Sinaloa Cartel Founder Known as El Mayo Pleads Guilty to Drug Trafficking

New York|Founder of Sinaloa Cartel Pleads Guilty to Drug Trafficking

Ismael Zambada García, a Sinaloa cartel founder who for decades evaded Mexican and U.S. authorities before a covert capture straight out of a narco thriller, pleaded guilty on Monday to drug trafficking.

Mr. Zambada García, also known as El Mayo, helped start the cartel decades ago with Joaquín Guzmán Loera, also known as El Chapo. He built a sophisticated criminal network that trafficked cocaine, heroin and other illegal drugs across the border into the United States, wielding power through mass murder and political corruption to protect and expand the business.

He will be sentenced to life in prison.

Appearing before Judge Brian M. Cogan in Federal District Court in Brooklyn on Monday, Mr. Zambada García, 75, swiveled slightly in his chair as he listened to proceedings through a Spanish interpreter. He pleaded guilty to one count of taking part in a continuing criminal enterprise and one count of racketeering conspiracy.

“I started getting involved with illegal drugs in 1969, when I was 19 years old,” Mr. Zambada García said in a prepared statement in court, “and I planted marijuana for the first time.”

Mr. Zambada García was arrested in July 2024 by federal agents in Texas, after arriving in the United States under extraordinary circumstances. He had been kidnapped by the son of El Chapo, his onetime partner, who lured him onto a Beechcraft King Air plane under the pretense of looking at real estate.

The son, Joaquín Guzmán López, and Mr. Zambada García landed at a small airport outside El Paso, where they were both arrested.

The kidnapping turned Sinaloa into a war zone as a bloody conflict broke out between the cartel’s rival factions: those loyal to Mr. Zambada García, known as Los Mayos, and those aligned with El Chapo’s sons, known as Los Chapitos. The state’s economy ground to a halt, and under pressure from President Trump, Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, sent thousands of troops to Sinaloa to curtail the violence.

Frank Perez, a lawyer for Mr. Zambada García, said his client accepted “full responsibility for what he did wrong.” He called on the people of Sinaloa to stay peaceful and “exercise restraint.”

“Nothing is gained by bloodshed; it only deepens wounds and prolongs suffering,” Mr. Perez said.

This a developing story and will be updated.

Alan Feuer contributed reporting.