Ismael Zambada Garcia, the Mexican drug lord who was apparently kidnapped by the son of his former criminal partner last month and taken from Mexico to the U.S., ending up in the hands of federal agents in Texas, will soon be sent to trial in Brooklyn, according to four people familiar with the situation.
The Justice Department’s decision to prosecute Zambada Garcia, 76, in Brooklyn means he will face trial in the same federal court where his former ally, Joaquin Guzman Loera, better known as El Chapo, was convicted five years ago on drug conspiracy charges and ultimately sentenced to life in prison.
Two weeks ago, Zambada Garcia, who has eluded capture in his home country for nearly 50 years, was lured from one of his mountaintop hideouts to the Mexican city of Culiacan, a historic stronghold of the Sinaloa cartel.
He believed he was on his way to help one of Chapo’s sons, Joaquín Guzmán López, mediate a dispute between two local politicians, according to three people familiar with the matter. Instead, he was ambushed, forced onto a plane and flown across the border to a small regional airport near El Paso, where FBI and Homeland Security Investigations agents were waiting.
Guzmán López has been sent to Chicago, where he will be tried along with his brother Ovidio Guzmán López, who was extradited to the United States in September.
Zambada Garcia, who helped El Chapo found the Sinaloa drug cartel, was first charged in the United States more than two decades ago and faces charges not only in Brooklyn but also in El Paso, Chicago, Washington and San Diego.
Although federal prosecutors in El Paso had been aggressive in trying to keep the case in Texas, the Justice Department decided to send Zambada Garcia to Brooklyn because it believed the case was strong and was concerned about the security issues involved in charging a major Mexican drug lord so close to the border, said some of the people familiar with the situation.
These people also said that some of the prosecutors who oversaw Guzmán Loera’s trial had agreed to return to try the case against Zambada García and that the judge who oversaw the Chapo case, Brian Cogan, was well acquainted with the issues surrounding the prosecution.
It is not yet known exactly when Zambada Garcia, known as Mayo, will be transferred from El Paso to Brooklyn. But some law enforcement officials involved in the case said they were excited by the prospect that he could be prosecuted by some of the same federal agents and prosecutors who prosecuted Guzman Loera.
Testimonies at that trial suggested Zambada Garcia was a key player in the Sinaloa cartel’s bribery of government officials in Mexico, and law enforcement officials said that if he eventually cooperated with U.S. authorities, he could be instrumental in making progress against corruption south of the border.
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The Brooklyn federal courthouse is also equipped with a unique security jail that was used to house Guzmán Loera, who twice escaped from prison in Mexico. That could reduce the security risks of trying Zambada García.
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