Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada: Leader of a Mexican drug cartel pleads not guilty

new York
CNN
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Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the longtime leader of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel, pleaded not guilty in New York on Friday to a 17-count indictment accusing him of drug trafficking and murder.

Zambada, who attended the hearing through a Spanish-speaking interpreter, did not speak except to provide brief answers to a judge's standard questions about whether he understood various documents and procedures and how he was feeling – “good, good,” he said. His lawyers entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

Zambada has been wanted by American law enforcement for more than two decades and has been in U.S. custody since July 25. According to federal authorities, he landed at an airport outside El Paso on a private plane accompanied by another fugitive cartel leader, Joaquín Guzmán López.

In a later letter, Zambada said he was forcibly kidnapped in Mexico and brought to the United States by Guzmán López, the son of imprisoned Sinaloa co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

US Judge James Cho ordered Zambada to be detained pending trial. His lawyers did not request bail and US prosecutors in Brooklyn had asked the judge to remand him in custody.

Zambada sat quietly and listened to the interpreter. As he left the courtroom, he appeared to need some help getting up from a chair and then walked out slowly but unassisted.

In a letter to the judge, prosecutors called Zambada “one of the most notorious and dangerous drug traffickers in the world.”

“The defendant maintained an arsenal of military-grade weapons to protect himself, his drugs, and his empire,” they wrote. “His heavily armed private security forces were used as his personal bodyguards and to protect drug shipments throughout Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, and beyond. In addition, he maintained a cadre of 'sicarios,' or hitmen, who carried out gruesome assassinations and kidnappings to maintain discipline within his organization, protect it from challenges from rivals, and silence those who cooperated with law enforcement.”

This also includes the fact that he ordered the murder of his own nephew a few months ago, the prosecutor's statement said.

Zambada had pleaded not guilty at an earlier court hearing in Texas.

His surprise arrest has sparked fighting in Mexico between rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel, with several people killed in shootings. Schools and businesses in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa, have been closed amid the fighting. The fighting is believed to be between factions loyal to Zambada and those led by other sons of “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was sentenced to life in prison in the United States in 2019 for drug and conspiracy offenses.

It remains unclear why Guzmán López turned himself in to U.S. authorities and took Zambada with him. Guzmán López is now awaiting trial in Chicago on a separate drug trafficking charge, where he pleaded not guilty in federal court.