Pretrial skirmishes give Chicago closer look at drug cartels

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Updated: November 11, 2011 4:52PM

Al Capone wouldn’t stand a chance.

In Chicago, the mafia has a long and bloody history. But the wealth, global reach and extreme violence of the Mexican drug cartels make the gangsters of the 1920s pale by comparison.

The pretrial proceedings of Mexican drug kingpin Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla are giving Chicagoans a glimpse into the transnational business of the Mexican drug cartels, which serve a growing demand for illegal drugs in the U.S.

A member of the Sinaloa Cartel, Zambada-Niebla faces federal charges of trafficking tons of narcotics to Chicago and other cities using trains, ships, jets and even submarines between 2005 and 2008. The case is expected to go to trial early next year.

Zambada-Niebla, 35, is considered a narco junior, as the sons of drug kingpins are known in Mexico. They have taken over the control of the cartels started by their fathers. The narco juniors are known for having attended private schools, being well-polished and having an appetite for luxury cars, designer clothing and beauty queens.

Zambada-Niebla was arrested in a posh neighborhood in Mexico City, along with several bodyguards armed with AK-47s. He was wearing a dark pullover, a pinstriped shirt and designer blue jeans. With a trendy haircut, he looked more like a fashionable marketing executive than the traditional rough, scar-faced, trigger-happy narco.

Another infamous narco junior is Vicente Carrillo Leyva, son of the late Amado Carillo Fuentes, head of the Juarez Cartel known as El Senor de los Cielos (Lord of the Skies) because of the fleet of 727 planes he used to traffic drugs.

Carrillo Leyva, 34, was arrested in 2009 while exercising in a park in a wealthy neighborhood outside Mexico City. He was wearing an Abercrombie & Fitch jogging suit and designer black-rimmed glasses.

The federal indictment against Zambada-Niebla includes as co-defendants his father, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, and Sinaloa Cartel’s notorious drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is on both the FBI’s “most wanted” list and Forbes Magazine’s list of billionaires.

Since Zambada-Niebla was extraded to Chicago in early 2010, his pretrial proceedings have sparked controversy on both sides of the border. He first complained about jail conditions. Then he dropped a diplomatic bomb, contending that he and another member of the Sinaloa cartel were informants for the Drug Administration Administration and had been promised immunity from prosecution.

The federal authorities refuted the claim, but acknowledged that fugitive Sinaloa Cartel member and lawyer Humberto Loya Castro was indeed a DEA informant.

More recently, Zambada-Niebla’s lawyers asked the court to allow him to use the outdoor gym on the rooftop of the 27-story Metropolitan Correctional Center in the Loop. Prosecutors asked the court to deny the request, saying it would be too expensive to provide security.

Prison officials were worried about a possible attempt on Zambada-Niebla’s life or that he might try to escape. On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered the prison to allow Zambada-Niebla to exercise outdoors.

Basic economics — supply and demand — explain the world’s huge illegal narcotics business, which has annual street sales of $39 billion in the U.S. alone. In Mexico, the drug cartel wars have claimed more than 40,000 lives.

The U.S. Justice Department thinks the Mexican cartels operate in more than 1,000 American cities, but these guys run an international business. Mexican cartel operatives have been detected in North Africa, and their target is said to be the coveted European drug market. The feds have their hands full with Zambada-Niebla and his deadly associates.