By An Indiana beauty queen, Glenis Zapata, was arrested in a sweeping drug bust with ties to a Mexican cartel. The operation, years in the making, also targeted one of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) most wanted fugitives.
Glenis Zapata, 34, who was crowned Miss Indiana Latina in 2011, allegedly used her job as a flight attendant to transport drug money from Chicago to southern states and into Mexico, according to a federal indictment. She faces two counts of money laundering for transporting $170,000 on August 7, 2019, and at least $140,000 on September 10, 2019.
Zapata was one of 18 suspects arrested when federal law enforcement apprehended Oswaldo Espinosa, a key target and among the DEA’s most wanted fugitives. Zapata, along with her sister Ilenis Zapata and bank teller Georgina Banuelos, were the latest arrests in the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces’ (OCDETF) takedown of Espinosa.
Espinosa is alleged to be the ring leader of a multi-million dollar, Mexico-based drug trafficking organization that flooded U.S. streets with thousands of kilograms of cocaine. From 2018 to 2023, Espinosa recruited ordinary workers like Zapata to participate in his criminal enterprise, which utilized warehouses and garages in Chicago to hide money and drugs. Cash and cocaine were then transported via semi-trailer trucks and planes from the Midwest to the southern U.S. and into Mexico, allegedly with Zapata’s assistance.
Court documents detail that Espinosa headed his own international drug trafficking organization (DTO), the Espinosa DTO. The indictment against Zapata includes charges for eight drug trafficking operations from 2021 to 2023 and 15 cash transports between November 2019 and March 2022.
The OCDETF led the investigation into Espinosa, aiming to dismantle major drug rings in the U.S. The Espinosa DTO is smaller compared to major cartels like The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and El Chapo’s Sinaloa Cartel, which dominate Mexico and have extensive operations in the U.S. A 2023 study by Science estimates there are about 150 Mexican cartels with approximately 175,000 active members, many of which operate illegal businesses and smuggle drugs and money into the U.S.
A May DEA report highlighted that the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels, known for meth and fentanyl distribution, operate in all 50 states and have “caused the worst drug crisis in U.S. history.” Dismantling major drug operations is a primary goal for federal law enforcement agencies, with nearly 600 bulk cash seizures valued at $18 million conducted within 150 miles of the border in 2023.
“DEA’s top operational priority is to relentlessly pursue and defeat the two Mexican drug cartels … that are primarily responsible for driving the current fentanyl poisoning epidemic in the United States,” the report states. The operation targets the violent dealers contributing to the overdose crisis, emphasizing the ongoing battle against these powerful criminal organizations.
