, Columnist
More Kingpin Convictions Won’t Stop the Cartels’ Killing
Without addressing the drug war’s root causes, the US capture of yet another boss is just creating another job opening.
The kingpin is dead, long live the kingpin.
Photographer: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images
“I recognize the great harm illegal drugs have done to the people in the United States and Mexico. I apologize for all of it, and I take responsibility for my actions.”
Thus did Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada — the 75-year-old co-founder of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and the most prolific drug lord since Pablo Escobar — claim remorse after more than five decades of flooding streets with narcotics, blood and violence.