The decision by the Justice Department will put Ismael Zambada García in the same federal courthouse where his fellow Sinaloa cartel founder, El Chapo, was sentenced to life in prison.
Listen to this article · 3:28 min Learn more
- Share full article
Newspapers in Mexico City reporting the arrest of the drug lord Ismael Zambada García, known as El Mayo.
Ismael Zambada García, the Mexican drug lord who was apparently kidnapped by a son of his former partner in crime last month and flown across the border into the hands of U.S. federal agents in Texas, will soon be sent to stand trial in Brooklyn, according to four people familiar with the situation.
The decision by the Justice Department to prosecute Mr. Zambada García, 76, in Brooklyn means that he will face trial in the same federal courthouse where his former ally, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, better known as El Chapo, was convicted five years ago on drug conspiracy charges and ultimately sentenced to life in prison.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Zambada García, who has evaded capture in his homeland for nearly 50 years, was lured from one of his mountaintop hide-outs to the Mexican city of Culiacán, which has long served as a stronghold for the Sinaloa cartel.
He believed he was going to help one of El Chapo’s sons, Joaquín Guzmán López, mediate a dispute between two local politicians, according to three people familiar with the matter. Instead, he was ambushed, muscled onto a plane and flown across the border to a small regional airport near El Paso, where agents from the F.B.I. and Homeland Security Investigations were waiting for him.
Mr. Guzmán López has been sent to Chicago, where he will be prosecuted along with his brother Ovidio Guzmán López, who was extradited to the United States in September.
Mr. Zambada García, who helped El Chapo found the Sinaloa drug cartel, was first charged in the United States more than two decades ago and is facing indictment not only in Brooklyn, but also in El Paso, Chicago, Washington and San Diego.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
Source: nytimes.com