 1970s, drug cartels have been a tool of the American government to destabilize countries who they view as hostile to their interests. But not the interests of the American people, of course.

I'm talking about business interests, oil, precious metals, minerals, and weapons. The next play will be for rare earth minerals. as those will play a crucial role in the coming AI revolution. You guys, it's wild to think that the Guzman Drug Dynasty, after nearly 60 years, starting with young Chappo himself, working in the opium fields, and his native Sinaloa, is finally coming to an end. It's a tragedy, really, looking back at it, his family is destroyed, and for what? It turns out he was nothing more than a useful idiot in a much larger chess game

between the deep state forces controlling both the United States and Mexico. There's no doubt that this indictment of Sinaloa Governor Ruben Moya represents a fundamental shift in the way cartels operate in Mexico. The good old boy's system of funding and rigging elections, bribing the president, and holding more power than the government itself, that's all done. Make no mistake, flock cameras and Palantir technology are coming to Mexico, and one day soon there will be nowhere left for cartels to hide.

Not to say there won't be any criminal activity or drug trafficking, of course there will be, but it'll look something like the way it does in Europe, very low-key and highly, highly sophisticated. The cartels will trade in their military uniforms for business suits. They're already doing it. Or maybe not. Perhaps the CIA doesn't want this. Maybe they need the cartel armies to disrupt the progress that the current leftist government is making in Mexican society.

Only time will tell. And as far as the Chapitos and Rubin-Mor, that story is still unfolding. We'll be sure to keep you posted. Thank you so much for watching and make sure to hit that like button and subscribe to the channel. My name is Johnny Mitchell. Take care.