Notorious drug cartel leader Ismael Zambada sentenced to life in US prison

One of the most notorious figures in Mexico’s drug cartels, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, will spend the rest of his life in prison, a US judge has ruled, two years after the kingpin was lured to the US in an elaborate sting operation.

The 76-year-old, who founded the Sinaloa Cartel with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, apologised in court and was also ordered to pay $15bn (£11bn).

In 2024, El Chapo’s son led Zambada to believe they were travelling to northern Mexico to inspect clandestine airstrips, when their plane instead landed in Texas and he was arrested.

Last year, Zambada reached a plea deal and admitted to drug smuggling and conspiracy charges in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.

On Monday, US District Judge Brian Cogan sentenced Zambada during a hearing in Brooklyn federal court. His guilty plea carried a mandatory term of life in prison.

Zambada spoke through a Spanish translator during the hearing. He said he was sorry “for the harm I caused and for the example I set” and called for future generations to “choose a different path”.

“If there’s one thing I can say that has value today, it’s this: the violence must end,” said the former cartel boss.

“In Mexico and elsewhere affected by this type of crime, too many lives are lost, too many families are destroyed, and too many young people are trapped in a cycle that leads only to prison or death.”

The $15bn he was ordered to pay represents drug-trafficking profits from his role as the principal leader of a criminal enterprise, according to the justice department.

El Chapo’s son, Joaquin Guzmán Lopez, was also arrested in July 2024 and has pleaded guilty to federal drug charges. He has yet to be sentenced.

In the plea deal, Zambada officially accepted his role in creating the vast criminal network which has sent huge amounts of cocaine and other drugs into the US since he co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel at the end of the 1980s.

“Ismael Zambada Garcia spent nearly four decades poisoning American communities to make billions of dollars in profit and ordering the murders of anyone who stood in his way,” said US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr for the Eastern District of New York in a statement.

“Today, that chapter closes for good.”

Prosecutors argued in a sentencing memo that Zambada “was one of the most-if not the most-prolific and powerful narcotraffickers in the world”, according to CBS, the BBC’s US partner.

The Sinaloa Cartel has been at war with itself since Zambada was taken into custody and has wreaked mayhem across the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Hundreds of people have been reported missing during fighting between its two rival factions.

Violence and bloodletting also shook the cartel after El Chapo was arrested and extradited to the US in 2016 as factions vied for control of territory while fighting off opposing drug gangs who sensed weakness. He is also serving life in prison.

One of the issues that has arisen since Zambada agreed to plead guilty has been where he will serve his sentence.

He has asked to be sent to a prison hospital, saying he will need medical care for age-related health issues. He is understood to have been in poor health in recent years.

Federal prosecutors, though, are seeking a higher-level of incarceration, contending Zambada still poses a security threat while behind bars and could continue to direct illegal drug operations.

The federal Bureau of Prisons will make the final decision about where he is held, though he looks almost certain to die in US custody.

On his first day back in office, US President Donald Trump announced he would increase pressure on Mexico and the cartels, including designating the criminal enterprises terrorist groups.

The US also accused the governor of Sinaloa of conspiring with drug traffickers.

The Mexican government, too, has taken more aggressive steps against cartels and sent thousands of troops to Sinaloa.

The question of what Zambada’s punishment means to the Sinaloa cartel is unclear.

In all probability, it will not change the status quo.

Organised crime moves on quickly in Mexico and El Mayo’s former footsoldiers have already adapted to life without him. Neither is it likely to significantly affect the traffic of cocaine and fentanyl into the US.

There is always another ready to take over the mantle, even from so influential a crime boss as El Mayo Zambada.