Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, 77, co-founder of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel alongside Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, has agreed to a plea deal that will see him spend the rest of his life in a U.S. federal prison, the Department of Justice confirmed Monday.
Zambada, who was arrested in July 2024 after arriving in the United States on a private jet alongside El Chapo’s son, Joaquín Guzmán López, avoided trial by pleading guilty to racketeering charges. The conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
At a press briefing in Brooklyn, Attorney General Bondi said, “El Mayo will spend the rest of his life behind bars. He will die in a U.S. federal prison where he belongs. Their reign of terror is over.”
Zambada also agreed to forfeit $15 billion in assets amassed through decades of drug trafficking and violence. “He was living like a king, but he’ll now live like he’s on death row,” Bondi added, flanked by prosecutors and federal agents.
The Sinaloa Cartel is held responsible for trafficking vast quantities of fentanyl into the United States—an opioid estimated to be 50 times more powerful than cocaine. U.S. authorities blame the drug for tens of thousands of overdose deaths each year, fueling the ongoing opioid crisis.
Zambada was initially charged in September 2024 with 17 counts, including murder and drug trafficking. His arrest, along with that of Guzmán López, triggered a violent wave of internal conflict within the Sinaloa cartel, reportedly leaving over 1,200 people dead and 1,400 missing in Mexico’s Sinaloa state.
The Sinaloa cartel remains one of six major Mexican drug trafficking organizations designated as global terrorist groups under U.S. policy. Former President Donald Trump formally applied this designation and ramped up pressure on cartel leadership, including imposing sanctions and raising the bounty on El Chapo’s fugitive sons—known as “Los Chapitos”—to $10 million each.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, Justin R. Simmons, also underscored the cartel's violent legacy, noting that the Sinaloa cartel has engaged in a protracted war with the rival Juarez cartel along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Zambada’s sentencing date has not yet been set.
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