The Sinaloa Cartel’s co-founder, also known as “El Mayo,” pleaded guilty to charges of racketeering and criminal enterprise.
Ismael Zambada Garcia, a 75-year-old from Sinaloa, Mexico, pleaded guilty on August 25 to leading a “continuing criminal enterprise” – the Sinaloa Cartel, according to a press release from the Department of Justice. He also pleaded guilty to a charge of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations.
“This foreign terrorist committed horrific crimes against the American people — he will now pay for those crimes by spending the rest of his life behind bars in an American prison,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi in the release.
After his guilty plea, Garcia will spend the rest of his life in prison and pay $15 billion in forfeited money to the federal government. His official sentencing is set for January 13, 2026.
Garcia was charged in the Western District of Texas with RICO conspiracy for “money laundering, murder and drug conspiracies,” and “murder and kidnapping” from January 1, 2000, to April 11, 2012, according to the release. He was charged in the Eastern District of New York for “being a principal leader of a continuing criminal enterprise” from January 1989 to January 2024.
In his plea agreement, Garcia transferred the Texas indictment to New York for the plea and sentencing process, where he will face justice for the crimes outlined in both indictments. “The remaining indictments will be dismissed at the time of sentencing,” the release reads.
Garcia began his ascent to power when the Sinaloa Cartel first started in the early 1980s.
“For decades, the Sinaloa Cartel – under El Mayo’s leadership – made billions of dollars by importing dangerous drugs to the United States – intensifying the drug epidemic in our communities by flooding our streets with cocaine, heroin, and deadly fentanyl,” said Matthew Galeotti, acting assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s Criminal Division, in recent remarks.
In his plea, Garcia admitted to leading the “sprawling criminal enterprise” that distributed more than 1.5 million kg (or 3.3 million lbs) of cocaine – enough to kill 1.25 billion people. He also made “corrupt payments in order to operate with impunity,” and used “extreme violence” to protect the cartel.
Since the late 1980s, the Sinaloa Cartel has trafficked “lethal quantities” of drugs, including cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl, into America, laundering “billions” in proceeds back to Mexico, according to the release.
The cartel initially focused on cocaine distribution through “cooperative arrangements” and coordination with South American supply and distribution networks.
But in the 2000s, the Colombians saw “increased law enforcement” – and began abandoning their American distribution businesses. Instead, they began allowing Mexican traffickers to invest in cocaine shipments at “wholesale prices,” then distribute the drugs themselves in the United States.
“As a result, Mexican traffickers and the Cartel began to take a more integral role in moving cocaine from Colombia into and throughout the United States,” the release reads.
Under Garcia’s leadership in particular, the Sinaloa Cartel expanded into producing and trafficking fentanyl. Members would purchase “fentanyl precursor chemicals” from Chinese companies and produce the drug in Mexico before distributing it in America.
The cartel also generated “billions” in illegal profits from American drug sales, allowing it to build a “large-scale narcotics transportation network” over land, sea, and air. It was eventually able to ship “multi-ton” quantities of drugs into the United States.
After the 2016 capture of his partner, the drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Garcia worked on “growing his individual power and position in the cartel.” Under his leadership, the Sinaloa Cartel used “brutal violence, intimidation, and murder” to silence witnesses and deter law enforcement.
Garcia used “corruption at all levels” to guarantee the cartel’s success, according to the release. Local police officers would escort the drugs through Mexico, and corrupt officials would warn the cartel of military action – even consulting with the syndicate about ongoing investigations.
“Today’s plea is a proud moment for the FBI and its partners as the founders of a notoriously violent drug trafficking organization, one that engages in an array of illegal activity including murder and corruption, face the consequences of their actions,” said FBI Director Kash Patel in the release.
After Garcia’s capture in 2024, the Sinaloa Cartel fractured – leading to civil war between a faction loyal to him and a faction loyal to the sons of “El Chapo,” as The Dallas Express reported at the time. The conflict left more than 1,300 dead and more than 1,500 missing.
Earlier this year, 17 family members linked to the Sinaloa Cartel were traded to America as part of a deal between the DOJ and a son of “El Chapo,” as The Dallas Express also reported. Cartels, including Sinaloa, Los Zetas, Los Caballeros Templarios, the Beltran-Leyva Organization, and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, have operated across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in the past.
“Our work does not end here,” Patel said in the release. “We will continue to relentlessly leverage everything at our disposal in our efforts to thwart the Sinaloa Cartel and put an end to their drug trafficking operations and the carnage that goes along with it.”