Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, founding leader of the legendary Sinaloa cartel, will be sentenced in New York on Monday (July 20, 2026), a ruling expected to send Mexico’s last old-school druglord to prison for life.

After a journey from poor farmworker to one of the world’s most powerful and wealthy criminal bosses, Zambada was arrested at a U.S. airport in July 2024.

He claims he was tricked by a cartel ally into boarding a plane that delivered him into the hands of U.S. authorities.

Known for keeping a low profile and avoiding being photographed, Zambada, now 76 years old, spent decades rising through the cartel ranks, evading both capture and multiple assassination attempts.

He was born in 1950 in Sinaloa — a rugged mountainous state of Mexico known for producing corn, beans, cattle, and some of the world’s most notorious drug traffickers.

His early years coincided with the emergence of Sinaloa as a marijuana and opium growing region—and eventually a transit point for Colombian cocaine going to the United States.

Mexico’s drug violence has surged since then.

Since 2006, almost half a million people have been killed, and 1,30,000 are missing, according to government estimates.

Also read: Cop-turned-crime boss, Mexico’s Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera leaves bloody legacy

‘Systematic assassinations’

Zambada began his criminal career with the Guadalajara and Juarez cartels, working alongside Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo and ‘The Lord of the Skies’ Amado Carrillo Fuentes — both also from Sinaloa.

But he eventually struck out, working alongside another Sinaloan, Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, to establish the Sinaloa cartel in the 1980s and 1990s.

With Zambada playing a key role in paying off officials, setting up distribution networks across the United States, and moving billions of dollars back to Mexico, the Sinaloa cartel soon became the world’s largest.

It is one of six Mexican drug gangs that U.S. President Donald Trump has designated as Foreign Terrorist Organisations.

U.S. Court documents paint him as not just smart, but violently ruthless.

He allegedly ordered the killing of his own nephew, who was then found dead in a car by the side of the road.

According to U.S. prosecutors, Zambada also engaged in ‘systematic assassinations’ of fellow cartel members, police, and the military.

In 2010, he gave a rare interview to the Mexican magazine Proceso, revealing that the Mexican army had come close to capturing him four times.

Known as the ‘man in the hat’, Zambada said that he feared jail more than death, and his arrest or murder would not change Mexico’s drug trafficking landscape.

Almost a year after being detained in the United States, he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and organized crime charges.

$15 billion forfeited

His former partner Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman is already serving a life sentence in the United States.

El Chapo’s demise prompted an internal war within the Sinaloa cartel between Zambada’s supporters and El Chapo’s sons, which has left about 2,000 people dead.

El Chapo’s son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, was on the same plane that brought Zambada to the United States.

Lopez was arrested and admitted to having kidnapped Zambada as part of his own plea deal.

The operation continues to raise questions nearly two years later, as well as tension between Mexico and the United States over the FBI’s alleged participation.

The United States has denied any role in the operation to bring Zambada onto U.S. soil. However, the recent display of the aircraft that brought Zambada to the United States as part of an FBI operations collection prompted Mexico to seek explanations.

A court in Brooklyn is expected to sentence him on Monday (July 20, 2026).

Under his plea deal with U.S. authorities, Zambada faced a mandatory minimum term of life imprisonment without parole on a racketeering charge.

He also agreed to the forfeiture of $15 billion of ill-gotten-gains as part of the plea deal, the Department of Justice said.

Published – July 20, 2026 05:11 pm IST

Mexico City:

Alleged Mexican kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada has pleaded not guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges, court records showed on Friday, after he and a son of another drug lord were arrested on Thursday in El Paso, Texas.

Court records showed that Zambada on Friday waived his right to appear personally in court and directed that a not guilty plea be entered on his behalf.

He was ordered detained without bond and is scheduled to be arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Berton next Wednesday, the records showed. His lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Both Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, face multiple charges in the U.S. for funneling huge quantities of fentanyl and other drugs to U.S. streets.

Their detentions were a dramatic achievement for U.S. law enforcement that could also shake up the Mexican drug landscape.

Mexico’s government was informed of the detentions by the U.S. government, but Mexican authorities did not participate in the operation, Mexican Security Minister Rosa Rodriguez said on Friday.

Rodriguez added that it was unclear if Zambada and Guzman Lopez handed themselves over to U.S. authorities voluntarily.

“The Mexican government did not participate in this detention or surrender,” Rodriguez said at a press conference.

Zambada, who is believed to be in his 70s, and Guzman Lopez, who is in his 30s, were detained after landing in a private plane in the El Paso area.

Zambada co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo, who was extradited to the U.S. in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a maximum-security prison.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

This combination of pictures created on July 26, 2024, shows an undated image obtained from the US Department of State of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia (L), cofounder of the Sinaloa Cartel; and an undated image obtained from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of the cartel’s other co-founder, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and the son of his former partner, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, were arrested on July 25 in El Paso, Texas, in a major coup for U.S. authorities that may also reshape the Mexican criminal landscape.

Mr. Zambada is one of the most consequential traffickers in Mexico’s history and co-founded the Sinaloa Cartel with El Chapo, who was extradited to the United States in 2017 and is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison.

Both Mr. Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of El Chapo, face multiple charges in the U.S. for funnelling huge quantities of drugs to U.S. streets, including fentanyl, which has surged to become the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.

Mr. Zambada, who is believed to be in his 70s, and Guzman Lopez, who is in his 30s, were detained after landing in a private plane in the El Paso area.

Mr. Zambada was lured to the United States by Guzman Lopez, according to three current and former U.S. officials familiar with the operation who sought anonymity to speak candidly about the events.

U.S. authorities have made drug bosses key targets, frequently striking plea bargain deals with them in exchange for information that leads to capture of other high-ranking cartel figures.