BROOKLYN: Sinaloa drug cartel cofounder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada changed his plea to guilty in a United States court, meaning he faces life imprisonment and losing 15 billion dollars.
Zambada, 77, cofounded the Sinaloa Cartel with notorious drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Attorney General Pam Bondi hailed the development as a “landmark victory” against drug trafficking organisations.
“El Mayo will spend the rest of his life behind bars. He will die in a US federal prison where he belongs,“ Bondi told a briefing flanked by prosecutors and federal agents in Brooklyn.
“His partner was El Chapo. They were co-founders of the Sinaloa cartel. They brutally murdered multiple people, and flooded our country with drugs. Their reign of terror is over.”
Zambada will avoid a trial because of the plea but will face a mandatory minimum term of life imprisonment without parole on a racketeering charge.
The United States accuses the cartel of trafficking fentanyl into the United States, where the opioid epidemic is linked to tens of thousands of deaths.
Zambada agreed to the forfeiture of 15 billion dollars of ill-gotten-gains as part of the plea deal, the Department of Justice said.
Bondi said that Zambada had been “living like a king,“ but would now “live like he’s on death row.”
Last September, Zambada pleaded not guilty to 17 charges including murder and drug trafficking, particularly of fentanyl.
Zambada’s arrest and that of Joaquin Guzman Lopez last year sparked cartel infighting that has left more than 1,200 people dead and 1,400 missing in Sinaloa state.
The Sinaloa Cartel is one of six Mexican drug trafficking groups that US President Donald Trump has designated as global “terrorist” organizations.
In its aggressive policy against drug cartels, the Trump administration announced additional sanctions in June against “Los Chapitos” for fentanyl trafficking.
United States Attorney Justin R. Simmons said Monday that the Sinaloa cartel had engaged in a years-long war with the Juarez cartel on the US-Mexico border. – AFP
