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• Unscathed and his legend growing, the stocky son of a peasant farmer grabbed a slot on the Forbes' billionaires' list and a folkloric status as the capo who grew too powerful to catch. Then, late last year, authorities started closing on the inner circle of the world's most-wanted drug lord.
• The son of one of his two top henchmen, Ismael "Mayo" Zambada, was arrested at a border crossing in Nogales, Arizona in November as part of a sprawling, complex investigation involving as many as 100 wiretaps, according to his lawyer.
• A month later, one of the Sinaloa cartel's main lieutenants was gunned down by Mexican helicopter gunships in a resort town a few hours drive to the east. Less than two weeks passed before police at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam arrested one of the cartel's top assassins, a man who handled transport and logistics for Guzman.
• This month the noose started tightening. Federal forces began sweeping through Culiacan, capital of the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa -- closing streets, raiding houses, seizing automatic weapons, drugs and money, and arresting a series of men Mexican officials carefully described to reporters as top officials for Zambada.
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A look at detentions of major
drug chiefs in recent years
• MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Top Mexican drug cartel captures or killings in recent years:
• --Feb. 22, 2014: Authorities say Mexican and U.S. officials capture the world's most powerful drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in the beach resort of Mazatlan.
• --July 15, 2013: Authorities in northern Mexico capture Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, alias "Z-40," leader of the brutal Zetas cartel.
• --Oct. 7, 2012: Mexican marines kill Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, alias "El Lazca," a founder and top leader of the Zetas. His body is later stolen from a funeral home. Trevino Morales takes over the Zetas.
• --Oct. 6, 2012: Mexican marines arrest alleged Zetas regional leader Salvador Alfonso Martinez Escobedo, suspected of involvement in massacres and the killing of U.S. citizen David Hartley in 2010 on Falcon Lake, which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border.
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