Mexican Cartel Leader ‘El Mayo’ Zambada Pleads Not Guilty to Charges in U.S.

NEW YORK (AP) — Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, A powerful longtime leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel pleaded not guilty Friday to drug trafficking and murder charges in the United States.

Participating in a court hearing through a Spanish interpreter, Zambada did not speak except to answer yes or no questions from a judge about his understanding of various documents and procedures and about his health — “very good, very good,” he said. His lawyers entered not guilty pleas on his behalf.

Wanted by U.S. law enforcement for more than two decades, Zambada was detained in the United States since July 25, when he landed on a private plane at an airport near El Paso with another fugitive cartel leader, Joaquín Guzmán López, federal authorities said.

Zambada later stated in a letter that he was forcibly kidnapped in Mexico and brought to the United States by Guzmán López, son of imprisoned Sinaloa co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Judge James Cho ordered Zambada held until trial. His lawyers did not request bail, and U.S. prosecutors in Brooklyn asked the judge to remand him in custody.

“He was one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, drug kingpins in the world,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco Navarro. “He co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel and was at the top of the drug trafficking world for decades.”

Zambada sat silently as he listened to the interpreter. After a brief audience, he agreed to be helped out of a chair, then walked out slowly but unassisted.

The cartoonists were present in the small courtroom, but all other journalists could only observe via closed-circuit video due to a lack of seating.

In court and in a letter to the judge, prosecutors said Zambada presided over a vast and violent operation, with an arsenal of military-grade weapons, a private security force that almost resembled an army, and a corps of “sicarios,” or hit men, who carried out assassinations, kidnappings and torture.

He notably ordered the murder, just a few months ago, of his own nephew, prosecutors said.

“A prison cell in the United States is the only thing that will prevent the defendant from committing further crimes,” Navarro said.

Zambada also pleaded not guilty to the charges at a previous court appearance in Texas.

His surprise arrest sparked clashes in Mexico between rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel. Shootings left several people dead. Schools and businesses in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa, were hit. closed amid fightingThe fighting is believed to be between factions loyal to Zambada and those led by other sons of “El Chapo” Guzmán, who has been convicted of drug trafficking and conspiracy. life sentence in the United States in 2019.

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