Mexico City.- Ismael Zambada García, “El Mayo,” the Mexican drug lord who was apparently kidnapped by the son of his former partner in crime last month and flown across the border by U.S. federal agents in Texas, will soon be sent to trial in Brooklyn, according to four people familiar with the situation, according to information from The New York Times.
The Justice Department’s decision to prosecute Zambada Garcia, 76, in Brooklyn means he will face trial in the same federal court where his former ally Joaquin Guzman 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, Zambada García, who has evaded capture in his home country for nearly 50 years, was lured from one of his mountaintop hideouts in Culiacán, Sinaloa, which has long served as a stronghold of the Sinaloa Cartel.
According to three people familiar with the matter, he believed he was going to help one of “El Chapo’s” sons, Joaquín Guzmán López, “El Güero,” mediate a dispute between two local politicians.
However, he was ambushed, forced onto a plane and flown across the border to a small regional airport near El Paso, where FBI and Homeland Security Investigations agents were waiting for him.
Guzmán López was sent to Chicago, where he will be prosecuted along with his brother Ovidio Guzmán López, “El Ratón,” who was extradited to the United States in September 2023.
Zambada Garcia, who helped “El Chapo” found the Sinaloa drug cartel, was first charged in the United States more than two decades ago and faces indictment not only in Brooklyn but also in El Paso, Chicago, Washington and San Diego.
Although federal prosecutors in El Paso had vehemently sought to keep the case in Texas, the Justice Department decided to send Zambada Garcia to Brooklyn because they felt the case there was strong and were concerned about the security issues involved in bringing charges against a major Mexican drug lord so close to the border, said some of the people familiar with the situation.
The people also noted that some of the prosecutors who oversaw the Guzmán Loera trial had agreed to return to prosecute the Zambada García case and that the judge who oversaw the El Chapo case, Brian M. Cogan, was well versed in the issues surrounding the trial.
It remains unclear exactly when Zambada Garcia, known as “El Mayo,” will be transferred from El Paso to Brooklyn, but some law enforcement officials involved in the case said they were excited at the prospect that he would face prosecution by some of the same federal agents and prosecutors who prosecuted Guzman Loera.
Testimony at that trial suggested that Zambada Garcia was a central player in the Sinaloa Cartel’s bribery of government officials in Mexico, and law enforcement officials said that if he eventually cooperated with U.S. authorities, he could prove useful in making progress in the fight against corruption south of the border.
The Brooklyn federal courthouse already has a special security jail that was used to house Guzman Loera, who twice escaped from prison in Mexico. That could reduce security risks for Zambada Garcia’s trial.
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