Sinaloa cartel co-founder 'El Mayo' Zambada sentenced to life in US prison, $15bn forfeiture ordered

Sentencing in Brooklyn

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, 76, appeared in prison clothing before US District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn on Monday. He read a statement in Spanish, accepting responsibility and asking for forgiveness. "I accept my punishment. I am not here to ask for compassion," he said, according to Mexican newspaper El Universal. He urged young people in Mexico to avoid his path, saying "the violence must end in Mexico. Nobody will win this war."

I grew up in an environment where violence and crime seemed normal, but now I know that's no excuse. There comes a time when every person must take responsibility for their decisions. I didn't, and many people paid the price.

Judge Cogan imposed the mandatory life sentence without parole, stating that the drug quantities attributable to Zambada were "almost unimaginable" and the documented murders justified the penalty. The court also ordered forfeiture of $15 billion in drug proceeds, though prosecutors acknowledged no assets have been identified or recovered.

Decades of trafficking and violence

Zambada co-founded the Sinaloa cartel with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, building it into one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in the western hemisphere. According to prosecutors, he oversaw the smuggling of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and later fentanyl into the United States from the late 1980s. The cartel laundered billions of dollars and used bribery, intimidation and murder to protect its operations.

Ismael Zambada García spent almost four decades poisoning American communities to obtain billions of dollars in profits and ordering the murder of anyone who crossed his path. Today, this chapter closes definitively.

Zambada pleaded guilty in August 2025 to charges including continuing criminal enterprise and racketeering conspiracy, admitting culpability for 85 underlying crimes. In exchange, prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.

Capture and extradition

After evading capture for more than three decades, Zambada was arrested on 26 July 2024 at a US airport. He claimed he was kidnapped in Mexico by Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of El Chapo, and flown to the United States against his will. Guzmán López, who was also arrested, has since pleaded guilty to federal charges. The circumstances of the capture remain disputed, with Zambada's defense alleging a deal between Guzmán López and US authorities.

Broader US crackdown

The sentencing is the latest in a series of US actions against Mexican cartel leaders. El Chapo is already serving a life sentence at the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. The Sinaloa cartel is among six Mexican drug gangs designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the Trump administration. According to US government data, 12,430 Mexican nationals are currently held in federal prisons, representing 8.1% of the federal prison population. Zambada's defense requested that he serve his sentence in a general federal prison rather than the maximum-security facility in Colorado, but prosecutors argue he remains a significant security risk.