Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed this week that Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada will die in prison after pleading guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges.
“This guy, ‘El Mayo,’ was living like a king. Now he’s living like a criminal for the rest of his life,” Bondi told reporters, flanked by law enforcement officers.
“Thanks to the relentless work of our prosecutors and our federal agents, El Mayo will spend the rest of his life behind bars. He will die in a U.S. federal prison where he belongs,” she said. “His guilty plea brings us one step closer to achieving our goal of eliminating the drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations flooding our country with drugs, human traffickers and homicides.”
Bondi’s stern warning underscored the Trump administration’s message to cartel leaders and traffickers: they should be afraid, because any one of them could be next.
Bondi traveled to Brooklyn directly from a two-hour Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump to announce the guilty plea of Sinaloa Cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, underscoring the administration’s focus on dismantling drug cartels.
Zambada pleaded guilty Monday to leading what the Justice Department called “one of the most violent and powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world.” Prosecutors said he made billions smuggling narcotics into the U.S. while protecting his cartel through bribes to Mexican government officials and law enforcement.
The DOJ noted that testimony at past trials — including those of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and former Mexican security chief Genaro García Luna — detailed how corruption at every level shielded Zambada’s network. Local police escorted shipments, corrupt officials tipped off the cartel about military operations, and senior figures consulted with traffickers about ongoing investigations.
“El Mayo’s crimes have been so prolific that in the past two decades, he’s been indicted in no fewer than 16 federal courts across our country, 16 from the Western District of Texas to Chicago to here in the Eastern District of New York. He escaped justice for decades,” the attorney general noted. “But under President Trump’s leadership, he has finally been brought to justice.”
Watch the clip below:
🚨 “El Chapo’s” Sinaloa Cartel Co-Founder, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia, has pled guilty to operating a continuing criminal enterprise and to RICO charges.
“His guilty plea brings us one step closer to achieving our goal: the elimination of the drug cartels and the… pic.twitter.com/7AUHrKJgCa
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) August 25, 2025
Thank you for visiting