Federal Judge Kathleen Cardone approved the transfer of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada to a New York court; currently, the case of the founder of the Sinaloa Cartel is in El Paso, Texas, where he was arrested last July.
In her writing, the judge details that “The May” Zambada must complete his proceedings in the Eastern District Court of New York before any further proceedings are heard in El Paso, Texas.
“Therefore, the Government requests that the Court suspend the provisions of the Speedy Trial Act and excuse the defendant from appearing for any hearing in this case while the defendant remains in the New York court“, he noted.
He also stated that Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada did not oppose his transfer to the New York court.
The Eastern District Court of New York It is located in Brooklyn and it was there that the Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmanin 2019, and the former Secretary of Public Security, Genaro Garcia Luna, in 2023.
Federal prosecutors in Texas asked a court last month to transfer Zambada to the New York jurisdiction that includes Brooklyn.
‘El Mayo’ agrees to be transferred to a New York court
He co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, currently in prison in El Paso, Texas, has announced that he has agreed to be transferred to a New York court to complete pre-trial proceedings on several drug trafficking charges.
In a document submitted Thursday by his lawyers to the Western District Court of Texas-El Paso, Zambada “does not oppose” – he uses that expression four times – his transfer to New York, a request expressed by the Prosecutor’s Office and which was opposed on Wednesday by Judge Kathleen Cardone.
He suggests that he will not request provisional release, since he “does not oppose remaining in the custody” of federal authorities in the Eastern District of New York until all proceedings are concluded.
For all these reasons, he asks the Texas court to postpone the hearing scheduled for next Monday while his eventual transfer to New York is resolved, the city where his partner was already tried. Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman and the main drug trafficking leaders, both Mexican and from other countries.
Who is ‘El Mayo’ Zambada?
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, 76, is currently detained in the border city of El Paso (Texas) and has already had two initial hearings before the courts.
He had been a fugitive in Mexico for more than 40 years and until his arrest on July 25 in El Paso, he was one of the most wanted criminals in the United States with a reward of 15 million dollars.
The New York indictment is one of at least four he faces in the United States, but it was updated in February of this year and is the only one that mentions trafficking of fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid that has generated a serious crisis of deaths from overdose in the United States and has become the center of the country’s anti-drug policy.
