Zambada accepts murders and corrupting politicians

Former Mexican drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada admitted in a U.S. court on Monday to ordering murders and shipping millions of kilograms of cocaine during his decades leading the violent Sinaloa Cartel.

Zambada, 75, faces a mandatory life sentence after pleading guilty in Brooklyn court to charges of conspiracy to commit extortion and running a criminal organization that prosecutors say was responsible for flooding the United States with cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl.

These charges stem from his decades-long role leading the Sinaloa Cartel alongside imprisoned drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, who is serving a life sentence in a maximum-security prison in Colorado.

“They brutally murdered many people and flooded our country with drugs,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters. “Their reign of terror is over. They will never walk free again.”

Zambada agreed to plead guilty after the Justice Department said this month that it would not seek the death penalty for Zambada or Rafael Caro Quintero, another septuagenarian alleged Mexican drug trafficker facing charges in the United States.

Zambada wore a blue prison T-shirt over an orange long-sleeved shirt and walked with a slight limp as he entered U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan's courtroom, which was packed with members of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other U.S. law enforcement agencies.

With gray hair and a bushy beard, he smiled at his defense attorneys before pleading guilty.

Speaking quietly through an interpreter, Zambada recounted a life of crime that he said began when he planted a marijuana plant in 1969, at age 19.

He said the Sinaloa Cartel, under his leadership, transported more than 1.5 million kilograms of cocaine, raking in hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Zambada claimed the cartel bribed Mexican politicians and police to protect its drugs, and claimed he ordered gunmen under his command to kill rivals.

Zambada acknowledged the deaths of what he said were many innocent people and apologized to those who suffered or were affected by his actions.

"This isn't just another plea deal; it's the collapse of the myth that cartel leaders are beyond the reach of American justice," said Terrance Cole, administrator of the DEA, the U.S. anti-drug agency, at a press conference.

Detention

Zambada was arrested in July 2024 along with Joaquín Guzmán López, one of Guzmán's sons, after the plane they were traveling on landed on a small airstrip in New Mexico.

Zambada's lawyer has claimed that Guzmán López kidnapped him, a claim denied by the Guzmán family's lawyer.

Guzmán López has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges filed against him in the United States. Prosecutors have stated that they will not seek the death penalty if convicted.

Covenant

El Mayo will not share information or point the finger at Mexican politicians during his trial in the United States, his attorney, Frank Pérez, said Monday after the hearing in which the drug lord changed his plea and pleaded guilty in the Eastern District Court of New York.

"The information that Mayo Zambada has stays with Mayo Zambada," the defense attorney stated when questioned by the press about the possibility of his client cooperating with U.S. authorities in the context of the trial.

Pérez emphasized that Zambada "gains nothing" by pleading guilty and that the decision is not accompanied by a cooperation agreement with the Department of Justice. "He's not going to talk about anyone, he's not cooperating with anyone... he's not going to cooperate," he insisted.

The lawyer was also asked about the kingpin's alleged relationship with politicians in Mexico, a recurring theme in high-profile drug trafficking cases, such as those of Genaro García Luna and Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. Regarding this, Pérez pointed out that any information regarding these alleged connections is already part of files the U.S. government has compiled in other trials.

“We are not going to stop”

U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi warned that the U.S. government will not halt its crackdown on drug trafficking following Mayo's guilty plea.

During a press conference following Zambada García's hearing, Bondi called the Sinaloa drug lord an "international terrorist drug trafficker" and assured that he will be treated as such by the U.S. justice system.

"El Mayo will spend the rest of his life behind bars; he will die in a U.S. prison where he belongs. His statement brings us one step closer to achieving our goal of eliminating drug cartels and international criminal organizations," he declared.

The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella, emphasized that the day marks a historic day for the U.S. judicial system. He noted that both El Chapo and El Mayo were responsible for generating billions of dollars in illicit profits through drug trafficking, while spreading violence, corruption, and bribery on both sides of the border.

“I want to thank our allies at the FBI, Homeland Security, and the DEA, as well as numerous other government entities and agencies. I also want to thank our counterparts in the Mexican government,” Nocella said.

The prosecutor asserted that the fall of El Mayo, who remained a fugitive for more than five decades, represents a decisive blow to the Sinaloa Cartel, which he described as "decapitated" after the capture of El Chapo Guzmán. (With information from AFP)