This Monday, July 20, at 11:00 a.m. in Brooklyn, New York, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada will enter a public courtroom for the last time. Federal Judge Brian M. Cogan will sentence him to life imprisonment at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
After that moment, the man who led the world’s most powerful drug cartel for decades will spend the rest of his life in a federal cell.
Department of Justice prosecutors, led by prosecutor Joseph Nocella Jr., asked Judge Cogan in a letter dated July 13 to impose—in addition to life imprisonment—a $15 billion forfeiture, the highest amount ever requested in a drug trafficking case in that court. That figure exceeds by $2.4 billion the amount Judge Cogan himself imposed on Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán in his sentencing.
Ismael Zambada García, 76, co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel alongside “El Chapo” in the late 1980s. For decades, he was the man operating in the shadows while Guzmán hogged the spotlight. He was never captured in Mexico. He arrived in the United States on July 25, 2024, on a private plane piloted by Joaquín Guzmán López—El Chapo’s son—who deceived and kidnapped him before handing him over to U.S. authorities. In August 2025, he pleaded guilty to all charges.
A sentencing hearing in the United States does not function like a trial. There is no jury, no witnesses, and no debate. It is a proceeding where the judge hears final arguments from both sides—already submitted in writing in recent days—and issues a ruling.
