“El Mayo” will die in prison; old bosses aren’t helping the US: Mike Vigil

Former DEA Chief of Operations Mike Vigil ruled out the possibility that the United States will obtain any kind of collaboration from Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who this Monday, August 25, confessed to founding the Sinaloa Cartel and pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and murder before a court in New York.

“The important thing to consider is that old bosses, like Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, never collaborated with the United States, and possibly neither will “Mayo” Zambada. Those who always negotiate are those who in the old days were called “narco juniors,” Vigil said in an interview with journalists Romina Gándara and Blanca Juárez on the program A las Dos, broadcast on SinEmbargo Al Aire.

During the interview, the former DEA chief explained that Zambada has no reason to cooperate, and his age is one of the reasons: “He’s going to die in prison. Even if he says so-and-so received millions of dollars in bribes, prosecutors can’t go to trial based solely on his word; they need to verify those statements,” he said.

The former DEA agent also emphasized that, although several sectors in Mexico have high expectations—for example, the press, the media, and some politicians—and expect Zambada to reveal the names of high-profile officials, he said, “We’re not going to let anyone know that we’re doing this.”

However, he ruled out this possibility, explaining that cartels don’t typically seek protection from high-level politicians in Mexico City, but rather from local operators.

“The press and many people in Mexico expect Zambada to provide information from the highest levels of government, and that’s rare. Simply because cartels want to bribe the military, state, municipal, and local police in the areas where they operate. It’s useless for them to pay bribes to a very high-ranking politician, for example, who’s in Mexico City. They primarily bribe people on the ground, for example, state police, possibly a governor. But we’ll soon see if the Department of Justice will move forward with the charges,” he noted.