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Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, co-founder of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking-related crimes after reaching a plea deal with the US government as it cracks down on Mexican drug groups.
Zambada, who played a central role in building what prosecutors say is the world’s largest drug trafficking group, appeared on Monday in a Brooklyn federal court where he pleaded guilty to engaging in a criminal enterprise and a second charge related to a racketeering conspiracy.
“I created a large criminal network that I directed and led,” he told the court through a translator, saying the cartel’s work included shipping cocaine from Colombia to Mexico and smuggling it across the border into the US. His organisation received “hundreds of millions of dollars in payments” for drugs every year, he added.
The septuagenarian said he had directed people to kill others in conflicts with rival groups, and his organisation had for years paid bribes to police officers and politicians so that it could “operate freely”.
The plea comes as US President Donald Trump’s administration has pressured Mexico to crack down on the groups and their political ties, including floating the idea of military intervention against cartels.
Zambada is one of the most influential drug traffickers in Mexican history, and had been on the run from authorities for decades, rumoured to be hiding in the rugged mountains of Sinaloa.
He was kidnapped in Mexico last year and flown to the US, where he was handed to authorities. He said that a former partner was responsible.
Zambada faces a minimum sentence of life imprisonment, and has agreed to forfeit $15bn. He is due to be sentenced in January.
The US in June sanctioned three Mexican banks over ties to the fentanyl trade and has cancelled the visas of sitting officials.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has won plaudits from some officials for her co-operation with the US, but Trump’s administration has accused her of being “scared” of the cartels and refused to rule out intervention such as drone strikes.
Zambada is among the highest-profile drug traffickers detained by the US or turned over by Mexican authorities. Co-operation from such senior figures could provide US prosecutors a trove of information on the politicians and companies that work with the cartels.
Ovidio and Joaquín Guzmán, sons of Zambada’s fellow co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, are in US custody. Under pressure from Trump, Sheinbaum has sent dozens of wanted traffickers to the US for prosecution.
Since Zambada’s arrest, the state of Sinaloa has descended into a war between factions of the notorious crime group. Homicides, disappearances and carjackings have soared.
The guilty plea by Zambada, who grew up in rural Sinaloa, means he will avoid the media circus that surrounded the trial for his former partner El Chapo. Zambada’s son has already taken a plea deal and testified against El Chapo.
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