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A longtime senior leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Ismael Zambada Garcia, or “El Mayo,” and a son of famed drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán were taken into custody Thursday by U.S. authorities in Texas, according to senior Mexican and U.S. officials. It was a major blow to the Sinaloa federation, a global drug-trafficking syndicate considered the No. 1 supplier of fentanyl to the United States. (Sheridan and Miroff, 7/26)

The arrest of Ismael El Mayo Zambada, the Boss of Bosses, represents a huge blow to the Sinaloa Cartel. The criminal organization, one of Mexico’s biggest, has been resisting the manhunt by the United States in its war against fentanyl trafficking, as well as an internal war for territorial control. The siege by the authorities bore fruit and ended this Thursday with the arrest of one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the country, who had never once set foot in prison. Founded in the 1980s in the mountains of the Pacific State, this cartel is divided into four factions that share the drug trafficking pie. (Zerega, 7/26)

The illegal synthetic opioid industry is built on surprisingly simple chemistry. Here’s the science behind fentanyl, and how underworld “cooks” put it to work. (Chung, Gottesdiener and Jorgic, 7/25)

At the tap of a buyer’s smartphone, Chinese chemical sellers will air-ship fentanyl ingredients door-to-door to North America. Reuters purchased enough to make 3 million pills. Such deals are astonishingly easy – and reveal how drug traffickers are eluding efforts to halt the deadly trade behind the fentanyl crisis. (Tamman, Gottesdiener and Eisenhammer, 7/25)

More than 3 in 4 New York State medical marijuana patients say cannabis has allowed them to reduce their intake of prescription drugs, according to a new report from the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM). That includes 2 in 3 (66 percent) who report that marijuana has specifically “reduced their need for prescription opioids for pain reduction.” (Adlin, 7/24)