Mexican Drug Lord Appears in Court After His Kidnapping to the U.S.

[Pelican Press 0]

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******** ***** Lord Appears in Court After His Kidnapping to the U.S.

Ismael Zambada García, one of the founders of the Sinaloa ***** cartel in Mexico, appeared in court in Texas on Thursday, one week after he was kidnapped by his former business partner’s son and flown across the U.S. border into the hands of ********* agents.

The appearance in Federal District Court in El Paso for an initial hearing was routine as a legal matter, but it also represented a consequential moment in the history of the ***** war. It was the first time that Mr. Zambada García, a wily ***** lord who had managed to evade capture for decades, was brought before a judge to be held accountable for what prosecutors have described as a nearly 50-year career of ***** dealing, ******* and ***********.

Last week, that career was cut short when Mr. Zambada García, who is 76 and known as El Mayo, was lured from one of his mountain hide-outs to the ******** city of Culiacán, which has long served as a stronghold for the Sinaloa cartel.

He believed he was going to help one of the sons of his former partner in ******, the jailed kingpin known as El Chapo, mediate a dispute between two local politicians, according to three people familiar with the matter. Instead, he was ambushed, muscled onto a plane and flown across the border to a small regional airport near El Paso.

Mr. Zambada García, who recently had knee replacement surgery, showed up at the hearing in front of Judge Kathleen Cardone in a wheelchair and wearing a prison jumpsuit. He waived any potential conflicts involving his lawyer, Frank Perez, who is representing other cartel figures. He agreed to return to court in El Paso for a status conference on Sept. 9 and will remain in custody in the meantime.

His abduction last Thursday by El Chapo’s son, Joaquín Guzmán López, was a betrayal worthy of a narco thriller. Security analysts worry that it could set off a ******* war among the rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel. One of those factions is run by El Chapo’s two oldest sons — Iván and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar — while another is led by one of Mr. Zambada García’s sons, Ismael Zambada Sicairos.

El Chapo’s fourth son, Ovidio Guzmán López, who is Joaquín’s full brother, was already in ********* custody, having been extradited in September to stand trial in Chicago on ***** *********** charges.

The dramatic cross-border flight has ignited speculation over why Mr. Guzmán López turned himself and his father’s onetime ally in to U.S. authorities and whether he had reached some sort of plea deal with the government. His lawyer has adamantly denied that any deal was in place before the events of last week.

Still, the entire episode came after a nearly five-year effort by U.S. federal agents to keep in quiet contact with all of the sons of El Chapo, whose real name is Joaquín Guzmán Loera. The back channel began not long after Mr. Guzmán Loera was convicted at a landmark trial in Brooklyn in 2019 and ultimately sentenced to life in prison.

While U.S. officials say they had no direct role in the abduction, their discussions with El Chapo’s sons helped to shape Mr. Guzmán López’s decision to deliver Mr. Zambada García into ********* custody.

That move is likely to increase the chances that he and his brother could get favorable terms in any future plea deals they might seek with U.S. prosecutors. It could also help their brothers who remain in Mexico by removing a powerful rival from the country.

Mr. Zambada García was first charged in the ******* States more than 20 years ago and is facing indictment in five cities: El Paso, Chicago, New York, Washington and San Diego.

The Justice Department has not yet announced where Mr. Zambada García will be prosecuted. But at least for the moment, Judge Cardone is proceeding as if she will keep the case in El Paso, issuing an order just before Thursday’s hearing formally designating the prosecution as complex.

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