Former Chicago Kingpin: Trump Doing ‘Great Job’ Targeting Mexican Drug Cartels

Margarito “Jay” Flores Jr., a former Chicago kingpin who was the Sinaloa Cartel’s largest distributor in the United States under the notorious El Chapo, said he believes President Trump is doing a “great job” going after the Mexican drug cartels.

Flores Jr., whose face was blurred in the video for his own safety after cooperating with U.S. authorities to help take down El Chapo, spoke on “Borderland: Narcosis with Vincent ‘Rocco’ Vargas.”

“I believe that the Trump administration is doing a great job. … it’s kind of winding down a little bit in the media, but I believe that government that’s still at full force going after these drug cartels,” Flores Jr. stated. “I don’t believe that the Chapo faction or the Mayo Zambada faction (of the Sinaloa Cartel) will last another year. … Especially with some of the recent arrests,” Flores Jr. stated.

Ismael Mayo Zambada was one of the co-founders of the Sinaloa Cartel, which has an estimated 5000-20,000 members across the world. The faction in his name is opposed by the faction known as Los Chapitos, which is led by the sons of El Chapo. When El Chapo ran the cartel, they ran a sophisticated smuggling operation using narco-submarines, airplanes, and drones, which are likely still being utilized.

“To the American public, some of these arrests that are happening might not be significant because they don’t have a name,” Flores Jr. theorized. “All these arrests are meaning something, and I do believe that it’s the pressure the United States has, making a difference and it’s going to continue making a difference.”

Earlier this month, President Trump issued a directive for the Pentagon to use the military for operations against Latin American drug cartels, as Reuters reported.

Sources briefed on the move told Reuters that after Trump’s order, the Defense Department has begun deploying U.S. troops to address “threats to U.S. national security from specially designated narco-terrorist organizations in the region.” Last week, Trump quietly signed an order to deploy U.S. troops to conduct anti-cartel operations in foreign countries, according to The New York Times.

“I could imagine that even today right now you have politicians calling the government saying, ‘Hey, is there a deal there for me?’” Flores Jr. quipped.

“I believe it’s also gonna happen with CJNG [Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, another major drug cartel]. It’s just gonna take a little more time,” he said. “I believe that if the government continues to put this kind of pressure on CJNG, I don’t see it lasting two years.”

“I believe that the Trump administration continues that, by the time the president’s term is over, the landscape of Mexico and the drug cartels is going to look very, very different,” he surmised. “The United States is targeting, they’re making so much (sic) arrests, think about everything that’s happened in the last year: More has happened in the last year than I believe in the last 25 years in terms of United States prosecutions and arrests.”

Margarito “Jay” Flores Jr., who was El Chapo’s largest distributor for the Sinaloa Cartel in the U.S., says that President Trump is doing a “great job” going after the cartels:

“More has happened in the last year than in the last 25 years in terms of prosecutions and arrests”… pic.twitter.com/mC2POoaNsK

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) August 17, 2025