El Mayo sentenced to life without parole in New York

A New York federal court sentenced Sinaloa cartel co-founder Ismael Zambada García to life imprisonment with no chance of release.

El Mayo sentenced to life without parole in New York

A federal court in New York on Monday handed down a life sentence to Ismael Zambada García, the Mexican drug lord known as "El Mayo." The 75-year-old co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel received the penalty without possibility of conditional release, reports the news portal Aktuality.sk.

Prosecutor Joseph Nocella Jr. stated that Zambada had spent nearly four decades destroying American communities to earn billions of dollars while ordering the murder of anyone who obstructed his operations. Judge Brian Cogan imposed the punishment for his leadership of the criminal group and violations of organized-crime statutes.

Because the defendant entered a guilty plea, American prosecutors did not pursue the death penalty, according to the AFP agency.

Zambada had long remained in the shadows, refusing to be photographed and successfully evading arrest for decades. He also survived multiple assassination attempts.

He ran the Sinaloa cartel alongside imprisoned kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, who is currently serving a life term in Colorado. United States agents detained Zambada in July 2024 on American soil together with Joaquín Guzmán López, one of El Chapo’s sons. The captured leader later claimed that a trusted associate had deceived him and forced him aboard an aircraft that carried him into the hands of U.S. authorities.

Source: Aktuality