Cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada gets life in U.S. prison 2 years after he says he was kidnapped, flown to Texas – CBS News
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada ordered torture and plotted murders as he Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán grew the Sinaloa cartel into the world’s largest drug trafficking organization, prosecutors said.
Former Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was sentenced in a U.S. court Monday to life in prison, seven years after his Sinaloa cartel co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was handed the same sentence.
Zambada’s sentencing in Brooklyn federal court was the culmination of the U.S. government’s yearslong fight to bring the long-elusive cartel leader to justice. He was arrested in 2024 after he said he was kidnapped in Mexico and flown to Texas.
“No one wins in a war like this,” the 76-year-old Zambada said through a Spanish-language translator in court. He apologized “for the harm I caused and for the example I set.” He urged future generations to “choose a different path.”
“If there’s one thing I can say that has value today, it’s this: the violence must end,” the Sinaloa cartel co-founder said. “In Mexico and elsewhere affected by this type of crime, too many lives are lost, too many families are destroyed, and too many young people are trapped in a cycle that leads only to prison or death.”
