US arrests Mexican drug lord 'El Mayo' and El Chapo's son in Texas

But many American officials had given up hope on Joaquin turning himself in, and were caught unaware when he sent a last-minute message that he would arrive with a kingpin U.S. authorities had been chasing for four decades.

It sounded like a story ripped from a narco thriller: One of the biggest drug lords in Mexico was lured onto an airplane, flown across the border and presented to US federal agents by the son of his former partner in crime.

Despite more than four decades on the run as one of the world's most wanted fugitives, Mexican drug kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada had never spent a single night in jail -- until now.

Ismael Zambada Garcia, or El Mayo and Joaquin Guzman Lopez were arrested in El Paso, Texas