NEW YORK: Mexican drug kingpin Ismael El Mayo Zambada was sentenced on Monday (Jul 20) to life in jail within the US, after a plea deal final 12 months through which he admitted to transport tens of millions of kilogrammes of cocaine over a long time as chief of the violent Sinaloa Cartel.
Zambada is among the most high-profile Mexican drug traffickers to be sentenced in a US courtroom since fellow Sinaloa chief Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was sentenced to life in jail in 2019.
In handing down the sentence at a listening to in Brooklyn federal courtroom, US District Choose Brian Cogan stated that despite the fact that he had no alternative however to impose a life sentence, he believed it was the proper punishment.
“The just about unimaginable quantity of drugs attributable to him and the variety of murders that we are able to doc is sufficient to justify Congress’s choice to make this a compulsory life sentence,” the decide stated.
Zambada, 76, agreed to plead responsible in August 2025 to expenses, together with racketeering conspiracy and persevering with legal enterprise after the Justice Division stated it might not search the demise penalty. The costs carried a compulsory time period of life imjailment.
ZAMBADA ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY
Carrying a beige jail-issue t-shirt over an orange long-sleeve shirt, Zambada was led into Cogan’s courtroom by two US Marshals and stated, “Buenas tardes” – Spanish for “good afternoon” – to his lawyer, Frank Perez.
Briefly remarks to the courtroom, Zambada stated he took accountability for the hurt his actions had caused.
“Nobody wins in a battle like this. To the following era, I say, select a distinct path,” Zambada stated.
Cogan stated he would recommend that the Bureau of Jails place the septuagenarian Zambada in a facility the place he would obtain satisfactory medical care. The decide stated Zambada was struggling a number of progressive well being illnesses, which he didn’t specify, and stated his choice to plead responsible fairly than go to trial spared the federal government appreciable time and expense.
“I am not saying he ought to be assigned to a camp as a reward for that,” Cogan stated, referring to a minimum-security facility. “To the extent there’s doubt about what’s wanted medically, give him the doubt.”
