US-born son of Sinaloa Cartel patriarch assumes control of Los Mayos faction
Ismael "Mayito Flaco" Zambada, born in Anaheim in 1982 and later renamed Fernando Sicairos Aispuro, has taken command of the La Mayiza/Los Mayos group after his father’s detention.
Ismael Zambada Sicairos, known as Mayito Flaco, entered the world on March 7, 1982, at a hospital in Anaheim, a short distance from Disneyland, with his parents listed as Ismael G. Zambada and María R. Cicairos. To hide his cartel ties, he filed for a name change in Arizona in 2001, emerging as Fernando Sicairos Aispuro while his parentage remained on record. After his father, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, was seized in New Mexico in July 2024, Mayito Flaco stepped into the leadership of the La Mayiza or Los Mayos network, prompting an internal war with the faction led by the sons of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. The Office of Foreign Assets Control has sanctioned him and a number of alleged collaborators for overseeing drug shipments, murders, extortion, corruption and kidnappings. The sanctions also target companies and individuals identified as facilitating the cartel’s operations in Baja California and beyond.
Why it matters
The story shows how a U.S.-born heir is steering a major Mexican cartel faction, affecting cross-border crime and U.S. sanctions policy.
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