‘El Mayo’ Zambada agrees to plead guilty in the US; makes a deal with prosecutors not to go to trial

Ismael El Mayo Zambada, founding leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, will plead guilty next Monday, August 25, to various drug trafficking charges before Judge Brian Cogan, in exchange for possible benefits in his sentence and, possibly, becoming a cooperating witness for the United States.

Court records from the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, indicate that the plea hearing will take place at 12:00 p.m.
The announcement comes after US prosecutors sent a notice that they would not seek the death penalty for Zambada.

The August 25 hearing will reveal the total number of crimes to which El Mayo will plead guilty, with 21 charges in total, as well as the terms and conditions of the plea agreement he has agreed to and signed with the Department of Justice.

In most cases (for example, with Ovidio Guzmán a few weeks ago), these agreements include mandatory cooperation clauses with the United States government, in which the defendant agrees to provide information and data about his criminal organization, his accomplices, and his resources. All of this is in exchange for a recommendation for a lesser sentence.

Zambada García was arrested on July 25 of last year at an airfield near El Paso, Texas, after disembarking from a plane in which, according to the kingpin, he traveled against his will and was kidnapped by Joaquín Guzmán López, the youngest son of El Chapo Guzmán.

Although he was initially prosecuted in Texas, on September 13, El Mayo was transferred to New York to appear before the Eastern District Court of that federal jurisdiction in Brooklyn, where the most serious indictment, charging him with fentanyl trafficking, was pending.