Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada is accused of ordering torture, plotting murders and flooding the U.S. with cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs.

August 10 was, for many in Mexico, a quiet Sunday like any other. But in Sinaloa—a northwestern state facing the Pacific—it was no ordinary Sunday. That day, 17 homicides were committed: one every 85 minutes.

Ismael Zambada García, known as El Mayo, was accused of running a murderous operation that ran drugs like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine across the U.S.-Mexico border.