NEW YORK, United States (EFE).— Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, currently imprisoned in El Paso, Texas, has announced that he agrees to be transferred to a New York court to complete pre-trial proceedings there on several drug trafficking charges.
In a document submitted Thursday by his lawyers to the Western District Court of Texas-El Paso, Zambada “does not oppose” —he uses that expression four times, according to them— his transfer to New York, a request expressed by the Prosecutor’s Office and which was opposed on Wednesday by Judge Kathleen Cardone.
He suggests that he will not request provisional release since he “does not oppose remaining in the custody” of federal authorities in the Eastern District of New York until all proceedings are concluded.
To postpone hearing
For all these reasons, he asks the Texas court to postpone the hearing scheduled for next Monday while his possible transfer to New York is resolved, the city where his partner Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and the main drug trafficking leaders, both Mexican and from other countries, have already been tried.
Zambada, 76, is currently detained in the border city of El Paso, Texas, and has already had two initial court hearings.
He had been a fugitive in Mexico for more than 40 years and until his arrest on July 25 in El Paso, he was one of the most wanted criminals in the United States with a reward of 15 million dollars.
The New York indictment is one of at least four he faces in the United States, but it was updated in February of this year and is the only one that mentions trafficking in fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid that has sparked a serious crisis of overdose deaths in the United States and has become the focus of the country’s anti-drug policy.
For another audience
The US justice system also argued that a hearing on the New York charges was necessary and that, after the hearing, “El Mayo” Zambada should be transferred to New York City, but the judge ruled on Wednesday that the obligations of that rule had already been met and that a new appearance by the Mexican drug lord was not required.
#Mayo #Zambada #York
2024-09-21 01:53:04
