Fausto Isidro Meza Flores

Fausto Isidro Meza Flores (born June 19, 1982), also known as "El Chapo Isidro", is a Mexican drug lord and leader of Los Mazatlecos. He held a high rank in the Beltrán Leyva Cartel and was the right-hand man of Alfredo Beltrán Leyva before Beltrán Leyva was incarcerated in the United States. On February 4, 2025, he was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

Criminal career

Early life and ascension Meza Flores (known in the criminal world as El Chapo Isidro) was born on June 19, 1982, in Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico. When the leader Arturo Beltrán Leyva was gunned down and killed by the Mexican military in December 2009, many within the cartel deserted and left to form an independent criminal organization with Edgar Valdez Villarreal, known as La Barbie. Meza Flores, however, remained loyal to the Beltrán Leyva brothers and possibly forged an alliance with Vicente Carrillo Fuentes. The drug gangs clashed just a few miles across the international border from the U.S. state of Arizona – an area notorious for being a smuggling route for narcotics and human trafficking. Reportedly, Meza Flores and a drug trafficker called Arnoldo del Cid Buelna (known in the criminal world as El Gilo) were the ones that carried out the surprise ambush attack on the gunmen of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Los Mazatlecos era His gang, Los Mazatlecos, is based in the region of Guasave, Los Mochis, Mazatlán, in Sinaloa, and Nayarit and is responsible for smuggling large quantities of methamphetamine, heroin, marijuana, and cocaine since 2000. He is one of the principal leaders of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel in the city of Mazatlán and in the mountainous areas of Sinaloa state. Since 2010, he has been one of the leading rivals of the Sinaloa Cartel; the fight between the two drug trafficking groups has generated a wave of kidnappings and executions in Sinaloa. Meza Flores was the right-hand man of Héctor Beltrán Leyva (now deceased), the top leader of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel; his area of operations is in Mazatlán, Guamúchil, Los Mochis, Choix and Los Cabos. On April 28, 2010, Meza Flores was nearly captured by Mexican law enforcement in the mountains of Choix, Sinaloa. However, the operation left two soldiers dead and twelve of his gunmen killed, including his right-hand man Omar Alfonso Rubio (alias "El Chonte"). On December 12, 2013, one of Meza Flores's top lieutenants, Ignacio "Nacho" González, was arrested in Guasave, Sinaloa, by the Mexican Army.

Status Meza Flores is wanted by the United States government on drug trafficking charges. The U.S. Department of State's Narcotics Rewards Program is currently offering a reward of up to $5,000,000 for information leading to his capture. His last known residence was in the state of Nuevo León, where he was reportedly seen with some of his family members at a youth basketball game in San Pedro Garza García on January 19, 2013. On February 4, 2025, he was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

Kingpin Act sanction The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury announced on January 17, 2013, that they froze the assets of Meza Flores, seven of his family members, and three companies that had connections with his criminal organization through the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (sometimes referred to simply as the "Kingpin Act").

Businesses included in the sanction