BROOKLYN — For greater than 4 many years, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada dominated from the shadows. Whereas different prime Mexican drug traffickers had been killed or extradited to the USA to face justice, Zambada remained comfortably ensconced atop his empire, exporting tons of cocaine, meth, heroin and fentanyl across the globe from his stronghold within the Pacific state of Sinaloa.
Lengthy after the downfall of his Sinaloa cartel associate, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Zambada continued to function with impunity, at all times a step forward of the regulation — till ultimately it caught as much as him, too.
Now the query is whether or not he’ll take others down with him.
Zambada, 75, will mark a last chapter Monday afternoon in his legendary legal profession when he’s set to seem earlier than a federal decide in Brooklyn and plead responsible to an array of costs for main a “persevering with legal enterprise” from the late Eighties till his arrest final yr. He admitted to cash laundering, kidnapping, homicide and drug conspiracies.
Zambada’s beautiful downfall started final July when he arrived on a personal jet at a small airport close to El Paso. Within the rapid aftermath, rumors swirled that Zambada might have orchestrated his give up with a view to bear medical remedy or reunite along with his brother and several other sons who’re believed to be residing underneath witness safety after pleading responsible and cooperating with U.S. authorities to resolve their very own legal instances.
Zambada, nevertheless, has vehemently denied that his arrival within the U.S. was prearranged. A number of weeks after he was taken into custody, he alleged he was arrange and kidnapped by one in all El Chapo’s sons, Joaquín Guzmán López, a frontrunner of the cartel faction often called Los Chapitos, or the Little Chapos.
Zambada claimed in a letter launched by his lawyer that he was lured to what he thought could be a gathering between Sinaloa’s governor and one other distinguished politician, solely to be ambushed, zip-tied, compelled onto the aircraft by Guzmán López and delivered to U.S. authorities.
Guzmán López, 39, is going through his personal federal case in Chicago, the place he has pleaded not responsible to drug and conspiracy costs. His youthful brother, Ovidio Guzmán, just lately pleaded responsible to related costs, with courtroom filings revealing that he has agreed to cooperate with U.S. investigators.
A mugshot of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, launched by U.S. authorities throughout the trial of his longtime associate within the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
(U.S. Division of Justice)
There isn’t a indication that Zambada has a cooperation settlement. However his household’s historical past, mixed with the truth that he has agreed to plead responsible slightly than take his case to trial, is fueling hypothesis that he may very well be ready to spill secrets and techniques about high-level corruption.
Paul Craine, the highest official in Mexico for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration from 2012 to 2017, mentioned of Zambada: “He is aware of greater than anyone.”
Craine, who retired from the DEA and now runs a personal safety agency, mentioned it’s unlikely that federal prosecutors would ever conform to a deal that provides the kingpin something lower than life in jail.
Zambada was already spared the demise penalty, however the authorities might dangle different advantages, he mentioned, resembling relocating relations to the USA for his or her security or permitting him to serve his time someplace cushier than the Colorado “supermax” jail the place El Chapo and others deemed excessive safety dangers are held in close to complete isolation.
Zambada, Craine mentioned, has information about “40 years of the highest management of the army and the federal government [in Mexico] that he was instantly paying and had co-opted.”
“He’s the godfather,” Craine mentioned. “He’s the consistency throughout all the things.”
Zambada’s case is enjoying out throughout a fragile second in U.S.-Mexico relations, with President Trump utilizing tariffs as a cudgel to drive motion towards the Sinaloa cartel and others accountable for transport fentanyl and different medication north throughout the Rio Grande. Trump designated Zambada’s group and others as terrorist organizations earlier this yr, and has floated the opportunity of the U.S. army taking motion on the Mexican aspect of the border.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has sought to appease Trump by handing over dozens of reputed high-ranking cartel figures for prosecution by U.S. authorities, however Craine mentioned these choices is probably not sufficient.
“There’s extra worth now in with the ability to goal a high-level corrupt legal political determine than there may be within the largest drug trafficker in Mexico,” he mentioned.
Different former federal regulation enforcement officers echoed that evaluation. Adam Braverman, a former U.S. legal professional in San Diego who oversaw the indictments of Zambada and several other of his sons, referred to as Monday’s responsible plea “a monumental day for the Division of Justice.”
Braverman, who now works in non-public apply, mentioned if Zambada had been to cooperate, merely giving up different cartel figures wouldn’t be sufficient to make it definitely worth the cut price.
“Once you’re on the prime of the chain, there’s no person else to cooperate towards,” he mentioned. “You’re speaking about generals, governors — probably presidents of Mexico.”
Joaquín Guzmán Lopez, left, a son of the Sinaloa cartel chief often called “El Chapo,” and longtime cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in partially redacted pictures launched by the Mexican authorities following their arrests in 2024 in El Paso.
(Authorities of Mexico)
Zambada claimed in his letter final yr that he was invited to a gathering close to Sinaloa’s capital, Culiacán, the place he anticipated to assist mediate a dispute between town’s former mayor, Héctor Melesio Cuén, and his political rival, Sinaloa’s present governor, Rubén Rocha Moya.
Melesio Cuén turned up shot to demise on the day of Zambada’s arrest. Rocha Moya, a Morena celebration member, has denied any information of the kidnapping plot, pointing to flight information that present he took a household journey to Los Angeles because the occasions had been enjoying out.
Mexican federal authorities have cited a number of suspicious irregularities within the investigation into Melesio Cuén’s killing by Sinaloan state authorities, together with the abrupt cremation of his physique.
With tensions already working excessive, Guillermo Valdes Castellanos, a former head of the nationwide intelligence company that’s Mexico’s equal of the CIA, mentioned Zambada’s plea means a few of Mexico’s political elites should now be sweating bullets.
“[The Americans] are going to focus on receiving details about all the politicians who protected [El Mayo], who helped him from the military, the police, and so forth.,” he mentioned. “The truth that he might have extra strong info to accuse the Mexican politicians and authorities concerned is what’s making folks very nervous right here.”
