The Mayiza, also known as the Mayos, is a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel linked to longtime leader Ismael Zambada García, alias “El Mayo.” US authorities arrested El Mayo at an airfield in New Mexico in July 2024 along with one of the sons of Sinaloa kingpin Joaquín Guzmán Loera, alias “El Chapo.”
In the days that followed, leaders of the Mayiza claimed that El Mayo had been kidnapped by a rival faction of the cartel run by El Chapo’s sons, known as the Chapitos. The violence unleashed by the conflict continues to ravage the state of Sinaloa, and has caused a surge in murders and disappearances, and wreaked widespread economic havoc.
