Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, 76, will spend the remainder of his life behind bars. A federal court in Brooklyn announced this on Monday, July 20. Judge Brian Cogan confirmed a life sentence for one of the most bloodthirsty drug traffickers in history, the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, who last year pleaded guilty to trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine over a period of decades. The sentence also requires Zambada to pay $15 billion in restitution for the damage he caused.
With this sentence, Zambada is in the same position as his former partner in crime, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who is also imprisoned in the United States and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019. They are two of the most prominent Mexican drug traffickers of recent decades who led the Sinaloa Cartel in the country’s northwest.
El Mayo appeared before the court on Monday to hear a sentence he already knew would be imposed under the guilty plea deal he reached last year. He admitted to conspiracy to commit crimes and to running a criminal enterprise, charges that carry a mandatory life sentence. In return, he received a guarantee from the U.S. Department of Justice that it would not seek the death penalty.
Zambada was arrested in July 2024 along with Joaquín Guzmán López, one of El Chapo’s sons, after their plane landed on a small airstrip in the state of New Mexico. Subsequently, Guzmán López pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges.
Frank Pérez, Zambada’s lawyer, said in a court filing submitted on July 6 that his client was fully aware he would receive a life sentence when he decided to accept responsibility for his crimes. Pérez asked Judge Cogan to recommend that the Federal Bureau of Prisons place El Mayo in a facility where he could receive appropriate medical care.
Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn said the prisons suggested by Pérez might not have the infrastructure to manage the security risks Zambada poses, including the possibility that he could continue running cartel activities from behind bars. “Those security concerns will persist in the foreseeable future, as people loyal to the defendant continue to control the cartel,” the prosecutors wrote in a filing submitted on July 13.
El Mayo’s sentence threatens to strain relations between the governments of the United States and Mexico. President Claudia Sheinbaum has not hidden her displeasure over El Mayo’s arrest, an operation on Mexican soil in which the role played by various U.S. security agencies is not clear. Although U.S. authorities initially denied their involvement, it has gradually become clear that they did take part. A New Mexico museum recently displayed the plane the FBI brought across the border as part of the operation, which has opened another dispute between the two neighbors.
“The organization I headed encouraged corruption in my country by paying police officers, military commanders, and politicians who allowed us to operate freely,” Zambada said during last year’s hearing in which he admitted his guilt.
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