by WorldTribune Staff, October 23, 2025 Real World News
The United States hopes to soon have in custody a drug kingpin known as “Brother Wang,” who the DEA said is responsible for transporting from Mexico to the U.S. nearly 2,000 kilos of fentanyl and more than 1,000 kilos of cocaine.
Who is “Brother Wang”?
Chinese national Zhi Dong Zhang, 38, is accused of moving thousands of kilograms of drugs and laundering millions of dollars through his criminal organization which operated globally.
Brother Wang used other aliases including El Chino, Tocayo, Pancho, and Nelson Mandela.
Zhi was arrested last fall in Mexico City and is a priority target for the United States.
Just as his extradition to the U.S. was imminent, a Mexican judge placed Zhi on house arrest and he escaped.
Mexican official sources confirmed to El Pais that Brother Wang is currently in Cuba, where he arrived with a false passport after being denied entry into Russia for the same reason.
“Mexico is waiting for Cuban authorities to complete his interrogation before receiving him in Mexico and, according to the same sources, automatically deporting him to the United States,” David Marcial Perez wrote for El Pais on Oct. 21.
The DEA accused Zhi of leading a criminal network that has worked for both the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel since at least 2016.
Zhang’s organization is based in Los Angeles and Atlanta, but it has ties to Central and South America, Europe and Asia.
“His escape from Mexico City, confirmed on July 11, generated much controversy. He was being held in a maximum-security prison until a judge granted him house arrest, from which he escaped despite being in military custody,” Perez noted.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum criticized the judge’s decision: “The judge, without any supporting arguments, because the Prosecutor’s Office was presenting all the arguments, granted him house arrest. That ruling should never have come from a judge. How was that possible?”
Six days before his escape, a federal court in Georgia had issued new charges against Zhi, accusing him of laundering at least $20 million in the United States between 2020 and 2021 alone, through a complex network of more than 150 shell companies and 170 bank accounts.
“The enigmatic Chinese drug lord used various identities and false passports to move undetected between the Americas, Asia, and Europe,” Perez wrote. “That is, until his escape from Mexico City and his attempted entry into Russia and subsequent journey to Cuba. This time, Zhang’s adventures appear to be closer to landing him in a U.S. prison.”
Who is ‘Brother Wang’? U.S. zeroes in on fentanyl kingping believed to be in Cuba added by Editor Two on
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