El Mayo Zambada Gacia of Sinaloa cartel docked

For decades, the Sinaloa Cartel has profited from poisoning and killing Americans, and fueling violence on both sides of our southern border –  said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco

 

 

Admin I Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024

 

BROOLLYN, New York – Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia, 76, a citizen of Mexico, who co-founded the Sinaloa drug cartel has been arraigned in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

He was docked on 17 counts charge related to drug trafficking, firearms offenses, and money laundering. This fifth superseding indictment relates to El Mayo’s decades-long leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world and conspiracy to manufacture and distribute fentanyl.

El Mayo was previously charged with running a continuing criminal enterprise, as well as murder conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana manufacture and distribution conspiracy, as well as other drug-related crimes.

El Mayo was  detained pending trial and was transferred to the Eastern District of New York from the Western District of Texas, following his arrest in New Mexico on July 25.

“El Mayo, the co-founder and leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, has been charged with overseeing a multi-billion-dollar conspiracy to flood American communities with narcotics, including deadly fentanyl,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.

“We allege that El Mayo built, and for decades led, the Sinaloa Cartel’s network of manufacturers, assassins, traffickers, and money launderers responsible for kidnapping and murdering people in both the United States and Mexico, and importing lethal quantities of fentanyl, heroin, meth, and cocaine into the United States.

Now, El Mayo joins the many other Sinaloa Cartel leaders who have faced charges in an American courtroom for the immeasurable harm they have inflicted on families and communities across our country.”

“For years, Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada Garcia and the Sinaloa Cartel he led manufactured illicit fentanyl and peddled it across our country, profiting off of the pain of countless American communities,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas.

“Thanks to the dedicated work of brave Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Agents and their federal partners, the United States is disrupting and dismantling drug trafficking operations across the world, ensuring Cartel kingpins like Mr. Zambada Garcia are brought to justice, and keeping Americans safe from the scourge of fentanyl.”

“For decades, the Sinaloa Cartel has profited from poisoning and killing Americans, and fueling violence on both sides of our southern border,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.

“Today’s arraignment of Zambada Garcia is the latest step in a whole-of-government effort to strike back against one of the world’s most dangerous criminal organizations and protect our communities from the fentanyl epidemic.”

“Today’s arraignment is another forceful reminder of the FBI’s commitment to pursuing justice for the American lives lost to the violence and trafficking of deadly drugs, like fentanyl, associated with Zambada Garcia and those he directed as a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.

“The FBI will not stop in our pursuit of those who engage and facilitate the cartel’s sophisticated operations that cause immense harm to Americans and poison communities across our country.”

“Defeating the Sinaloa Cartel is DEA’s top operational priority and today, with the capture and additional charges filed against Ismael Zambada Garcia we are that much closer,” said Administrator Anne Milgram of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “Better known as ‘El Mayo’, Zambada Garcia is the co-founder and leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most ruthless and dangerous cartels in Mexico and responsible for the unprecedented drug crisis facing the United States. With Zambada Garcia no longer in power we have struck at the heart of the Sinaloa Cartel’s operations.

He may have eluded capture for three decades, but today he is seeing what it means to face justice in America. Let this be a reminder to his associates and others, American lives depend on DEA remaining laser focused on destroying the cartels, their networks, and their global supply chain and that is what we will continue to do.”

“Zambada Garcia’s day of reckoning in a U.S. courtroom has arrived and justice will follow,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York.

“If convicted, never again will he deliver fentanyl, cocaine, and other deadly drugs and associated violence into our country or make millions as hundreds of thousands of innocent lives are lost. It is my hope that the countless family members and friends of victims who succumbed to his cartel’s poisons, and the countless members of law enforcement who fearlessly risked their lives fighting this scourge, should take comfort in knowing that Zambada Garcia will be held accountable for his multitude of crimes.”

“Zambada Garcia will now face the American justice system,” said U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida.

“His arrest means that he will now have to face charges for leading the Sinaloa Cartel’s multi-billion-dollar criminal enterprise that funneled drugs onto our streets and violence and despair into our communities. But our work is not done. We will go after the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel and the drug trafficking organizations around the world.”

“Today’s arraignment sends a clear message to drug traffickers around the world — we will find you and bring you to justice,” said HSI Executive Associate Director Katrina W. Berger.

“The men and women of HSI are working diligently with our partners around the globe to investigate, intercept and halt the flow of illegal drugs into the United States and keep illegal drugs off our streets.”

“The arraignment of this individual is a result of the relentless work of law enforcement partners at all levels to stem the tide of illegal drugs and drug related violence in our country,” said Superintendent Steven G. James of the New York State Police (NYSP).

“Strong partnerships are key, and as a result, a dangerous international drug trafficking operation, and the organized crime perpetuated by it, has been shut down. The State Police will continue to tenaciously work in conjunction with our partners to seek out those who deliberately put others in danger.”
El Mayo was first indicted in the Eastern District of New York in 2009 and most recently in a fifth superseding indictment in February.

As alleged, El Mayo was a co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel together with his co-defendant Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as El Chapo, and together they ran the Sinaloa Cartel together from Mexico until El Chapo’s arrest in 2016.

Following a trial, El Chapo was convicted in the Eastern District of New York in 2019 and sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison.