Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada is scheduled to change his plea in a drug trafficking case, where he faces accusations of ordering torture and murders while leading the Sinaloa cartel. Zambada, who pleaded not guilty to multiple charges last year, has been a prominent figure in drug trafficking for decades. A Brooklyn federal judge will oversee the plea change, which follows a decision not to seek the death penalty. Zambada was arrested in Texas after a long evasion of U.S. law enforcement and has been linked to extensive cartel violence and operations.
Under Zambada and co-founder Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán's leadership, prosecutors allege, the Sinaloa cartel evolved from a regional player into the largest drug trafficking organization in the world.
Zambada presided over a vast and violent operation, with an arsenal of military-grade weapons, a private security force akin to an army, and a corps of 'sicarios,' or hitmen, who carried out assassinations, kidnapping, and torture.
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