Latest news with #ElMayo
New York Times
a day ago
- New York Times
Sinaloa Cartel Founder Expected to Plead Guilty to Trafficking Charges
A Sinaloa drug cartel founder who was flown across the border by a younger rival and delivered to American federal agents will plead guilty to sweeping trafficking charges, according to a court filing. The man, Ismael Zambada García, also known as El Mayo, was charged in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. He was accused of running a criminal enterprise that, along with conspiring to murder members of rival gangs, trafficked drugs like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine across the U.S.-Mexico border. Corruption was essential to Mr. Zambada García's operation, prosecutors have said. Local police officers helped move drugs throughout Mexico, while high-ranking Mexican officials kept the cartel apprised of military operations. Under Mr. Zambada García's direction, the Sinaloa cartel spent millions of dollars each year on bribes to Mexican government officials. Mr. Zambada García employed sicarios — hit men — to carry out kidnappings and assassinations of cartel rivals and Mexican law enforcement officials. Last year, he ordered the murder of his own nephew, prosecutors said. Mr. Zambada García has long had a reputation as a wily operator who avoided capture for decades, often through close ties to government and especially military officials. Indeed, his abduction last July by a son of his longtime partner, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, better known as El Chapo, was orchestrated in a way that kept the Mexican authorities from warning him. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CTV News
a day ago
- CTV News
Former Sinaloa cartel kingpin Ismael ‘El Mayo' Zambada set to plead guilty
This undated image provided by the U.S. Department of State shows Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a historic leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. (U.S. Department of State via AP) NEW YORK — Former Mexican cartel kingpin Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada is set to plead guilty next week in a drug trafficking case that accuses him of ordering torture, plotting murders and flooding the U.S. with cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs. A Brooklyn federal judge on Monday scheduled an Aug. 25 change of plea hearing for Zambada, a longtime leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. The development comes two weeks after federal prosecutors said they wouldn't seek the death penalty against him. Zambada, 77, pleaded not guilty last year to drug trafficking and related charges, including gun and money laundering offences. Under Zambada and co-founder Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán's leadership, prosecutors allege, the Sinaloa cartel evolved from a regional player into the largest drug trafficking organization in the world. Judge Brian M. Cogan's order on Monday didn't provide details about Zambada's guilty plea and didn't list the charges he's expected to plead guilty to. The same judge sentenced Guzmán to life behind bars after he was convicted on drug trafficking charges in 2019. Messages seeking comment were left for Zambada's lawyers. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn declined to comment. Zambada was arrested in Texas last year after what he has described as a kidnapping in Mexico. Sought by U.S. law enforcement for more than two decades, he was taken into custody after arriving in a private plane at a Texas airport with Guzmán's son, Joaquín Guzmán López. Guzmán López has pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in Chicago; his brother, Ovidio Guzmán López, pleaded guilty last month. According to prosecutors, Zambada presided over a vast and violent operation, with an arsenal of military-grade weapons, a private security force akin to an army, and a corps of 'sicarios,' or hitmen, who carried out assassinations, kidnappings and torture. Just months before his arrest, he ordered the murder of his own nephew, prosecutors said. On Aug. 5, prosecutors told Cogan in a letter that Attorney General Pam Bondi had directed them not to pursue the death penalty for Zambada. __ Associated Press reporter Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report. Michael R. Sisak, The Associated Press
Reuters
a day ago
- Reuters
Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, alleged Mexican drug lord, set to plead guilty
NEW YORK, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, the accused co-founder of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, is expected to plead guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges, court records showed on Monday. Zambada, who is in his 70s, is scheduled to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on August 25 for a change of plea hearing before U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan. He had previously pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from his decades allegedly leading the Sinaloa cartel alongside imprisoned kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. The notice that Zambada was expected to change his plea came after the Justice Department last week said it would not seek the death penalty for Zambada or Rafael Caro Quintero, another septuagenarian alleged Mexican drug lord facing U.S. charges. Guzman is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Colorado. Zambada's lawyer Frank Perez did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Zambada was arrested in July 2024 alongside Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of Guzman's sons, after the plane in which they were traveling landed at a small airstrip in New Mexico. Perez has said Guzman Lopez kidnapped Zambada, which the Guzman family lawyer has denied. Guzman Lopez has pleaded not guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges. U.S. prosecutors have said they would not seek the death penalty for him if convicted. Mexico last week sent more than two dozen suspected cartel members to the U.S., amid rising pressure from President Donald Trump on Mexico to dismantle the country's powerful drug organizations. Mexico has said it received assurances from the Justice Department that it would not seek the death penalty for them.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Infamous Mexican drug lord to plead guilty after being brought to US
Ismael Mario Zambada García, the former drug lord and top leader of the Sinaloa Cartel known as El Mayo, will plead guilty to federal drug charges brought by the United States Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, according to an entry on the court docket. El Mayo is due in court next week for a conference that, according to the docket, is now a "change of plea" hearing. Federal prosecutors said earlier this month they would not seek the death penalty for Zambada, who helped build the Sinaloa Cartel from a regional group to a major smuggler of cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs into U.S., authorities have said. MORE: 'El Mayo' in plea talks in Brooklyn federal drug case, prosecutor says He was charged with 17 counts related to drug trafficking, firearms offenses and money laundering. It was not immediately clear to what charge or charges he would plead guilty. Zambada was arrested in Texas last summer after arriving in a private plane with one of Joaquin Guzmán's sons, Joaquín Guzmán López. Joaquín Guzmán López remains in custody in the U.S. and pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges last year. Another of El Chapo's sons, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, pleaded guilty to two counts of drug conspiracy and two counts of knowingly engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise last month, according to the Justice Department. As part of the plea, he is also set to forfeit $80 million. Ovidio Guzman Lopez admitted, through the plea, that he and his three brothers took over control of the Sinaloa Cartel after the dramatic arrest of their father, El Chapo, in 2016. He was arrested in January 2023 and extradited to the U.S. later that year. MORE: Top Sinaloa cartel leaders, including son of El Chapo, taken into US custody: DOJ El Chapo's other two sons -- Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar -- have been charged in the U.S. but are not in custody. There are $10 million awards from the U.S. government for each man's arrest and conviction. Violence has surged in Sinaloa since the arrest of Zambada last year. There were about four times as many murders in the first half of 2025 as there were in the first six months of 2024, Reuters reported last month. ABC News' Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
CNN
2 days ago
- CNN
A cartel war bleeding Sinaloa dry: homicides rise 400% in the year after the fall of ‘El Mayo'
August 10 was, for many in Mexico, a quiet Sunday like any other. But in Sinaloa – a northwestern state facing the Pacific – it was no ordinary Sunday. That day, 17 homicides were committed: one every 85 minutes. According to Mexican government figures, it was the most violent day of 2025 in Sinaloa, exceeding every other state in the country. Sunday's killings were some of the latest in a spate of violence that has gripped the state following the surprise arrest of Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, who authorities say is a long-time leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico's oldest and most violent criminal organizations. Since his capture, homicides in Sinaloa have risen by more than 400%, according to an analysis of public data conducted by CNN. This analysis also reveals discrepancies between figures compiled by the Sinaloa Prosecutor's Office, Mexican federal authorities, and the monitoring organization Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED). Historically, Mexican authorities have underreported the number of victims during periods of violence in the region. Even behind closed doors, U.S. defense and law enforcement officials distrust Mexico's homicide figures, according to a source familiar with these conversations. El Mayo's capture on July 25, 2024, in El Paso, Texas, unleashed an internal war between rival factions, according to analysts consulted by CNN, trapping the people of Sinaloa in the middle of a conflict that has disrupted daily life, forcing large chains and family businesses alike to close their doors. The surge in violence in Sinaloa traces back to rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel that erupted after Zambada's capture, says Victoria Dittmar, investigator and project manager at InSight Crime. From then, intense fighting broke out between his followers—known as the Mayitos—and allies of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán, punctuated by sustained clashes between smaller Sinaloa Cartel factions. This trend is reflected in ACLED's data. In a statement released by his lawyer, El Mayo claimed he was deceived by one of El Chapo's sons and a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel himself, Joaquín Guzmán López, who lured him to the United States under false pretenses. According to Zambada, the meeting pitched to him as a real estate investment opportunity ended with his arrest in El Paso, Texas. Zambada said in his letter that he was tricked, kidnapped, and handed over to US authorities by Guzmán López—an account the latter denied through his legal team, which has also rejected the idea that El Chapo's son voluntarily surrendered. Both men face multiple charges in the U.S. Eastern District Court of New York, where they have pleaded not guilty. Before El Mayo's arrest, clashes between the cartel's factions were sporadic. But the unusual circumstances of his capture have escalated tensions. Now, both the Mayitos and Chapitos have stepped up their offensives to seize key territories, Dittmar explains. ACLED data shows a sharp increase in violence in early September, when analysts agree the war officially began. To protect students in Sinaloa, Governor Rubén Rocha Moya ordered classes canceled on September 12 and 13. The next day, amid the insecurity, Independence Day celebrations were suspended in several towns across the state—including in the capital of Culiacán. 'We have decided that the September 15 celebration will be suspended. There will be no celebration, neither public nor private,' he announced in a video posted on his X account. Figures from that month confirm the scale of the violence: 4 deaths per day—or one every 6 hours—according to official data. ACLED reported 2 daily deaths, or one every 12 hours. Dittmar notes that the 'deceptive' way Zambada was captured not only strained relations between factions but also unleashed a wave of reprisals that has made Culiacán the main stage for an urban cartel war—something 'we don't see in any other Mexican city.' The violence in Sinaloa transcends statistics—it has upended residents' daily lives. In Culiacán, the constant fear of armed clashes has forced large chains and small family businesses to reduce their hours or shut down completely. One small business owner, who operated her grandmother's decades-old restaurant in the Sinaloan capital, was forced to close its doors. 'There were days when there was maybe one customer, if that… because people don't go out at night, to this day they still don't,' says Sonia—not her real name—who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity, saying she feared for her safety given the city's insecurity. Like many others in Culiacán, Sonia and her family have had to adapt to a new normal, imposing a 'self-curfew.' 'We, the citizens, decided months ago to only go out at certain times,' she explains. 'At first, between September and December, it was like a self-imposed rule because you were afraid to go out. Normally, nights and early mornings were most violent… but really, the whole day is. You can go out at noon and get caught in a shootout leaving a school, on a main street, between police, soldiers, marines, and gunmen. Just like that. That's the reality every day.' Videos shared on social media and verified by CNN illustrate scenes that have become increasingly common in Culiacán and other cities across the state: shootouts in broad daylight, clashes between armed groups and security forces, and burning vehicles in residential neighborhoods. Footage shows that the clashes have largely occurred in urban areas—a new trend that, according to Dittmar, has exposed hundreds of thousands of people who, previously, were not directly impacted by the conflict. Some of these violent incidents have taken place near Sonia's restaurant, she says; CNN corroborated her claim using open-source data. In May, the body of a man was found hanging from a nearby bridge alongside a narco-message; a month later, a human head was left near a tourist site in Culiacán; and two weeks after that, several police officers were seriously injured in a nearby ambush. On the first anniversary of El Mayo's arrest, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government was taking action: 'We are working and will bring peace to Sinaloa,' she said in her daily press conference. Nonetheless, for Sonia, that promise feels distant: 'You see military convoys everywhere, but there's no real strategy. There are areas where there are shootouts every day and the authorities arrive hours later. It's all for show. We'd like to see a real strategy… because there isn't one.' On the July 25 anniversary, Sheinbaum reiterated the imperative for collaboration with US authorities and warned against foreign interference in countering cartel-linked violence and trafficking in Mexico. Her comments came days before US President Trump signed a secret directive instructing the Pentagon to use military force against certain cartels in Latin America that his administration had designated as foreign terrorist organizations, according to a New York Times report. While it remains unclear whether the US Defense Department intends to coordinate its efforts with Mexican authorities, the Sinaloa Cartel is one of eight criminal networks designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump Administration. In the first year of her administration, ACLED data shows, Sheinbaum's efforts to contain violence have generally coincided with a drop in attacks against civilians; since January, civilian killings have declined in nearly every Mexican state. But Sinaloa remains, without a doubt, the weak spot in Mexico's security strategy, with at least 571 civilians killed there in 2025 so far. (In three other states where civilian homicides have increased, the combined total is 49 victims, through July 25). Targeted killings of civilians have already surpassed the total recorded for all of 2024, setting the stage for this year to be one of the deadliest in Sinaloan history. And for many in Sinaloa, that August Sunday was yet another reminder of the raging war with no end in sight. Mauricio Torres, Ivonne Valdés, Marlon Sorto, Jorge Venegas, and Isa Cardona contributed to this reporting by Mackenzie Happe, Isa Cardona, and Avery Schmitz. CNN reviewed data shared by the Sinaloa Prosecutor's Office and Mexican federal authorities, as well as independent figures compiled by Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED). Statistics obtained from ACLED were specifically filtered to include violence against civilians from January 1, 2020 through July 25, 2025—exactly one year after 'El Mayo's' arrest. Taken together, these datasets illustrate the sharp rise in violent deaths across Sinaloa over the past 12 months.
