Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada to plead guilty in New York
The drug trafficker, co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, will change his testimony in order to receive a lesser sentence than the one he faces.
Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada mug shot
(AFP) Sinaloa cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada is scheduled to plead guilty to several crimes at a hearing scheduled for Aug. 25 in New York, which will spare him from going to trial, according to court documents.
"The preliminary hearing on Aug. 25, 2025, becomes a plea change hearing," says an order from Judge Brian Cogan, the instructor in the case against one of Mexico's biggest drug traffickers, who with this agreement avoids a trial after U.S. prosecutors ruled out in early August seeking capital punishment in his case.
On Sept. 14, Zambada, 77, pleaded not guilty to the 17 charges against him by the U.S. justice system, including murder and arms and drug trafficking, in particular fentanyl, a powerful narcotic 50 times more potent than cocaine, which causes tens of thousands of overdose deaths a year in the United States.
World
Mexico hands over 'El Meño,' alleged accomplice of 'El Mayo' Zambada, to the US
Víctor Mendoza
The drug trafficker was arrested on July 25, 2024 on American soil after arriving in a small plane in the company of Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of his partner in the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.
In addition to sparing him from sitting in the dock, his future deal with U.S. prosecutors could lead to a lighter sentence than that of "El Chapo," who is serving life in prison in the United States, and to collaborate with prosecutors.
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