Mexican drug lord Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada sentenced to life in US prison
A US judge sentenced Ismael Zambada, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, to life in prison for decades of cocaine trafficking and racketeering.
US District Judge Brian Cogan sentenced 76-year-old Ismael Zambada, known as 'El Mayo,' to life in prison without parole on Monday at a federal court in Brooklyn, New York. Zambada, who led one of Mexico's most violent drug cartels for decades, agreed to plead guilty in August 2025 to charges of racketeering conspiracy and continuing criminal enterprise after the US Justice Department agreed not to seek the death penalty. The charges carried a mandatory life sentence.
Zambada was arrested in July 2024 alongside Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of notorious cartel leader Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, after their plane landed at a small airstrip in New Mexico. Guzman Lopez has since pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges.
In a statement, the Justice Department said Judge Cogan imposed the life sentence for Zambada's role as a principal leader of a continuing criminal enterprise and for racketeering violations. '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. Today, that chapter closes for good,' said US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella Jr.
Zambada's lawyer, Frank Perez, filed a court request earlier this month acknowledging that his client understood he would receive a life sentence and asked the judge to recommend placement in a facility where he could receive adequate medical care. However, prosecutors argued that the suggested prisons might not be equipped to handle security concerns, as individuals loyal to Zambada still control the cartel and he could continue directing activities from behind bars.
Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman is serving his life sentence at a maximum-security prison in Colorado.
