Mexican drug kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, one of the founders of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, was sentenced to life in prison in a U.S. federal court on Monday after pleading guilty to major drug trafficking charges.
Zambada, 76, admitted last year to overseeing the shipment of millions of kilograms of cocaine into the United States during decades as a leader of one of the world's most notorious criminal organisations.
His sentencing marks one of the highest-profile convictions of a Mexican cartel leader since fellow Sinaloa boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was handed a life sentence in 2019.
U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan imposed the mandatory life sentence during a hearing in Brooklyn, saying the scale of Zambada's crimes justified the punishment.
"The almost unimaginable amount of drugs attributable to him and the number of murders that we can document is enough to justify Congress's decision to make this a mandatory life sentence," the judge said.
Wearing prison clothing and escorted by U.S. Marshals, Zambada addressed the court briefly before sentencing.
He said he accepted responsibility for the harm caused by his actions and offered a message to younger generations.
"No one wins in a war like this. To the next generation, I say, choose a different path," he told the court.
Zambada agreed to plead guilty in August 2025 to charges including racketeering conspiracy and operating a continuing criminal enterprise after U.S. prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.
Judge Cogan also noted that Zambada suffers from several progressive health conditions and said he would recommend placement in a prison facility capable of providing appropriate medical care.
For decades, Zambada was regarded as one of the most influential figures in the international drug trade and a key architect of the Sinaloa Cartel's operations.
His arrest came in July 2024, when he was detained alongside Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of El Chapo's sons, after their aircraft landed at a small airstrip in New Mexico.
Federal prosecutors later revealed that Guzman Lopez admitted to kidnapping Zambada before bringing him into the United States.
Joseph Nocella, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, said after Monday's sentencing that Guzman Lopez had hoped to gain favourable treatment from U.S. authorities by turning over the veteran cartel boss.
"The United States made perfectly clear that we do not condone kidnapping and that he would receive no credit," Nocella said.
Guzman Lopez has pleaded guilty to separate drug trafficking charges but has not yet been sentenced. Meanwhile, El Chapo remains incarcerated in a maximum-security prison in Colorado, where he is serving a life sentence.
With Zambada now also sentenced to life behind bars, the two most prominent figures associated with the Sinaloa Cartel have been removed from the organisation they helped build into one of the world's most powerful drug trafficking networks.
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