By Sol Amaya, Mauricio Torres, Maria Santana, CNN
(CNN) — Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was sentenced to life in prison in the United States on Monday, ending one of the most significant cartel prosecutions since the conviction of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
The co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel avoided a possible death penalty after pleading guilty last year to leading a continuing criminal enterprise and admitting to trafficking millions of kilograms of cocaine over decades.
As part of his plea deal, the court also ordered him to forfeit $15 billion in drug trafficking profits, the US Justice Department said.
“El Mayo’s conviction is historic, and it reflects the Justice Department’s commitment to the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations that threaten American lives,” said US Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva.
Before learning his fate, Zambada addressed the court, accepting responsibility for his crimes. He apologized to the countless people and families harmed by his actions and said he wasn’t pleading guilty to hide what he had done, but because he knew it was wrong.
He urged young people not to follow his path, saying, “Choose a different path. There is no future in violence. It only leads to prison and death.” He added, “Violence must end in Mexico and elsewhere. Too many lives are being lost. No one wins.”
How Zambada rose to power
Born in Sinaloa, Zambada worked as a farmer in his youth. In the 1980s, he began collaborating with the Guadalajara cartel and later with the Juárez cartel, which was then led by Armando Carrillo Fuentes, a famous drug trafficker known as “El Señor de los Cielos” (“The Lord of the Skies”) because he used a large fleet of small planes to traffic drugs.
After Carrillo Fuentes’s death, El Mayo created his own criminal organization, the Sinaloa cartel, which he led for years alongside El Chapo. Also known as the Pacific cartel, the Sinaloa cartel expanded the production and shipment of drugs to the United States, including heroin, marijuana, methamphetamines, and now fentanyl, as well as managing cocaine trafficking from the south of the continent.
The US Treasury Department has linked him to a money laundering scheme involving companies and alleged government contracts in Mexico, another factor that has contributed to the cartel being considered one of the largest criminal organizations in the world.
As El Mayo expanded his power – a fact that put him in the crosshairs of the United States, which offered a $15 million reward for his capture – many close relatives were arrested and extradited to US territory.
One of them was his son Vicente “El Vicentillo” Zambada Niebla, who in 2009 was arrested in Mexico, extradited and prosecuted in Illinois. He pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in 2013 and in 2019 was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Many of those prosecuted cooperated with US authorities in exchange for reduced sentences, which aided in the trial against El Chapo, who was also sentenced to life in prison in 2019.
After a fierce internal struggle, which included an attempt on his life, El Mayo remained leader of the Sinaloa cartel, along with El Chapo Guzmán’s sons, known as “Los Chapitos.”
According to the think tank InSight Crime, the alliance between these factions was one of the main reasons the Sinaloa cartel consolidated itself as one of the most powerful in the region. However, this union deteriorated into a constant internal battle t