Mexico’s drug world comes to Brooklyn: El Mayo and García Luna will be in the same New York court one day apart

Two high-profile drug traffickers will attend hearings at the Eastern District Court of New York. A last-minute adjustment to the calendar means that Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Genaro García Luna will appear before the same court in Brooklyn, one day apart. García Luna — Mexico’s former secretary of public security, who was convicted for accepting bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel — will be sentenced on October 16. While Zambada — the 76-year-old co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel —will have his first hearing before Judge Cogan on October 17.

Judge Cogan on Wednesday approved a request by the Attorney General’s Office to move up Zambada’s hearing — originally scheduled for Oct. 31 — due to a scheduling conflict. The same judge will also hand down the sentence against García Luna, who faces a sentence of 20 years to life in prison for three drug trafficking offenses, one charge of organized crime and another for false statements. The sentencing hearing of the former drug czar — the highest-ranking former Mexican official to be tried in the United States — was scheduled for Oct. 9, but Cogan who asked for an extra week to determine how many years to give the former head of Mexico’s Federal Police.

A jury found García Luna guilty in February of last year, but his sentencing has been delayed multiple times. The former official was accused of collaborating with the Sinaloa Cartel for over two decades, beginning when he became the head of the Federal Investigation Agency during Vicente Fox’s administration (2000-2006) and continuing for several years after he left public service. Both García Luna and El Mayo are currently incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, the only federal prison in New York, which has a capacity of over 1,200 inmates.

Cogan also presided over the trial and sentencing of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years in 2019. El Chapo was held at the MDC in Brooklyn from his extradition in 2017 until his sentencing, as defendants remain there while awaiting their judicial proceedings. The case against El Mayo in New York arises from the same accusations for which Guzmán, his former associate, was tried. The case has been active for over a decade, and in February of this year, a grand jury indicted Zambada on charges of trafficking fentanyl, a drug central to Washington’s latest anti-drug efforts. This is one of the primary reasons U.S. authorities insisted he be tried in that court rather than in the Western District Court of Texas, located in El Paso, where he was held for seven weeks following his capture on July 25.

Despite the similarities between them, García Luna and Zambada are at markedly different stages in their legal proceedings. García Luna was arrested in Texas in 2019, and his trial concluded early last year after delays in the U.S. judicial system due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He is currently in the final phase of his trial, and his legal team has announced plans to appeal the sentence once it is issued. The outcome of García Luna’s conviction could be pivotal for any potential negotiations with U.S. authorities, should he choose to cooperate and provide information against other targets of the U.S. justice system. Throughout his five years on the other side of the border, García Luna has maintained that he has not reached any agreements to collaborate with the Attorney’s Office.

On the other hand, Zambada is just beginning his journey toward an eventual trial. He pleaded not guilty during his first hearing in Brooklyn on September 13, where he appeared before a magistrate, similar to an investigating judge. The Sinaloa Cartel co-founder, who was transferred that same week under strict security measures, faces 17 charges, including drug trafficking, organized crime, illegal possession of firearms, and money laundering.

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