Mexico’s fallen narco boss ‘El Mayo’ to face same US judge who sentenced ‘El Chapo’ and ex-drug czar

New York is ready for Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. After a historic sentence against Mexico’s former drug czar Genaro García Luna, the time has come for the co-founder and “boss of bosses” of the Sinaloa Cartel to face a Brooklyn court. The 76-year-old drug kingpin will on Friday face, for the first time, Judge Brian Cogan — the same judge who sentenced Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán in 2019 and García Luna this week.

After his unexpected capture in July, U.S. authorities pushed for Zambada to be prosecuted in the Eastern District Court of New York, the epicenter of the judicial offensive against the Mexican cartels. El Mayo arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on September 12, amid a strong security operation. A day later, the boss was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to a battery of 17 charges for drug trafficking, organized crime, illegal possession of firearms and money laundering. He appeared in prison uniform and seemed to be in poor health.

“We allege that El Mayo built, and for decades led, the Sinaloa Cartel’s network of manufacturers, assassins, traffickers, and money launderers responsible for kidnapping and murdering people in both the United States and Mexico, and importing lethal quantities of fentanyl, heroin, meth, and cocaine into the United States,” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. The courtroom was packed with U.S. law enforcement officials to oversee the arrival of Zambada, a crime boss who evaded prison for more than five decades until his arrest at a small airport in New Mexico alongside Joaquín Guzmán López, aka “El Güero,” his godson and son of his former partner.

The first hearing with Cogan will focus on a potential “conflict of interest.” Prosecutors pointed out to the judge that Frank Pérez, El Mayo’s lawyer, also represented his son, Vicente Zambada Niebla. For years, “Vicentillo” — a nickname he has never managed to shed — was seen as a possible successor to his father, but he ended up collaborating with the U.S. justice system and was a key witness in the trial against El Chapo in late 2018. Zambada Niebla spoke at length about his role under El Mayo and his father’s relationship with El Chapo while both were at the helm of the cartel.

Vicentillo was sentenced in May 2019 to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty, but was released in 2021. The prosecution claims that, as a cooperator, Zambada Niebla would be obliged to testify against his own father if summoned. Pérez’s role as a defending lawyer for both is problematic for the authorities, and they want Cogan to speak out about it. El Mayo can retain Pérez’s services if he wants, but he would have to acknowledge the conflict and accept the possibility that his own representative does not share information with him that could affect Vicentillo. So far, both are still his clients. These are the kinds of issues that are being discussed at the hearings at this point in the judicial process. It will still be months, even years, to know whether the case against El Mayo goes to trial and if there will be room for new revelations about the current state of the criminal universe in Mexico.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the U.S.-Mexico border, the war between Los Mayos and Los Chapitos has sown chaos in Culiacán, the historical bastion of the criminal organization. The successors of Guzmán and Zambada are fighting for control of the Sinaloa Cartel, after El Mayo accused his godson Guzmán López of betraying him and handing him over to the United States. At the center of the conflict is Ovidio “El Ratón” Guzmán López, El Güero’s younger brother, who will also have a hearing next week in Illinois, after months of speculation about a possible negotiation with the authorities in exchange for a reduced sentence.

The capture of El Mayo, which also uncovered secret negotiations between U.S. agencies and Los Chapitos for years, raised tensions between Mexico and Washington to the maximum. After the diplomatic controversy and a conflict that has left dozens dead and missing in Sinaloa, the unsettled scores between the two families that dominated the Sinaloa Cartel — one of the most powerful criminal forces in the world — have finally reached the U.S. courts. After imposing a life sentence on El Chapo and 38 years in prison on García Luna, Judge Cogan will have El Mayo’s future in his hands. Everything will play out by the rules of the game imposed by the United States.

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