A federal judge in El Paso, Texas, has approved the transfer of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a prominent leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, from Texas to New York to face charges. This decision came following Zambada’s attorneys’ withdrawal of their opposition to the transfer, which was initially requested by federal prosecutors.
Zambada, aged 76, was arrested in July, alongside Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of the infamous drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, after their arrival in a private plane near El Paso. Both individuals are facing various drug-related charges in the U.S. and are currently in custody. Zambada has already pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in the federal court in El Paso.
The judge, Kathleen Cardone, specified in her ruling that Zambada’s case would first proceed in New York before any additional proceedings take place in Texas. Zambada faces charges such as running a criminal enterprise, murder conspiracy, and drug offenses in New York. He claimed that he ended up in the U.S. after being abducted in Mexico on his way to what he thought was a meeting with a Mexican official.
In a separate development, Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of “El Chapo,” entered a not guilty plea to drug trafficking charges in federal court in Chicago after his recent arrest in the U.S. This arrest marked a significant event since his father, Guzmán, had been convicted in 2019 on drug and conspiracy charges in New York and sentenced to life imprisonment.
