Sinaloa, Mexico – Gunmen killed a high-ranking member of Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa drug cartel, according to CBS News and several Mexican media outlets. Eliseo Imperial Castro, also known as “Cheyo Antrax,” was wanted by the United States for drug trafficking and money laundering.
Imperial Castro was ambushed on a highway in Sinaloa last week, according to Mexican media. Proceso reports that his body was found with gunshot wounds inside a white Chevrolet Colorado truck.
Imperial Castro was the nephew of a Sinaloa Cartel co-founder, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. He is wanted by the US government for murder conspiracy, running a continuing criminal enterprise, and drug trafficking, along with several other charges. The US is currently offering a $15 million reward.
“As the co-founder and current leader of the largest, most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world, Ismael Zambada Garcia is accused of supplying fentanyl to the United States at a time when the lethal narcotic has claimed lives at a devastating rate,” said HSI Acting Assistant Director Arvelo after a new indictment in February.
According to the indictment, Zambada Garcia founded the Sinaloa Cartel with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera. El Capo was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years in 2019.
“To ensure the success of the cartel, Zambada Garcia employed individuals to obtain transportation routes and warehouses to import and store narcotics, and “sicarios,” or hit men, to carry out kidnappings and murders in Mexico to retaliate against rivals who threatened the cartel,” reads a press release from the US Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York.
