“El Mayo,” the elderly Mexican drug lord who took over “El Chapo’s” infamous cartel, admitted in Brooklyn court Monday to fueling a violent trade that drowned the US in heroin, cocaine and fentanyl for decades.
Ismael Zambada, 75, the ex-righthand man of ruthless former Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin Guzman, copped a deal with the feds in which he pleaded guilty to a count each of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and racketeering conspiracy more than a year after it he was captured stateside.
Zambada’s plea — which carries a mandatory life sentence — comes after federal prosecutors took the death penalty off the table against him. The cartel, which he helped Guzman found, was designated a foreign terrorist organization by President Trump earlier this year.
Prosecutors said Zambada oversaw a highly militarized gang that had a private security force and a slew of hitmen ready to assassinate, torture and kidnap.
The cartel kingpin, along with one of El Chapo’s sons, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, flew to Texas on July 24, 2024, and was arrested on the spot.
While authorities said Zambada was tricked into jumping on the flight, he claimed he was “kidnapped” and forced to fly to the US.
Zambada, whose case was moved from Texas to Brooklyn after his arrest, faced a slew of federal counts, including murder conspiracy.
Another son of El Chapo, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in July – becoming the first of the drug lord’s sons to fall.
El Chapo is serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 2019 of heading the drug trafficking operation that flooded the US with billions of dollars worth of deadly narcotics.
