“Mayito Gordo” Zambada Sentenced to 9 Years in US Prison

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

After pleading guilty in 2021, Ismael Zambada Imperial, son of "El Mayo" was sentenced in the US to 9 years with credit for time served in both countries.

Ismael Zambada Imperial, better known as "Mayito Gordo," son of the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael Mario Zambada García, alias "El Mayo," was sentenced to nine years in prison by Judge Danna Sabraw, of the Federal Court of the Southern District of California, after a hearing held on June 24, 2022, after he pleaded guilty on April 30, 2021, to importing and distributing methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana into the United States.

The son of the Sinaloan capo will be credited with the years served from November 12, 2014, when he was captured after an operation carried out by the Secretary of the Navy (Semar) and the Federal Police (PF), in "El Ranchito de Los Burgos”, located 60 kilometers south of Culiacán, Sinaloa. Therefore, he would only have one year left on his sentence.

"Mayito Gordo" will continue his confinement in the San Diego Metropolitan Detention Center and it was not known if he would be transferred to another prison to serve the rest of the agreed time. The indictment alleges that Zambada Imperial conspired to transport the drug, in addition to laundering and transferring drug proceeds to Mexico, "for the benefit of members of the Sinaloa Cartel and their associates."

Guilty Plea in 2021

Zambada Imperial, also known as "El Buen Chico," pled guilty on April 30, 2021, in the Federal Court of the Southern District of California, in San Diego, accused of importing and distributing methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana to the United States. The son of one of the founders of the Sinaloa Cartel agreed to give $5 million dollars to the United States Government.

When federal judge Dana Sabraw read each of the accusations against him to "Mayito Gordo" and asked him how he pleaded, Zambada Imperial replied in Spanish "guilty." In their agreement, the federal prosecutors asked the court to consider the time he had been in the custody of the Mexican authorities and stop charging him with money laundering, since, until that moment, he had been imprisoned for almost seven years, both in Mexico, as in California.

However, Judge Sabraw warned that, given the seriousness of "El Mayito Gordo's" crimes, he faced a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and that this would be left to the discretion of the Court. Zambada Imperial accepted "that he ordered violent acts such as members of the Sinaloa Cartel, for the benefit of drug smuggling activities”, as mentioned by the magistrate.

“You admit that you became a leader within the Sinaloa Cartel and were responsible for various aspects of the cartel's operations, specifically you admit in the [guilt] agreement that you coordinated and organized with other members of the Sinaloa Cartel the transportation and the distribution of large quantities of illicit substances, including cocaine, heroin, and marijuana for importation from Mexico to the United States,” the judge said.

According to journalist Keegan Hamilton, "Mayito Gordo" admitted to having sent 450 kilos of cocaine and 90 kilos of heroin, relatively small amounts for a criminal organization the size of the Sinaloa Cartel. 

Extradition in 2019

On December 19, 2019, Ismael Zambada Imperial, better known as "Mayito Gordo" a son of the current leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, was extradited to the United States. A day later, on December 20, 2019, "El Mayito Gordo" appeared before the Federal Court of the Southern District of California, in San Diego, California, accused of criminal association for the distribution of narcotics. However, he pled not guilty to the crimes charged against him. In the same accusation, US prosecutors include his father, "El Mayo," his brother Ismael Zambada-Sicairos, and Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, "El Chapito," son of Sinaloan capo Joaquín Archivaldo Guzman Loera, "El Chapo."

The extradition of "El Mayito Gordo" took place after serving just half of his sentence in Mexico and after 5 years of trying to avoid being transferred to the US.

Amparo

In mid-December 2019, Patricio Leopoldo Vargas Alarcón, Judge Tenth of Amparo District in Criminal Matters, granted an Amparo to Zambada Imperial, to be transferred from the Federal Center for Social Rehabilitation (CEFERESO) 2 “Occidente,” in El Salto, Jalisco, to a prison in Mexico City.

The federal judge did not order the transfer of the prison, although it did annul the resolution of the Fourth District Court of Amparo in Criminal Matters of Zapopan where it was filed 399/ 2015 in May of that same year, with which the appeal was filed by Zambada Imperial was dismissed because the unspecified incident was ruled inadmissible.

"The responsible authority did not pronounce in a sufficient and detailed manner on the grounds, reasons, and circumstances that led it to make the decision to dismiss the appeal outright, there is no doubt that their fundamental rights were violated to the detriment of the petitioner for Amparo. of legality and legal certainty, by not having the certainty of the reason for the action of the responsible execution judge”, indicated the resolution of Vargas Alarcón.

For its part, the General Coordination of Federal Centers of the Decentralized Administrative Body for Prevention and Social Rehabilitation reported, at the time, that the center where "El Mayito Gordo" requested his transfer did not have adequate infrastructure, nor did it have the level of security to the proper internment of said person.

In addition to the fact that there was no agreement between the Federation and Mexico City, for the granting of the requested transfer. After this response, the authority determined that the unspecified incident did not proceed, so the complainant appealed, but the judge dismissed said legal remedy.

However, Judge Vargas Alarcón pointed out that the Fifth District Court Specialized in the Execution of Sentences did not explain in a clear, consistent, and coherent manner the grounds and reasons that justify said determination. On two previous occasions, Zambada Imperial had requested fundamental rights trials for the same cause. One of them before the Sixth Court specialized in the matter (1740/2014) and another in the Second Court of the same branch (1821/2014). Both were dismissed because the prison authorities denied the claimed act.

US Extradition Granted in 2015

In November 2015, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) granted the US the extradition of the son of "El Mayo," after the endorsement of the Sixth District Judge in Federal Criminal Proceedings, based in the Men's Preventive Prison Oriente, so that “El Mayito Gordo” could be transferred to the country where his brothers Vicente Zambada Niebla, “El Vicentillo,” and Serafín Zambada Ortiz, “Flaco,” are imprisoned, also on drug trafficking charges (at the time).

However, the legal defense of "El Mayito Gordo", as he is identified in the Court of the Southern District of California, promoted an Amparo against the measure, for which he obtained a provisional suspension of the order that would hand him over to the US Government.

In March 2014, the Federal Prosecutor's Office for the Southern District of California filed an indictment against the son of "El Mayo Zambada", along with 14 other drug traffickers, for the crimes of uninterrupted illicit association, conspiracy, and illegal introduction of marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamines across the border from Tijuana, Baja California, into California and the US East Coast, in addition to money laundering conspiracy.

After the judge's decision, the SRE endorsed the extradition order, considering that the United States Government had complied with the corresponding guidelines, for which it made arrangements with the United States Government for the delivery of Zambada Imperial.

The scene of "Mayito Gordo's" arrest outside of Culiacan, Sinaloa.

Arrest in 2014

On November 12, 2014, the son of "El Mayo Zambada" was captured after an operation carried out by the Secretary of the Navy (SEMAR) and the Federal Police (PF), in "El Ranchito de Los Burgos", located 60 kilometers south of Culiacán, Sinaloa. In Mexico, "El Mayito Gordo" was sentenced to 10 years in prison for violating the Federal Law on Firearms and Explosives.

Sons of "El Mayo".

According to the US, among the accomplices of the son of the Sinaloa capo, who is accused of directing the Sinaloa Cartel cell in charge of drug trafficking to California, are René Arzate García, alias "La Rana", and his brother Alfonso Arzate Garcia, "The Achilles". In addition to his younger brother, Serafín Zambada Ortiz, "Flaco," as well as Rodrigo Aréchiga Gamboa, "El Chino Ántrax".

Known for flaunting his life as a narco-junior on social media, Zambada Imperial is the third son of El Mayo Zambada, who is facing trial in the United States. The first of his children was Vicente Zambada Niebla, arrested in Mexico in 2009 and extradited a year later to Illinois, where his accusation is pending. Vicentillo was sentenced in May 2019 to 15 years in prison, to be served in 2024. However, according to official documents, he is no longer in the custody of the United States prison system, so likely a protected witness.

He was followed by Serafín Zambada Ortiz, alias Sera, who was arrested in November 2013 when he tried to cross the Nogales international bridge on foot into the United States. He was sentenced to five and a half years in prison and on September 11, 2018, he left prison to return to Mexico. His indictment contained only one count of conspiracy to import methamphetamine and cocaine.

Sources Zeta Tijuana, Borderland Beat