Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a longtime leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel who is facing drug trafficking charges in a U.S. court, appeared for the first time Friday before the judge who is presiding over his case.
Zambada, 76, appeared at a status conference in Brooklyn federal court before District Court Judge Brian Cogan, who sentenced fellow cartel kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to life behind bars after he was convicted on drug trafficking charges in 2019.
Prosecutors allege that Zambada and Guzman 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.
Long sought by U.S. law enforcement, he was taken into custody in July after arriving in a private plane at a Texas airport with Guzman's son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, according to federal authorities. Guzman Lopez is facing drug trafficking charges in Chicago, and has also pleaded not guilty.
Since Zambada and Guzman Lopez were arrested in the U.S., their rival factions of the cartel have been clashing in the state of Sinaloa. This week, a dozen gunshots were fired at a building housing a local newspaper in the capital, Culiacan. The paper said no one was injured.
