Mexico City.- The United States Department of Justice officially announced that it intends to transfer Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada from Texas to New York, but a federal judge in El Paso clarified today that the alleged Sinaloa Cartel boss can object.
Judge Kathleen Cardone of the Western District Court of Texas gave Zambada García until August 26 to oppose or accept the motion from the prosecution, which announced today its intention to transfer him to be prosecuted in New York.
“The government sought out Zambada’s defense to find out its position, but we have not received a response,” prosecutor Jaime Esparza admitted in his motion.
According to the judge, the rules of procedure are clear in that the accused has 11 days to oppose any motion from the prosecution, so for now she limited herself to “taking into consideration” the government’s request.
The prosecution also asked Cardone to schedule a hearing as soon as possible so that Zambada can be informed of the charges he faces in the Court for the Eastern District of New York, in Brooklyn, where his partner Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was sentenced to life in prison in 2019.
At this hearing, which has not yet been scheduled, Zambada will be identified as the same person accused in New York, and he will be informed of his transfer to face trial in that city.
The drug lord, who claims to have been kidnapped from Mexico on July 25 by Joaquín Guzmán López, son of “El Chapo,” has already appeared before Judge Cardone on the charges he faces in Texas, and the next hearing in that case is scheduled for September 9.
The advantages of a trial in New York for the Justice Department are obvious, since Judge Brian Cogan knows the case thoroughly, and already has the logistical and operational experience in terms of witnesses and juries that allowed the trial against “El Chapo” to move forward.
The indictment against Zambada in Brooklyn was updated last February and includes a total of 17 charges of large-scale drug trafficking of more than 250 tons of cocaine exported by Colombian cartels such as the Valle Norte, the Luis Caicedo “Don Lucho” cartel and the Cifuentes Villa family cartel.
Also trafficking in fentanyl, methamphetamines, marijuana, heroin, conspiracy to commit murder and directing a criminal organization, beginning in 1989 and continuing through January 2024.
In the new indictment in New York, federal prosecutor Breon Peace said he would seek to seize assets equivalent to $14 billion, the largest amount ever expressed in a document of this type against a Mexican drug trafficker, although in practice, only some assets can be confiscated by the authorities.
Some of Zambada’s co-defendants in this case were historic Cartel bosses, such as Ignacio Coronel Villarreal and the Beltrán Leyva brothers.
In Texas, Zambada and 23 others are charged with drug trafficking, money laundering, possession of weapons for criminal enterprise, violent crimes and homicides in aid of a criminal organization.
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