Sinaloa Cartel Map & Profile 2026: Chapitos vs Mayos, Leaders and U.S. Charges

What official records and reporting say about the Sinaloa Cartel: who leads it, where it is reported to operate, and how the U.S. has targeted it. Territory and leadership change fast, so each item links to its source and shows dates as reported. Allegations are as stated by the source; people who are charged are presumed innocent until convicted.

All cartel profiles

Names and aliases

• The U.S. State Department refers to the El Mayo loyalist faction as La Mayiza, also known as Los Mayos. [U.S. Department of State, 2025-09-18 · official record]
• U.S. federal notices list the organization as the Sinaloa Cartel, also known as Cartel de Sinaloa, Mexican Federation, and Guadalajara Cartel. [U.S. Department of State (via NewsMexico mirror), 2025-02-20 · official record]
• Analysts describe the Sinaloa Cartel as a network of factions rather than a single unified hierarchy. [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]
• Since February 20, 2025 the Sinaloa Cartel has carried the U.S. labels Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, OFAC, 2025-03-18 · official record]

Origins

• The cartel emerged from alliances among traffickers including El Chapo, El Mayo, and the Beltran Leyva brothers after the Guadalajara Cartel broke apart. [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]
• The Justice Department describes the cartel as based in Sinaloa and active since approximately the late 1980s, previously known as the Mexican Federation. [U.S. Department of Justice, 2026-07-20 · official record]
• The cartel's early roots trace to cannabis and poppy cultivation in the mountains of Sinaloa. [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]
• A historic alliance with the Milenio Cartel gave Sinaloa access to Pacific ports and to Chinese precursor chemicals. [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]
• The Beltran Leyva brothers split from the Sinaloa alliance in 2008, fragmenting the cartel's structure. [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]

Leadership

• After El Chapo's 2016 arrest, his sons, known as the Chapitos, assumed his leadership role in the cartel. (as of 2026-09-30) [U.S. Department of Justice, 2025-12-02 · official record]
• Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, known as 'El Chapito,' remains a fugitive and an alleged leader of the Los Chapitos faction, with a U.S. reward of up to $10 million. (as of 2026-09-30) [Parriva, 2026-09-29 · news/research]
• Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar remains a fugitive and an alleged senior figure of the Los Chapitos faction, with a U.S. reward of up to $10 million. (as of 2026-09-30) [U.S. Department of Justice, 2025-12-02 · official record]
• Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada Garcia co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel and led it from approximately the late 1980s until his July 2024 arrest. (as of 2026-09-30) [U.S. Department of Justice, 2026-07-20 · official record]
• Zambada pleaded guilty on August 25, 2025 and was sentenced on July 20, 2026 to life in prison without parole. (as of 2026-09-30) [U.S. Department of Justice, 2026-07-20 · official record]
• Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman Loera, historic leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, was arrested in January 2016, extradited to the United States in January 2017, and convicted in February 2019. (as of 2026-09-30) [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]
• Ovidio Guzman Lopez pleaded guilty to federal drug charges on July 11, 2025 and was in U.S. custody awaiting sentencing. (as of 2026-09-30) [U.S. Department of Justice, 2025-12-02 · official record]
• Joaquin Guzman Lopez pleaded guilty in December 2025 to drug conspiracy and continuing criminal enterprise charges after being in U.S. custody since July 2024. (as of 2026-09-30) [U.S. Department of Justice, 2025-12-02 · official record]
• Damaso Lopez, a longtime Sinaloa Cartel leader associated with the 'Damasos' wing, is in U.S. custody. (as of 2026-09-30) [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]

Factions and splits

• La Mayiza, also known as Los Mayos, is the faction of El Mayo loyalists. (as of 2026-09-30) [U.S. Department of State, 2025-09-18 · official record]
• On June 9, 2025, OFAC designated the Los Chapitos faction under counterterrorism and counternarcotics authorities. (as of 2026-09-30) [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-09-18 · official record]
• The cartel's two main current structures are the Mayo loyalists and the Chapitos. (as of 2026-09-30) [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]
• Los Chapitos is the faction composed of El Chapo's four sons. (as of 2026-09-30) [InSight Crime, 2026-09-09 · news/research]
• Armed groups identified with the cartel include the Ninis, Salazar, Gente Nueva, and Chimales. (as of 2026-09-30) [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]
• Los Antrax and the Rusos are armed groups associated with the cartel's factions. (as of 2026-09-30) [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]

Allies and rivals

• The cartel has formed temporary alliances with the Gulf Cartel and La Familia Michoacana. (as of 2026-09-30) [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]
• The cartel has reportedly also cooperated at times with the Tijuana Cartel. (as of 2026-09-30) [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]
• Cocaine supply networks link the cartel to Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. (as of 2026-09-30) [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]
• Precursor chemical suppliers for the cartel operate from China, India, and elsewhere in Asia. (as of 2026-09-30) [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]
• Despite their rivalry, Sinaloa and CJNG have sometimes shared precursor-chemical suppliers. (as of 2026-09-30) [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]

What it does

• The cartel moved drugs through land, air, and sea transportation networks. [U.S. Department of Justice, 2026-07-20 · official record]
• Core cartel activities include trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. [U.S. Department of Justice, 2026-07-20 · official record]
• The cartel developed fentanyl production using precursor chemicals sourced from China. [U.S. Department of Justice, 2026-07-20 · official record]
• Smuggling methods included vehicles, rail, tunnels, aircraft, and submersibles. [U.S. Department of Justice, 2025-12-02 · official record]
• The cartel taxes human-smuggling networks operating through its territory. [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]

U.S. designations, sanctions and charges

• OFAC designated the Sinaloa Cartel under Executive Order 14059 on December 15, 2021. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-09-18 · official record]
• The State Department designated the Sinaloa Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist effective February 20, 2025. [U.S. Department of the Treasury, 2025-09-18 · official record]
• A $15 billion forfeiture was ordered against Ismael Zambada Garcia at his July 2026 sentencing. [U.S. Department of Justice, 2026-07-20 · official record]
• An $80 million money judgment was imposed as part of Joaquin Guzman Lopez's guilty plea. [U.S. Department of Justice, 2025-12-02 · official record]

Key events

• Ovidio Guzman Lopez was arrested in October 2019 but released after cartel gunmen mounted an armed response in Culiacan. [InSight Crime, 2026-09-09 · news/research]
• Ovidio Guzman Lopez was rearrested in January 2023 and extradited to the United States in September 2023. [InSight Crime, 2026-09-09 · news/research]
• On May 13, 2025, the Justice Department's Southern District of California charged seven alleged Sinaloa Cartel leaders with narco-terrorism and material support to terrorism (case 25cr1505), including Pedro Inzunza Noriega ('Sagitario'/'120', 62), Pedro Inzunza Coronel ('Pichon', 33), 'Tano' Heredia Velazquez (50), Oscar Rene Gonzalez Menendez ('Rubio', 45, Guatemala), Elias Quiros Benavides (53, Costa Rica), Daniel Bojorquez ('Chopper', 47) and Javier Vazquez Sanchez ('Tito'/'Drilo', 31). [U.S. Department of Justice, 2025-05-13 · official record]
• The charges include narco-terrorism under 21 U.S.C. 960a and providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization under 18 U.S.C. 2339B. [U.S. Department of Justice, 2025-05-13 · official record]
• Rocha Moya took leave on May 1, 2026, returned to office in August 2026, then requested leave again days later after backlash from President Sheinbaum, who called the return 'not appropriate'; Mexico rejected the U.S. extradition request. [Reuters (via SRN News), 2026-08-24 · news/research]
• On February 27, 2025, Mexico expelled 29 cartel figures to the United States, including Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the 1985 killing of a U.S. DEA agent. [Associated Press (via SRN News), 2025-08-12 · news/research]
• The August 12, 2025 transfer of 26 cartel figures included Roberto Salazar, wanted in connection with the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy; others had ties to the Sinaloa Cartel. [Associated Press (via SRN News), 2025-08-12 · news/research]
• On April 29, 2026, U.S. prosecutors in the Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment charging sitting Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha Moya and nine other current and former officials with narcotics-importation conspiracy and related firearms offenses tied to the Sinaloa Cartel. [U.S. Department of Justice, Southern District of New York (mirrored PDF), 2026-04-29 · official record]
• The indictment named Senator Enrique Inzunza Cazarez and Culiacan Mayor Juan de Dios Gamez Mendivil; prosecutors allege Rocha Moya met with Los Chapitos leaders during his 2021 campaign, received help intimidating rivals, and later allowed the faction to operate with impunity, with a mandatory minimum of 40 years if convicted. [U.S. Department of Justice, Southern District of New York (mirrored PDF), 2026-04-29 · official record]
• Sinaloa's former Secretary of Public Security Gerardo Mérida Sánchez entered the United States at the Nogales, Arizona border crossing on May 11, 2026, where he was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service; he appeared in federal court in Manhattan on May 15, 2026, the first of the 10 indicted Sinaloa officials to appear in court. (AP) [Associated Press, 2026-05-15 · news/research]

Where it operates in Mexico

• The cartel holds the Golden Triangle and operates in Sonora, Baja California, Nayarit, Jalisco, and Chiapas. (as of 2026-09-30) [InSight Crime, 2026-07-16 · news/research]

Reported U.S. footprint

• Cartel operations reached Chicago, where the Joaquin Guzman Lopez prosecution was brought. (as of 2026-09-30) [U.S. Department of Justice, 2025-12-02 · official record]

Reported presence by Mexican state

Sinaloa Cartel in the United States

The DEA’s 2025 threat assessment says the group’s associates operate in almost all 50 U.S. states. [Small Wars Journal (summary of DEA NDTA 2025), 2025-05-18 · news/research]

States with specific evidence: Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, United States, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

Federal cases since 2024 whose release names the group: 70.

Cartels in the U.S.: map and state-by-state evidence →

Latest Sinaloa Cartel coverage

• Who Is ‘El Mayito Flaco’? Anaheim-Born Ismael Zambada Sicairos, the Son of ‘El Mayo’ the U.S. Now Calls the ‘Undisputed Head’ of the Sinaloa Cartel’s Los Mayos Sep 30, 2026
• Xolo Gas Sanctioned: U.S. Targets a Former Business Partner of Tijuana Xolos Owner Jorge Hank Inzunza — Twin Sons of Hank Rhon’s Late Security Chief Sep 30, 2026
• Treasury Says ‘Gordo Flubber’ Ordered a 2023 Tijuana Killing: Inside the Sinaloa Cartel Cell of $5 Million Fugitives ‘La Rana’ and ‘Aquiles,’ Across From San Diego Sep 29, 2026
• Mexico Blacklists Them Too: All 46 U.S.-Sanctioned ‘Mayito Flaco’ Targets — Including Baja Gov. Marina del Pilar’s Ex-Husband Carlos Torres — Added to Mexico’s Blocked-Persons List Sep 29, 2026
• ‘Angustiadísimo’: El Chapo Offered to Give Up Sinaloa Cartel Secrets to Save Sons Kidnapped by El Mencho’s CJNG in Puerto Vallarta, Ex-Security Chief Says Sep 28, 2026
• “They Were Tired and Old”: ‘La Chapodiputada’ Lucero Sánchez Says El Chapo and El Mayo Planned to Retire Together — and Didn’t Want Their Sons to Take Over Sep 26, 2026
• Tucson’s ‘Queen of the South,’ Who Claimed She Dreamed Up Rainbow Fentanyl for the Sinaloa Cartel, Gets 17 Years Sep 25, 2026
• 11,000 Pounds of Marijuana, 17 Years on the Run: Tucson Fugitive Jorge Lamadrid-Carranza Returned to Arizona From Playa del Carmen Sep 25, 2026

Read every Narco Blog story about the Sinaloa Cartel →

Last reviewed: September 30, 2026. Territory, leadership and advisories change; tell us about errors via our corrections page.