Ishmael’s lawyer Can Zambada, the 78-year-old historic leader of the Sinaloa Cartel who was arrested in July 2024 and who pleaded guilty last August in a New York court to two counts of drug trafficking and continuing criminal enterprise, requested a 90-year extension so that his sentence could be announced. The Mexican drug kingpin reached a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice to avoid the death penalty and awaits a hearing on Jan. 12 at which he will receive his sentence.
His defense attorney Frank Pérez asked Judge Brian M. Cogan of the Eastern District of New York to postpone this hearing in order to gather enough information and evidence to reduce the sentence. El Mayo is charged in the United States with conspiring and directing an organized crime enterprise to import and distribute drugs into the United States, acts punishable by the Corrupt and Influenced by Organized Crime Organizations Act (RICO). According to the document sent to the judge requesting the extension, some of the information Zambada’s team of lawyers needs must be obtained from people living in Mexico. The defender assures that due to the high levels of violence experienced in the country, there are difficult logistical conditions to access witnesses who could help contact family members and people who provide information about the case. According to Pérez, several people were barely able to confirm their availability.
Mayo Zambada pleaded guilty before a U.S. judge on August 25, sparing him the death penalty and a public trial, but he also lost the right to revoke Cogan’s sentence. He currently faces 17 charges.
Zambada was arrested in July last year after landing at Santa Teresa Airport (New Mexico, United States) in a small plane with Joaquín Guzmán López, one of the sons of El Chapo Guzmán, who, according to the former head of the Sinaloa cartel, had set a trap to take him to the United States and hand him over to authorities. Guzmán himself confirmed the version, saying that he was seeking to improve his situation and that of his brother Ovidio Guzmán López, alias The mousewhich also concluded an agreement with the United States.
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