Mexican magazine: Reputed druglord fears jail

Posted 9m ago

MEXICO CITY (AP) — One of Mexico's most famous reputed drug lords said in a rare interview published Sunday that he lives in fear of getting caught and believes the military has closed in on him four times.
"I'm terrified of being incarcerated," Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada told the Mexican news magazine, Proceso, adding that he would even contemplate suicide if he was about to be caught. "I'd like to think that yes, I would kill myself."

Zambada and Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who allegedly control the Sinaloa cartel, are Mexico's two most-notorious fugitives, with a $2 million reward offered for information on their whereabouts.

Zambada offered to meet with Proceso founder Julio Scherer. He gave specific directions on when and where the interview would take place, the publication reported.

The magazine offered no other explanation of why a reputed kingpin would give an interview after a lifetime on the run. It is rare for Mexican drug suspects to speak to the media while still free.

The offices of Calderon and the Attorney General said there would be no immediate comment on the interview.

"I fled into the countryside. I know the vegetation, the rivers, the rocks, everything," Zambada said. "I'll get caught if I get complacent, careless, just like El Chapo."

Guzman, who escaped prison by hiding in a laundry truck nearly a decade ago, has made Forbes magazine's lists of wealthiest and most-powerful people.

"El Chapo Guzman and I are friends and we talk on the phone a lot," Zambada said. He even said he might try to arrange an interview between Guzman and Proceso.

Zambada insisted, however, that the drug trade would continue unabated if he was arrested.

"When it comes to the capos, jailed, dead or extradited — their replacements are ready," Zambada said.

Mexican officials blame the Sinaloa cartel for much of the country's staggering bloodshed. Drug violence has killed more than 18,000 people since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006, and has made the border city of Ciudad Juarez, where Sinaloa is fighting a turf battle against the Juarez cartel, one of the world's most dangerous cities.

The interview comes as Zambada's son, Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, faces trial in Chicago on charges he conspired to import and sell large amounts of cocaine and heroin in the U.S. Zambada-Niebla, who has pleaded not guilty, was arrested last year in Mexico City and was extradited to the U.S. in February.

The U.S. indictment accuses Ismael Zambada and his son of using planes, boats, trucks and cars to move nearly $50 million worth of cocaine from Colombia to New York, New Jersey, Chicago and California between August 2001 and June 2002.

In the interview, Zambada refused to answer questions about his son, saying only that he "cries for him."

In November, a nephew of Zambada, Jesus Zambada Reyes, who had been cooperating with authorities, was found dead in a house in Mexico City in an apparent suicide. Zambada Reyes had been captured in 2008 and accused of smuggling cocaine through Mexico City airports.

Scherer said he took a long car ride through the mountains until he reached a rustic, two-room house where he met Zambada.

Zambada revealed no details about his alleged criminal activities, but offered some insight into his personal life. He said Zambada-Niebla was the oldest of his five children, and that he has five grandchildren and a great-grandson.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010 ... fear_N.htm