Although a New York Times article indicates that Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada will be transferred from El Paso to New York to be tried in the same court as his former partner, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, so far the transfer has not been requested in either of the two judicial jurisdictions.
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 indictments not only in Brooklyn but also in El Paso, Chicago, Washington and San Diego.
Zambada has appeared in two federal court hearings in El Paso since his arrest Thursday, July 25, by U.S. agents at a private airport in Doña Ana County in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, a small town bordering El Paso. Joaquin Guzman Lopez, son of “El Chapo,” was also arrested with Zambada.
According to the New York newspaper’s article, published on its website on Monday night, Zambada García, “the Mexican drug lord who was apparently kidnapped by the son of his former accomplice last month and flown across the border to U.S. federal agents in Texas, will soon be sent to trial in the New York City district of Brooklyn, according to four people familiar with the situation.”
The story by reporter Alan Feuer, who covered the trial against “El Chapo” in Brooklyn, notes that the Justice Department’s decision to prosecute Zambada García, 76, in Brooklyn means that he will face trial in the same federal court where his former ally, Guzmán Loera, was convicted five years ago on drug trafficking conspiracy charges and ultimately sentenced to life in prison.
Two weeks ago, Zambada García, who has evaded capture in his homeland for nearly 50 years, was lured from one of his mountaintop hideouts to the Mexican city of Culiacán, which has long served as a stronghold of the Sinaloa cartel, the Times reports.
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, put on a plane and flown across the border to a small regional airport near El Paso, Texas, where FBI and Homeland Security Investigations agents were waiting.
Guzmán López has been sent to Chicago, where he will be tried along with his brother Ovidio Guzmán López, who was extradited to the United States in September.
While federal prosecutors in El Paso had vehemently sought to keep the case in Texas, the Times says the Justice Department decided to send Zambada García 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 trafficker so close to the border, some of the people familiar with the situation said.
The statement said it was unclear exactly when Zambada Garcia, known as El Mayo, would be transferred from El Paso to Brooklyn.
The Brooklyn federal courthouse also has a unique secure jail that was used to house Guzman Loera, who twice escaped from prison in Mexico. That could lessen the security risks of trying Zambada Garcia.
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