A Sinaloa drug cartel founder who was flown across the border by a younger rival and delivered to American federal agents will plead guilty to sweeping trafficking charges, according to a court filing.
The man, Ismael Zambada García, also known as El Mayo, was charged in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. He was accused of running a criminal enterprise that, along with conspiring to murder members of rival gangs, trafficked drugs like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Corruption was essential to Mr. Zambada García’s operation, prosecutors have said. Local police officers helped move drugs throughout Mexico, while high-ranking Mexican officials kept the cartel apprised of military operations. Under Mr. Zambada García’s direction, the Sinaloa cartel spent millions of dollars each year on bribes to Mexican government officials.
Mr. Zambada García employed sicarios — hit men — to carry out kidnappings and assassinations of cartel rivals and Mexican law enforcement officials. Last year, he ordered the murder of his own nephew, prosecutors said.
Mr. Zambada García has long had a reputation as a wily operator who avoided capture for decades, often through close ties to government and especially military officials. Indeed, his abduction last July by a son of his longtime partner, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, better known as El Chapo, was orchestrated in a way that kept the Mexican authorities from warning him.
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The post Sinaloa Cartel Founder Expected to Plead Guilty to Trafficking Charges appeared first on New York Times.
