US prosecutors want to try Mexican drug lord ‘El Mayo’ Zambada in New York, then in Texas

NEW YORK (AP) — A Mexican drug lord arrested in the U.S. could face trial in New York City after prosecutors filed a request Thursday to transfer him from Texas.

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, known as a top leader and co-founder of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, is facing multiple charges in the U.S. He and a son of notorious Sinaloa leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman were arrested last month after flying to New Mexico. Zambada has said he was kidnapped in his home country on his way to what he thought was a meeting with a Mexican official.

Zambada, 76, has so far appeared in U.S. federal court in El Paso, Texas, one of the jurisdictions where he is charged. He has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy, drug trafficking and other charges.

Federal prosecutors in Texas on Thursday asked a court to hold a hearing to take the procedural steps needed to transfer him to the New York jurisdiction, which includes Brooklyn, where the senior Guzmán was convicted in 2019 on drug and conspiracy charges and sentenced to life in prison.

If prosecutors get their way, Zambada’s case in Texas will proceed after the New York one.

A request for comment has been sent to Zambada’s lawyers.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn declined to comment. Zambada is accused there of operating a continuing criminal enterprise, murder conspiracy, drug offenses and other crimes.

Meanwhile, Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of “El Chapo” who was arrested with Zambada, has pleaded not guilty in a federal court in Chicago to drug trafficking and other charges.

Zambada, along with the elder Guzmán, led the Sinaloa Cartel, which grew from a regional cartel into a major manufacturer and smuggler of illegal fentanyl pills and other drugs into the United States, authorities said.

Zambada is seen as a good negotiator and as the syndicate’s strategist and dealmaker, and is believed to be more involved in the day-to-day running of the business than the more flamboyant Guzmán.

Zambada kept a low profile and had never been behind bars until his arrest in the US last month.

He has often clashed with Guzmán’s sons, known as the Chapitos, or Little Chapos. Fearing that Zambada’s arrest could spark a violent power struggle within the cartel, the Mexican government quickly sent 200 special forces to the state of Sinaloa, and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador publicly pleaded with the cartel factions not to fight each other.