Longtime Mexican drug cartel leader to face trial in New York | Country / World

NEW YORK (AP) — Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the powerful leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, will be arraigned Friday in New York on a 17-count indictment that charges him with drug trafficking and murder.

Zambada has been wanted by U.S. law enforcement for more than two decades and has been in custody in the U.S. since July 25. On July 25, he landed in a private jet at an airport outside El Paso with another fugitive cartel leader, Joaquín Guzmán López, federal authorities said.

Zambada later wrote in a letter that he had been forcibly kidnapped in Mexico and brought to the U.S. by Guzmán López, the son of imprisoned Sinaloa founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

U.S. prosecutors in Brooklyn have asked a judge to permanently detain Zambada while he awaits trial. If convicted of all charges, Zambada, 76, faces a minimum sentence of life in prison and could be eligible for the death penalty.

In a letter to the judge, prosecutors called Zambada “one of the most notorious and dangerous drug traffickers in the world.”

“The defendant maintained an arsenal of military-grade weapons to protect his person, his drugs and his empire,” they wrote. “His heavily armed private security detail was used as his personal bodyguards and to protect drug shipments throughout Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and beyond. In addition, he maintained a stable of ‘sicarios,’ or hitmen, who carried out gruesome murders and kidnappings to maintain discipline within his organization, provide protection from challenges from rivals and silence those who sought to cooperate with law enforcement.”

That included ordering the murder of his own cousin several months ago, prosecutors said.

Zambada had previously pleaded guilty to the charges at a Texas court hearing.

His surprise arrest has sparked fighting in Mexico between rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel. Several people have been killed in gun battles. Schools in businesses in Culiacan, the Sinaloa capital, have been closed because of the fighting. The fighting is believed to be between factions loyal to Zambada and those led by other sons of “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was convicted in the U.S. in 2019 on drug and conspiracy charges and sentenced to life in prison.

It remains unclear why Guzmán López surrendered to U.S. authorities and took Zambada with him. Guzmán López is now awaiting trial on a separate drug trafficking charge in Chicago, where he has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges in federal court.

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