Sinaloa Cartel leader ‘El Mayo’ Zambada to plead guilty in the United States

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada will plead guilty before the United States justice system in a hearing initially scheduled for next Monday in New York. One of the historical leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, Zambada has been imprisoned in the U.S. since July 2024, when he was arrested at an airfield a few miles north of the Mexican border. The alleged drug trafficker has claimed that former allies kidnapped him in Sinaloa and took him to the neighboring country without his consent.

Over the past months, El Mayo seemed to resist pleading guilty, despite the serious charges against him, including drug trafficking and money laundering, among other crimes. But in February, the situation changed when his lawyer, Frank Pérez, indicated that his client would agree to plead guilty if the U.S. prosecution removed the death penalty from the table — a condition that was met just a few weeks ago.

In this way, Zambada is taking the same path as Ovidio Guzmán, son of his former associate Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who pleaded guilty in July in the United States.

Part of Los Chapitos, the faction of the Sinaloa Cartel led by El Chapo’s sons, Ovidio Guzmán was arrested in Sinaloa in January 2023. The Mexican government extradited him in September of that same year. His brother Joaquín, who also belongs to Los Chapitos, could follow the same path. Arrested in July 2024, the U.S. prosecution announced in May that it would not seek the death penalty in his case either.

These agreements, whether finalized or still under negotiation, necessarily hinge on the nature of their own terms. What are the defendants getting in exchange for pleading guilty? In the past, other criminals affiliated with the Sinaloa Cartel, such as Vicente Zambada Niebla, aka “Vicentillo,” son of El Mayo, have testified in trials against former associates. For example, Vicentillo gave testimony in the trial against El Chapo Guzmán, which resulted in a life sentence for the old cartel boss. El Chapo’s former ally, Dámaso López, also testified against him.

Questions surround the cases of El Mayo, Ovidio Guzmán, and his brother Joaquín, if the latter also decides to plead guilty. El Mayo’s situation, however, appears to be the most complex. He was one of the most important leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel and, for decades, allegedly ran drug-smuggling networks into the United States. Over the years, he became one of the top targets for U.S. authorities. Now that he is in custody, the question is what other targets the U.S. justice system is pursuing that are as — or even more — significant than him.

El Mayo’s forthcoming guilty plea would thus close the door to another high-profile trial, like those held against El Chapo, or later, against a former cartel ally: Genaro García Luna, the former head of security in Mexico during Felipe Calderón’s government (2006–2012). The testimony of prosecution witnesses, many of them part of criminal structures in Mexico, revealed extensive information about illegal activities in the country. This time, it seems, that information will remain locked in the prosecutors’ files.

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