The guilty plea curbs the stunning reversal of Ismael “Elmailo” Zambada’s good fortune.
Cartel boss El Mayo pleads guilty to drug trafficking
Sinaloa Cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada will plead guilty to drug trafficking charges and live in a US federal prison.
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, co-founder and leader of the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel, pleaded guilty on August 25th to US drug trafficking charges.
The Brooklyn, New York plea holds back a spectacular turnaround in Zambada’s fortune, what has been considered the world’s largest and deadly syndicate of organized crime for decades, even if his co-founder, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, made all the principals.
Zambada’s judicial agreement, which settles cases against him in numerous US jurisdictions, includes a contract that confiscates $15 billion in illegal profits, according to the US attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York.
Specifically, Zambada pleaded guilty to charges of continuing criminal enterprises, the Sinaloa Cartel, and Lattearter in charge of the affected corrupt organization (RICO) in front of Judge Briankogan.
“Zambada Garcia is now responsible for many illegal drugs, including cocaine and fentanyl, which he and his organization have trafficked for decades, as well as the murders committed in promoting the corporation,” said a lawyer for the Eastern District of New York Nosera.
Under Zambada’s leadership, the Sinaloa Cartel “made billions of dollars by importing toxic drugs into the United States and flooding the streets with cocaine, heroin and fentanyl,” said Assistant Attorney Matthew Galeotti.
Zambada, who the Justice Department said is 75, had previously pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from his role in leading the Sinaloa cartel.
He was arrested in New Mexico in July 2024 along with one of Guzman’s sons after the plane landed just above the Mexican border. His arrest and surrounding circumstances thrust the organization into a period of bloody war between rival facts.
Zambada’s lawyer Frank Perez told USA Today at the time that Guzman Lopez had lured Zambada to the US and flew him to the US against his will. Guzman’s representative denied this.
Perez did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.
Guzman, who was arrested for the third time in 2016 and later convicted in New York, has been sentenced to life in Colorado’s largest security prison.
On August 14, Mexico sent over 20 cartel members to the United States amid pressure from Mexican President Donald Trump to dismantle the Sinaloa cartel and other powerful drug organizations.
