OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
7:10 PM – Monday, August 25, 2025
Mexican cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia pleaded guilty on Monday to federal charges stemming from his role as a co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel. The charges include drug trafficking, money laundering, and other firearms offenses.
Zambada admitted to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of operating a continuing criminal enterprise, the Justice Department announced. He initially entered a not-guilty plea, but federal prosecutors indicated last week in court filings that he would be changing his plea to guilty.
According to the Associated Press, Zambada offered a brief apology for his actions during Monday’s court hearing.
“I recognize the great harm illegal drugs have done to the people in the United States and Mexico,” he said via a Spanish-language interpreter. “I apologize for all of it, and I take responsibility for my actions.”
In indictments filed in New York and Texas, federal prosecutors accused Zambada, along with other leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, of orchestrating the trafficking of vast quantities of heroin, cocaine, fentanyl, and other illicit drugs into the United States.
Incoming reports have stated that Zambada is expected to be sentenced on January 13, 2026, and he faces a mandatory life sentence.
“El Mayo will spend the rest of his life behind bars. He will die in a U.S. federal prison where he belongs,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Monday. “His guilty plea brings us one step closer to achieving our goal of elimination of the drug cartels and the transnational criminal organizations throughout this world that are flooding our country with drugs, human traffickers and homicides. Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is on the front lines of this fight.”
Zambada, 77, co-led the Sinaloa Cartel with Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán until Guzmán’s capture in 2016. However, Zambada continued to exert significant influence over the cartel’s operations, overseeing the trafficking of vast quantities of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into the United States.
He employed a vast network of operatives across Mexico, Central and South America, and the U.S. to facilitate these operations.
Additionally, Zambada utilized enforcers to eliminate rivals and suppress threats to the cartel’s dominance, contributing to widespread violence and corruption.
In July 2024, Zambada was arrested at a private airfield in El Paso, Texas, alongside Joaquín Guzmán López, son of “El Chapo.” Reports have suggested that Zambada was lured under false pretenses by Guzmán López, leading to his capture.
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