In 2024, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, was tricked into flying to El Paso, Texas, where he was arrested by U.S. authorities.
Now, El Mayo has submitted a guilty plea in a U.S. federal court in Brooklyn, the same federal courthouse where his former colleague El Chapo Guzman was convicted in 2019.
Until his arrest in 2024, El Mayo had never been arrested or incarcerated before.
From ABC News: “The co-founder of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel pleaded guilty Monday [August 25th] to federal drug trafficking charges that accused him of being one of the most prolific and powerful narcotraffickers in the world. Ismael Zambada, 75, pleaded guilty to two counts contained in two different indictments, including one that charged him with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise for 35 years beginning in 1989. Judge Brian Cogan said he would sentence Zambada to life in prison. The plea agreement orders him to forfeit $15 billion. His sentencing has been scheduled for Jan. 13, 2026.”
Speaking through an interpreter, El Mayo said “I recognize the great harm illegal drugs have done to the people of the United States, of Mexico, and elsewhere. I take responsibility for my role in all of it and I apologize to everyone who has suffered or been affected by my actions.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi flew to New York to make her statement about what she called a “landmark victory”.
Quoth AG Bondi “Thanks to the relentless work of our prosecutors and our federal agents, El Mayo will spend the rest of his life behind bars. He will die in a U.S. federal prison where he belongs. His guilty plea brings us one step closer to achieving our goal of elimination of the drug cartels and the transnational criminal organizations throughout this world that are flooding our country with drugs, human traffickers and homicides.”
And, she said that “This guy, ‘El Mayo,’ was living like a king. Now he’s living like a criminal for the rest of his life.”
Back in Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum (who has been accused of being a narco-politician by Senator Lilly Tellez) was asked at her morning press conference “Is there concern in your government over what ‘el Mayo” could declare?”
To which President Sheinbaum replied “No. Whatever he is going to declare – and if the Attorney General’s office inquires about it – any issue related to Mexico has to pass through evidences and through the Mexican Attorney General’s Office, there is a process.” [Video here]
Source: Government of Mexico