Top 10 Notorious Mexican Drug Lords

The ongoing Mexican government campaign has led to the killing of two major drug lords, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez and Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas at the end of 2010, and the arrest in June 2011 of Moreno's apparent successor Jesus Mendez Vargas. All this, however, offers small encouragement as Mexico tries to rein in the powerful drug cartels that have wreaked havoc across the country. TIME looks at 10 of the country's most prominent gangsters — dead or alive.

Not Your Pancho Villa

Ismael Zambada

By Ioan GrilloWednesday, June 22, 2011
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Aliases: El Mayo (named after a native Sinaloan tribe), El Rey (The King), The MZ
Affiliation: Sinaloa cartel
Born: Jan. 1, 1948, in Sinaloa
Bounty: $5 million (U.S.), 30 million pesos (Mexico)
What We Know: Zambada reportedly once worked as a furniture removal man before becoming a gangster. He's an old ally and friend of Joaquín Guzmán and appeared on the front cover of Mexico's top newsmagazine Proceso this year. He said in the interview he had one wife and five mistresses and claimed that the army had been close to catching him several times.

UPDATE: Still at large.

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