El Mayo: Mexican Cartel Leader Accepts Guilt in Historic Drug Case

Mon Sep 15 2025 16:22:50 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, the notorious leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, has entered a guilty plea in New York court, marking the end of a significant era in drug trafficking.

In a stunning turn of events, Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, the co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, has pleaded guilty to two charges of drug smuggling and conspiracy, concluding one of the longest criminal careers in organized crime. This decision comes after decades of evasion and a significant betrayal leading to his arrest.

Mexican drug lord, Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, has entered a guilty plea to two drug smuggling and conspiracy charges in a court in New York, bringing an end to one of the longest and most notorious criminal careers in the history of organised crime.

Zambada was not just any drug lord. He was the founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, for years the biggest and most powerful criminal organization in Mexico - with an astonishing global reach.

Last year, he pleaded not guilty to a raft of drug smuggling, gun-running and money laundering offences. But now he has changed his plea before a federal judge in Brooklyn.

In doing so, he officially accepted his role in creating the vast criminal network which has sent huge amounts of cocaine and other drugs into the US since he co-founded the cartel at the end of the 1980s. The step comes weeks after US prosecutors confirmed they would not be seeking the death penalty against the 77-year-old Mexican kingpin.

Zambada was arrested in Texas last year following an extraordinary double-cross by the sons of his former ally, the jailed co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán. El Chapo was sentenced to life imprisonment in the same court in 2019.

After his arrest, the cartel splintered into two main factions: one led by El Mayo and the other led by Guzmán's sons, known as 'Los Chapitos'. The ongoing conflict between the two sides is particularly fierce in Sinaloa.

In late July 2024, Zambada was allegedly lured to a meeting with one of El Chapo's sons, Joaquín Guzmán López. Initial reports suggested Guzmán López duped his rival into boarding a light aircraft, but Zambada later claimed he was ambushed and forcibly removed to Texas.

By entering a guilty plea, Zambada is expected to receive a more lenient sentence. In his late 70s and reportedly in poor health, he may have judged that it was futile to claim his innocence, especially given Guzmán's conviction.

At his height, Zambada was probably the most powerful drug lord in the world, having overseen the transport of vast quantities of heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine into the US for about five decades.

Now, in a US courtroom, one of the most enduring names in global drug trafficking has accepted his role at the top of one of the biggest and most sophisticated criminal networks in the world. He is due to be sentenced in January 2026.