Alleged cartel leader Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada appears in federal court in El Paso

By Alisha Ebrahimji, Norma Galeana and Holmes Lybrand, CNN

(CNN) — Alleged Sinaloa cartel cofounder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada appeared Thursday in federal court in Texas for his latest hearing since his arrest a week ago in an intrigue-packed case centered on one of the world’s most powerful and deadly drug trafficking organizations.

In the seven-minute court hearing, both prosecutors and defense attorneys requested a 30-day delay in proceedings to allow for time to collect additional evidence, which was granted.

Zambada, 76, is being held without bond after pleading not guilty July 26 to seven federal criminal counts, including continuing criminal enterprise and money laundering. He was arrested the prior day in El Paso alongside Joaquín Guzmán López, the 38-year-old son of infamous cartel boss and founder Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Zambada on Thursday was wheeled into the courtroom seated in a wheelchair and was wearing a blue hoodie and orange socks. The scene outside the courthouse in El Paso showed a heavy security presence, with federal agents and bomb-sniffing dogs patrolling the perimeter.

Now, several US attorneys are competing over who first will try Zambada, who is being held by US Marshals at an undisclosed location because of the security concerns and potential threats to his life.

At least five US attorneys – in New York, California, Texas, Illinois and Washington, DC – have brought indictments against him, and several want first crack at the drug lord, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

The decision ultimately lies with the US Justice Department. None of the US attorney’s offices with indictments against Zambada would comment Thursday on the cases.

Disputes like this aren’t uncommon where defendants could be tried in multiple jurisdictions and require Justice Department headquarters to referee the competition. The Deputy Attorney General’s office will make a final decision in the coming weeks, a person briefed on the matter said.

Experts have warned the capture of the cartel bosses won’t necessarily curb drug flow to the United States or violence in Mexico – and could exacerbate it. But information that could be gleaned by the US from these leaders, especially Zambada, could be worth the upheaval it causes among Mexican cartels, some experts have said.

Still, the men’s arrests strike “at the heart of the cartel that is responsible for the majority of drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, killing Americans from coast to coast,” US Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram has said.

Accounts of how the pair ended up in US custody clash

By one account, Guzmán López duped Zambada to orchestrate their arrest, US law enforcement officials have told CNN. Zambada had thought the two were flying to northern Mexico to look at real estate, but their small private plane instead landed north of the border, with US authorities waiting on the tarmac, the officials said.

Guzmán López, however, has not made a deal with US officials, his attorney told reporters Tuesday after his client pleaded not guilty in federal court in Chicago to narcotics, money laundering and firearms charges. Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman’s assertion raised new questions about why Guzmán López flew to Texas if he had no cooperation agreement with American authorities.

Zambada’s attorney, meanwhile, has described last week’s flight as a violent kidnapping, he told CNN Sunday.

“Joaquín Guzmán López forcibly kidnapped my client,” attorney Frank Pérez said in a statement. “He was ambushed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed by six men in military uniforms and Joaquín. His legs were tied, and a black bag was placed over his head.

“He was then thrown into the back of a pickup truck and taken to a landing strip. There, he was forced onto a plane, his legs tied to the seat by Joaquín, and brought to the US against his will. The only people on the plane were the pilot, Joaquín and my client.”

US attorneys vying for first Zambada prosecution

Zambada and Guzmán López had managed to elude law enforcement for decades, FBI Director Christopher Wray said last week, with the US government in 2021 raising the reward for information leading to Zambada’s arrest to $15 million, the US State Department has said. Zambada also was indicted in 2009 by a northern Illinois grand jury.

“Zambada Garcia is unique,” the agency said, “in that he has spent his entire adult life as a major international drug trafficker, yet he has never spent a day in jail.”

As to where he’s prosecuted first, the Eastern District of New York, which successfully tried and convicted El Chapo in 2019, could be the obvious choice given the infrastructure established for the now-convicted cartel boss’s trial, one source said, also noting the strong case the district has against Zambada and its proven track record with prosecuting cartel bosses.

In Washington, DC, Rubén Oseguera González, a son of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel – a significant Sinaloa cartel competitor – and its potential heir is preparing for trial on charges related to cartel activity after he abruptly backed out of a plea agreement in October.

Zambada’s next hearing is set for September 9 at 1 p.m. local time.

Decades-old cartel blamed in US drug scourge

The Sinaloa organization, also known to deal in cocaine, has been blamed as a key player in the decades-long drug war that’s left tens of thousands dead across Mexico and contributed to high levels of violence there. In the early 2010s, estimates indicated the cartel controlled roughly 40% to 60% of Mexico’s drug trade, earning as much as $3 billion annually, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

US officials were hesitant to brief Mexican counterparts before Zambada’s and Guzmán López’s arrests due to fears the operation could have been compromised, a law enforcement source familiar with the situation told CNN. Details of the operation were also highly restricted within the US government until the men were taken into custody, the source said.

The Sinaloa cartel was founded in the late 1980s and led by El Chapo, who in 2019 began serving a life sentence in US federal prison. A power struggle between Zambada and El Chapo’s sons, also known as the Chapitos, has existed for some time within the organization, and with Zambada now away, violence inside the cartel and other criminal organizations in Mexico, is set to ramp up, experts have told CNN.

El Chapo twice escaped Mexican prisons before authorities detained him in 2016. He was extradited to the US in 2017 and convicted of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, drug trafficking, money laundering and conspiracy to commit murder.

CNN’s Eric Levenson, Emma Tucker, Polo Sandoval, Evan Perez, Nicole Chavez, Cheri Mossburg and Christina Zdanowicz contributed to this report.

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