Mexican cartel leader ‘El Mayo’ Zambada makes court appearance in his US drug trafficking case

NEW YORK (AP) — A longtime leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel who is facing drug trafficking charges in a U.S. court appeared for the first time before the judge presiding over the case. Seventy-six-year-old Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada appeared at a status conference in Brooklyn federal court Friday before District Court Judge Brian Cogan, who sentenced fellow cartel kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán to life behind bars after he was convicted on drug trafficking charges in 2019. Prosecutors allege that Zambada and Guzmán built the Sinaloa cartel into a huge manufacturer and smuggler of illicit narcotics, bringing huge quantities of drugs into the U.S. Zambada has pleaded not guilty.