U.S. seeks to move “El Mayo” case to federal court in Brooklyn, as Mexico seeks more information on cartel arrests

Prosecutors aim to move Sinaloa drug cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada’s case to federal court in Brooklyn, as Mexico said they are seeking more information on the flight that led to the arrests of two suspected drug kingpins on American soil. 

Zambada, known as a top leader and co-founder of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, faces charges in multiple U.S. locales. He and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of notorious Sinaloa kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, were arrested last month after being flown into New Mexico. Zambada has said he was kidnapped in his home country en route to what he thought was a meeting with a Mexican official.

Mexican officials said on Thursday they requested information from the U.S. Department of Justice on the flight that ferried Zambada and Guzman from Mexico to the U.S. Mexican officials sought the serial number of the aircraft, FAA records, customs and border authorization documents, and the advance passenger information document, among other items. Officials said the information has not yet been received. 

Zambada, 76, has so far appeared in U.S. federal court in El Paso, Texas, which is in one of the jurisdictions where he has been indicted. He has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy, drug conspiracy and other charges.

Federal prosecutors in Texas asked a court Thursday to hold a hearing to take the procedural steps needed to move him to the New York jurisdiction that includes Brooklyn, where the elder “El Chapo” Guzmán was convicted in 2019 of drug and conspiracy charges and sentenced to life in prison. El Chapo is serving a life sentence in a Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, which houses numerous high-profile inmates. 

If prosecutors get their wish, the case against Zambada in Texas would proceed after the one in New York.

A message seeking comment was sent to Zambada’s attorneys.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn declined to comment. Zambada is charged there with running a continuing criminal enterprise, murder conspiracy, drug offenses and other crimes.

Meanwhile, Joaquín Guzmán López, the “El Chapo” son arrested with Zambada, has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges in a federal court in Chicago.

Zambada ran the Sinaloa cartel with the elder Guzmán as it grew from a regional presence into a huge manufacturer and smuggler of illicit fentanyl pills and other drugs to the United States, authorities say.

Considered a good negotiator, Zambada has been seen as the syndicate’s strategist and dealmaker, thought to be more involved in its day-to-day doings than the more flamboyant Guzmán.

Keeping a lower profile, Zambada had never been behind bars until his U.S. arrest last month.

He has often been at odds with Guzmán’s sons, dubbed the Chapitos, or Little Chapos. Fearful that Zambada’s arrest could trigger a violent power struggle within the cartel, the Mexican government quickly dispatched 200 special forces soldiers to the state of Sinaloa, and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador publicly pleaded with the cartel factions not to fight each other.

Federal authorities said “El Mayo” and Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of the notorious kingpin El Chapo’s 12 children, were arrested near El Paso, Texas on July 25 without incident after flying from Mexico.