Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Garcia, of Mexico, was sentenced on Monday to life in a U.S.prison and ordered to forfeit $15 billion in drug trafficking profits, according to the U.S.
Department of Justice.U.S.District Judge Brian Cogan said that while he had no choice but to give a life sentence since the charges carried a mandatory term of life imprisonment, he believed it was the right punishment."The almost unimaginable amount of drugs attributable to him and the number of murders that we can document is enough to justify Congress's decision to make this a mandatory life sentence," the judge said.He is one of the most high-profile Mexican drug traffickers to be sentenced by a U.S.
judge since fellow Sinaloa leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was sentenced to life in prison in 2019.ICE RENEWS HUNT FOR EL CHAPO'S ;AST TWO FUGITIVE SONS WITH MASSIVE REWARDA photo of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Garcia being detained by federal agents is displayed next to a Beechcraft King Air aircraft, used in July 2024 to transport Garcia and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of notorious narco leader "El Chapo" Guzman, to the U.S., at the War Eagles Air Museum, in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.(REUTERS/Paul Ratje)Garcia, 76, agreed to plead guilty in August 2025 to multiple charges, including racketeering conspiracy and continuing criminal enterprise, after the DOJ said it would not pursue the death penalty.He was arrested in July 2024 alongside Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of Guzman's sons, after their plane landed in the U.S.
Guzman Lopez has since pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including drug trafficking and a July 2024 kidnapping.Joseph Nocella, a federal prosecutor, told reporters after Garcia's sentencing that Guzman Lopez had admitted to kidnapping Garcia in an attempt to secure leniency and credit from U.S.law enforcement.A reward sign for former Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Garcia standing next to a Beechcraft K...