These are real crime family values.
Federal prosecutors say the ruthless former boss of the world's largest drug empire and one-time right-hand man to “El Chapo” killed his nephew for collecting a debt without the boss's permission.
The brutality was laid out in court documents Friday for Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia, 76, who appeared in a Brooklyn courtroom and pleaded not guilty to charges he led Mexico's notorious Sinoloa cartel for decades.
Prosecutors say Zambada ordered brutal killings this year, including that of his nephew, Eliseo Imperial Castro, in May, and U.S. District Judge James Cho ordered Zambada held without bail.
According to federal court filings, the crime boss, who allegedly co-founded the drug cartel with imprisoned and convicted Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, ordered his nephew's murder after he learned that the man was “nominally” collecting debts on his uncle's behalf but “for his own benefit.”
Imperial Castro's bullet-riddled body was found inside a car on the side of the road in the northwestern Mexican city of Culiacan on May 31, local authorities said.
Federal authorities say the assassinations were commonplace for “El Mayo.”
Before his arrest on July 25 in El Paso, Texas, Zambada “was one of the most powerful drug lords in the world,” prosecutor Francisco Navarro said in court on Friday.
“He controlled a veritable army of men ready to use violence at his command,” Navarro said as Zambada, wearing a brown prison shirt and with an expressionless face, swayed slowly in a black rolling chair at the defense table.
“He used that power to kill rival drug cartel members, law enforcement officers, civilians and even members of his own drug cartel,” Navarro added. “Assassination, kidnapping, torture, extortion and bribery were the tools of his trade.”
Federal investigators said in court filings that Zambada ordered at least three killings in recent months in retaliation for the November 2023 theft of the cartel's huge haul of fentanyl pills, methamphetamine and cocaine in Tijuana, and in their arguments that the accused drug lord should be held in custody until trial.
Struggling to put weight on his left leg, the alleged mastermind limped to the defense table on Friday morning, making his first appearance in the same courtroom where his former partner, “El Chapo,” was convicted five years ago.
Like “El Chapo,” “El Mayo” (as he was nicknamed) is linked to billions of dollars in drug money sent to Mexico, millions of dollars in corrupt bribes paid to local officials annually, and countless kidnappings and murders since the late 1980s, according to prosecutors.
Zambada said little during his roughly 30-minute court appearance Friday.
At the beginning of the hearing, Judge Cho asked him if he was really Ismael Zambada Garcia, to which he replied, “Yes, I am.”
When the judge asked how he was feeling, Garcia replied through a Spanish translator, “I'm OK, I'm OK.”
The judge then read out the 17 charges Garcia faces, including one for “operating a continuing criminal enterprise,” which carries a mandatory life sentence. Garcia then pleaded not guilty.
After the hearing ended, Zambada was freed from his handcuffs and, with the help of federal marshals, limped again to a side door of the courtroom.
His other charges include drug trafficking, conspiracy to murder and money laundering. He is due to appear again in court on October 31.
In a major coup for US law enforcement, Zambada was arrested in July along with one of El Chapo's sons, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, after the plane they were traveling in landed in El Paso.
According to U.S. authorities, Lopez enticed Zambada onto a small plane in Hermosillo, Mexico, under the guise of a real estate transaction, which led to his arrest.
But in letters written by Zambada from prison and released by his lawyer, the alleged drug lord claims he was ambushed at a meeting in Culiacan, Mexico, and put on a three-hour flight to the United States “against his will.”
“El Mayo” will make his first appearance in Texas federal court in July, after which the case will be transferred to Brooklyn, where it will be presided over by Brian Cogan, the same federal judge who presided over the El Chapo case.
