The Chinese Fentanyl King
How did a graduate from China’s top university become an alleged drug kingpin in Mexico?
Zhang Zhidong was, by every account, brilliant. He graduated from China's most elite university and spoke fluent Spanish. He arrived in Mexico in his mid-twenties to work in mining, and quickly learnt to establish relationships with the whoever the top dog was — whether from the local government, or the underworld.
He’s accused of building a criminal empire that made him a critical link between Chinese chemical factories and the cartels flooding the United States with fentanyl. Cartel members in Mexico called him “El Rey”, the king of fentanyl, or “numero uno”, or his alias “Brother Wang”. He is now imprisoned in the US facing drug trafficking charges.
ĢƵ investigates his rise and fall — speaking to a former friend who worked with him in Mexico , to drug cartel members who say they witnessed his influence first-hand, and to the researchers who have spent years untangling the network he allegedly ran.
Last on
Broadcasts
- Thu 16 Jul 2026 01:32GMTĢƵ World Service
- Thu 16 Jul 2026 08:32GMTĢƵ World Service
- Thu 16 Jul 2026 19:06GMTĢƵ World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Sat 18 Jul 2026 23:32GMTĢƵ World Service except Americas and the Caribbean, Australasia, East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Sun 19 Jul 2026 04:32GMTĢƵ World Service Australasia
- Sun 19 Jul 2026 13:06GMTĢƵ World Service News Internet
- Sun 19 Jul 2026 22:32GMTĢƵ World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only