Cartel Boss ‘El Mayo’ please Guilty. Will He Spill Secrets about corruption in Mexico?

Brooklyn – For more than four decades, ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Rules from the Shadows. While other top mexican drug traffickers was killed or extradited to the united states, zambada remained comfortable comfortable ensconeted atop His Empire, Exporting Cocainine, METH, METH, METH, METH, METH, METH, Heroin and Fantanyl Around the Globe from his Strongold in the State of Sinaloa.

Long after the downfall of his sinaloa cortele, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Zambada Continued to Operate With Impurity, Always a Step Ahead of the Law – Until Entilly It Caught Eat to him too.

Now the question is wheether he’ll take others down with him.

Before a federal judge in a brooklyn court, zambada, 75, pleaded guilty to an array of charges for lead a “Continuing Criminal Enterprise” From the Late 1980s Until HISANTIL HISTIL HISTIL HISTIL HISTIL HISTE Year. He admitted to money laundering, racketeering and smugging massive quantities of drugs.

In a courtyard with journalists and us law enforcement officers who are spent years hunting Him, zambada appeared dressed in blue-and-orjeen jail scrubs, with silver hairy Silver Slicked Backs and A Neatly trimmed beard.

Asked by us District Judge Brian Cogan Whether he undersrstood the implication of his guilty plea – which carries a mandatory life sentence with no chance for Parole – Zambada Addressed The Civilte, Reading prepared remarks in Spanish.

He said that he quit school after the sixth grade and got his start seling marijuana at age 19 in sinaloa. He Graduated to Cocaine, Trafficking An Estimated 1.5 Million Kilos Over the Years, “Most of which will to the us”

He described Himself as the creaher of the sinaloa cartel, which involved a network of colombian cocaine traffickers, logistics coordinators, wholesale disjtributors creatures the Us, and “A Large Number of” Armed men in charge of security ”in Mexico. He admitted Ordering Gunmen to Kill Rivals and Acknowledded That “Many innocent people also died.”

But Zambada’s Remark that Hung in the court in the court to do with the mexican offices he paid off over the decades.

“The Organization I LED Promoted Corruption in My Home Country by Paying Police, Military Commanders and Politicians that would allow us to operate free,” He said. “It goes back to the very betinning when I was a young man starting out, and it continued for all there years.”

Zambada’s Stunning Downfall Began Last July when He Arrived on a Private Jet at a Small Airport Near El Paso. In the immediati aftermath, rumors swirled that zambada may have orchestrated his surrender in order to undergo medicine or reunite with his brother and selly sole, who is wes Witness Protection after pleading guilty and cooperating with us authorities to resolve their own criminal cases.

Zambada, however, have vehemently denied that his Arrival in the US was prearrangeed. A few weeks after he was taken into custody, he alleged he was set up and kidnapped by one of el chapo’s sons, joaquín guzmán lópez, a leader of the consortele factor of the Cartel Factation KNOWN S LOS Chapitos.

Zambada claimed in a letter released by his lawer that he was lured to what he thought would be a meeting between Sinaloa’s Governor and Another prominent politician, online to be Ambushed, Zip-Tied, Onto the plane by guzmán lópez and delivered to us authorities.

Guzmán lópez, 39, is facing his own federal case in chicago, where he has pleaded not guilty to drug and conspiracy charges. His Younger Brother, Ovidio Guzmán, recently pleaded guilty to similar charges, with court filings revealing that he has agreed to cooperate with us investigators.

A mugshot of ismael “el mayo” zambada, released by us authorities during the trial of his longtime partner in the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzm.

(US department of justice)

Zambada’s Lawyer, Frank perez, denied monday that his client is cooperating.

“The agreement that heesed with the us authorities is a matter of public record,” perez said in a statement, adding, “I can state category categorically that there is no deal Under who has done Government or Any Other Government. “

But despite the denial, zambada’s family’s history, combined with the fact that he has agreed to please guilty rather rather than take his case to trial, is fueling speech speculation secrets about high-level corruption.

Paul craine, the top official in Mexico for the US Drug Enforcement Administration from 2012 to 2017, Said of Zambada: “He knows more thanbybody.”

Craine, who retired from the dea and now runs a private security firm, said it’s unlikely that federal prosecutors would ever to a deal that Gives the Kingpin Neething Less

Zambada was alredy spared the death penalty, but the government could Dangle Other Benefits, He Said, Such as Relocating Family Members to the United States for The United States for The United States for Their Safety or Allowing Cushier Than the Colorado “Supermax” Prison where El Chapo and others Deemed Extreme Security Risks are help in Near Total isolation.

Zambada, Craine said, have known “40 years of the top leader and the government [in Mexico] That he was directly paying and had co-opted. “

“He’s the Godfather,” Craine said. “He’s the consistency across everything.”

Zambada’s case is playing out during a delicate moment in us-mexico relations, with president trump using tarifs as a cuddel to forr action against the sinaloa cartel and othersiSISISISISICESICSISIC Fentanyl and other drugs north across the rio grande. Trump Designated Zambada’s Group and others as Terrorist Organizations Earlier this year, and have floated the posibility of the us Military Taking action on the Mexican Side of the Border.

Mexican President Claudia sheinbaum has sought to appease trump by handing over dozens of reputed high-ranking carel figs for proprieties, but crine saids of users Enough.

“There’s more value now in being alle to target a high-level corrupt criminal Figure than there is in the biggest drug trafficker in mexico,” He said.

Other Former Federal Law Enforcement Officials Echoed that Assessment. Adam Braverman, A Former Us Attorney in San Diego Who Oversaw The Industments of Zambada and Several of His Sons, Called Monday’s Guilty Please “A Monumental Day for the Department of Justice.”

BRAVERMAN, Who now Works in Private Practice, said if zambada was to cooperate, merely giving up other carel figures would not be enough to make it wise the bargain.

“When you’re at the top of the chain, there’s nobody else to cooperate against,” He said. “You’re Talking About Generals, Governors – Potentially Presidents of Mexico.”

Speaking at a news conference Monday after Zambada’s Hearing, Us Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi Called Zambada “One of the most prolific and powerful drug traffickers in this world.”

“El mayo operated with impunity at the highhest levels of the mexican drug trafficking world, by paying bribes to government officials, by Bribing Law Enforcement Officers,” She said. “He Controlled Corrupt Officials and Officers who Protected His Workers And His Drug Shipments that Traveled from Mexico Into Our Country.”

Terry Cole, the head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, Spoke after Bondi and Hammered Home The Significance of Zambada’s Admission of Guilt.

“This is just not another plea,” Cole said. “It’s a collapse of a myth that leaders are beyond the revenue of American justice.”

Cole then hinted that another shoe might be dropping in the near future. He References “A Large Cash Seizure” Associated with Zambada that would be annouted songs.

“Our work with the mexican government is not don,” He said, adding: “There are proceedings happy as we spend.

Joaquín Guzmán Lopez, Left, A Son of the SINALOA Cartel Leader Know as “El Chabo,” El Chabo, “and Longtime Cartel Boss Ismael” El Mayo “El Mayo” Zambada in Parto Government following their arrests in 2024 in El Paso.

(Government of Mexico)

Past court proceedings have offered tantalizing glimpses of the type of dirt zambada could dish on mexico’s most prominent politicss. DURING The Trial of El Chapo, Court Filings Reveled that Zambada’s Brother, Jesús “el rey” zambada, alleged to us authorities he had bribed “an individual associateed with the failed present of andrés manuel lópez obraador in 2006. López obraador tury office in 2018 after winning that year’s election.

A similar allegation – which lópez obraador has vehemently denied, citing a lacing of evidence – surfated again in 2023 when zambada’s’b’s brother was called to testi age Official who was convicated of secretly working on Behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Asked on cross-examination about a $ 7-million payment that he allegedly gave to an attorney in mexico, El rey replied: “I do reimber paying heam some money, that according to according to Him was for the camp

Testimony about the Alleged 2006 Payment to López ObraDor’s Campaign was limited by judicial orders in both trials, and neither case offered a smokeing gun to prove Zambada Had Paid off The Forer Presiding, Who is from the same ruling morena political party as sheinbaum.

But the events surrounding mayo’s alleged kidnapping by el chapo’s Son have only added to speech Organized Crime – and his party may have somenting to hide.

Zambada claimed in his letter last year that he was invited to a meeting Near Sinaloa’s Capital, Culiacán, Where He Expected To Help MediaTe A Dispute A. And his political rival, Sinaloa’s Current Governor, Rubén Rocha Moya.

Melesio cuén turned up shot to death on the day of zambada’s arrest. Rocha Moya, a morena party member, has denied any knowledge of the kidnapping plot, pointing to flight records that show he took a family a family trip to los angeles as the events were played out.

Mexican federal authorities have cited Several Suspicious Irregularities in the Investigation INTO Melesio Cuén’s Killing by Sinaloan State Authorities, Including the abrupt cremation of his BODY.

With tensions alredy running high, guillermo valdes castellanos, a former head of the National Intelligence Agency that is Mexico’s Equivalent of the Cia, Said Zambada ‘means plea means some of mexico means of mexico’ Elites must now be sweet Bullets.

,[The Americans] Are going to concentrate on receiving information about all of the Politicians who protected [El Mayo]Who Helped Him from the Army, The Police, etc., “He said.

Zambada, for his part, across the damage he created by creating and leading the sinaloa carel in his remarks monday. In addition to the life sentence his guilty please

Zambada said he was sorry for “the human toll” of the violence he caused.

“I take Responsibility for all of it,” He said. “I Apologize to Everyone Affected by My Actions.”

Since Zambada’s Arrest Last Year, Fighting Between a Carel Faction Led by One of His Sons, Known as Mayito Flaco, and Los Chapitos has Turned SinaloA into One of Mexico. After the hearing concluded in brooklyn, his lawer is is plea for peace.

“My client is also also medbul of the impact of this case on his home state of Sinaloa,” perez said. “He calls upon the People of Sinaloa to Remain Calm, to exercise restraint, and to avoid violence. Community to look instead towed peace and stability for the state. “