Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada Garcia, Co-Founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, Arraigned in Brooklyn on International Drug Trafficking Charges

Press Release

Defendant Allegedly Led Sinaloa Cartel with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera for Decades and Continued for Years Since El Chapo's Arrest

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada Garcia, a citizen of Mexico, was arraigned this morning in federal court in Brooklyn on a fifth superseding indictment charging him with conspiring to manufacture and distribute fentanyl. The superseding indictment relates to Zambada Garcia's decades-long leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world. Zambada Garcia was previously charged with running a continuing criminal enterprise, as well as murder conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl manufacture and distribution conspiracy, as well as other drug-related crimes. Today's proceeding was held before United States Magistrate Judge James R. Cho. Zambada Garcia was ordered detained pending trial. If convicted of the continuing criminal enterprise count, Zambada Garcia faces a mandatory life sentence.

Zambada Garcia was transferred yesterday to the Eastern District of New York from the Western District of Texas, following his arrest in New Mexico on July 25, 2024.

Merrick B. Garland, United States Attorney General; Lisa O. Monaco, United States Deputy Attorney General; Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Markenzy Lapointe, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Nicole M. Argentieri, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and head of the Criminal Division; Christie M. Curtis, Acting Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI); Anne Milgram, Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration; Katrina W. Berger, Executive Associate Director, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); and Steven G. James, Superintendent, New York State Police (NYSP), announced the arraignment.

"El Mayo, the co-founder and leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, has been charged with overseeing a multi-billion-dollar conspiracy to flood American communities with narcotics, including deadly fentanyl," said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. "We allege that El Mayo built, and for decades led, the Sinaloa Cartel's network of manufacturers, assassins, traffickers, and money launderers responsible for kidnapping and murdering people in both the United States and Mexico, and importing lethal quantities of fentanyl, heroin, meth, and cocaine into the United States. Now, El Mayo joins the many other Sinaloa Cartel leaders who have faced charges in an American courtroom for the immeasurable harm they have inflicted on families and communities across our country."

"For decades, the Sinaloa Cartel has profited from poisoning and killing Americans, and fueling violence on both sides of our southern border," stated Deputy Attorney General Monaco. "Today's arraignment of Zambada Garcia is the latest step in a whole-of-government effort to strike back against one of the world's most dangerous criminal organizations and protect our communities from the fentanyl epidemic."

"Zambada Garcia's day of reckoning in a U.S. courtroom has arrived and justice will follow," stated United States Attorney Peace. "If convicted, never again will he deliver fentanyl, cocaine, and other deadly drugs and associated violence into our country or make millions as hundreds of thousands of innocent lives are lost. It is my hope that the countless family members and friends of victims who succumbed to his cartel's poisons, and the countless members of law enforcement who fearlessly risked their lives fighting this scourge, should take comfort in knowing that Zambada Garcia will be held accountable for his multitude of crimes."

Mr. Peace also expressed his thanks to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas, and the United States Marshals Service for their assistance on the case.

"Zambada Garcia can no longer hide from the American justice system," stated United States Attorney Lapointe. "His arrest means that he will now have to face charges for leading the Sinaloa Cartel's multi-billion dollar criminal enterprise that funneled drugs onto our streets and violence and despair into our communities. But our work is not done. We will continue to go after the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel and the drug trafficking organizations around the world."

"The longstanding threat posed by the cartels will not be tolerated in the United States. Ismael Zambada Garcia, the co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, allegedly organized a global route to import thousands of kilograms of lethal narcotics, including massive quantities of fentanyl, into the United States while also ordering the murders and kidnapping of anyone deemed to be a threat to his operation. Zambada Garcia's alleged billion-dollar trafficking industry and brutality stole the lives of thousands of victims, even after the arrest of his colleague, El Chapo. After 35 years, this tyranny comes to an end. The FBI will continue to aggressively pursue all leaders of criminal enterprises, especially those whose havoc stretches across transnational boundaries," stated FBI Acting Assistant Director in Charge Curtis.

"Defeating the Sinaloa cartel is DEA's top operational priority and today, with the capture and additional charges filed against Ismael Zambada Garcia we are that much closer. Better known as 'El Mayo,' Zambada Garcia is the co-founder and leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most ruthless and dangerous cartels in Mexico and responsible for the unprecedented drug crisis facing the United States," stated DEA Administrator Milgram. "With Zambada Garcia no longer in power we have struck at the heart of the Sinaloa cartels' operations. He may have eluded capture for three decades, but today he is seeing what it means to face justice in America. Let this be a reminder to his associates and others, American lives depend on DEA remaining laser focused on destroying the cartel, their networks, and their global supply chain and that is what we will continue to do."

"Today's arraignment sends a clear message to drug traffickers around the world - we will find you and bring you to justice," stated HSI Executive Associate Director Berger. "The men and women of HSI are working diligently with our partners around the globe to investigate, intercept and halt the flow of illegal drugs into the United States and keep illegal drugs off our streets."

"The arraignment of this individual is a result of the relentless work of law enforcement partners at all levels to stem the tide of illegal drugs and drug related violence in our country," stated NYSP Superintendent James. "Strong partnerships are key, and as a result, a dangerous international drug trafficking operation, and the organized crime perpetuated by it, has been shut down. The State Police will continue to tenaciously work in conjunction with our partners to seek out those who deliberately put others in danger."

Zambada Garcia was first indicted in the Eastern District of New York in 2009 and most recently in the fifth superseding indictment in February 2024. As alleged, Zambada Garcia was a co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel together with his co-defendant Joaquin Guzman Loera (El Chapo), and the two of them ran the Sinaloa Cartel together from Mexico until El Chapo's arrest in 2016. Following a trial, El Chapo was convicted in the Eastern District of New York in 2019 and sentenced to life imprisonment plus 30 years. Zambada Garcia, however, continued his brutal reign until his arrest just weeks ago.

According to the superseding indictment, from 1989 to 2024, Zambada Garcia led a continuing criminal enterprise responsible for the importation and distribution of massive quantities of narcotics and which generated billions of dollars in profits. To ensure the success of the Sinaloa Cartel, Zambada Garcia employed thousands of people in South and Central America, throughout Mexico and in the United States. Through a complex, layered structure, Zambada Garcia was able to assure transportation routes for the narcotics he sold from source of supply to distribution on the streets of the United States; this included securing corrupt officers, transportation routes, and storage facilities to ensure that narcotics safely transited through various countries for ultimate distribution in the United States. Zambada Garcia also employed groups of "sicarios" or hit men, who at his orders carried out kidnappings and murders in Mexico and elsewhere-including murders in the United States-to eliminate anyone who threatened this valuable narcotics pipeline and to retaliate against rivals and those suspected of cooperating with the United States government. The billions of dollars generated from the drug sales were then transported and laundered back to Mexico.

As set forth in the superseding indictment and other court filings, the Sinaloa Cartel under Zambada Garcia's leadership expanded its drug business into fentanyl manufacturing and distribution no later than 2012 and is responsible for the distribution of many thousands of kilograms of fentanyl into the United States. Zambada Garcia also expanded the power and influence of the Sinaloa Cartel by making millions of dollars each year in corruption payments and conducting regular campaigns of brutal violence, including retaliatory murders that were allegedly committed on his orders as recently as just weeks prior to his arrest.

The charges in the superseding indictment are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

This superseding indictment is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

The government's case is being handled by the Office's International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Francisco J. Navarro, Robert M. Pollack, Adam Amir, and Lauren A. Bowman are leading the prosecution for the Eastern District of New York with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Melissa Bennett. Assistant United States Attorney Andrea Goldbarg of the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorneys Melanie Alsworth and Kirk Handrich of the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division's Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section are leading the prosecution for their respective offices.

The case was investigated by the FBI, HSI and DEA. Substantial assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices for the Northern District of Illinois, Central District of California, Southern District of California, and Western District of Texas.

The <_w3a_sdt docpart="B3FBEE0BA30F46BD954298EDB6CCDD38" dropdown="t" id="1174685880"><_w3a_listitem listvalue="Choose an item."> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="Defendant" listvalue="Defendant"> <_w3a_listitem datavalue="Defendants" listvalue="Defendants"> Defendant:

Ismael Zambada Garcia (also known as "El Mayo")
Age: 76
Mexico

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 9-CR-466 (BMC) (S-5)

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Updated September 13, 2024