- Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the longtime leader of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel, pleaded not guilty Friday to U.S. drug trafficking and murder charges.
- Zambada said in the letter that he was brought to the United States by Guzman Lopez, the son of Sinaloa co-founder Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who was kidnapped and imprisoned in Mexico.
- Prosecutors said Zambada controlled a stockpile of military-grade weapons, a nearly military-like private security force and a hit squad that carried out assassinations, kidnappings and torture.
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the longtime powerful leader of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel, pleaded not guilty Friday to U.S. drug trafficking and murder charges.
Zambada, who participated in the court hearing through a Spanish interpreter, did not say anything other than to the judge's standard questions about whether he understood the various documents and procedures and how he was feeling, saying “I'm OK, I'm OK.” Zambada's lawyers have pleaded not guilty on his behalf.
Zambada, who federal authorities say has been pursued by U.S. law enforcement for more than two decades, has been in U.S. custody since July 25 when he arrived at an airport outside El Paso on a private jet with fugitive drug cartel leader Joaquin Guzman Lopez.
Mexican prosecutors considering treason charges following U.S. arrest of drug lord “El Mayo” Zambada
Zambada later said in a letter that he had been forcibly kidnapped in Mexico and brought to the U.S. by Guzman Lopez, the son of imprisoned Sinaloa co-founder Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
U.S. District Judge James Cho ordered Zambada held until his trial. Zambada's lawyers did not seek bail, and U.S. prosecutors in Brooklyn asked the judge to keep Zambada in custody.
“He was one of the most powerful drug lords in the world,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco Navarro. “He was a co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel and ruled at the top of the drug trafficking world for decades.”
In this courtroom sketch, Ismael Zambada Garcia (center), also known as El Mayo, sits next to his lawyer, Frank Perez (left), in federal court in the Brooklyn borough of New York on September 13, 2024. (Elizabeth Williams via The Associated Press)
Zambada sat quietly as an interpreter spoke, and after the brief hearing, he appeared to receive help from someone to get up from his chair as he left the courtroom, before walking out slowly and unassisted.
The sketch artists were present in the small courtroom, but there were not enough seats, so other journalists could only watch via closed-circuit video.
Prosecutors said in court and in letters to the judge that Zambada ran a vast and violent operation with a military-grade arsenal, an almost military-like private security force and gangs of hit men known as “sicarios” who carried out assassinations, kidnappings and torture.
Prosecutors say his bloody tenure included ordering the killing of his own nephew a few months ago.
“America's prisons are the only thing that can deter a defendant from committing further crimes,” Navarro said.
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Zambada also pleaded not guilty in an earlier court appearance in Texas.
His sudden arrest sparked fighting in Mexico between rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel. Several people were killed in shootouts. Schools in the business district of Culiacan, the Sinaloa state capital, were closed amid the fighting, which is believed to be between factions loyal to Zambada and those led by other sons of “El Chapo” Guzman, who was convicted in the United States in 2019 on drug and conspiracy charges and sentenced to life in prison.
It is unclear why Guzman Lopez turned himself in to U.S. authorities and brought Zambada with him. Guzman Lopez is currently indicted on separate drug trafficking charges in Chicago and has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges in federal court.
