Sinaloa cartel figure Zambada receives life sentence in US court
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was sentenced in Brooklyn after pleading guilty to US charges tied to decades of Sinaloa cartel trafficking.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
2 min read
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, one of Mexico’s best-known drug traffickers, was sentenced Monday to life in a US prison, AFP and Reuters reported. The sentence closes a major US case against a longtime Sinaloa cartel leader who admitted last year to helping move millions of kilogrammes of cocaine over decades.
US District Judge Brian Cogan imposed the sentence in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, according to the reports. Zambada, 76, had pleaded guilty in August 2025 to charges that included racketeering conspiracy and continuing criminal enterprise after the US Justice Department said it would not seek the death penalty.
The charges required a life sentence, AFP and Reuters reported. The Justice Department said Cogan sentenced Zambada to life without parole for his role as a principal leader of a continuing criminal enterprise and for racketeering violations.
Zambada’s sentencing makes him one of the most prominent Mexican drug traffickers to receive a US prison term since Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, another Sinaloa cartel leader, was sentenced to life in 2019, according to AFP and Reuters. Guzman is serving his sentence at a maximum-security prison in Colorado.
US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella Jr. said in a Justice Department statement that Zambada had spent nearly four decades “poisoning American communities” for profit and ordering killings of those who opposed him. “Today, that chapter closes for good,” Nocella said, according to the department.
Zambada was arrested in July 2024 with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of Guzman’s sons, after their plane landed at a small airstrip in New Mexico, AFP and Reuters reported. Guzman Lopez has since pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges.
Before sentencing, Zambada’s lawyer, Frank Perez, told the court in a July 6 filing that his client understood he would receive a life sentence when he accepted responsibility, according to AFP and Reuters. Perez asked Cogan to recommend that the Bureau of Prisons place Zambada in a facility able to provide adequate medical care.
Prosecutors in the Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office opposed some of the facilities suggested by Perez, saying they may not be able to address security risks tied to Zambada, AFP and Reuters reported. The prosecutors warned in a July 13 filing that Zambada could try to direct cartel activity from prison.
“Those security concerns will continue for the foreseeable future because individuals loyal to the defendant continue to control the Cartel,” prosecutors wrote, according to AFP and Reuters.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.