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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
José Olivares in New York

Mexican drug lord ‘El Mayo’ sentenced to life in prison in US federal court

a reward sign for a wanted man is displayed
A reward sign for former Sinaloa cartel leader Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada García is posted next to an aircraft on 9 July 2026. Photograph: Paul Ratje/Reuters

The Mexican drug kingpin, Ismael Zambada García, known as “El Mayo”, was sentenced in a US federal court on Monday to life in prison, after a plea deal last year in which he admitted ⁠to shipping vast amounts of cocaine and other substances as leader of the violent Sinaloa cartel.

Zambada is 76 and one of the most high-profile Mexican ⁠drug traffickers to be sentenced in a US court since his fellow Sinaloa leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán ​was sentenced to life in prison in ‌2019. The case unfolded in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

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