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Like countless famous breakouts, this one featured a secret route.

Late one night in July, in a Mexico City neighborhood where he was confined to his residence, the suspect crawled through an opening into the neighboring property and escaped from the soldiers assigned to guard him.

The accused, a purported narcotics dealer, traveled to Cuba and then allegedly traveled all the way to the Russian Federation—only to be rejected. At the end of October, the authorities in Cuba stated that they had arrested him. The same day, he was returned by air to Mexico and handed over directly to the US.

Zhang's audacious flight remains surrounded by secrecy. But experts note his case emphasizes the profound and increasing alliance between crime syndicates from China and drug cartels in Mexico.

“It’s emblematic of the crucial role networks from China have become to the central activities of Mexican underworld entities,” commented an expert on organized crime.

Zhang appeared in a New York courtroom on Wednesday, where he was charged of smuggling massive amounts of raw materials to manufacture fentanyl for the leading criminal groups in Mexico, the dominant illegal enterprises in the country.

Additionally, he is charged with reportedly trafficking cocaine and crystal meth, and for processing around $100 million through hundreds of shell companies and bank accounts in the America. Zhang pleaded not guilty at his court appearance.

He is what I would call a key intersection point,” said a ex-officer for the federal drug agency. “He surpasses than a top leader, because while kingpins remain at the summit and just a handful communicate with them, he was engaged in multiple operations.”

Zhang—who went by aliases such as El Chino and Brother Wang—came to Mexico pre-pandemic, then wed a Mexican national and obtained Mexican nationality. As someone well-versed in the criminal worlds of the two nations, “he offered something that only a select few can,” added the ex-investigator.

It may account for why unidentified individuals made extensive efforts to assist his breakout.

“This wasn't just he drove toward the neighboring country,” explained the insider. “He facilitated his escape from custody. He was put on residential confinement, fully staged for him to escape. And then he had an exclusive aircraft to a nation that’s in alliance with the Russian state and in some way Beijing.”

“This was the familiar tale of Mexico,” said the expert. “It wasn't merely his criminal genius that permitted him to break out. It involved graft.”

But finally it didn’t work: Russian authorities denied him entry, then Cuba handed him over.

The analyst says that the fugitive may have just been trying to get to any state that would refuse to extradite him to the America. “However, it is possible that he knew specific Russian underworld figures or spies or government actors that he was planning to rely on for safety,” she noted.

Regarding the cooperation from the Havana, the expert believes they may have been attempting to gain favor with the America, having witnessed the actions the previous administration is exerting on the South American nation, ostensibly over drug trafficking.

Given the flexibility of criminal networks, the apprehension of any single individual is unlikely to disrupt the supply of raw materials to Mexican drug groups for long, if it even happens. Still, his transfer gives American authorities the opportunity to gather information on every network he was involved in.

The Growing Alliance Between Chinese and Mexican Underworld Groups

The arrest has brought notice to the relationship between Chinese underworld networks and drug cartels in Mexico, which has exploded over the last 10 years as they became the main laundering operatives for cash from drug sales in the US, according to insiders.

Chinese underworld entities have a specialized service for money laundering, which is based on the reality that there are numerous individuals in the country who want to get money out but are limited by financial regulations, which restrict them to the equivalent of about $50K a year.

The system could begin with a Mexican cartel associate handing over narcotics proceeds to a Chinese citizen who is based in the US. After that individual verifies the payment, intermediaries from China use contacts in Mexico to remunerate the syndicates in Mexican currency. The laundering experts then sell the US currency in the America to people in China who wish to, for example, purchase real estate in the United States, and get funds in Chinese currency back in the country.

The whole operation can happen near instantaneously and without funds moving across borders, making it harder to trace.

And since the financial operatives can impose the costs on the “captive” Chinese customers, they can offer rates as low as the syndicates rates as low as between 1-2%.

“I had an secret investigation team that investigated older laundering methods for a long time,” noted the expert. “In the past, it required like a week and a half for the syndicates to receive their funds and around 7 to 10% in costs.

“Chinese networks changed the game.”