Four Decades of El Mayo’s Criminal Career End in a Life Sentence

For four decades, Ismael Zambada García alias “El Mayo,” who was just sentenced to life in prison without parole in the United States, was the ghost of Mexican drug trafficking. 

While his fellow Sinaloa Cartel founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán became a household name because of his legendary prison breaks, El Mayo stayed out of prison and the limelight. That was at least until July 2024, when he was arrested after flying into US territory, reportedly tricked onto the plane by El Chapo’s son and Chapito faction leader, Joaquín Guzmán López.

SEE ALSO: Ismael Zambada García alias “El Mayo”‘s Criminal Profile

El Mayo’s was a humble beginning. Born in rural Sinaloa, he came up working with the Juárez Cartel through the 1980s and 90s before striking out on his own after the death of Juárez boss Amado Carrillo Fuentes. As the Tijuana Cartel crumbled, he pushed into Sonora and Baja California, eventually overseeing networks moving heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine — backed by money laundering operations that eventually caught the attention of the US Treasury Department.

The cost to his inner circle started to show in 2010, after which his brother and three sons were arrested and extradited to the US. El Mayo survived a 2017 assassination attempt tied to rival Dámaso López Núñez alias “Licenciado” amid the chaos that followed El Chapo’s own extradition. El Chapo’s exit, finally, from Mexico left El Mayo running the Sinaloa Cartel alongside El Chapo’s sons, the Chapitos, and other regional leaders.

But his long criminal run came to a close when he was arrested in July 2024, and eventually sentenced on July 20 2026 to life in prison in the United States. He was also ordered to forfeit $15 billion in drug trafficking proceeds. The sentence, handed down by US District Judge Brian Cogan in Brooklyn federal court, allows no possibility of parole, and follows Zambada’s August 2025 guilty plea to charges including running a continuing criminal enterprise and racketeering. 

SEE ALSO: The InSight Take: After El Mayo’s Sentencing, is the Godfather Era of the Sinaloa Cartel Over?

In the lead-up to sentencing, prosecutors also alleged El Mayo had ordered the 2024 murder of his own nephew, Los Ántrax leader Eliseo “Cheyo Ántrax” Imperial Castro, after accusing him of skimming collected debts. The sentence marked the end of one of the most significant cartel prosecutions since the conviction of El Chapo.

With El Mayo now facing life behind bars, attention has turned to succession. His son Ismael Zambada Sicairos alias “El Mayito Flaco,” remains at large and is widely seen as the most likely figure to inherit what’s left of his father’s operation. So far, nothing is confirmed.

Featured image: Courtroom sketch from El Mayo’s hearing. Credit: Elizabeth Williams via AP.