New York – The US Prosecutor’s Office ruled out asking for the death penalty for Mexican Ismael “May” Zambada, one of the founders of the Sinaloa Cartel, accused of drug trafficking in a New York court, judicial sources reported Tuesday.
“The Government respectfully presents this letter to inform the Court and the defense that the Attorney General has authorized and instructed this office not to seek the death penalty against the defendant Ismael Zambada García,” says the office of the prosecutor of the East District Court of Brooklyn, Joseph Nocella.
The decision of the attorney general, Pam Bondi, thus closes the possibility that in the event that May Zambada, 77, feels on the bench of the accused, can be punishable with capital punishment.
“Terrorist Organization”
The co -founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, a group that Donald Trump’s government included in his list of terrorist organizations, was arrested on July 25, 2024 on American soil after arriving in a small plane in the company of Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of his former Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán. The “Chapo” Guzmán was sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States.
The extradition agreement between Mexico and the United States excludes the death penalty.
Zambada said he had been the victim of an ambush and deceived by Guzmán López, also known as “Chapito”, to force the United States in exchange for judicial advantages for him and his brothers, whose cases are instructed in a Chicago court, Illinois (north).
On September 14, Zambada, one of the greatest Mexican drug traffickers, declared himself not guilty of the 17 positions of which American justice accuses him, including murder and trafficking of weapons and drugs, in particular the fentanil, a powerful narcotic 50 times more powerful than cocaine, causing tens of thousands of deaths a year in the United States by overdose.
Mexico has claimed the extradition of “El Mayo”, whose capture unleashed an internal war in the Sinaloa cartel that has left hundreds of dead.
