Ismael Zambada García, a founder of the Sinaloa cartel who eluded Mexican and U.S. authorities for decades before his clandestine capture, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday.
Mr. Zambada García, better known as El Mayo, built the Sinaloa cartel into one of the Western Hemisphere’s most sophisticated and violent criminal networks. Working with Joaquín Guzmán Loera, also known as El Chapo, Mr. Zambada García used an army of hit men and widespread political corruption to protect and expand their business, trafficking cocaine, heroin and other illegal drugs into the United States.
Mr. Zambada García, Now 76, walked gingerly into the courtroom on Monday morning. He read from a prepared statement in Spanish, speaking haltingly as he expressed remorse and reflected on his upbringing, which he described as “an environment where violence and crime seemed normal.”
“To the next generation, I say: Choose a different path,” Mr. Zambada García said.
The judge overseeing the case, Brian M. Cogan of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, said he had little discretion in sentencing Mr. Zambada García for “all the evil things he’s done,” as he faced a mandatory life sentence based on the law. Judge Cogan also ordered Mr. Zambada García to forfeit $15 billion, though it is unlikely that the U.S. government ever recoups that amount.
Mr. Zambada García pleaded guilty to sweeping drug trafficking charges last August, with the knowledge he would be sentenced to life in prison. He calmly described how he became involved in the drug trade, bribed Mexican officials and directed the cartel’s soldiers to kill its rivals.
U.S. officials have heightened investigations into Mexican officials over the widespread corruption that has aided the cartels. The capture of Mr. Zambada García, who reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, offered hope to U.S. prosecutors that he could provide information that could further weaken the cartels and identify Mexican government officials who were complicit.
But Frank Perez, a lawyer for Mr. Zambada García, said his client had not cooperated with the government “in a traditional sense.” His client did not provide information on corrupt Mexican officials, Sinaloa cartel members or other cartels, Mr. Perez said.
Compared with Mr. Guzmán Loera, who grabbed headlines with celebrity interviews and prison escapes, Mr. Zambada García lived a quiet life in Sinaloa, Mexico. Mr. Guzmán Loera, who escaped twice from prison, was convicted in the same Brooklyn federal courthouse in 2019 and later sentenced to life in prison.
“El Mayo and El Chapo corrupted numerous officials in Mexico,” Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, said in a news conference after the proceeding. “And when corruption did not work, they used horrific violence.”
In the end, a betrayal from one of his closest allies ended Mr. Zambada García’s reign.
The first time he was arrested by any government was in the United States in July 2024, after Joaquín Guzmán López, Mr. Guzmán Loera’s son, lured him onto a small plane under false pretenses.
Instead of traveling to Northern Mexico, where Mr. Zambada García thought he was going to look at real estate, the Beechcraft King Air plane flew over the border and landed at a small airport outside of El Paso, where he was arrested by federal agents.
On Monday, Mr. Perez described his client as arriving in the United States under “questionable circumstances.”
The kidnapping set off widespread violence in Sinaloa and ground the state’s economy to a halt. Fighting erupted between rival factions of the cartel: the members loyal to Mr. Zambada García, known as Los Mayos, and those supporting Mr. Guzmán Loera’s sons, known as Los Chapitos.
It also strained diplomatic relations between the United States and Mexico, whose officials have for years pressed the United States for more details about the covert capture of Mr. Zambada García. And Monday’s judgment came amid fresh tensions surrounding the operation.
U.S. officials have maintained that they had no knowledge of the plan to capture Mr. Zambada García, and that American agents were not involved. But this month, the Mexican attorney general’s office announced that it was investigating whether the U.S. government had lied about its role in his capture.
The office was investigating a report from the online news site Pie de Nota that suggested that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was involved with El Mayo’s capture in Mexico. In a July 9 news conference, Ernestina Godoy Ramos, the Mexican attorney general, said that if “recent information” about Mr. Zambada García’s capture were true, it would comprise “a series of violations of Mexican and international law.”
“We communicated to the Mexican government that it was not our plane, not our pilot and not our operation,” Ken Salazar, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico at the time of Mr. Zambada García’s arrest, wrote on X this month.
Last December, Mr. Guzmán Loera’s son, Mr. Guzmán López, said that he was hoping for leniency when he pleaded guilty in Federal District Court in Chicago, because of the role he played in the capture of Mr. Zambada García. But that will not earn Mr. Guzmán López a favorable sentence.
“The United States made perfectly clear that we do not condone kidnapping,” Mr. Nocella said.
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