Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the Mexican drug kingpin who led the Sinaloa Cartel for decades, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole by a US federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, on Monday.

The 76-year-old pleaded guilty in August 2025 to charges including racketeering conspiracy and continuing criminal enterprise, after the US Justice Department agreed not to seek the death penalty. The charges carried a mandatory life sentence.

Zambada was arrested in July 2024 alongside Joaquin Guzman Lopez, son of fellow cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, after their plane landed at a small airstrip in New Mexico. Guzman Lopez has also pleaded guilty to drug trafficking.

US District Judge Brian Cogan imposed the sentence, noting Zambada’s role as a principal leader of a “continuing criminal enterprise.” US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. stated: “Ismael Zambada Garcia spent nearly four decades poisoning American communities to make billions of dollars in profit and ordering the murders of anyone who stood in his way. Today, that chapter closes for good.”

Zambada’s lawyer, Frank Perez, requested that his client be placed in a facility with adequate medical care due to his age. However, prosecutors argued that Zambada poses a high security risk and could continue to direct cartel activities from prison, as “individuals loyal to the defendant continue to control the Cartel.”

Source: www.aljazeera.com