Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García, one of the founding leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, has been sentenced to life in federal prison in the United States following a plea agreement with prosecutors.
The sentence was handed down Monday by U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in federal court in Brooklyn, New York. Prosecutors had previously agreed not to seek the death penalty, but the charges carried a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
Plea agreement resolved multiple federal cases
As part of the agreement reached last year, Zambada pleaded guilty to charges stemming from federal indictments filed in multiple U.S. jurisdictions, including the Eastern District of New York and the Western District of Texas.
His convictions include racketeering conspiracy and engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise for conduct spanning from 1989 through early 2024.
The Texas indictment also accused him of money laundering, murder and drug trafficking conspiracies, along with state law violations tied to murder and kidnapping.
Decades leading the Sinaloa Cartel
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Zambada spent decades overseeing one of the world’s most powerful drug trafficking organizations, which smuggled cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and, more recently, fentanyl into the United States.
Federal prosecutors said the cartel generated billions of dollars through drug trafficking and money laundering while expanding its operations across Mexico and the U.S.
Authorities allege that under Zambada’s leadership, the organization also became a major producer and trafficker of fentanyl by importing chemical precursors from China and manufacturing the synthetic opioid in laboratories across Mexico.
One of Mexico’s most notorious drug traffickers
Zambada was arrested in July 2024 after landing at a small airstrip in New Mexico alongside Joaquín Guzmán López, one of the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who has also pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges.
With Monday’s sentencing, Zambada joins “El Chapo” Guzmán among the highest-profile Mexican cartel leaders to receive life sentences in U.S. federal court.
