Sat, October 31, 2026 at 9:07 PM UTC
Netflix has a new No. 1 show, and it’s a three-part documentary about one of the most notorious figures in the history of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The Fall of El Mayo is currently the No. 1 series on Netflix in the U.S., according to FlixPatrol’s Oct. 31 rankings. The documentary arrived on the streaming service just two days earlier, on Oct. 29.
The series tells the story of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García, the co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel and longtime partner of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. Unlike El Chapo, who became one of the most recognizable faces of the drug trade, El Mayo spent decades operating largely out of the public eye.
That changed in July 2024, when he was taken into U.S. custody after arriving at a small airport in New Mexico aboard a private plane with Joaquín Guzmán López, El Chapo’s son. Netflix’s documentary examines what happened and the lingering questions surrounding El Mayo’s capture.
The Story Behind El Mayo’s Downfall
The Fall of El Mayo is directed by Darren Foster and Miguel Fernández Flores and uses interviews, previously unseen archival footage and hundreds of court records from Mexico and the United States to reconstruct the events surrounding Zambada’s downfall.
Netflix says the filmmakers spoke with security agents, politicians, journalists, people connected to the cartel and families affected by the violence surrounding it.
The series consists of three episodes, each running roughly an hour, making it a relatively quick binge for viewers interested in true crime and organized crime documentaries. All three episodes were released simultaneously on Oct. 29.
It’s Already Beating Some Major Netflix Shows
The No. 1 ranking puts The Fall of El Mayo ahead of several established Netflix hits.
As of Oct. 31, The One About Matthew Perry is No. 2 on the U.S. series chart, followed by Nobody Wants This, Love Is Blind and Instadocs: Jane Doe v. Cornell.
The documentary’s quick rise is particularly notable because it only debuted Thursday. By Saturday, it had already climbed to the top of Netflix’s U.S. series rankings.
For anyone looking for something new to watch this weekend, The Fall of El Mayo is clearly getting plenty of attention, and its three-episode format makes it an easy series to finish in one sitting.
This story was originally published byMen’s Journalon Oct 31, 2026, where it first appeared in theEntertainmentsection. Add Men’s Journal as aPreferred
